In 1987, James Ysseldyke made an open call in Exceptional Children, asking for manuscript submissions that addressed issues and concerns of culturally diverse learners. Over 30 years have passed since that call, and research with this population remains limited. Approximately 9% of the K-12 special education population nationwide is composed of…

The purpose of this research was to explore parent perceptions concerning their involvement in their children's special education. The goal of this study was to better understand why some parents become involved while others do not. Survey methodology was utilized to determine parent perceptions of (a) levels of parent and children's participation…

Overrepresentation of African American students in special education has been related to the unfavorable academic outcomes and achievement gap for these students. In a search for a comprehensive account of the roots of these perpetuating concerns, narrative skills are of importance because of their relation to reading achievement and school…

Reading Recovery, a meaning-based reading program designed for young children at risk of reading failure, is widely implemented across the United States. We discuss the recent Reading Recovery $45 million four-year i3-funded scaleup study that was designed to "cover the expansion of Reading Recovery around the U.S." (May, Sirinides,…

This qualitative study examined teachers' experiences with an arts integration curriculum. This study considered the teachers' perceptions of arts integrations before and after being introduced to the concepts of arts integration. The teachers were provided with knowledge and tools to integrate the arts into general education curriculum and…

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…

Self-regulated strategy development instruction or SRSD is a method developed for teaching students how and what to think while writing. SRSD instruction for the persuasive writing strategy POW (Pick my idea, Organize notes, Write and Say more) + TREE (Topic sentence, Reasons, Explain reasons, Ending) helps students by teaching them to develop…

The National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities (NJCLD) affirms that the construct of learning disabilities represents a valid, unique, and heterogeneous group of disorders, and that recognition of this construct is essential for sound policy and practice. An extensive body of scientific research on learning disabilities continues to support…

This article reviews recent research in math problem solving for students with learning disabilities. Two recently published syntheses of research on mathematics by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) are used as frameworks for interpreting this body of work. A significant amount of the work in special education over the last decade is…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA 2004) requires that each local education agency provide a transition summary document, commonly called a Summary of Performance (SOP), to all special education students who are graduating with a regular diploma or reaching the maximum age for services. However, other than specifying…

In order to gain access to accommodations and services at colleges and universities, students with learning disabilities must provide documentation of their disabilities, and as students with learning disabilities access higher education at increasing rates, the need for documentation of their disabilities and its impact becomes even more…

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…

To most people in the author's profession of Special Education, the "D" means "disabilities." At The Lab School of Washington, the "D" means "different"--learning "differently" and teaching "differently." Sally Smith, the founder of the school, had this uncanny ability to see things in her staff that they could not. The year the author graduated…

The law clearly states how assistive technology is to be used for children with learning disabilities. This article focuses upon the different types of technology that can be used for children with learning disabilities and provides an overview of the different types of technology available. (Contains 4 tables.)

Students with learning disabilities are not receiving "special" education, which is based on the core principles of intensive, relentless, structured, appropriately paced instruction in small groups with frequent monitoring of each student's progress. We believe that the diminution of special education for students with learning…