Interpreters are some of the most important people in the lives of our deaf and hard of hearing students, yet hiring and retention requirements are weak, variable, or nonexistent. Despite this, many school interpreters have become skillful and effective professionals driven by their desire for competence and sense of integrity. State employment…

This article offers a critical reflection on the function of education, health and care plans (EHCPs) in pathways to employment for disabled young people. We consider 'the education plan' as an artefact of special educational needs systems. We problematise the often taken-for-granted assumption that such plans are always and only a 'good' thing in…

Increasingly, students with disabilities are pursuing postsecondary education at two-year and four-year universities as well as vocational schools (OCR, 2011a). According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (1999), during the 1995-1996 academic year, approximately 6 percent of the undergraduate population reported having a…

The purpose of this project was to examine programs and services for students with emotional/behavioural disorders (E/BD) across Canada. It is a replication of a survey undertaken a decade prior intended to examine similarities and differences in Canada's provinces and territories, as well as exploring overall changes to policy and process in this…

The aim of this paper is to reveal the current situation of gifted education in Turkey. The talents that are valued and the concepts of giftedness were discussed according to the country's cultural and political perspectives. Studies that had been made to analyze the beliefs of lay people, teachers and parents with respect to gifted students and…

This article examines a case out of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit: "Ridley School District v. M.R and J.R. ex rel. E.R." (2012). The case is the first circuit court case in which the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act requirement that special education services be based on peer-reviewed research…

More than 40 years after passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), some special education teacher preparation programs offer limited coursework on parent involvement, advocacy, or home-school collaboration. For pre-service special education teachers and/or novice special education teachers working with students with…

This article assesses the situation of preschool children in Austria facing the need to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability. Eligibility criteria for preventive preschool services and the necessary labeling of children as "disabled" or "at risk" are assessed as inhibiting factors within…

The legal treatment of disability affairs carries in itself an inherent contradiction due to the nature of modern society and free-market economy. On the one hand both the historically developed notions of essentialism and on the other the particular-functional definition of manhood drawing its roots from the established democratic order and…

Community college students vary greatly in their level of academic preparedness. Federal data indicates that 68 percent of community college students need to take at least one developmental education course (Jaggars & Stacey, 2014). Community colleges can support students' success by providing academic supports such as tutoring services for…

Public school systems employ a range of professionals to provide support to children and youth in schools. For students living in poverty and experiencing trauma, the work of these professionals is particularly necessary and urgent. Ranging from the treatment of acute mental health issues and accommodations for students with special needs, to…

With the impetus of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, inclusive education is an idea whose time has arrived around the world. Its scope goes far beyond learners with disabilities and has now been extended to cover all learners with special educational needs, whatever their origins. It also extends beyond the mere…

This article traces the evolution of special education in Malaysia across four chronological stages: before and during the early colonial period (before 1900), pre-independence (1900-1957), post-independence (1957-1990) and modern Malaysia (1990 to the present), through document analysis. By placing current issues and trends within a historical…

Parents currently have the unilateral ability to reject special education services. Yet, it is unclear how schools should support students with special education needs in this situation as schools may not challenge a parent's choice to revoke special education assessment consent or the provision of services. Guidelines for school…

Specific learning disability (SLD), although moderately declining in recent years, continues to be the largest of the eligibility classifications under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA; NCES, 2012). The recognition of response to intervention (RTI) in the 2004 amendments of the IDEA as an approach for identifying students with…