The individualized education program (IEP) process can be difficult for many parents of children with disabilities to navigate. Analyzing qualitative data from a national, web-based survey, this study examined parent experiences during IEP meetings, as well as advice parents have for other families participating in the IEP process. Participants…

High quality family-professional partnerships promote the personal, social, and academic growth of students with disabilities. However, due to systemic barriers, such partnerships can be difficult, especially for families from low-resourced communities. Using the Sunshine Model, the purpose of this systematic literature review was to characterize…

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…

The special education literature has included a continuing line of articles and chapters that have translated for practitioners the legal meaning of the progress monitoring provisions in the successive versions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This article examines this line of publications in light of the language of the…

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…

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 increase in English learners (ELs) with disabilities has been reported by others, yet little is known about the transition planning meeting experiences of this population and their post-school expectations. This study explored transition planning experiences and post-school expectations of a nationally representative sample of ELs with…

Five experienced special educators were interviewed to learn about their experiences working in a school district with a fully developed MTSS. The interviews revealed these special educators were highly supportive of tiered supports because they provide strategic and intensive interventions for students who are behind. Nonetheless, these educators…

Family involvement is an essential component of the special education process for youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). In addition to the legal requirement that parents should be equal partners in the decision-making of the student's individualized education program (IEP) program (IDEA, 2004), a bulk of empirical research…

The person-centered individualized education program (IEP) transition planning has emerged as a primary indicator of quality services, and as a predictor for successful post-school outcomes for transition-age youth with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, these person-centered transition practices are not uniformly implemented across the…