Purpose: This review article introduces research methods for personalization of intervention. Our goals are to review evidence-based practices for improving social communication impairment in children with autism spectrum disorder generally and then how these practices can be systematized in ways that personalize intervention, especially for…

Hospital emergency rooms document approximately 500,000 traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) in children and adolescents aged 0-14 annually; these prevalence rates do not include those learners evaluated in primary care facilities nor those never evaluated by medical professionals. In this chapter, information on TBI and its effect on learners is…

The present article examines the development of a diagnostic and therapeutic technique named The Sandtray at the Erica Foundation, a privately-run child counselling service in Stockholm. Originally it was called The World, developed by the British paediatrician and child psychiatrist Margaret Lowenfeld. In the 1930s it was imported to Sweden,…

In this review, a conceptualization of oppositional defiant (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD) is presented according to which social learning processes in these disorders are affected by neurocognitive dysfunctions. Neurobiological studies in ODD and CD suggest that the ability to make associations between behaviors and negative and positive…

Data indicate children with traumatic brain injury (TBI), especially those with mild TBI (mTBI), represent a significant population within the U.S. school system. Yet, many school professionals report little or no formal coursework for training on the needs of children post-TBI, have minimal or no experience working with children post-TBI, and…

The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 boosted the rights of parents of children with additional support needs (ASN) by improving access to information, instituting a Code of Practice and establishing new redress mechanisms such as the ASN Tribunal and independent mediation. More than a decade later, Scottish…

A cornerstone of special education practice is customising instruction to meet individual students' needs. Individual education programs (IEPs) are used in many countries to document the manner in which such instruction is customised and to provide a record of student outcomes. Using 2009 data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children,…

The study described in this report examined whether the use of "daily report cards" ("DRCs") in elementary school classrooms improved behavior and academic achievement among students diagnosed with combined inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and comorbid oppositional defiant…

The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) recognizes the current challenges faced by states and schools relative to the provision of high-quality intervener services for children who are deaf-blind. To respond to these challenges, OSEP asked the National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB) to conduct an…

Family-Centered Intensive Case Management, a New York State-sponsored research demonstration project, empowers and supports families of children with serious emotional disturbance, by providing respite care, flexible funding, parent support groups, and behavior management skills training. The project found that, given intensive and individualized…

Bearing in mind the requirements of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation, Louisiana's Steering Committee projected performance targets through the year 2014 for the important areas of: (1) Graduation with a Diploma; (2) Dropout Rate; (3) Placement, ages 6-21 and ages 3-5; (4) Achievement Performance Levels, and (5) Discipline. Annual gains were…

The reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), signed on December 3, 2004, required that, not later than one year after the date of enactment of the reauthorized IDEA, each state is required to have in place a performance plan evaluating the state's implementation of Part B and describing how the state will improve such…

Discusses the development and preliminary evaluation of an experimental statewide system of services in North Carolina for seriously behaviorally/emotionally disturbed adolescents. The program successfully provides these youngsters with appropriate treatment, education, training, and care suited to their individual needs, including community-based…

The report describes a site visit to the Seven Counties Services Region in Kentucky to identify and document promising practices for serving people with severe disabilities in integrated community-based services. The regional agency serves Jefferson, Oldham, Henry, Trimble, Spencer, Bullitt and Shelby Counties. Regional service priorities have…

A national survey of parents (n=240) newly referred to Parent to Parent programs was conducted. These programs match an experienced parent of a special needs child in a one-to-one relationship with a newly referred parent. Newly referred parents preferred a wide range of supports, with the child's age and severity of disability affecting the need…