In education today there is a heightened emphasis on teacher accountability for improving student outcomes. The law requires that in order for a student to qualify as a student with a disability, the child's IEP team must ensure that the child's problem is not due to poor instructional programming. Therefore, the general education teacher is…

This study used the Take Action goal attainment lesson package and assistive technology to teach nine high school students with mild to moderate disabilities to attain annual transition goals. The Take Action lessons increased students' goal attainment knowledge, and this knowledge generalized to improved Plan Organizers, and slightly increased…

June 22, 2007, was the 25th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Board of Education of the Hendrick Hudson Central School District v. Rowley (hereafter Rowley; 1982). In Rowley, the Supreme Court interpreted congressional intent in requiring that public schools provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to students with…

An increasing array of diverse instructional models is being made available to all students due to school reform through publicly funded charter schools. Emerging at the intersection of innovations in technology, shifting theories of learning, and the changing perception of schools as the situational broker of education, non-classroom…

This study used a qualitative phenomenological approach within a constructivist paradigm to examine spelling and spelling motivation of four suburban Illinois high school students: two male seniors with LD, one male freshman with ADHD, and one female freshman with LD. The purposes of the study were to determine why students with writing goals and…

Poor educational outcomes, related to social and emotional responses, have the potential to negatively impact the trajectories of a significant number of children across the United States (Caspi, Bem, & Elder, 1989; McLeod & Kaiser, 2004). This mixed-methods transformative study frames a grounded theory approach to reveal characteristics…

Collaborative consultation has been widely adopted in school-based occupational therapy practice; however, limited research has examined how collaboration between educators and occupational therapists contributes to students' outcomes. The purpose of this study was to describe the nature of collaborative working in two cases of school-based…

The decision to begin the process for special education eligibility has complexities impacting children, parents, teachers, and schools. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) eligibility provisions specify the need to obtain consent prior to evaluation and options when consent cannot be obtained. School psychologists…

Intervention is a central tenet of the various (multitiered) approaches used to implement Response to Intervention (RTI). It appears in Tier 1 core instruction in the form of differentiation, in Tier 2 in the form of supplemental small groups, and in Tier 3 and 4 instruction in the form of more intensive, often individualized support from…

Preschool students with disabilities engage in social interaction with peers less often than children developing typically in inclusive classrooms. This research explores how divergent theories of literacy learning, those inherent in the structure of special education and those promoted by scholars interested in emergent literacy learning, impact…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 2004) requires that each local education agency provide a transition summary document, commonly called a Summary of Performance (SOP), to all special education students who are graduating with a regular diploma or reach the maximum age for services. Although state compliance with this…

Mathematics is an important educational component for students with visual impairments, and technology to support the access to and success of students with visual impairments in mathematics is essential. However, little research exists. This particular paper explores one aspect of technology and mathematics education for students with visual…

Motivated by the multiple-measures clause of recent federal policy regarding student eligibility for alternate assessments based on modified academic achievement standards (AA-MASs), this study examined how scores or combinations of scores from a diverse set of assessments predicted students' end-of-year proficiency status on statewide achievement…

Students with disabilities are included in the nearly two million students who attend school online (Queen & Lewis, 2011). Like many families, parents of children with disabilities are increasingly considering online schools as an option for their child's education. Online schools may be more attractive to parents of students with disabilities…

Every child is unique and learns in different ways. Some children are identified as needing special education services to support his or her learning at school. Parents can play a major role in shaping the services a child receives. This guidebook has been written for parents, guardians, and surrogate parents of a child (ages 3 to 21 or…