Handwriting difficulties may signal dysgraphia or other writing difficulties that can affect literacy performance. Existing instruments measure different handwriting features to identify students for interventions but can take extra testing time and restrict potential indicators appropriate for evaluating adolescents. This exploratory study aimed…

Local education agencies often misidentify ELLs as students with disabilities, given the difficulty distinguishing between language proficiency and learning disability when evaluating causes for minimal academic achievement. This study sought to explore factors of instructional self-efficacy influencing the academic outcomes of Hispanic English…

The problem that was addressed in this study was a rural school district in southeastern Georgia was identified by the Georgia Department of Education as overidentifying African American students as having an intellectual disability (ID). The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of special education eligibility team members…

This briefing paper explores Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) policies and practices that state early intervention (Part C) programs may consider implementing to meet the social-emotional and mental health needs of infants and toddlers in the context of relationships with their parents and other caregivers.

Black parents of young adults with high incidence disabilities provide salient support to their children during and after postsecondary planning processes in high school. These parents serve a vital role concerning their child with high incidence disabilities' postsecondary planning processes. School counselors are well-positioned as social…

Whether students of color are more or less likely to be identified as having disabilities than similarly situated students who are White in U.S. states with histories of de jure and de facto racial segregation is currently unknown. Unadjusted analyses of large samples of students attending elementary and middle schools in the U.S. South yielded…

Introduction: Records-based autism spectrum disorder surveillance developed at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been extended to younger cohorts, although the utility of additional record sources has not been examined. We therefore conducted a pilot project to describe whether Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…

Recent research of relevance to school psychologists suggests that the cause, or etiology, of mental retardation can be established by medical diagnosticians in approximately one-half of cases. In the current study, 109 practicing school psychologists considered a hypothetical case of an elementary student with mental retardation and indicated…

This study evaluated the phenomenon of autistic regression using population-based data. The sample comprised 285 children who met the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) case definition within an ongoing surveillance program. Results indicated that children with a previously documented ASD diagnosis had higher rates of autistic regression than children…

Problem/Condition: Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a group of developmental disabilities characterized by atypical development in socialization, communication, and behavior. ASDs typically are apparent before age 3 years, with associated impairments affecting multiple areas of a person's life. Because no biologic marker exists for ASDs,…

This article describes criteria developed by the three Georgia Learning Disorder Centers to determine eligibility for services of college students with learning disabilities. Five definitions for learning disability in adolescents and adults are compared. The specific criteria used by the centers are detailed, as are criteria for accepting outside…

This report contains an overview of the General Psychoeducational Program Network and four research papers on the education of students with Serious Emotional Disturbances (SED). The first paper, "Academic Progress of SED students Served in the Georgia Psychoeducational Program Network" (Thomas H. Cope), reports on a study which found…

This guide was designed to serve as a reference document for developers of individualized education programs (IEPs) for students with disabilities in Georgia. Specific procedures and responsibilities of the student support team during the processes of identification, intervention, and evaluation are outlined. The first section covers the student…

This final report describes activities and accomplishments of the Georgia Deaf-Blind Project, a 3-year federally supported project encompassing 159 counties and providing technical assistance to 237 infants, children, and youth with deaf-blindness along with their families and their service providers. Project accomplishments included: (1) more…

This collection of papers includes five articles on the education of students with emotional and/or behavioral disorders participating in the Georgia Psychoeducational Network Program (GPN). "Training Needs of Fully Certified BD Teachers in the Georgia Psychoeducational Network" (Robert J. Stansberry) found, in a survey of 203 certified…