Purpose: We aimed to create a comprehensive understanding of the dilemmas involved in the diagnosis of developmental language disorder (DLD) and to highlight the potential of a multidimensional spectral account of DLD for addressing these dilemmas. Method: We conducted an integrative literature review. Conclusions: Considerable gains in…

Possible symptoms of intellectual disability (ID) include delayed physical development that becomes more pronounced as the disability progresses, delayed development of gross and fine motor skills, sensory perception problems, and difficulty grasping the integrity of objects. Although there is no cure or reversal, research has shown that extensive…

This study segmented the time series of gaze behavior from nineteen children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 20 children with typical development in a face-to-face conversation. A machine learning approach showed that behavior segments produced by these two groups of participants could be classified with the highest accuracy of 74.15%.…

This study investigated the utility of four WAIS-IV Digit Span (DS) indices (traditional Reliable Digit Span [RDS], RDS-Working Memory [RDS-WM], RDS-Revised [RDS-R], and DS Age-Corrected Scaled Score [ACSS]) as embedded performance validity tests (PVTs) among a sample of 342 consecutive adults referred for neuropsychological evaluation of ADHD.…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) allows alternate pathways for school districts to identify and classify students with a specific learning disability (SLD). Response to Intervention (RtI) is one of the frameworks schools can use when eliminating the use of the discrepancy model. The premise of RtI posits that…

Extensive research has demonstrated the importance of struggling reader identification in monolingual children Compton et al. ("Journal of Educational Psychology," 102, 327-340, 2010). However, very few studies have explored identification of struggling readers in bilinguals. The aim of this study was to investigate (1) the overlap of…

The identification of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) occurs in educational and health settings. Many children with autism will only receive a classification of autism in the educational setting (Esler et al., 2022, Pettygrove et al., 2013, Wiggins et al., 2020). There is significant overlap between the early intervention offered to children with…

Feasible and accurate assessment tools developed for non-specialists are needed to scale community-based models of autism evaluation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate use of the Screening Tool for Autism in Toddlers and Young Children (STAT) when used by primary care practitioners (n = 10) across a statewide system of early diagnosis set…

Educators, families, and policy actors rely on federal and state special education law to inform many decision-making processes. Vague eligibility criteria within the laws can result in conflict between school districts and parents. Resulting due process hearing decisions can have important implications for future practice. One area of particular…

We use data from Michigan and an interrupted time series strategy to show how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted special education identifications and discontinuations. We find a substantial decrease in K-5 identifications and discontinuations during the 2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021 school years. Identifications fell by 19% and 12% in the first two…

Growing numbers of students are educated in charter schools, including students with disabilities (SWD). Prior research suggests that charter schools educate a smaller percentage of SWD than traditional public schools, leading to a special education gap between sectors. We used data from a large urban district to examine how choice, mobility, and…

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health is a biopsychosocial framework of health-related functioning designed to provide a unifying system for health care, social services, education, and policy sectors. Since its publication in 2001, the International Classification of Functioning has been used to guide clinical…

We use data from Michigan and an interrupted time series (ITS) strategy to show how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted new special education classifications and discontinuations. We find a substantial decrease in K-5 classifications and discontinuations during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years. Classifications fell by 19 and 12 percent in these…

Federal law defines eligibility for English learner (EL) classification differently for Indigenous students compared with non-Indigenous students. To be EL-eligible, non-Indigenous students are required to have a non-English primary language. Indigenous students, by contrast, can be English-dominant or English monolingual. A critical question,…

Purpose: Developmental language disorder (DLD) is a lifelong condition that when impacting educational performance is identified and serviced through U.S. schools as outlined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. A few examples of educational categories that refer to DLD are (a) speech or language impairment (S/LI) and (b) specific…