African American and Hispanic students receive more punitive school discipline than White students even when students of color commit similar infractions as Whites. Similarly, students with a disability status are more likely to experience harsher discipline in schools compared to their counterparts without a disability label. This study examines…

Given the emphasis on promoting self-determination in the field of special education and the corresponding use of scales to measure self-determination in research and practice, it is important to examine whether widely used self-determination assessments measure the same constructs among and between students from different disability categories.…

Youth with disabilities are disproportionately represented in juvenile justice populations and their education-related outcomes and rates of high school graduation are poor. This study examined academic characteristics of youth with and without disabilities ("N" = 4,066) and reports on the education-related outcomes of these youth 3…

The authors examined the role of early adverse experiences, mental health problems, and disabilities in the prediction of juvenile delinquency and recidivism, using a matched-control group design. The delinquent group comprised 99,602 youth, born between 1981 and 1988, whose cases had been processed by the South Carolina Department of Juvenile…

Disciplinary exclusion practices are on the rise nationally, as are concerns about their disproportionate use and lack of effectiveness. This study used data from the Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study to examine patterns and predictors of disciplinary exclusion over time. Students with emotional/behavioral disorders were most likely…

Promoting student self-determination has emerged as a key component of recommended practices in the field of secondary transition. This article examined the self-determination prospects of 196 youth with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), learning disabilities (LD), and mild/moderate cognitive disabilities (CD) using the "AIR…

Suspension and expulsion are widely used to exclude students with and without disabilities who present problem behaviors in school, despite contentious legal debate and evidence associating these methods with high ecological stress and problematic developmental outcomes. Using selected participant data (N = 1,824) from the SEELS study, the study…

A study compared academic progress over 5 years for 61 children with learning disabilities (LD) and 42 children with emotional and behavioral disorders. Findings indicated students with LD made significant progress over time in reading, and this progress was associated with receiving less full-time special education services. (Contains…

Students (n=87) with conduct disorders revealed higher self-ratings and teacher ratings in depression and anxiety than students with learning disabilities (LD) or no disabilities. LD students (n=85) did not self-rate as more depressed and anxious than nondisabled children but received higher depression ratings from teachers. Gender, age, and…

The adjustment of individuals with mild disabilities one and three years after high school graduation was studied. The comparison of individuals with behavioral disorders (n=24), learning disabilities (n=374), and mental disabilities (n=75) assessed employment status, job status, and other variables, such as involvement in postsecondary education…