Extracurricular activities provide students a range of rich experiences that influence their academic achievement, leadership and communication skills, and career paths. Students with disabilities (SWDs) historically have had limited access to extracurricular programs and thus fewer opportunities for academic, social, and vocational development.…

The purpose of this article is to discuss major substantive errors that school personnel may make when developing students' Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). School IEP team members need to understand the importance of the procedural and substantive requirements of the IEP, have an awareness of the five serious substantive errors that IEP…

With the growing use of technology in today's schools, electronic IEP programs are being adopted by many school districts around the nation as part of special education service delivery. These programs provide a useful technology that can facilitate compliance with IDEA requirements in IEP development while concurrently lessening teacher paperwork…

Video-based instruction is technology-based instruction delivered through video clips in which a human model demonstrates target behaviors (Rayner, Denholm, & Sigafoos, 2009). It can be used to teach a variety of skills, including social communication and behavioral and functional skills (Cihak & Schrader, 2008). Despite the advantages,…

Special education professionals are charged to develop relevant, compliant, and legally defensible IEPs for transition-age students with disabilities. This charge is intensified as educators strive to provide plans that will genuinely prepare students for postsecondary education, employment, and independent living. This manuscript demonstrates how…

Parental involvement and parent-school-community partnerships receive wide acclaim for making a positive difference in the educational and transition outcomes for youth with and without disabilities. Although the impact of parental involvement in education remains undisputed, secondary education traditionally emphasizes the emerging adult…

"Bullying" is defined as any aggressive behavior with the intent to harm that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. Bullying is identified as one of the most predominant problems faced by children in the United States education system, as well as one of the most significant health risks to children. Exactly how prevalent this issue is…

Many students identified as having moderate and severe disabilities (MSD) benefit from a curriculum that includes instruction on the functional skills that they will need to successfully transition to adulthood. In particular, this includes students with cognitive disabilities who are most likely to qualify in the 1% who are eligible for the…

Describes how two disability sports programs, Little League Baseball's Challenger Division and TOPSoccer (The Outreach Program for Soccer), are being implemented in Arlington, Texas. Both programs are intended to include children and youth with physical or mental disabilities and to increase family involvement. Summarized are game rules, outcomes…

A program allowing all students (including 135 students with disabilities) at 1 urban elementary school to participate in an enrichment activity on Friday afternoons is described. Information on activity selection, program organization, materials, community involvement, student leadership, goals, and student reactions is provided. (DB)

Presents a rating scale for evaluating programs that are working to include students with high-incidence disabilities. The scale evaluates 12 general components with 47 items. Its use in over 50 schools in Florida to aid in program development, program monitoring, program evaluation, staff development, and parent education is described. (DB)

This article describes how a group of elementary teachers set out to master their instructional software to turn the collection into an effective aid for enabling the success of students with and without disabilities. It discusses planning for systematic intervention and positive outcomes through the use of computer programs. (Contains…

This article discusses recent experiences with successful special education mediations. It examines several mediation cases, focusing on common elements that may have contributed to successful resolution, including the skills of the mediator, training for mediation, development of an educational plan, the assistance of well-trained advocates, and…

This article describes video-based vocabulary lessons that were used with 10 fourth-grade students with learning disabilities. The video programs were used as an "anchor" or "situation" for creating a realistic context for learning. Vocabulary was enriched by providing contextual information, introducing new vocabulary words,…

Describes a program of New York's Keller School (a school for toddlers and preschoolers with communication, cognitive, and emotional disorders), which promotes meaningful family involvement through parent education. Activities to promote parent participation are described, including an annual poster session to present the parents' own data on…