To best support students with special needs in their educational endeavors, research shows collaboration between the school and home greatly increases success. However, there is a gap in the literature that generalizes this concept, as most studies focus on one particular school or demographic group of students, such as those with autism. This…

The school, student and family factors underlying poor postsecondary outcomes of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are not well understood. The potential impact of school [e.g., transition planning quality (TPQ)], family (e.g., parent activation), and student factors (e.g., adaptive functioning) and their interaction (e.g.,…

Dramatic inquiry is a teaching approach where students explore science through differentiated learning experiences, so that students can engage in learning in multiple ways (e.g., through gesture, song, written and spoken language). It positions students as competent problem solvers and draws upon students' strengths through collaborative learning…

Individualized Learning Plans (ILPs), an effective strategy to promote students' college and career readiness, are increasingly used in US school systems as a mechanism to encourage students' career exploration and identification of career goals. After describing features of ILPs, we provide an example of the ILP process developed and implemented…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires local education agencies to include parents as equal team members in the cultivation of their child's individual education plan (IEP). Despite law, studies have shown that parents experience barriers to being included in the process. Barriers such as a lack of information, lack of…

Albuquerque Sign Language Academy (ASLA), a charter school in New Mexico, is a dual language English-American Sign Language (ASL) school, and half of the students at ASLA are deaf or hard of hearing, while the other half are hearing. Many students at the school also have disabilities other than or in addition to being deaf or hard of hearing, with…

We used time-varying effect modelling of two very large samples of fourth-grade students (N[subscript reading] = 148,240, N[subscript mathematics] = 152,220) to investigate associations between adoption and over-time implementation of a de facto cap on special education service receipt and over-time likelihoods of disability identification from…

Following the implementation of Tier 1 and Tier 2 Positive Behavior Support (PBS) strategies in six Head Start (HS) classrooms, three children in two classrooms were identified who had significant behavioral challenges and met the criteria for the use of individualized PBS. The purpose of this demonstration was to evaluate whether the effects of…

How do you ensure that your co-teaching strategies make the most of the time that you and your co-teaching partner have in the classroom? The answer is co-planning, which will dramatically and efficiently increase the effectiveness of your instruction. In "Co-Planning for Co-Teaching," author Gloria Lodato Wilson presents time-saving…

A gap exists in the information needed to make intervention decisions with preschool children who are unresponsive to instructional intervention. "Multi-Tiered System of Supports/Response to Intervention" (MTSS/RTI) progress monitoring is helpful in indicating when an intervention change is needed but provides little information on what…

This narrative inquiry shows the barriers and possibilities that the current US education context poses for two mothers of pre-kindergarten sons with autism. Specifically, this work is contextualized within the growing universal pre-kindergarten reform which provides a mixed delivery (public and private) implementation. Presented with the context…

Special education teachers report lack of time and a shortage of appropriate curricula as reasons impeding implementation of transition education in their classrooms. However, research indicates school and postschool outcomes of students with disabilities improve significantly with transition instruction. The ME! Lessons for Teaching…

An Individualized Education Program (IEP) is the cornerstone for documenting the appropriate education being provided to students who qualify for special education and related services under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. A growing group of students with a disability are students who are culturally and linguistically diverse and…

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…

Individualized education program (IEP) goals and objectives often provide illogical or insufficient methodological detail (e.g., Capizzi, 2008). Insufficient methods can lead to ambiguity among the staff members responsible for data collection or to data that fail to take into account factors that can affect performance or behavioral expression…