The alternate assessment based on alternate academic achievement standards (AA-AAAS) is designed for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. The 2015 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), known as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), placed a 1% cap for states on student participation in the…

To better understand the current state of American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter education in the United States, the authors analyzed publicly available website data to document the number and type of active postsecondary interpreter education programs by state. This descriptive study aimed to address a significant gap in the literature by…

Educators and families develop individualized education programs (IEPs) to address unique needs of individual students with disabilities. Addressing all student needs is critical to ensuring students receive a free and appropriate public education. To understand how IEP teams address the needs of students with complex support needs, we examined…

Students with qualifying disabilities have the right to a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA, 2004). An Individualized Education Program (IEP) is a legally binding document that maps out the students' educational program, including any specially designed instruction and…

In 2017, the Supreme Court of the United States redefined Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) for students with disabilities (SWD) in "Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District." The Court's new standard for FAPE was more demanding than previous rulings. Parents of SWD are expected to participate in the special education…

Purpose: The language that school professionals use to describe disabled students can reveal and perpetuate ableist assumptions. Professionals' language choices can also challenge ableist attitudes to help create more inclusive, equitable learning environments. This tutorial seeks to guide speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and other school…

Collaboration is an essential skill for a special education teacher's (SETs) success in developing individualized education programs (IEPs) to ensure that students with disabilities have access to equal educational opportunities. Collaboration occurs when members of an inclusive learning community work together as equals to meet a student's…

The Individualized Education Program (IEP), the child's plan to ensure specialized instruction and services, can help deaf and hard of hearing children develop critical literacy skills. Deaf and hard of hearing children are entitled to an IEP when they turn 3 years old, and parents and teachers should begin to incorporate foundational literacy…

Purpose: Self-reported listening-related fatigue in adolescents with hearing loss (HL) was investigated. Specifically, the extent to which listening-related fatigue is associated with school accommodations, audiologic characteristics, and listening breaks was examined. Method: Participants were 144 adolescents with HL ages 12-19 years. Data were…

Adult student transition programs (also known as 18+ programs, 18-21 programs, adult transition programs, and community transition programs) are educational programs that provide instruction in age-appropriate community environments to adult students who have met the state credit and assessment guidelines for graduation but who still require…

The aim of the study is to provide an in-depth understanding of the use of social-emotional goals in Individualized Education Program (IEP) for elementary students who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH). Thus, there is a need to provide more than academic skills in school, which are related to social-emotional learning. Over the past century,…

Background/Context: As of Fall 2021, approximately 7.3 million students between the ages 6 to 21 were served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which accounts for approximately 15%of students in that age range (U.S. Department of Education, 2022). Students with disabilities receiving special education services are guaranteed a…

Given the benefits of inclusive education on children with and without disabilities, the Division of International Special Education and Services (DISES) developed an Information Brief to acquaint the international community with effective global inclusive education practices, policies, and frameworks for engaging students with disabilities, while…

In early December 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, the Individualized Education Program (IEP) team at the author's son's school met with her online about supporting her autistic son in his general education social studies class. Looking at the many faces on the screen who had gathered to support her son, the author realized how grateful she…

Extended school year (ESY) services has been an understudied area of special education research. There is limited information available regarding ESY practices by local education agencies (LEAs) in determining eligibility as well as who receives what types of services. We surveyed special education directors across the nation to examine ESY…