We use critical qualitative methods to demonstrate how ambiguities present in definitions of learning disability (LD) and processes for determining LD eligibility under IDEA result in inequitable outcomes for minoritized students. To investigate this issue, we first outline how the LD label is situated within medical and psychological…

Processing Strengths and Weaknesses (PSW) models have been proposed as a method for identifying specific learning disabilities. Three PSW models were examined for their ability to predict expert identified specific learning disabilities cases. The Dual Discrepancy/Consistency Model (DD/C; Flanagan, Ortiz, & Alfonso, 2013) as operationalized by…

Students with disabilities often struggle with grade-level mathematics without appropriate support and accommodations. This study compared the performance of middle school students with disabilities on computational-based mathematics assessments when they had access to calculators and when they did not. Using a single-case ABAB design, data were…

IDEA 2004 opened the door for states, and in some cases districts, to choose among three different methods for identifying children with Specific Learning Disabilities (SLDs). This study provides an in-depth look at SLD identification practices in a state that allows school psychologists to use any of the three methods. Eighty-four school…

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…

The current study focuses on the effects of incorporating multiple visual representations on students' conceptual understanding of quadratic expressions embedded within area word problems and students' procedural fluency of transforming quadratic expressions in standard form to factored-form and vice versa. The intervention included the…

Assistive Technology (AT) is specifically addressed in the most recent reauthorization of IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004). The law insures that assistive devices and services are available for students with disabilities to help them access their environment at home, school, and in the work place. Therefore,…

In 1970, this first program supporting college students with language-based learning disabilities was a radical pioneer. While an exemplar for 40 years, there are fresh challenges today in the form of competition for diminished numbers of 18 year olds. To better understand what helps and what matters to students, research needs to go beyond most…

This study examined the effectiveness of the application of the Professional Development School (PDS) Model (Holmes Group, 1986), to an alternative special education (SPED) credential program designed to prepare SPED teachers (for culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse urban K-12 schools and to ease SPED teachers shortages within our…

Using data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2, this article examines the postsecondary education participation of a nationally representative sample of young adults with learning disabilities who received services in secondary school under IDEA. The following points are discussed: 1) enrollment in postsecondary education and the…

Focus group interviews and individual interviews were conducted with 47 faculty members and administrators in a rural school district in Western Pennsylvania to determine strategies for consideration when attempting to establish and implement a co-teaching program. Participants were part of a school district in its second year of adopting a…

This study examined the relationship between GPAs and attendance at individualized tutoring sessions for 530 students with learning disabilities enrolled in a student support program. Student GPA and attendance records for individualized tutoring sessions identified two groups: four or fewer and five or more no shows over a nine-semester period.…

In this study focus group interviews were conducted with educational administrators to examine how the inclusion of students with learning disabilities has changed their professional lives in ways they did not expect, and how inclusion has changed the lives of students with learning disabilities and the lives of other students in their schools in…

This article discusses court cases and other sources on each of four major topics regarding federal disability discrimination laws and claims made by post-secondary students with learning disabilities: (a) Which students are entitled to the protection of the statutes, (b) What if any deference should be afforded academic institutions in their…

Eighty-five college graduates with learning disabilities rated their general knowledge and understanding of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as it relates to hiring and employment practices. Half to two-thirds of respondents reported being unaware or poorly informed on all questions. Only half reported receiving ADA information and…