Under federal guidelines, parents of school-aged children with hearing loss are required to attend an individualized education program (IEP) meeting on behalf of their child. However, it remains unclear how prepared hearing parents are to oversee development of IEPs that guarantee their children the best educational outcomes, as well as how much…

In this article, the authors provide snapshots of a student's case in which she received an Individualized Education Program (IEP) after being diagnosed as having a speech and language disorder in an urban Head Start program located in the northeast region of the United States. This case can shed light on the complexities of the literacy practices…

There is a high prevalence of mental health concerns among youth in the United States. School-based mental health counselling interventions maybe one way of addressing the mental health concerns of youth. This study investigated changes in students' behavioural and emotional problems scores and discipline referrals for those who participated in a…

Implementation science provides guidance on adapting existing evidence based practices (EBPs) by incorporating implementation concerns from the start. Focus-group methodology was used to understand barriers and facilitators of transition planning and implementation for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who often experience disparate…

Although there has been a consistent vision for multicultural education and family collaboration in teacher preparation programs for decades, collaborative partnerships between culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) families and their children's educators remain elusive (Harry, 2008; Trent, Kea, & Oh, 2008). Family engagement in special…

On March 22, 2017, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that schools are obligated to provide more than de mimimus services for students with disabilities. The core issue in "Endrew F. v. Douglas County Schools" is how schools are to define the "A" in FAPE: What is an appropriate public education? Douglas County schools held…

The gap in academic achievement between regular and special education students is well documented. Math was once the stronger area for students with IEPs; however, the scores in Illinois in 2013 suggest that for the subgroup of IEP students, reading and math performance has reached an all-time ten-year low, even when correcting for the change in…

Parents of high-ability students with disabilities (i.e., twice-exceptional) play a crucial role in their children's home and educational environments. In addition, parents' sociocultural contexts, including race and ethnicity, can influence their parenting practice. We conducted interviews with 10 Asian American parents from diverse ethnic…

The purpose of this article is to explore what college planning practices or demographic characteristics are associated with confidence in degree completion for college students with disabilities. A survey was used to gather retrospective data from undergraduate students with disabilities registered with a disability services office at a large…

Multidisciplinary teams are responsible for identifying reasonable accommodations that mediate the impact of a disability and level the playing field between those with and without disabilities on high-stakes mathematics assessments. However, minimal guidance is provided to teams selecting accommodations. This article provides a decision framework…

Students with disabilities, especially those with non-apparent conditions, are entering universities in growing numbers. Yet more and more students are going off to college unprepared to manage their disabilities, in part because their high schools are overburdened, understaffed, and uninformed to identify and support them. A recent survey of…

This study aims to identify the relationships between Individualized Education Program (IEP) status and substance use. More than 122,000 eighth-, ninth-, and eleventh-grade students provided survey data in 2013. Analyses tested associations between IEP status and tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use, accounting for emotional distress and…

Assistive technology (AT), as defined in Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) 2004 (34 CFR sections 300.5 and 300.6), consists of devices and accompanying services that support a student with an IEP or IFSP. AT includes devices ranging from a low-tech pencil with a grip to a high-tech voice-activated computer. AT services assess…

Career and technical education (CTE) provides students of all ability levels the opportunity to develop skills for a post-secondary career. When students with disabilities are included in CTE, educators are legally required to provide an appropriate program that meets each student's unique needs. There are, however, few discussions in the…

A widely cited report by the federal Government Accountability Office found that charter schools enroll a significantly smaller percentage of students with disabilities than do traditional public schools. However, thus far no hard evidence exists to definitively explain or quantify the disparity between special education enrollment rates in…