Introduction: Language can reflect bias: an 'intellectual' disability means for many people that you cannot be an academic knowledge producer; a 'learning' disability means that your education will be hampered. Like language definitions, academic practices can reflect societal biases. The social (in)justice regarding knowledge and knowledge…

In disability research, there is an increased focus on the well-being of families with a child with a disability, also known as family quality of life (FQOL). However, the well-being of families with a child with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) has not yet been explored, even though their well-being may be affected by the…

This paper aims to uncover assumptions about inclusion held by preservice teachers in physical education. The focus is on how they construct ideas about inclusion and how these constructions inform their attempts to reduce inequities and enhance inclusion in their teaching practices. A critical approach to the reflections of 41 Dutch preservice…

This paper presents evidence that students with special needs (SN) have no impact on the academic achievement of their peers in primary and secondary schools in the Netherlands. Administrative data are used on all Dutch students who are in their final grade of primary and secondary education in the years 2015-18 and student and school fixed effect…

In the Netherlands, the trend towards inclusion has led to the development of a 'To School Together' programme in which students with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) receive tailored care and education during the school day in a special classroom ('To School Together' class) within a mainstream school. Besides shared…

This article is one of the first attempts to study the mechanisms of foreign language learning by children with DLD. We test the effectiveness of a cognate intervention aiming to enhance cross-linguistic awareness of Dutch-speaking primary-school pupils with DLD, as part of their English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curriculum. The participants…

Background: Approximately 50% of all young children with a developmental language disorder (DLD) also have problems with speech production. Research on speech sound development and clinical diagnostics of speech production difficulties focuses mostly on accuracy; it relates children's phonological realizations to adult models. Contrarily to these…

This article explores the tensions between medical and pedagogical professionals involved with the classification and selection of pupils for the special day-schools for "feebleminded" children that were established from 1900 in the Netherlands to promote compulsory mass schooling's efficiency. These are set against the increasing…

Autistic children are often reported less socially connected, while recent studies show autistic children experiencing more loneliness in school than allistic (i.e. non-autistic) children, contradicting the traditional view that autistic children lack social motivation. This study aimed to understand individual differences in how social…

The papers in the special series describe the role of data-based decision-making (DBDM) in improving the outcomes of students with learning disabilities based on research across Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States. The articles address multiple aspects of a model of DBDM that includes the role of teacher knowledge, skills, beliefs, and…

Assessment and monitoring of safety in special education schools is imperative to establish and maintain a safe environment in which students can develop academic and social-emotional skills. The present study describes the development of a student self-report measure, the Safe at School questionnaire. Factorial validity, reliability and…

Recently, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reported that although countries around the world must ensure that students with disabilities receive free, inclusive, and appropriate education, students with disabilities are less likely to complete primary or secondary school in many countries. Though this…

Background and Context: In order to fully include learners with visual impairments in early programming education, it is necessary to gain insight into specificities regarding their experience of and approach to abstract computational concepts. Objective: In this study, we use the model of the layers of abstraction to explore how learners with…

The current research investigated the effectiveness of a narrative intervention method aiming to improve oral narrative ability in 8- to 10-year-old children with developmental language disorder (DLD) (n = 6). Oral narrative ability was assessed through a narrative retelling and a narrative generation task of which both the narrative…

Individuals with autism increasingly enroll in universities, but researchers know little about how their study progresses over time towards degree completion. This exploratory population study uses structural equation modeling to examine patterns in study progression and degree completion of bachelor's students with autism spectrum disorder (n =…