The "achievement gap" is a well-documented problem in schools. Evidence of an academic performance problem requires that educators respond quickly and differently to signs of academic failure. As the lessons of the achievement gap suggest that historical decisions about when to intervene with performance support are flawed, performance…

Purpose: We estimated the effect of a voucher benefit on the demand for personal assistance by Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 years or older who had functional disabilities. Design and Methods: We performed a secondary data analysis on 645 Medicare beneficiaries from the Medicare Primary and Consumer-Directed Care Demonstration (a randomized…

Science instruction is typically highly dependent on visual representations of scientific concepts that are communicated through textbooks, teacher presentations, and computer-based multimedia materials. Little is known about how students with visual impairments access and interpret these types of visually-dependent instructional materials. This…

If a campus has students who are deaf or hard of hearing, its Public Safety department needs to become aware of some basic information about deafness in order to serve those students well. Public Safety officers may interact with deaf students in a variety of situations: (1) Reporting a theft; (2) Emergency medical situations; (3) Reporting items…

This document contains the following papers on special needs from the SITE (Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education) 2002 conference: (1) "Selected Technology-Infused Thematic Activities for Elementary and Special Education Teacher Education Programs" (Cindy L. Anderson and Kevin M. Anderson); (2) "Educational IT: How Students and…

This article examines what is meant by access, participation, and progress in the regular education curriculum and suggests a new framework for curriculum reform that holds promise for all students, particularly students with disabilities. The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is presented and materials and methods of UDL are described.…

Case studies are an accepted method for reporting treatment outcomes. However, to be useful and authentic, a systematic and principled approach to collecting, analyzing, and reporting case data must be observed. This paper proposes a basic case study format for documenting augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) intervention to ensure…

Literacy is important not only to school success but is fundamental to skills needed to succeed in our rapidly changing technology-driven society. This article focuses on characteristics, interactions, and attitudes of parents and children related to their use of assistive technologies to build literacy skills. Interviews and observations…

This report focuses on distance education within the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) for the 2007-08 academic year and provides documentation of the substantial growth of distance education within all colleges and universities. Distance education is a field of continuous improvement and change, and NSHE institutions are constantly…

This National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) resource guide on emergency management research and people with disabilities provides a listing and description of research projects funded by the federal government and nonfederal entities, research recommendations that have come out of conferences on emergency management…

This fact sheet provides a national picture of the secondary school experiences of students with autism who received special education services under the auspices of school districts, by addressing the following questions: What is the pattern of course taking of secondary-school-age students with autism and in what settings are courses taken? What…

This report compares actual performance with the projected levels of performance set out in the National Council on Disability's (NCD's) annual performance plan. The findings of this report show a positive link between the allocated resources and NCD's performance. NCD's assessment review showed that it was successful in meeting its goals and…

Thirty to forty years ago educators had at most the challenge of tape recorders and players and transistor radios to confront as electronic distractions in the classroom. Then pagers were introduced and became associated with drug trafficking and gang activity. Not long after, the first cellular phones were introduced and, when they became…

This report analyzes the first year of the Federal Alternative Financing Program (AFP), a program designed to help individuals with disabilities who need to purchase assistive technology (AT) find a way to pay for the equipment. The program receives funding under Title III of the Assistive Technology Act of 1998 and provides low-cost financing for…

This bulletin is one of a series reporting on a nationwide study "Qualification and Preparation of Teachers of Exceptional Children," which, since its inception, has been a major project of the Office of Education. This publication reports the aspects of a broader study which deals specifically with teachers of children who are blind. The…