Students in the United States who receive special education services are entitled to receive an Individualized Education Program (IEP) that provides an appropriate level of benefit. Although IEP content is informed by policy mandates and practice recommendations, research has yet to investigate the degree to which school practice is in alignment.…

The Special Education Process (SEP) demands the collaboration of various professionals and personalities to create the Individualised Education Plan (IEP), beginning with the evaluation conducted by clinical psychologists, psychiatrists and in this study, developmental paediatricians. Assessments acts as a keystone document, serving as basis for…

This chapter describes possible effects of the 2017 "Endrew F." Supreme Court decision that raised the "de minimus" standard established in 1982 in "Board of Education of the Hendrick Hudson School District v. Rowley." In Rowley, the court held school districts provided an appropriate education to students with…

With this position paper, we advance the case for reformation of U.S. special education law and praxis. These have undergone mostly incremental changes over the five decades since their inception despite a substantial body of evidence amassed over this period, which points to a major gap between extant policy and praxis, and contemporary cultural…

The central school district obligation for disciplinary changes in placement under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is to answer the question of whether the conduct at issue is a manifestation of the individual student's disability. School psychologists often play a key role in this team-based manifestation determination…

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the delivery of specially designed instruction for students with disabilities. Educators had to quickly shift their instruction without support from training and knowledge of best practices for virtual teaching. This study sought to understand how teachers were providing specially designed instruction during the…

This resource focuses on recent changes in the data sources and measurements of Part B Indicators 1 and 2. It offers a side-by-side comparison of the State Performance Plan/Annual Performance Report (SPP/APR) Part B Indicator measurement tables for FFY 2019 and FFY 2020-2025 to highlight relevant differences in SPP/APR reporting of graduation rate…

The Children's Center for Communication/Beverly School for the Deaf (CCCBSD) follows a theme-based learning model, providing a quarterly theme around which teachers base cross-curricular instruction. The themes are intentionally broad to encourage teachers to create instructional units that integrate academic and functional learning in response to…

Inclusive education is a learning system where learners with various disabilities learn in an environment with equitable educational opportunities alongside non-disabled peers. The theoretical framework forming the foundation of this paper is disability studies which include the social model of disability, which pushes back against the medical…

This chapter presents a critical analysis of the transnational phenomenon of individualised educational planning for pupils 'with special educational needs'. Schools which were once targeted at a relatively homogeneous pupil population are now expected to include all pupils, namely, pupils with special educational needs (SEN). Transnational…

On March 16, 2020, Governor Jim Justice of West Virginia issued an emergency closure of all public schools, changing the education system overnight from a brick and mortar face-to-face model to a remote learning model. Students with disabilities receiving special education and related services continue to be entitled to procedural safeguards and a…

School reform efforts are reflected in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and increasingly impact potential for differentiation of instruction, which is critical in effectively educating students with varying achievement and learning needs. Although CCSS were developed to establish a ubiquitous foundation of educational expectations by grade…

Inclusive educational practices are rooted in a body of research indicating that when students in need of support through special education are meaningfully included in schools, academic and social outcomes improve for all students. To realize this promise of better outcomes, traditional schools with separate classrooms and even schools designated…

We suggest that special education could die among common myths about it. That is, special education could cease to exist, at least as we know it, because its true nature and requirements for its functioning are misunderstood. We discuss only 12 common myths about special education, recognizing that there are many more myths and that the ones we…

Federal laws mandate students with disabilities, including students with complex instructional needs (SWCIN), be involved and progress in the general education curriculum and that schools be accountable for continuous and substantial improvement of academic achievement for all students. The limited research on teaching academic content to SWCIN…