At the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP's) request, Westat developed the original version of this technical assistance (TA) guide to help states calculate racial/ethnic disproportionality in special education with regard to identification of children with disabilities and the placement of those children in particular educational…

Education has seen its share of trends and movements that either help or hinder the optimal development of the gifted child. In 2001, Congress passed No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in a concerted effort to reach children who were not meeting minimal standardized goals of achievement. Response to Intervention (RtI) is yet another approach to ensure…

The authors expand on research evaluating public school response to school choice policies by considering the particular influence of voucher programs for disabled students--a growing type of choice program that may have different implications for public school systems from those of more conventional choice programs. The authors provide a…

Students with limited English proficiency (LEP) make up one of the fastest growing segments of the student population; however, LEP status is often related to poor academic and behavioral outcomes. Teacher-reported behavioral rating scales can be informative measurements to screen and identify students at risk for behavioral and emotional…

Newborn screening is the process of testing and screening newborns shortly after birth for certain, potentially dangerous, conditions and/or impairments--conditions that include everything from inborn errors of metabolism and other genetic disorders to hearing impairment. Early detection through newborn screening is paramount, often allowing the…

Background: The goal of this study was to compare the predictive validity of the two main diagnostic schemata for childhood hyperactivity--attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual"-IV) and hyperkinetic disorder (HKD; "International Classification of Diseases"-10th Edition). Methods: Diagnostic criteria for…

Dyslexia is a congenital disorder characterized by unexpected difficulties in learning to read and spell in relation to one's verbal intelligence, motivation, and educational opportunities (Aylward et al., 2003; Morgan, 1896). Because dyslexia can affect 1.5-5% of the population (Aylward et al., 2003; Vellutino et al., 1996), understanding how to…

Parents and caregivers of 70 children enrolled in a university-based, statewide autism registry (M age = 9.5 years) completed two questionnaires, one generated from criteria outlined in the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition-Text Revision" (DSM-IV-TR) and the other the "Social Communication…

As a demonstration site designated by Oregon as a prime example of "response to intervention" in action, the Tigard-Tualatin district has had to pare visiting groups down to no more than 25 people. During the last few visits, 50 people descended on the district just outside Portland at one time. As educators in Tigard-Tualatin and…

Dwayne is a Grade 6 student who came to Canada from Jamaica at the age of seven. Upon arrival in a new school Dwayne had to adapt to a new culture. In addition, Dwayne was identified as having severe behavioural problems and learning difficulties, and it was recommended within the first month of school that the boy be medicated in order for him to…

Americans' perceptions of childhood disability have changed dramatically over the past century, as have their ideas about health and illness, medical developments, threats to children's health and development, and expectations for child functioning. Neal Halfon, Amy Houtrow, Kandyce Larson, and Paul Newacheck examine how these changes have…

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…

To assist Wisconsin education leaders with planning for Response to Intervention (RtI), the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), in partnership with Wisconsin education stakeholders, has developed this informational brief. This brief is intended to provide guidance for implementation of RtI and should not be read as administrative…

Many countries have established systems for identifying, and providing for, the range of students with disabilities during their formal educational assessments. Most systems include the provision of variously termed "special access arrangements" (SAAs), such as the provision of extra time or practical assistance with some aspect of an…

This study sought to evaluate a newly created information resource book for parents of children newly diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder entitled "Autism Spectrum Disorder: Information for Parents." A purposive sample of 13 participants (comprised of mothers of children with ASD and ASD service providers) participated in 1 of 3…