Autistic people diagnosed in adulthood often report that the experience can be life-changing, but there are issues with the diagnostic pathway. Few studies consider the views of people "currently" seeking diagnosis or contextualise the experience of diagnosis around developing an autistic identity. In this qualitative participatory…

Background: Moving out of the family home is a key transition for people with intellectual disabilities and their families. Yet there has been little research about parents' experiences of planning the move of their young adult offspring to residential settings offering 24-hour support. Method: Interviews were conducted with eleven parents whose…

Overrepresentation in exclusionary school discipline is extensively documented for certain groups of students, particularly students of colour and those with disability, yet while these groups may overlap, policies that aim to address disproportionality tend to consider equity factors in isolation. The majority of research on overrepresentation,…

Purpose: Caregivers share critical insight during their child's stuttering evaluation; yet, there have been no empirical studies evaluating whether caregivers provide similar accounts of their 3- to 6-year-old child's communication attitude compared to their child's self-report. This study examined caregiver- and child-reported communication…

Purpose: This study examined the language and nonverbal inhibitory control skills of Italian monolingual and bilingual typically developing (TD) preschoolers with Italian as their second language and of age-matched monolingual and bilingual peers with developmental language disorder (DLD). Method: Four groups of preschoolers were enrolled: 30 TD…

In South Africa, many children with extensive support needs--including children who require AAC--are accommodated in care centers rather than the public schooling system. Caregivers employed at these centers need training in order to support children's communication using augmentative and alternative methods. A total of 29 center-based caregivers…

The purpose of this study was to examine the ongoing issue of teachers with chronic absenteeism particularly as it relates to vulnerable student populations. For the purposes of this research, chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10 or more instructional days. The problem is the effect that chronic teacher absenteeism has on vulnerable…

Engagement behaviors are crucial for school success and are often targeted for improvement in school-based interventions. It may be helpful for both researchers and school-based practitioners to understand the likely impacts of interventions on engagement behaviors (e.g., to understand the extent to which engagement behaviors might change with…

Although college students with disabilities (SWD) represent 19% of all college students and most often access postsecondary education most often via community colleges, there is a paucity of information about topics related to SWD in community colleges in professional journals. Moreover, there is even less information in journals specific to…

Advancing teacher candidates' overall competence through use of valid teacher observation systems should be an essential element of teacher preparation. Yet, the field of special education has not provided observation protocols designed specifically for preservice teachers that are founded in theoretical perspectives and research on effective…

Background: This small study explores the lived experience of four UK-based fathers (one black British, one white Polish and two white British) caring for at least one child with a dual diagnosis of learning disability and autism. The key aim was to get as close as possible to understanding the experience of these fathers in their role as carers.…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the meaning that elite athletes with disabilities ascribe to their participation in a sport-focused disability awareness program intended for undergraduate kinesiology majors. Dignity, which is generally understood to relate to self-esteem, worth, autonomy, and respect from others, was used…

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) provide different opportunities to students with intellectual disabilities and to professionals who work with them. However, few studies address the use of collaborative learning platforms and handheld devices to enhance the integration of people with intellectual disabilities in the labour market.…

This 3-year ethnography explored the culture of the Academy of Music and Arts for Special Education (AMASE), a university undergraduate volunteer organization offering music instruction for individuals with disabilities. We examined the organization and its impact on students, parents, and volunteers through the lens of the social relational model…

Although equity, diversity, and inclusion have become increasingly important to Canadian higher education institutions, research on experiences of disability in post-secondary institutions is limited. What's more, the perspectives of disabilities from non-disabled academics far exceed that of those with disabilities. In the existing literature,…