With the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education (Improvement) Act (IDEA) in 2004, local education agencies (LEAs) were no longer required to employ an IQ-achievement discrepancy model in the identification of a specific learning disability (SLD). Rather, districts were permitted to use data from a Response to Intervention…

Many students identified with a specific learning disability (SLD) experience difficulty with mathematical problem solving. Schema-based instruction (SBI) is identified as a promising practice for students with a SLD. The current projects aimed to tests the efficacy of SBI implemented by a teacher under routine conditions. This extends prior…

Part C of The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, first passed in 1986, created a federal mandate for states to provide early intervention as an entitled service for children from birth to age 3 who are eligible based on delay, disability, or risk factors. Coaching the caregiver (e.g., parent) rather than child-focused therapy…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act requires that functional behavior assessments be conducted under certain circumstances for students with disabilities. Functional assessments may include indirect assessments (e.g., rating scales, interviews), direct-descriptive assessments (e.g., direct observations with conditional…

The purpose of the White Paper is to provide additional information for and guidance to the federal government, professional organizations, practitioners, and the public. The Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA) is hopeful that this document will facilitate legal, regulatory, policy, and training decisions, and ultimately, service…

Special education disproportionality for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students persists as a controversial and intractable problem in our educational systems. Response to intervention (RtI) and culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP), both independently and collectively are considered to offer promise for mitigating conditions of…

After the change in IDEIA, different models of response to intervention (RtI) have been practiced widely in American school systems. School psychologists are in an important position to facilitate RtI practice and provide professional development in order to help their school systems successfully undergo this transformation. However, there is a…

Special education programs are increasingly serving students with disabilities who are English language learners and their families. Facilitating bilingualism is an effective practice and aligns with culturally responsive special education service provision. It is critical for special educators and service providers to learn about bilingualism,…

Part C of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) of 2004 requires early intervention teams craft individualized and effective plans to meet the needs of young children with special needs and their families (Küpper, 2012). Many early intervention teams, however, may struggle to follow a process that results in…

Over the past 20 years, punitive approaches and policies similar to those of the criminal justice system have become prominent in our schools. These local, state, and federal education and public safety policies serve to remove students from the educational environment and channel them into the criminal justice system. This phenomenon is often…

This article examines teacher concerns during the implementation of response to intervention at a small, rural elementary school. The Stages of Concern Questionnaire (George, Hall, & Stiegelbauer, 2008) was administered three times over the course of the academic year to 46 teachers and school staff. The hypothesis was that teacher concerns…

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…

Response to Intervention (RTI) has become the gateway to identification for many students with specific learning disabilities. Those include students in the 17 states that require RTI as the source of eligibility data as well as many students in the 33 states that allow districts to choose RTI among other options (e.g., discrepancy). There is…

Academic expectations are often antecedents for various types of inappropriate classroom behavior for students with challenging behavior. Effective interventions for managing these behaviors must involve techniques that combat academic refusal. Addressing the underlying issues of resistance or refusal to perform academically in school using…

The increasing prevalence of homelessness among young children and families in the United States is described, as is the developmental impact on young children and cost to society. Although services are mandated for this population under the McKinney­-Vento Act, Education of Homeless Children and Youth Program, and the Individuals With…