Historically, minority students have been overrepresented in special education programming in the United States (Fletcher, 2014; Wright & Wright, 2021). This study describes how several external historical, theoretical, and practical factors beyond academic challenges impact special education qualification rates for minority students compared…

Despite changes in laws and access to education, individuals with disabilities continue to have fewer positive postsecondary outcomes than their non-disabled peers (Shogren et al., 2015). Negative secondary and postsecondary outcomes for individuals with disabilities include failure to graduate from high school, lack of postsecondary education,…

The goal of counselor training programs is to equip graduates to work with a wide variety of clients with diverse backgrounds, cultures, and identities. Multicultural competence is a required part of the 2016 CACREP (Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs) Standards, but disability lacks equitable inclusion in…

As the culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) student enrollment continues to grow exponentially in New York, the number of CLD students being inappropriately identified with disabilities also continues to grow at an alarming rate. This situation, labeled as disproportionality, is due to a variety of factors. One of the main factors is the…

Little research has been devoted to the study of parent centers serving culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) families of children with disabilities. Community Parent Resource Centers (CPRCs), provide information and emotional supports to families from traditionally underserved communities. The traditionally underserved for the most part are…

With the number of international students at American universities increasing, it is imperative to understand their needs and to identify potential disabilities or challenges, in spite of cultural variations. In response, the goal of this thesis was to explore if there was a difference in how American students versus Middle Eastern (ME) students…

Family outcomes are important to the provision of services because families are increasingly considered as the primarily support unit for children with developmental disabilities. With emphasis on positivity and multidimensionality of the life of families who have children with disabilities, this study aimed to expand the applicability of the…

Teacher preparation programs are exploring opportunities to better prepare pre-service teachers for the realities of managing inclusion classrooms. The ability to manage a classroom while meeting the learning needs of all students is critical to the success of a teacher. Research suggests that a teacher's positive attitudes toward inclusion and…

The IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act) 2004 was designed to ensure that every child with special needs is receiving adequate services. Unfortunately implementation is often problematic. Although the law recognizes the importance of family-professional collaboration in deciding intervention services, cultural differences…

The purpose of this research was to identify specific clinical skills in speech-language pathologists (SLPs) that may constitute cultural competency, a term which currently lacks operational definition. Through qualitative interview methods, the following research questions were addressed: (1) What dominant themes, if any, can be found in SLPs'…

Semi-structured interviews using Cognitive Interview method techniques were conducted with nine Culturally and Linguistically Diverse parents of students with disabilities in this exploratory study. Parents recalled experiences asking questions and making advocacy statements at Individualized Education Program meetings. Four major findings were…

The purpose of this researcher was to develop an understanding of how parents are involved in their special education child's learning and to explore possible differences in parental engagement across age or grade levels (kindergarten through fifth grade) and cultural backgrounds. This researcher focused on Hispanic/Latino, Asian, and African…

Considerable research exists on the importance of self-determination in the transition of students with disabilities from high school. Much of this research has focused on conditions in the family that may nurture and support the development of self-determined motivation. These conditions, as described by Self-Determination Theory, include support…

This study seeks to determine whether Chinese-American Families having a child with disabilities experience different needs and expected early intervention family outcomes from families from the mainstream culture. The Researcher used different qualitative research techniques to examine Chinese-American Families who have children with…

This qualitative study examined instructional assistants' (IAs) and teachers' perceptions of culturally responsive and quality instructional practices for young children, especially those from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds and those who might have disabilities from low socioeconomic families, in Head Start classrooms. In…