This article provides foundational information to stimulate and facilitate assessment of the distinctive role of law in this field. For example, has the balance of costs and benefits reached the point of over-legalization? Similarly, to what extent is legal literacy essential for special education teachers and related service personnel as compared…

This guide is designed to provide important resources and recommendations to support teacher implementation of digital learning. Digital learning is defined as "any instructional practice that effectively uses technology to strengthen a student's learning experience and encompasses a wide spectrum of tools and practices." This guide will…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) funds programs providing services designed to assist children with a range of delays and disabilities in achieving individualized developmental and functional goals. There are two types of programs. Part C Early Intervention is for children ages birth-2, and Part B Preschool is for children…

Mateo was like many students, neither fluent in English nor in American Sign Language (ASL) and significantly delayed in literacy skills. At Model Secondary School for the Deaf (MSSD), he was provided with emerging signers services to develop his expressive and receptive ASL skills. He was also provided with speech and language services by a…

The purpose of this article is to discuss the major research findings associated with the reading/literacy development of students who are d/Deaf and hard of hearing (d/Dhh) in inclusive education classrooms. The conditions for developing effective literacy skills are also described. A professional review approach was utilized, and relevant…

The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) requires that decisions about a student's eligibility for special education services be based on more than one procedure. Futhermore, the reauthorization of IDEA in 2004, known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA), indicated that traditional assessments are not required…

Noting that 60 percent of both fourth and eighth graders currently struggle with reading, this report urges the U.S. Congress to focus on students' literacy development from early childhood through grade twelve as it works to rewrite of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), currently known as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). In…

Sections 9302 and 9303 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended in 2001 provide to States the option of applying for and reporting on multiple ESEA programs through a single consolidated application and report. Although a central, practical purpose of the Consolidated State Application and Report is to reduce "red…

Sections 9302 and 9303 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended in 2001 provide to States the option of applying for and reporting on multiple ESEA programs through a single consolidated application and report. Although a central, practical purpose of the Consolidated State Application and Report is to reduce "red…

Implementing new and advanced technology for instruction and access to the curriculum for the increasingly diverse student populations in schools can be a daunting task for even the most tech-savvy school personnel. This task can be even more challenging when devices, tools, and systems associated with assistive, or adaptive, technology are part…

The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004 encourages schools to use interventions to ensure that students' literacy difficulties are not instructional problems before assuming a learning disability. The law frames these interventions in two ways: as a strategy for identifying students with learning disabilities--a measurement…

Less frequently than you might expect, a court case within the booming world of special education litigation focuses on the evaluation practices of a school psychologist. The appropriateness of such practices merits comparative examination from both professional and legal perspectives. This article contains the facts for examination under these…

Evidence suggests that it is possible to substantially reduce the number of children classified as learning disabled in literacy. The 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act opens opportunities to do so through Response to Intervention (RTI). This article argues that institutional histories, structures, and…

Ecological validity is an important construct in the assessment of young children. The argument is made that using environmentally based assessment practices as well as understanding the child's ecology will help assure that assessments are carried out in an ecologically valid manner. The discussion focuses on play-based assessment,…

To be academically successful in general education classrooms, English language learners (ELLs) with learning disabilities (LD) need instruction that is simultaneously responsive to their disability, English language status, and culture. Because the majority of students with LD have reading disabilities, ESL and classroom teachers must be familiar…