Parents of children with disabilities are an important part of their child's special education team. However, parents often have limited involvement in school-based therapies that are provided as part of a child's Individualized Education Program. The field lacks tools to assess the domain and extent of parent needs for optimal engagement in their…

We examined the theoretical factor structure fit and psychometric properties of the "Transition Assessment and Goal Generator" (TAGG). In the first study, 349 transition-aged students with disabilities, their special educators, and family members completed TAGG assessments, and using exploratory factor analysis (EFA)/confirmatory factor…

In accordance with federal reporting requirements mandated by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) must report annually on 20 performance indicators related to the provision of special education services to children…

The Self-Efficacy Parent-Report Scale was designed to assess parent perceptions of self-efficacy of their children aged 7 to 17 years. Internal aspects of validity indicated a marginal fit of the data to the unidimensional model. External facets of validity indicated the Self-Efficacy Parent-Report Scale had excellent convergent and discriminant…

In accordance with federal reporting requirements mandated by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) must report annually on 20 performance indicators related to the provision of special education services to children…

In accordance with federal reporting requirements mandated by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) must report annually on 20 performance indicators related to the provision of special education services to children…

There is general agreement in the field of school psychology that revised versions of tests should be adopted in a timely manner, and that to do otherwise is poor practice. This would seem to be in accord with the intent, if not the explicit wording, of ethical and professional guidelines. But does this mean that practitioners should always, and…

This article demonstrates how the broad and narrow abilities and processes that comprise Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory and their relations to specific academic outcomes have begun to transform our current understanding of the definition of and methods for identifying specific learning disability (SLD), particularly in the school setting. The…

By the end of the kindergarten, students are expected to possess early academic skills as well as the social maturity to be successful in first grade. Students leaving kindergarten without these readiness skills are sometimes held back in first grade or referred for a special education evaluation in later grades if they fail to make adequate…

Response to Intervention (RTI) models of diagnosis and intervention are being implemented rapidly throughout the schools. The purposes of invoking an RTI model for disabilities in the schools clearly are laudable, yet close examination reveals an unappreciated paucity of empirical support for RTI and an overly optimistic view of its practical,…

In recent years, U.S. schools have seen a growth in the number of special education paraprofessionals employed to serve special education students as well as a growth in the roles these individuals are expected to play in schools. In addition, with passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and the Individuals with Disabilities…

The reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) established new provisions for specific learning disability (SLD) identification, including: (a) no longer requiring consideration of IQ-achievement discrepancy and (b) permitting response to intervention (RTI) as part of SLD evaluation procedures. We discuss several…

Conventional wisdom in the area of assessment strongly supports the notion that instruments used for vocational or career decision-making purposes should possess sound psychometric properties. This study is a preliminary attempt to examine the reliability and validity of three important career decision-making measures administered to high school…

The policies underlying the specific learning disability (SLD) regulations in the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) are analyzed. The analysis focuses on the Response-to-Intervention (RTI) provision ("if the child responds to scientific, research-based intervention") as a diagnostic model,…

Responsiveness to intervention (RTI) is being proposed as an alternative model for making decisions about the presence or absence of specific learning disability. We argue that many questions about RTI remain unanswered, and that radical changes in the proposed regulations are not warranted at this time. Since many fundamental issues related to…