School closure during the COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges to students with disabilities and their families as parents struggled to support their students with disabilities during online learning. The researcher used a single case qualitative study to examine the perceptions of parents of students with disabilities regarding…

Students with disabilities have been inequitably served by the United States educational system for decades. This research study explores general education teachers' beliefs and pedagogical approaches to the incorporation of students with disabilities into their classrooms. 22 general education teachers (teaching grades 1-5) participated in a…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to describe and analyze how three principals attempting to establish effective inclusive schools for students with disabilities identified and learned from failure, with a specific focus on how failure was used to drive school improvement efforts. Design/methodology/approach: This qualitative study involved…

Following on from a previous study of what happened to provision in special settings during lockdowns, this study reports what effects Headteachers felt the pandemic has had on pupils with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs). It involved a representative survey of Headteachers in special schools and colleges in England, followed by depth…

Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) are private savings accounts funded by a deposit from the state government and managed by a parent. The deposit amount varies from state to state and is typically based on the state's per-pupil amount. To use an ESA, parents withdraw their child from the public school system and use ESA funds to purchase specified…

A 2017 landmark case with the United States Supreme Court, Endrew vs. Douglas, would fundamentally change the provisions for a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) for students with disabilities. Under Endrew vs. Douglas, special education services must confer academic and functional benefit. Emotional Impairment (EI) is one of 13…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the challenges teachers of students with disabilities and extensive support needs experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nine educators who taught in a public school district during the 2020 pandemic engaged in interviews at three points of time, when: (a) schools closed in March, (b) during summer…

Previous research has identified "UPGRADE Your Performance" as a method for teaching employment soft skills to students with disabilities. "UPGRADE Your Performance" instruction is a multicomponent intervention including self-evaluation, self-graphing, goal setting, and technology-aided instruction. This pilot study…

An educational debt exists for Black and Latinx students with and without IEPs. This debt extends to underrepresentation in curricula and overrepresentation in special education. Identity representation in English Language Arts curricula offers promise to counter this existing educational debt as well as overrepresentation. This qualitative study…

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) is committed to the cognitive, linguistic, and socio-emotional development of all children in Illinois. ISBE's Multilingual/Language Development Department is focused on ensuring that students with diverse linguistic repertoires and those who may benefit from additional support have equitable access to…

This study utilized hierarchical linear modeling analysis of a 10-year extant dataset from Rehabilitation Services Administration to investigate significant predictors of employment outcomes for vocational rehabilitation (VR) clients with autism. Predictor variables were gender, ethnicity, attained education level, IEP status in high school,…

As researchers and practitioners have increasingly become interested in what practices are evidence based and for whom in education, different sets of quality indicators and evidence-based practice standards have emerged in the field of special education. Practices are commonly suggested as evidence based, even without a best evidence synthesis on…

In this closing commentary to the special edition of "Learning Disability Quarterly" ("LDQ") on parent voice in educational decision making for students with learning disabilities, we briefly survey main topics from each article, illuminating important findings from the authors, along with several questions they raise, and…

Policy and legislation internationally advocates curriculum access and inclusion for pupils with special educational needs. The individual education plan (IEP) process, which focuses on individual planning for pupils with special educational needs, has been mandated as a means of achieving this goal in many countries. As a concept it has been…

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…