As key members of the Individualised Education Program (IEP) team and strong child advocates, parents play a critical role in special education. In this study, we sought to understand a crucial, yet underexamined, aspect of special education -- parent perceptions regarding student participation in IEP development. Specifically, we asked parents…

Teaching children with individualized education programs (IEPs) can pose challenges such as determining materials to use, managing the materials, and keeping data organized. This paper reviews those challenges that teachers (e.g., general and special education) encounter and describes the necessity for systematic data collection. Guidelines are…

Educators and families develop individualized education programs (IEPs) to address unique needs of individual students with disabilities. Addressing all student needs is critical to ensuring students receive a free and appropriate public education. To understand how IEP teams address the needs of students with complex support needs, we examined…

The purpose of this interview-based qualitative study was to explore how individualized education program (IEP) team members determine least restrictive environment and educational placement. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires students with disabilities to be educated in the least restrictive environment and to the…

Parent input in individualized education program (IEP) development is the clear expectation in U.S. education law. Every IEP team must include parents, and their input must be equally considered when developing IEPs. The present study used content analysis of 88 IEPs of students with intellectual and developmental disabilities to explore team…

Parents, teachers, and administrators report concerns and challenges related to the transition from early intervention (EI) to preschool for children who are deaf/hard-of-hearing. The goal of the current article is to assist teachers, administrators, and specialists involved in the transition of a young child who is deaf/hard-of-hearing from EI…

As schools seek to bridge the cultural and linguistic gap between special educators and students at the intersections of learning and language, the case described in this article illustrates how educators can continue to apply one of the key tenets of special education, the strengths-based approach. The hegemony of English has become so pervasive…

Parent involvement in the development of an individualized education program (IEP) is a foundational tenet of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Unfortunately, mothers, the parent most likely to attend the IEP meeting, often report negative perceptions and even feelings of disillusion with the IEP process. Including mothers as…

Special education professionals serve as facilitators of Individualized Education Plan (IEP) team meetings. As special educators serve on many IEP teams during the course of an academic year, and as the member composition for each team varies, facilitators are confronted with a unique set of challenges to managing successful meetings. In this…

Good coordination among school staff and families leads to increased learning quality and academic success for students with special education needs and disabilities (SEND). This pilot study aims to investigate the use of mobile technology for the coordination of therapy and learning for students with SEND. This study first follows a participatory…

Special education professionals serve as facilitators of Individualized Education Program (IEP) team meetings. This study explores how facilitators see their IEP meeting roles and probes further into how IEP facilitators envision an ideal IEP meeting in school districts with rural schools. Findings indicate that facilitators see their roles in…

Autistic children comprise a large group of young people who are looked-after by their local authority and for whom educational outcomes are amongst the poorest of all children in care. Virtual School Heads (VSHs) in England have a statutory responsibility to improve the educational outcomes of children in care following the implementation of the…

Developing culturally responsive and relevant individualized educational programs (IEP) is becoming increasingly more important as the student population becomes more diverse. Current supports available for IEP teams primarily address the technical aspects of the IEP (e.g., writing goals that are measurable) but offer little assistance in…

Although varying among and within the states, the percentage of students with 504 plans is steadily and significantly increasing as a national average. Although the professional literature addresses the legal standards for eligibility for 504 plans, it has not provided up-to-date information to practitioners as to the legal standard for the…

Many refugee students with disabilities are entering their American classrooms for the first time after experiencing adversity and trauma. They may have experienced famine, war, displacement, forced migration and abuse. One can also presume that their special education needs were neglected due to the limited resources that were available to them.…