Each year, instead of living with a parent or legal guardian, thousands of students live on their own or reside with someone who serves as a caregiver. The caregiver may be a relative, friend, school employee, or other individual. Some caregivers provide little to no support for youth staying with them, while others, especially with younger…

Collaboration with caregivers and between disciplines and agencies is a recommended practice in the field of early intervention and early childhood special education (EI/ECSE) as well as required by federal legislation for young children with disabilities. Review of relevant literature suggests that collaboration entails a complex set of…

The purpose of this article is to compel educators to think critically about how the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a prominent school-based legislation in the United States, and caregiver/parental participation relate to each other and to equity in special education outcomes. I use two illustrative case studies to show how…

Although special education and its legal provisions under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) were designed to support all children with disabilities, it has created a litigious and bureaucratic environment that further marginalizes disabled and labeled children of color and their families. Falling short of a collaborative…

To date, there has been little research into the school's practices that influence caregiver involvement in the education of students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) that gives voice to both families and teachers, and little research has used a mixed-methods approach. In contrast to those studies that mainly concentrate on qualitative inquiry…

Factitious disorder by proxy (FDP), historically known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy, is a diagnosis applied to parents and other caregivers who intentionally feign, exaggerate, and/or induce illness or injury in a child to get attention from health professionals and others. A review of the recent literature and our experience as consultants…

This manual was designed primarily for use by people with disabilities. The hope is that it is also useful for families, as well as service coordinators and providers who directly assist families and individuals with disabilities. The focus of this manual is to provide easy-to-read information about available resources, and to provide immediate…

Collaboration with parents and caregivers to support young children's communication development is an important component to early intervention services. Coaching parents to implement communication support strategies is increasingly common in parent-implemented interventions, but few studies examine the process as well as the outcomes. We explored…

This manual was designed primarily for use by individuals with developmental disabilities and related conditions. It is hoped that it is also useful for families, as well as service coordinators and providers who directly assist families and individuals with developmental disabilities. The focus of this manual is to provide easy-to-read…

This review identifies research-based definitions of ideal collaborative relationships between special education professionals and culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) families of children with disabilities, examines research on actual collaboration with such families, and makes recommendations regarding improvement of such collaboration.…

Purpose: This study tested the accuracy with which the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories, Level III (CDI-III), a parent report measure of language ability, discriminated children with language impairment from those developing language typically. Method: Parents of 58 children, 49 with typically developing language (age 30 to 42…

Since the mid-1970s, with the passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act ("Sec. 504"), special education became highly legalized. Although it is universally agreed that the best way to avoid and resolve disputes is through informal communication and cooperation between…

Published for over a decade, this directory continues to be a successful, sought-after resource, providing valuable information to professionals, families, and individuals in the learning disabilities community. Supported by the National Center for Learning Disabilities, this 2011 edition brings together the most up-to-date information on LD…

The authors discuss special challenges faced by older adults with intellectual disabilities. The 2004 report from The President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities (PCPID) stated that in 1970 only about eleven percent of people with intellectual disabilities in the United States were over 55. It is expected that by 2040 the…