The goal of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is no longer simply to make services available to young children with disabilities and their families, but also to ensure that those services lead to enhanced outcomes for participating children and families. To that end, IDEA 2004 requires states to submit State Performance Plans…

Response to intervention (RTI) arose, in part, from the limited success of the pre-referral process, an approach advocated in the 1980s and 1990s, and accurately measuring the discrepancy between aptitude and achievement in young children. Reflecting these concerns, when the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was reauthorized in…

Authentic assessment is a growing alternative to conventional testing. This research-to-practice article describes a framework for implementing authentic assessment. The R-E-A-L framework shows how roles, equipment, assessment tools, and location can be incorporated into early childhood practices.

The inclusion of young children with disabilities has remained a function of the Head Start program since its inception in the 1960s when the United States Congress mandated that children with disabilities comprise 10% of the Head Start enrollment (Zigler & Styfco, 2000). Standardized, norm-referenced tests used to identify children with…

This brochure describes "Child Find," a component of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that requires states to identify, locate, and evaluate all children with disabilities, aged birth through 21, who are in need of early intervention or special education services.

This 18th annual report to Congress, covering the program year 1989-1990, outlines the status of children with disabilities in Head Start programs. The report states that the program's mandate of having 10 percent or more of the total number of enrollment opportunities in Head Start programs available for handicapped children was met in each state…

This report, covering the program year 1987-1988, is designed to inform the Congress of the status of children with disabilities in Head Start programs. The report states that the program's mandate of having 10 percent or more of the total number of enrollment opportunities in Head Start programs available for handicapped children was met in each…

This report describes the activities of the Head Start program relating to children with disabilities in the 1988-1989 year. Head Start nationally achieved a 13.5 percent level of enrollment of children with professionally diagnosed disabilities. All states and jurisdictions met the federal mandate of at least 10 percent enrollment of children…

This document consolidates, clarifies, and updates federal regulations on Head Start services for children with disabilities. The regulations are designed to complement the Head Start Program Performance Standards governing services to all enrolled children. Specifically, these regulations require Head Start programs to: (1) design comprehensive…

Seldom do the needs of children with disabilities divide neatly along program lines. Instead, children and their families navigate a large, complex, and fragmented array of programs with inconsistent eligibility standards, application procedures, and program goals. "Meeting the Needs of Children with Disabilities" examines these programs, focusing…

This article provides information about the 44,426 consumers of Commonwealth/State Disability Agreement specialist disability support services in Australia. Most consumers have intellectual disabilities and access accommodation support services. Overall, consumers with intellectual disabilities expressed their highest need for support in…

This final report discusses the outcomes of a policy research study designed to improve decision making during the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Issues were identified and policy briefs were developed on: (1) the federal financial formula for special education; (2) the role of economic and demographic…

Current national efforts at education reform rely largely on the use of standardized testing, the cornerstone of federal education policy as a result of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001, with its requirements for regular testing of all students and demonstrations of adequate yearly progress on tests by all schools. The challenges…

This report examines the disability community's efforts to help individuals who have significant disabilities access and maintain employment. It identifies how welfare agencies can learn from and build upon lessons from the disability community. Chapter 1 describes the hard-to-employ (HTE) Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) population…

Research was conducted to find out the following: (1) whether welfare recipients with impairments (or their able-bodied parents, if they are children) were as likely to exit Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) as are their counterparts without impairments, and 2) the sources of income reported by leavers with and without impairments.…