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The article focuses on the complexities that arise when parents of children with disabilities navigate the intersection of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and state family law during divorce and custody proceedings. It highlights the significant rights and responsibilities parents have under IDEA in developing and maintaining their child's education, and how marital difficulties can exacerbate the challenges of ensuring a free appropriate public education (FAPE).

Chronic illnesses are conditions that last one year or more and require ongoing medical attention, limit activities of daily living, or both (Raghupathi & Raghupathi, 2018). Over 40% of school-aged children have at least one chronic health condition (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2021). Children with chronic illnesses may need accommodations to their learning environment and can be protected by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Some of the most common chronic illnesses impacting students include respiratory disorders, bleeding disorders, sickle cell anemia, and diabetes. The purpose of this article is to discuss common chronic health conditions and how physical educators and coaches can provide an environment in which children with chronic illnesses are safe and successful while participating in physical activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Special Education Process (SEP) demands the collaboration of various professionals and personalities to create the Individualised Education Plan (IEP), beginning with the evaluation conducted by clinical psychologists, psychiatrists and in this study, developmental paediatricians. Assessments acts as a keystone document, serving as basis for determining placement levels, student support requirements and depth of academic training to be implemented. With inclusion gradually being implemented in the Philippines, the study sought to determine the translatability of the assessment report produced by developmental paediatricians into the IEP. The study used documentary analysis of 50 individualised education plans derived from the assessment reports of 10 different developmental paediatricians. The documents were analysed to determine the presence of components needed to refer to in making the IEP. The data shows that the assessment reports have four components, namely profile, present level of condition, report and recommendation. These components can be used as reference material in creating the IEP, and as a basis for a structured approach in creating the document. However, the study also shows how the report content and structure slightly differ for each other, making some of the reports easier to refer to compared to others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Individual with Disabilities Education Act specifies that families should be include in the special education process and they must provide informed consent. However, families from Spanish-speaking backgrounds, often report barriers to participation. In this study, we provided a forum for Spanish-speaking families to tell their stories using multiple methods to uncover the experiences of 39 Latine caregivers of young children with disabilities. Family experiences reported on a survey and during focus groups are summarized in three areas: evaluation, eligibility determination, and service provision. While most families agreed on surveys that they were satisfied with EI/ECSE practices in their child's case, during focus groups families frequently described reduced access to information about EI/ECSE, lack of support for the home language, feeling excluded from their child's educational planning, and, in some cases, delays in services. Families also shared the importance of self-advocacy in EI/ECSE and the value of support from community advocates, including EI/ECSE professionals. Implications for policy and practice are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses articles in the issue on topics including young children facing maltreatment, parent views on early childhood special education transitions, and a parent-practitioner partnership framework named Parent-Implemented Intervention (PII).

The article focuses on the challenges and shortcomings of legislation aimed at improving the education and employment outcomes for people with disabilities, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and highlights the importance of coordinated efforts. Topics includes statistics on the educational and employment outcomes for people with disabilities and emphasizes the need for innovation and change to achieve better results.

As U.S. public schools increasingly incorporate digital learning tools at home, primary and secondary classrooms have come to transcend their traditionally brick-and-mortar walls. While these hybrid learning environments provide powerful spaces to build digital literacy skills, low-income children with disabilities--among the most vulnerable students in the U.S. education system--are increasingly left behind. Recent data suggest that children with disabilities, particularly low-income children with disabilities, are less likely than their peers to have the fundamental technology necessary to access classrooms' increasingly digital spaces. This discrepancy exacerbates disparate outcomes between children with and without disabilities, as those with disabilities receive lower test scores, experience less academic progress, and develop fewer digital literacy skills necessary for future education, employment, and long-term independence. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) provides powerful safeguards to ensure that children with disabilities have access to the traditional physical classroom. But by failing to ensure that low-income children with disabilities have access to reliable broadband internet and personal computers--functionally the doors to the digital classroom--the IDEA fails to guarantee that all children with disabilities have access to the rapidly changing classrooms from which they were historically excluded. This Article examines the disconnect between the IDEA's assistive technology amendments and the role of digital learning in U.S. public schools. In examining this disconnect, this Article explores the Act's existing assistive technology provisions and recommends clarifying language and additional guidance to provide parents, local educational agencies, and courts with a much-needed framework to efficiently implement fundamental supports. This framework is critical to identifying and providing the digital tools necessary, both to ensure that low-income children with disabilities have access to today's increasingly online learning environments and, ultimately, to fulfill the purpose of the IDEA in the digital age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States, children with disabilities are afforded protections in three federal statutes: the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act; Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. However, these laws fail to provide for educational support dogs in public schools, despite the common and successful use of educational support dogs in other countries. The success of educational support dogs abroad is not suprising, as recent waves of social science research make clear the benefits of dogs in schools, from increased productivity within the classroom to improved morale within the school community at large. Additionally, this research suggests that dogs in educational settings can have the biggest impact on children with disabilities. Still, these U.S. laws generally bar children with disabilities from accessing educational support dogs in public schools. To address this problem, this Note focuses on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, as it is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in children, as well as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, as it allows for the most flexibility and opportunity for collaboration, compared to the other two laws affording protections to children with disabilities. Specifically, this Note urges Congress to consider recent social science understandings and amend the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to add a provision mirroring the Companion Animals Act 1998 of New South Wales, Australia, which allows for educational support dogs in classrooms when and where school officials see fit. This provision would provide children, particularly those with ADHD and other disabilities, better opportunity to access educational support dogs in U.S. public schools and, thus, experience the multitude of benefits identified by the studies highlighted in this Note. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts on medical topics which includes use of the social story, the Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) and children suffering with chronic medical conditions.

We used two judgment-based scales to evaluate quality features of 623 individualized family service plans (IFSP) contributed by 73 service coordinators in one state. We also explored the alignment between the skills specified in child-focused IFSP outcomes, the three Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) early childhood outcome categories, and the knowledge and skill statements included in state early learning guidelines. Findings showed IFSP content generally was family-centered and of good quality. Outcomes were more frequently aligned with the IDEA outcome categories addressing the use of appropriate behaviors to meet needs and the acquisition and use of knowledge and skills. Outcomes were aligned more frequently with early learning guidelines in the areas of physical development, speech/language development, and approaches to learning. We discuss how instruments and procedures could be used to evaluate IFSP quality and determine connections to expected knowledge and skills for all children identified by state and federal programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this secondary analysis of state-collected data was to investigate developmental outcomes of preschool special education (PSE) services in a statewide cohort of participating children (n = 17,828). In line with federal performance indicators for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act early childhood programs, the outcome of interest in this study was the percentage of children who demonstrated age-expected functioning in all 5 major domains of development-- communication, cognitive, motor, personal-social, and adaptive--at the time they exited the PSE program. The study also investigated the extent to which this outcome varied, depending on the severity and complexity of children's delays when they began PSE services. Overall, 38.2% of children exited the program within age norms in all 5 domains; percentages for subgroups of children ranged from 77% for children with no measured delay on entry to 23% for children demonstrating severe delay in 1 or more developmental areas. Holding delay severity constant, each additional domain of delay on entry was associated with a decrease in the percentage of children exiting within age norms. Findings of the study problematize the application of a single definition of "expected progress" for all participating children and underscore the utility of examining and reporting program outcomes for subgroups of children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses articles in the issue on topics including the development of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the rights of children with disabilities and the failures to provide adequate protection to individuals in relation to sexual autonomy and identity.

The article presents abstracts on physical activity topics which include school-based intervention and target social skills in autism, document analysis for individuals with disabilities, and inclusive recreation practices for transition-age youth.

This Article addresses the impact of school voucher programs on students with disabilities. We show that for children with disabilities, the price of admission into so-called "school choice" programs is so high that it is effectively no real choice at all. School voucher programs require students with disabilities to sign away their robust federal rights and protections in the public school system. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)-the preeminent legislative safeguard for students with disabilities-these rights include the right to a "free and appropriate public education" delivered through an "individualized education plan." By giving up these protections, children with disabilities are left at the mercy of private schools that have no legal obligation to provide them with an appropriate education, and, in the vast majority of cases, are not legally prohibited from discriminating against them on the basis of their disability. We argue that school voucher programs-including a proposed federal voucher program-put the education of students with disabilities back decades, and likely constitute a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As of the 2013–2014 school year, about 2.5 million school-age students attended charter schools nationwide. Because charter schools are publicly funded entities, they are required to adhere to all federal nondiscriminatory laws as well as the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. This legal brief provides an overview of charter schools, legal requirements associated with students with disabilities enrolled in charter schools, and recommendations for practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every U.S. student is entitled to a free and appropriate education. School districts must identify and evaluate any child who they find is unable to engage fully in learning as a participant in the general education curriculum. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 requires that these students be assessed by qualified individuals in any areas that may be impacting learning, including health, vision, hearing, social and emotional status, communicative status, and motor abilities. The school nurse, as the health expert, has an important role to play as a member of the special education team in evaluating whether a student has health concerns that are impacting learning and how health barriers to learning might be reduced. As part of the full and individual evaluation, the school nurse composes a written report and makes recommendations to the team regarding necessary health services and other modifications the student may need. This article (Part 1 of 2) will outline the school nurse’s role in identification and evaluation of students who may benefit from special education services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this article is to provide rationale for recognizing and evaluating children who are obese with low physical fitness or deficiencies in gross motor skills, as having a disability and able to receive appropriate programming. Childhood obesity can be a disabling in itself, and it should be considered a disability under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004 as an Other Health Impairment. This discussion of the literature will cover a variety of topics, including childhood obesity, federal mandates, particularly IDEA, and assessment and eligibility criteria for placement as a disability. Finally, a service delivery model, entitled Childhood Obesity Prevention and Intervention, is proposed to include childhood obesity as a component of the Other Health Impairment category. Childhood obesity is a major problem in the United States affecting 17% of children and adolescents between 2 and 19 years of age (Ogden, Carroll, Kit, & Flegal, 2014). The most effective programs involve the collaboration between the child, parents, school personnel, medical experts, and community agencies. Special education services provide the means for such collaboration. While physical activity is a critical component in most obesity prevention and intervention programs, the role of evidenced-based physical education curriculum is often ignored as part of the collaborative approach. Adapted physical education services through the application of the Response-to-Intervention (RTI) model could be an answer to this issue. It is recommended that children who are obese with significant low physical fitness or gross motor skill levels, impacting academic and functional performance, be eligible for accommodations in schools and/or alternative physical education services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on problem surrounding misidentification of disabilities with the questions of why schools fail to accurately identify disabilities and what harms arise out of misidentification. It mentions that laws in place which purport to guard against discrimination on the basis of race or disability such as Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It also mentions that possibility of injunctive relief or compensatory damage.

Although considerable progress has been achieved regarding the research and laws supporting preschool inclusion, access to inclusive preschool environments remains intangible for many children with disabilities in the United States. The purpose of this article is to discuss current challenges and solutions to high-quality preschool inclusion. We use the conceptual framework identified in the Division for Early Childhood (DEC)/National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) inclusion position statement to promote solutions to support high-quality inclusion and the success of all children. We provide conceptual and empirical support for preschool inclusion and outline recommendations to the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored inclusion practices in general physical education (GPE) from the experiences and perspectives of elementary physical education teachers. The stories of four teachers (two females, two males) between 27 and 57 years of age were gathered using the phenomenological methods of semi-structured interviews, photographs, school documents, and field notes. Bandura’s social-cognitive theory provided a conceptual framework to interpret the findings of this inquiry. Three themes emerged from the thematic analysis: engaging in learning; adapting strategies to meet students’ needs; and moving beyond the educational goals. The findings suggest that inclusion practices (teacher’s behaviours) in GPE were constructed by the dynamic interactions between teachers’ knowledge of disability and motivation to learn about their students (personal factors) and children’s needs and learning goals (environment). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The purpose of this analysis is to provide systematic and up-to-date data on the frequency of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2012) court decisions on a state-by-state basis, not only overall, but in relation to special education enrollments. • This empirical analysis revealed notable differences among state rankings in the frequencies of court decisions under the IDEA on overall and per capita bases for the period of 1979-2013. • The findings reveal that on an overall basis, 10 jurisdictions, led by New York, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia, accounted for almost two thirds of the IDEA court decisions, while the 10 jurisdictions with the fewest number of decisions, led by North Dakota, Wyoming, and Utah, accounted for less than 3% of decisions. • The findings fill an existing gap in the research and provide special education administrators and policy makers the most comprehensive available data on the frequency of the judicial decisions, which is the most costly level of dispute resolution under the IDEA. • The primary policy recommendation is to put a concerted priority on the limited number of jurisdictions in the high frequency per capita group rather than investing efforts on revising the adjudicative procedures in the next IDEA reauthorization. • The primary research recommendation is for follow-up studies to identify the factors that contribute to the wide variation in frequency of judicial litigation rates among and within the states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article frames the past and future role of the parents of children with disabilities within the context of special education. We highlight their past aspirations: to organize nationally to assert that their children could learn, to codify into law their children’s right to an education, and to foster trust-based parent–professional partnerships. Using the past as a prelude to the future, we then identify two aspirations for the future: to foster empathy, compassion, and dignity; and to “get a life” rather than just “get an education.” The theme of future aspirations is to develop schools and communities where empathy, compassion, and dignity abound and where, as a consequence, children and adults with disabilities can experience across the full lifespan the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act’s outcomes of equal opportunity, independent living, full participation, and economic self-sufficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early intervention for infants and toddlers began with high hopes, but became mired in overspecialization, bureaucracy, and turf guarding. Nevertheless, two important advances in the field have been (a) a recognition that the child’s natural caregivers are in the best position to be the intervention agents and, concomitantly, (b) a rethinking of the role of early interventionist from directly working with the child to consulting with the child’s caregivers. Future directions for the field are (a) understanding the dose and quality of intervention the child receives from natural caregivers and (b) determining the subgroups or “clusters” of families in early intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: In America, children with disabilities and their families may receive early intervention (EI) services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA). The IDEA mandates that decisions on service delivery are based on the needs of the child and family. It is unclear how decisions on intensity of services are made in EI. The purpose of this study was to determine whether parent participation and team support are determinants of the recommendation for intensity of service at the initial Individualized Family Service Planning (IFSP) meeting. Methods: The participants were 63 parents of children 2-33 months of age and 74 professionals. The first author observed all IFSP meetings and completed the Parent Participation Measure. Following the meeting, parents completed a demographic form, the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, and the Family Needs Survey. The recommended intensity of service was recorded. Results and Conclusions: Parent participation and team support were not significant determinants of intensity of EI service after controlling for child development and family needs ( R2 = 0.145, p = .14). The recommended intensity of service was 240 min per month for 57% of the families suggesting that factors other than parent participation and team support influenced the decision on intensity of service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early detection efforts have been shown to vary greatly in practice, and there is a general lack of systematic accountability built into monitoring early detection effort impact. This article reviews current early detection practices and the drawbacks of these practices, with particular attention given to prevalent issues of mismeasurement, misuse, and mismanagement across the Child Find system under Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The benefits of a nationally recognized research and/or consensus-driven “baseline definition” for which children should be deemed Early Intervention (EI) or Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) eligible are discussed. Recommendations are provided to better identify and serve young children with developmental-behavioral problems (as well as their families), and to cultivate more cohesive standards for professional practice in referring children for appropriate medical, social, and educational services. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Research about parent experiences with the special education system is largely dominated by the perspectives of mothers. Using purposeful sampling techniques, we interviewed 20 active fathers about their experiences navigating the special education system. All the fathers described three primary roles they experienced, including acting as a partner, advocate, and student. With respect to each of these roles, the fathers also described feeling as if they were not a part of the team, describing themselves as “the odd man out.” Each construct is discussed in detail, along with implications for practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With complex pediatric diagnoses being cared for in primary care, it is essential for the nurse practitioner (NP) to communicate the plan of care for the child with the school nurse. Misconceptions regarding the law and the barriers to communication between NPs and school nurses are outlined to enhance continuity of care and to improve the health of children. Information outlined in this article will empower NPs to advocate for their patients and ensure that necessary school setting accommodations are in place to allow the child to fully participate in the educational experience in an optimal state of health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We argue for the existence of a state constitutional legal right to language. Our purpose here is to develop a legal framework for protecting the civil rights of the deaf child, with the ultimate goal of calling for legislation that requires all levels of government to fund programs for deaf children and their families to learn a fully accessible language: a sign language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997 required states to provide comprehensive, coordinated, family-centered special education services to children from birth to age 9 after being identified as 1) being developmentally delayed, or 2) having conditions that could lead to delay, or 3) at risk for developmental delay. Within the provisions of IDEIA 2004, states have been encountering a number of obstacles including: a) wide variation in definition, b) over-identification, c) family and cultural diversity, d) appropriateness of norm-referenced tools, and e) cost involved in providing services. The purpose of this article is to highlight issues pertaining to the discrepancies in defining the term "developmental delay" and further discuss the transition process from Part C to Part B. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article by Dixon, Eusebio, Turton, Wright, and Hale is entitled “Forest Grove School District v. T.A. Supreme Court Case: Implications for School Psychology Practice.” Its implications are that a “comprehensive evaluation” under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires assessment of the child’s cognitive neuropsychological as well as academic and psychosocial functioning and, thus, must include cognitive assessment in the identification of specific learning disabilities. However, neither the Supreme Court’s Forest Grove decision nor the other legal authority that Dixon et al. cited provide such a requirement. Instead, the applicable federal regulations and case law generally are far less detailed and definitive in prescribing appropriate evaluations under the IDEA. This discrepancy illustrates the need of the special education and school psychology literature to improve the legal information and understanding of practitioners by more careful differentiation of analysis and advocacy that does not confuse legal requirements with professional norms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An overview is presented of the U.S. Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) and Section 504, two laws that address children with disabilities in the education sector.

Since the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), there has been a growing focus on improving the quality of programs for children with disabilities and measuring the results/outcomes of those programs. Across the country, IDEA Part C Programs for Infants and Toddlers and IDEA Part B, Section 619 Preschool Programs have been developing, implementing, and improving their accountability systems, and in spite of significant fiscal limitations, the states have produced meaningful data demonstrating both program improvement and positive outcomes for the children and families being served. This article uses trend data reported by the states over the past 4 years to provide a national picture of the progress they have made, the challenges they have faced, and the improvement strategies they have undertaken. The lessons they have learned are relevant to the broader early childhood community. A discussion about implications for the future is included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the concerns related to disabled child education under the U.S. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). It informs that IDEA provides tuition reimbursement when a parent places a child with a disability in private school. It focuses on the parent and child move toward the governmentally mandated free appropriate public education. It further discusses legal obstacles such as hearing boards and court decisions in the cases related to child learning disability.

Technological innovation is transforming the prevalence and functional impact of child disability, the scale of social disparities in child disability, and perhaps the essential meaning of disability in an increasingly technology-dominated world. In this article, Paul Wise investigates several specific facets of this transformation. He begins by showing how technological change influences the definition of disability, noting that all technology attempts to address some deficiency in human capacity or in the human condition. Wise then looks at the impact of technology on childhood disabilities. Technical improvements in the physical environment, such as better housing, safer roads, and poison-prevention packaging, have significantly reduced childhood injury and disability. Other technological breakthroughs, such as those that identify genetic disorders that may lead to pregnancy termination, raise difficult moral and ethical issues. Technologies that identify potential health risks are also problematic in the absence of any efficient treatment. Wise stresses the imbalance in the existing health care delivery system, which is geared toward treating childhood physical illnesses that are declining in prevalence at a time when mental and emotional conditions, many of which are not yet well understood, are on the rise. This mismatch, Wise says, poses complex challenges to caring for disabled children, particularly in providing them with highly coordinated and integrated systems of care. Technology can also widen social disparities in health care for people, including children with disabilities. As Wise observes, efficacy--the ability of a technology to change health outcomes -is key to understanding the relationship of technology to social disparities. As technological innovation enhances efficacy, access to that technology becomes more important. Health outcomes may improve for those who can afford the technology, for example, but not for others. Hence, as efficacy grows, so too does the burden on society to provide access to technology equitably to all those in need. Without such access, technological innovation will likely expand disparities in child outcomes rather than reduce them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Amendments, which introduced changes in secondary education. It says that the changes require that teachers deal with students' postschool goals, outcomes, and services before they leave school and services respond to students' needs. It also discusses the Transition Support Model, based on an evidence-based model that offers a new approach to the transition process by focusing on skills and support needed by students.