If one is responsible for developing Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), coordinating these meetings will help him or her guide the initial placement or changes to a student's program. If one is a regular educator working with the student, these meetings will enrich his or her understanding of the child and the plan for his or her growth.…

The transition to adulthood can be difficult for anyone, but doubly or triply so for an individual with special needs. In addition to the emotional and developmental challenges it brings, it means huge transitions in terms of benefits programs, education, day-to-day structure, medical coverage and residential choices. In this article, the authors…

Individualized education programs (IEPs) are a fundamental mechanism for making special education services unique for the child and for enhancing the developmental outcomes of children with disabilities. If written IEP goals diverge, however, from recommended practices, they might result in ineffective interventions. This study investigated the…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the quality of Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and its influence on academic achievement, inclusion in general education classrooms, and curricular access for students with disabilities. 130 teachers from the state of Indiana were asked to submit the most recent IEP of one of their students in…

Although standards-based IEP goals have been mandated in many states for almost a decade, their effectiveness is unknown. Standards-based IEP goals were first created to meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind and Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, which increased accountability for all students as well as those with…

This special issue of Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities (RPSD) is timely and resonates with the theme of the 2009 TASH Conference, "If not Us, Who? If not NOW, When?" The articles grapple with critical issues across a number of dimensions that reflect the complexity of inclusion and exclusion, the importance of…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to develop a comprehensive understanding of the roles and responsibilities of vision education professionals who are dual-certified as teachers of students with visual impairments and orientation and mobility specialists. Through three phases, the study combined interviews and observations of the vision…

State and federal accountability continues to be a major part of public education. The impact that federal legislation has had when working with special needs students adds another facet to public education. Both state and federal accountability play a part in how teachers perceive their attitudes when working with students with disabilities This…

This project explored a newly developed computer-based voice input, speech output (VISO) calculator. Three high school students with visual impairments educated at a state school for the blind and visually impaired participated in the study. The time they took to complete assessments and the average number of attempts per problem were recorded…

The reporting policies across Australia are critiqued. In the Australian Capital Territory, the reporting is carried out against the goals and priorities identified in the Individual Learning Plan. Reporting in the Northern Territory is facilitated by providing a reference for communicating the level of student achievement through a standardised…

It is essential that children who are deaf-blind have learning experiences that improve their quality of life. Unfortunately, even when educational teams work together to create individualized education programs, these students do not always have full and equal opportunities to learn. This issue of "Practice Perspectives" describes the basics of…

Physical education teachers and the profession are very often marginalized and minimized by administrators, parents, and students. Adapted physical education is no exception. There are several reasons for the lack of value given to teaching students with special needs in physical education, including issues with placement, stigmatization of…

The goal of our study was to examine if school-wide positive behavior support implementation was associated with reductions in the discipline gap. We provided outcomes from descriptive and preliminary statistical analyses of three years of office discipline referral data from elementary schools engaged in school-wide positive behavior support…