This study used a large administrative data set of Head Start programs across the United States, the Head Start Program Information Report (PIR), to explore disparities in program rates of screening, referral, and identification for early intervention between Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (MSHS) and Head Start (HS) programs. Results from…

Estimates show that one in six children aged three through 17 in the United States have one or more developmental disabilities. Many early childhood education programs aim to improve early identification of children with developmental disabilities and increase family engagement, specifically Head Start and Early Head Start programs. The present…

Medicaid is a major insurer of autistic people. However, during the transition to adulthood, autistic individuals are more likely than people with intellectual disability to lose their Medicaid benefits. Individuals with intellectual disability may have greater success maintaining Medicaid coverage during this time because most states provide…

Many children with developmental disabilities are not identified before age 3 years of age, preventing them from being able to fully benefit from early intervention services. Early childhood educators, particularly those in Early Head Start (EHS) programs, are important partners in the early identification of children with developmental delays.…

Little is known about how the expansion of state pre-kindergarten (pre-k) programs affects low-income children with disabilities in Head Start. Using almost 30 years of administrative data of all Head Start programs and a differences-in-differences design, this study tests the possibility that, as state pre-k differentially draws relatively more…

This study primarily explored the perceptions of dyslexia held by early childhood educators teaching in Head Start centers. A secondary purpose was to investigate how early childhood educators in Head Start centers perceive the notion of risk for dyslexia and how they identify at-risk students in ways that are consist with the results of a…

This project sought to identify Medicaid members with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in five states (Delaware, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York, and South Carolina) to develop a cohort for subsequent analyses of medical conditions and service utilization. We estimated that over 300,000 Medicaid members in these states had IDD. All…

This "2018-2019 Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) Strategic Plan Update" is the work of the IACC membership that was appointed under the Autism CARES Act of 2014. The Committee agreed that the "2016-2017 IACC Strategic Plan" reflected a comprehensive review of the state of the field and provided a set of 23 new…

The 2004-05 school year didn't start off well for the Sanger Unified School District. The district, located east of Fresno, had entered its first year of "program improvement"--a gentler way of saying that Sanger was among the 98 lowest-performing districts in the state based on success criteria in the No Child Left Behind law. The…

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…

Deaf and hard of hearing children can face significant challenges developing the language and literacy skills needed to succeed in school and become self-sufficient adults. The federal government supports these children through the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) program, which awards grants to states to develop systems to screen…

The "No Child Left Behind Act" mandates that teachers employ evidence-based practices (EBPs) in the classroom in order to improve student performance. For students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) to be successful, particularly in inclusive settings, the most salient practices would probably be those promoting classroom organization…

Schools and educators have been increasingly educating students with disabilities in the general education setting; while at the same time the level of accountability for making a positive outcome on high stakes assessments for all students has increased. As educators feel pressure for their students to perform well on state assessments and meet…

Educators in the Chula Vista Elementary School District determined what kind of instruction students needed through a "response to intervention" (RTI) process, which provides extra help to struggling students with an aim of reducing the number of referrals to special education. As RTI catches on throughout the country, the district is on…

The new IDEIA (2004) mandates regarding the implementation of Response-to-Intervention (RtI) present challenges for general education teachers. The law dictates the implementation of Response-to-Intervention, which requires the application of a pyramid of interventions for students failing to make adequate yearly progress in response to general…