The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) allows alternate pathways for school districts to identify and classify students with a specific learning disability (SLD). Response to Intervention (RtI) is one of the frameworks schools can use when eliminating the use of the discrepancy model. The premise of RtI posits that…

Purpose: Developmental language disorder (DLD) is a lifelong condition that when impacting educational performance is identified and serviced through U.S. schools as outlined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. A few examples of educational categories that refer to DLD are (a) speech or language impairment (S/LI) and (b) specific…

This brief, co-produced by the National Center on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB) and Accessible Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Systems (ATLAS), provides important information about students with dual sensory loss who also have significant cognitive disabilities, as well as recommendations for identification and implications for instruction. The…

In this paper I study the impact of court-mandated school desegregation by race on student suspensions and special education classification. Simple descriptive statistics using student enrollment and outcome data collected from the largest school districts across the country in the 1970s and 1980s show that Black-White school integration was…

What do we know about young children with delays and disabilities, and how can we help them succeed in prekindergarten through third grade? To begin with, Kathleen Hebbeler and Donna Spiker write, identifying children with delays and disabilities to receive specialized services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act poses several…

This article reviews the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Forth Edition-Text Revision" and compares and contrasts the diagnostic criteria for individuals with autism with the educational requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Problems with using a dual classification system are…

Reviews the debate from the standpoint of entitlement about the education of children who are classified as seriously emotionally disturbed or socially maladjusted. It examines how research has supported or contradicted the notion of entitlement from the standpoint of prevalence, classification, intervention, and cost. Ethical guidelines are…

This document is the outcome of a conference that examined promising practices in services for children with developmental delays (DD) and gathered input for making policy recommendations related to the implementation of DD as a specific disability category for children ages 3 through 9. It begins by discussing changes to the Individuals with…

This report compares special education legislation and services for students with disabilities in Taiwan and the United States. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in the United States and the Special Education Act of 1984 in Taiwan are found to have similar elements. Funding of special education services, however, is different in the…

A study of 150 students, who were referred to school study teams, investigated schools' classification decisions on low IQ students with academic and behavioral problems and found a decline in the identification rates of mild mental retardation. Compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is discussed. (CR)

This ERIC digest provides highlights of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997 (P.L. 105-17). Changes to general provisions of the law are explained, as well as changes in other areas, such as outcomes and standards, evaluations and curriculum, procedural safeguards, discipline, early intervention, and teacher training…

This article focuses on the status of the learning disabilities field, including the accomplishments as well as elements of the unfinished agenda that are needed to move the field forward. Drawing on contributions of influential special educators, it discusses how these foundations provide a basis for future developments in the field. (Contains…

Describes current special education identification, classification, and assessment practices, and evaluates them in light of emerging concerns about their reliability, usefulness, and fairness. Alternatives to conventional practices are discussed, and a revised funding system that can yield the dollar figure available to support the special…

This book examines schools' legal responsibility for providing equal educational opportunities for children with disabilities under the 1997 reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). First, an introduction to the American legal system and federal policy on disability is provided. Next, the six principles of special education…