This article examines assessment practices for young children with disabilities and establishes how videotaping can effectively supplement traditional methods. It shows how teachers can use videotaping to involve parents in the process of monitoring the objectives in Individualized Education Programs and to increase parent awareness of their…

This article reviews requirements in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act for providing access to the general education curriculum, examines the intent of the language, and proposes a decision-making model to enable Individualized Education Program teams to reach curriculum decisions that provide such access for students with mental…

This article urges educators and administrators to collaborate closely with families of students with disabilities from diverse linguistic, racial, and cultural backgrounds and participate in training activities that stress best practices for facilitating the participation of the family. The role of the Individualized Education Program in forging…

Differentiated instruction allows each student to learn at the depth, complexity, and pace that is most beneficial to him. Differentiating curriculum and instruction is a rich and effective strategy to use when providing the needs of gifted and talented students--especially when those students spend most of their time in regular classrooms. A…

The skills of self-determination and self-advocacy are essential for success in adult life. As educators, we want students with disabilities to participate and be significantly involved in the development and implementation of their IEPs, including involvement in IEP and transition planning meetings. By planning, preparing, and presenting an…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was recently reauthorized as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004. Several significant changes were made in the most recent reauthorization. These included requirements for "highly qualified" special education teachers; a track that will result in full…

During the past decade there has been an increasing interest in positive psychology, which promotes a shift away from the traditional deficit-based model of mental health to a framework that emphasizes social-emotional strengths. The building of strengths and an emphasis on the prevention of problems are at the forefront of positive psychology and…

The authors of this study discuss past research, litigation, and legislation pertaining to the topic of parental involvement in special education. In particular, the study examined parental perceptions of their roles as communicators and decision makers in the special education process in terms of ethnicity and child's educational level. Very few…

Alternative education programs are often viewed as individualized opportunities designed to meet the educational needs for youth identified as at-risk for school failure. Increasingly, these programs have been identified as programs for disruptive youth who have been referred from traditional schools. The purpose of this study was to examine the…

When a new principal was hired at Gallup Junior High School in northwest New Mexico, he saw redesigning the administrative team as an important opportunity to develop leadership skills in his assistants and groom them for eventual advancement. His changes also provide cross training, so no single individual controls an essential function of the…

More than five million IEP conferences are conducted each year. Despite the number of meetings, many IEPs are not educationally useful or legally correct. A common concern for principals and special education directors hiring new special education teachers is their lack of information concerning IEP development and experience establishing parent…

With the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), redefined expectations and accountability appeared concerning education of students in the nation's schools. The focus of this article is to examine the ramifications of NCLB for students with special needs. In addition, given NCLB, the idea of inclusion--the practice of placing…

Schools of tomorrow will be completely different physically and operationally. The author of this article states that we cannot tolerate the current high failure rates in terms of graduation and possession of the competencies needed to function successfully as citizens in a democracy, productively as workers and heuristically as learners. He lists…

Parents of students with disabilities face a number of difficult choices in determining how to get the best education for their children. Too often, the special education system in public schools fails its students. Parents must become both experts and advocates for their children in order to navigate a burdensome maze of regulations to fight for…

This paper is intended to provide school officials and teachers with the necessary legal background, procedural requirements, and guidance for appropriate implementation of individualized educational programs (IEPs) with violent students with disabilities. Specifically it addresses: (1) the legal background of special education under the…