This essay provides a two-pronged critical assessment of a subset of the literature on racial disproportionality in special education: that which aims to estimate racial disparities among otherwise similar children. This body of research has shown that Black students are less likely than "comparable" White students to receive special…

Hospital emergency rooms document approximately 500,000 traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) in children and adolescents aged 0-14 annually; these prevalence rates do not include those learners evaluated in primary care facilities nor those never evaluated by medical professionals. In this chapter, information on TBI and its effect on learners is…

Individualised education programmes (IEP) will be practiced with children with special needs (CWSN) and their families. The main factor for IEP's success is the participation of the family and also, their children. In this study, views and suggestions about participation of families of CWSN in their IEP processes are examined. The research is…

There are a variety of services and supports in Minnesota for children and youth with autism who are age 0-21. These include services and supports provided by state agencies, including the Minnesota Department of Human Services, Minnesota Department of Education, Minnesota Department of Health, and the Minnesota Department of Employment and…

Individuals who serve as surrogate parents fulfill an important role in the life of a child with a disability. Surrogates have become increasingly important in special education because a growing number of children are living outside their family for some period of their lives. Like parents, surrogates of children with disabilities are granted a…

In 2007, the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) law was passed in Minnesota mandating newborn hearing screening. Recognizing that a number of state-level agencies and statewide advocacy and direct services organizations share responsibility for serving deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing children and youth, the Minnesota Commission…

Parental grief reactions have typically been examined in situations where parents have a child diagnosed with a major medical or mental health condition. This study used the grief and loss model as conceptualized by Kubler-Ross (1969), Lamb (1988), and Kubler-Ross and Kessler (2005) as a foundation in examining parental reactions when a child has…

The reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), signed on December 3, 2004, required that, not later than one year after the date of enactment of the reauthorized IDEA, each state is required to have in place a performance plan evaluating the state's implementation of Part B and describing how the state will improve such…

This booklet provides an overview of autism and discusses strategies for living and working with children with autism. The first section of the guide, "Understanding the Problem," addresses the characteristics of autism, including social symptoms, language difficulties, repetitive behaviors and obsessions, sensory symptoms, and unusual…