All New Hampshire public school districts must provide access to a free appropriate public education for preschool-aged children with an identified disability under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part B. Children identified under IDEA Part B have an Individualized Education Program (IEP) to support their learning. Some…

The implementation of prereferral models was being discussed in educational literature as early as 1979. Over the past decade, schools in the United States have begun to adopt prereferral models to meet multiple goals, such as reducing inappropriate referrals to special education, supporting students who face academic and behavioral challenges,…

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework for designing lessons that is grounded in data and recognized as best practice under IDEA and ESSA. The use of the method allows for greater intervention with students socially, emotionally, and academically. UDL allows intentional and purposeful work with populations that are normally…

Pediatric inflammatory bowel disease is on the rise. School psychologists must understand the significant physical, emotional, and psychological effects of this condition to be effective advocates for students and their families, and to conduct well-informed, comprehensive evaluations for this population. This article discusses the academic,…

It is the position of the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) that restraint and seclusion should not be used in the school setting as a routine form of discipline. Restraints and seclusion should only be used when the child's behavior poses an imminent danger of serious physical harm to self or others (United States Department of…

The objective of this inspection was to determine what steps the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) has taken to implement its final regulations on significant disproportionality in special education. The inspection found that OSERS provided general guidance and technical assistance for State educational agencies…

Purpose: The purpose of this review article is to conduct a critical analysis of state-level policies focusing on the provision of speech-language therapy and special education to children and youth who are racialized emergent bilinguals (REBs) suspected or labeled as dis/abled. Method: We analyzed the state-level policies focusing on…

Developing the ability to summarize written text is a critical literacy skill set for adolescent students with disabilities. Four female students at-risk for emotional and behavioral disorders in a U.S. juvenile justice facility were taught the TRAP+IDEAS mnemonic using the self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) instructional approach to…

Purpose: New policy proposals to increase funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)--including recent efforts by the Biden-Harris administration to "fully fund" IDEA--bring a new sense of urgency to understanding how federal special education dollars are distributed among states. In this study, we evaluate…

Students who are Black or Hispanic are now reported to be less likely to be identified as having disabilities than similarly situated students who are White. Although repeatedly replicated, this finding is often characterized as in error. I use a new statistical technique, the E-value, to quantify the likelihood that unmeasured confounding…

Today, and on any given day in the U.S., tens of thousands of students are attending school behind bars. Juvenile justice education fails many of these students, resulting in a double punishment for youth: the punitive experience of incarceration for their alleged offense and the potentially catastrophic disruptions of their educational pathway.…

Students with disabilities (SWDs) are more likely to be suspended or expelled than their general education peers and more likely to be chronically absent. This study uses 5 years of student-level data for all Michigan special education students to examine the relationship between educational setting, absenteeism, and disciplinary outcomes. Using…

Occupational therapy practitioners working in school settings must articulate their distinct value in supporting student participation and educational performance. Using a systems-level practice, they weave their knowledge and skills as leaders at the district-, building-, classroom-, and student-levels to achieve "health, well-being, and…

While the COVID-19 pandemic affected the education of nearly all schoolchildren worldwide, pandemic-related school closures did not affect all children in equal ways. Between March and August, 2020, I interviewed 31 parents of children with disabilities as part of a larger interview study of U.S. parents of children in grades K-12. In this…

Historically, schools across the nation have struggled to address significant racial or ethnic disproportionality, including overrepresentation in exclusionary discipline practices, special education identification, and restrictive educational placements. The federal government has mandated that local education agencies monitor and address…