This study examines the efficacy of engaging young children with disabilities in interviews to elicit their perspectives on their own capabilities. Using the theoretical framework of the capability approach, the authors investigated the efficacy of different interview techniques to engage young children with disabilities in research about their…

How do special education-related professionals parenting children with disabilities experience the special education system? This qualitative exploratory study delves into the experiences of 25 mother-educators who are special education-related professionals navigating the special education system for their children with disabilities. Through…

Advocating for deaf or hard of hearing child can be a daunting task … and intimidating. So many professionals around a table and the parent. What can parents do to advocate for deaf or hard of hearing children? Why is advocating for these child at school meetings important? As Apple says (2009), "There's an app for that!" The Laurent…

In this dissertation, I explore, through qualitative means, the perceptions of parents related to discourse (what is said and not said) within formalized and required processes of special education. These processes are federal requirements that parents of children with disabilities or suspected disabilities encounter as their children progress…

Parent-professional partnerships are essential for meaningful and effective inclusion of students with disabilities. Research indicates that partnerships with immigrant, bilingual parents can be challenging due in part to unrecognized parent skills and educators' own everyday uses of English that can marginalize parents during individualized…

The originators of special education law anticipated disputes and provided due process hearings as a means to settle the disputes. However, due process proved to be unfair, costly (financially and emotionally), and destructive to school-family relationships. Years later, lawmakers offered mandated mediation along with resolution meetings in…

Family involvement is a central component of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Family members are to be integrated in all aspects of the special education process. At the onset, of family involvement, it is imperative for educators to be aware of possible reactions family members may experience in this initial stage. This…

In total, 139 Texas special education due process hearings that occurred between 2011 and 2015 were examined. Cases were coded with regard to the student's special education disability category; the number of hearings in which a specific party prevailed; the primary, secondary, and/or tertiary issues of the case; the number of issues in these…

Effective communication between parents of children with disabilities and other team members positively impacts family-school collaboration. Parents of children with special needs were asked how and how often they communicated with their children's preschool teams. The frequency of both formal and informal meetings varied tremendously. Parents…

A persistent problem in the professional literature in school psychology and related fields, such as special education, is the insufficient treatment of legal issues in terms of not only quantity (e.g., Zaheer & Zirkel, 2014) but also quality (e.g., Zirkel, 2014). The quality dimension is illustrated in the coverage of the Supreme Court's…

The primary mechanism for ensuring students with disabilities receive the right educational content and rigor at the right moment in their education is the individualized education program (IEP). This document, "Ensuring an Equitable Opportunity: Providing a High-Quality Education for Students with Disabilities," details policy and…

Individuals who serve as surrogate parents fulfill an important role in the life of a child with a disability. Surrogates have become increasingly important in special education because a growing number of children are living outside their family for some period of their lives. Like parents, surrogates of children with disabilities are granted a…

Parents experiencing homelessness may be struggling to enroll and keep their children in school. If they have a child with special needs, they may have even more challenges to make sure their child receives the help she needs. This brief helps parents with the following concerns and offers resources for additional assistance: (1) not knowing who…

An initial step to demonstrate commitment and professional behaviors is to be knowledgeable in the terminology used by special education colleagues, and to share with them common terminology used in physical education settings. Adapted physical education (APE) and general physical education (GPE) teachers need to know terminology used by…

This article describes the pilot study of an informal assessment, the "Student Transition Questionnaire" (STQ). The STQ is a 38-item assessment designed to elicit student perspectives on transition-related topics. In this mixed-methods study, we piloted the STQ with 186 participants, and then conducted focus groups with various…