Special education stands at a pivotal juncture, confronting both existential challenges and transformational opportunities. The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) is not upholding its mandate of promoting the Individualized Education Program (IEP). I underscore the centrality of the IEP in the…

Since the introduction of response-to-intervention as a process for identifying specific learning disabilities and the widespread adoption of multi-tiered systems of support as a framework for instructional delivery, the role of the special educator has become blurred. Specifically, special educators have struggled to identify their role across…

Social policies can be well-intentioned but ineffective in achieving what is intended. They can be undermined or destroyed by their exaggerated or oversimplified caricatures with a single, narrow focus. Caricatures may result in the opposite of the original intent of more carefully crafted variants. Institutionalization and deinstitutionalization…

In 1974, the Education for all Handicapped Protection Act was signed into law by President Gerald Ford. This law which was renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1990, established a federal entitlement to special education for eligible students with disabilities. In 1982 and again in 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court…

The decades-long assault on principles of special education--some knowingly, such as the regular education initiative, and some unknowingly, such as certain presumptions and practices of full inclusion--have consequences that may negatively affect the future of the field. Protracted criticisms on the character, role, and legitimacy of traditional…

Legally, the ultimate criterion for eligibility under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is whether the child needs special education. A new decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals suggests that providing various interventions and accommodations in general education might mean that a child who meets the criteria for any…

Education and human service organizations providing services to people with intellectual and closely related developmental disabilities are increasingly being impacted by the supports paradigm, the quality of life concept, and the evaluation of personal outcomes. In this article the authors discuss the relationship among these three areas,…

We suggest that special education could die among common myths about it. That is, special education could cease to exist, at least as we know it, because its true nature and requirements for its functioning are misunderstood. We discuss only 12 common myths about special education, recognizing that there are many more myths and that the ones we…

Assessment of students with disabilities is a critical component of special education. In addition to the complexity of assessment (e.g., high-stakes assessments, progress monitoring, diagnosis), the issue is complicated further by the use of acronyms. This can make both explaining and understanding important information related to students very…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that students with disabilities be educated with peers without disabilities "to the maximum extent appropriate." When the individualized education program (IEP) team is reviewing the student's current performance, establishing the student's goals, and determining the services that the…