One in three young adults with autism or developmental disability have never been employed within eight years of their leaving high school (Newman et al., 2011). These students graduate from schools and may then work with multiple services providers across agencies. Collaboration between these agencies is critical. This case study describes the…

School leaders and special educators are expected to be experts on all levels and types of special education law and services, types of disability, and aspects of academic and functional programming. With the increasing demands of the job and the ever-changing legal and educational climate, many administrators and teachers are overwhelmed, and few…

Individualized education programs (IEPs) reflect the spirit of individualized instruction that lies at the heart of special education. Quality annual goal statements, which propel the implementation of special education programming, use clear language to communicate measurable, meaningful, and standards-aligned expectations to all members of the…

Many school districts have adopted commercially available software or templates for electronic Individualized Education Program (IEP) development. These programs have useful features that allow Individualized Education Programs to be electronically developed and reliably stored for each student. Although the program features are designed to…

To provide a missing piece to the legal foundation of professional development and practice for the individualized education program (IEP) process, the authors report the results of a comprehensive systematic analysis of court decisions specific to IEP-related procedural violations after the 2004 amendments of the Individuals With Disabilities…

Sex education is not only a necessary component of public school curriculum, but it is also an important opportunity for students with and without disabilities to learn about their own development as emerging adults. Although comprehensive sex education is not federally mandated, many states and districts choose to offer some form of sex education…

The provision of special education for students with disabilities depends upon the availability of well-qualified special educators, which, in turn, depends upon the availability and characteristics of preparation programs. In countries of the world where special education systems are still developing the capacity to provide the education that…

In April 2011, the Journal of Staff Development (JSD) published "Lessons from Bhutan: Embrace cultural differences to effect change" (Levine, Telsey, & McCormack, 2011), which described the experiences of several U.S. educators who learned their own transformative lessons while leading professional learning in special education…

Because of the important role secondary special educators have in the transition to adulthood of adolescents with disabilities, it behooves educators to have an understanding of human development. The lifespan perspective on human development is particularly relevant to transition planning. Individuals with a lifespan perspective believe…

This resource conveys policies, procedures, and guidelines that support the delivery of special education services in British Columbia's (Canada) public schools. It was originally published in 1995 (ED414703), following an extensive provincial Special Education Review (1993-94). The purpose of this manual is to provide a single point of reference…

The alignment of the teacher quality provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the transparency of low achievement of students who have disabilities under the testing mandates of NCLB have converged to create substantial renewed interest and activity in collaborative programs…

Principals must be instructional leaders in their schools in order to adhere to federal, state, and local mandates as well as being able to discern that the programs for students with disabilities are being developed and implemented with fidelity to meet the needs of those students. The transition a school goes through to include students with…

Over 6.5 million youth and their families are eligible for early intervention or special education services (Data Accountability Center, 2011) under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA). The principal mechanism by which goals, objectives, services, and placements are determined for Part B of the IDEA are Individualized…

The overarching goal of this special issue is to consider peer victimization involvement and corresponding interventions for youth with disabilities from a social dynamics perspective that situates risks for being a victim, perpetrator, or both within a person-in-context framework. The focus here is not on a specific age range or type of…

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to describe to what extent seven collaborative behaviors were demonstrated by general education teachers assigned students with disabilities, special education Resource Specialists, and the principals in selected California elementary schools that met their 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 English language arts annual…