Search

Students in the United States who receive special education services are entitled to receive an Individualized Education Program (IEP) that provides an appropriate level of benefit. Although IEP content is informed by policy mandates and practice recommendations, research has yet to investigate the degree to which school practice is in alignment. The purpose of this investigation was to perform a systematic review of peer-reviewed studies investigating the characteristics and/or quality of IEPs for students with learning disabilities (LDs). A multi-step article identification process revealed 13 studies meeting selection criteria, many of which did not report specific demographic characteristics and findings for students with LD. However, some concerns regarding IEP quality are documented within this pool of investigations. Study limitations and areas for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Specific learning disabilities (SLDs) are highly relevant to the science and practice of psychology, both historically and currently, exemplifying the integration of interdisciplinary approaches to human conditions. They can be manifested as primary conditions—as difficulties in acquiring specific academic skills—or as secondary conditions, comorbid to other developmental disorders such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. In this synthesis of historical and contemporary trends in research and practice, we mark the 50th anniversary of the recognition of SLDs as a disability in the United States. Specifically, we address the manifestations, occurrence, identification, comorbidity, etiology, and treatment of SLDs, emphasizing the integration of information from the interdisciplinary fields of psychology, education, psychiatry, genetics, and cognitive neuroscience. SLDs, exemplified here by specific word reading, reading comprehension, mathematics, and written expression disabilities, represent spectrum disorders, each occurring in approximately 5% to 15% of the school-aged population. In addition to risk for academic deficiencies and related functional social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties, those with SLDs often have poorer long-term social and vocational outcomes. Given the high rate of occurrence of SLDs and their lifelong negative impact on functioning if not treated, it is important to establish and maintain effective prevention, surveillance, and treatment systems involving professionals from various disciplines trained to minimize the risk and maximize the protective factors for SLDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The professional literature is largely lacking with regard to current information about state systems for complaint procedures (CP) as compared with the much more common knowledge of the due process hearing mechanism of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. • Overall, almost two thirds (63%) of CP filings nationwide resulted in a decision letter, and a similar majority (62%) of these letters found violations, which suggests that districts should focus on not onlymore effective compliance but also early resolution. • More than half (56%) of CP investigators have an educational background in special education and about a quarter (26%) have an educational background in law, which may result in a gap in the needed skill sets for effective investigation and decision writing. • Trainingmost often is in the form of attendance at a national-level conference (75%) or various forms of in-house training (61%), but respondents acknowledged the need for improved professional development, especially training tailored to the needs of CP investigators. • The most common practices among CP systems are (a) the use of a template for CP decisions, (b) the authoring of CP decisions by the investigator, and (c) supervisory review of CP decisions by a supervisor, although additional responses suggested the need for broader systemic efficiencies, such asmore user-friendly information and alternative dispute resolution. • The relatively infrequent and thus wider disuniformity of other practices--namely, (a) the use of a two-part test for procedural issues, (b) the resolution of substantive issues, and (c) provision of amechanism for appealing CP decisions--poses problems for school districts that warrant policy consideration at the national, state, and local levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Puerto Rico there are no scales in Spanish for teachers to assess the neurocognitive processes underlying the academic and social functioning of students, as established in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This paper documents the process of translation and cultural adaptation of the Cognitive Assessment System 2: Rating Scale, which allows teachers to assess the neurocognitive processes of the PASS theory (Planning, Attention, Simultaneous and Successive Processing) in children and adolescents. A concurrent triangulation was used with a sample that included 2 translators, 8 experts in neurocognitive processes and 15 teachers. Chávez and Canino's (2005) methodology was used to obtain semantic and content equivalence. The procedure included: translation into Spanish, review by bilingual experts and teachers, back-translation and final review by experts. According to the results, the reviewers understood the translation of all items, but suggested semantic (e.g. grammatical) and content (e.g. examples of cultural concepts) changes to maintain equivalence with the original version. This work shows the importance of avoiding literal translations, while using comprehensive models of translation and adaptation. In addition, it provides a tool for the identification and early intervention of Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) in Spanish-speaking students, in compliance with IDEA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On March 22, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision in Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District. This case addressed the question how much educational benefit are public schools required to provide to students with disabilities under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to confer a free appropriate public education (FAPE). The purpose of this legal update is to provide a brief overview of court developments regarding FAPE, summarize Endrew, and provide implications for practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In the debate about how to evaluate students suspected of having a learning disability, the role of context in learning has been consistently minimized in the United States. Objective: This article explores the implications of the current, deficit-based approach to the definition and assessment of learning disabilities and offers a more contextually and culturally responsive alternative. Methods: An examination of the epistemic foundation and the implicit assumptions that underpin current practices reveal the need for a contextualized approach to evaluate individuals that takes into account the interactive roles of the environment and the individual. Results: Decontextualized methods of learning disabilities assessment have negative consequences for many students and contribute to the disproportionate representation of culturally and linguistically diverse students in special education services. This article describes a contextualized approach rooted in a model of ecological congruence that characterizes a student's educational experiences and outcomes as a result of a dynamic process between the student and the classroom environment. Conclusion: Contextual and culturally responsive approaches to evaluation such as ecological congruence can provide a richer and more accurate view of how to remove barriers that impede academic progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Response to intervention (RTI) emerged from the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, but the roots of RTI are found embedded within the history of the field of learning disabilities (LD) as well as other sources of influence. In what follows, we provide a brief history of LD and highlight the connection between the controversies of LD and the emergence of RTI. We offer discussion on the evolution of RTI through current practice, along with implications and cautions regarding future practice so that school personnel might gain a better understanding of RTI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this comparative case study, we draw from neoinstitutional and structuration theory to examine the individualized education program (IEP) meetings for five high school students identified with specific learning disabilities. Specifically, we examine how participants interacted during the IEP meetings and how learning, instruction, and postsecondary transition were discussed. Findings suggest that the IEP document served as the dominant script, or structure, for the IEP meetings. This dominant script established roles for participation and influenced participants' agency within the meetings. We also highlight instances of disruption when participants exerted agency and went off script, breaking from the institutionalized structure of the meetings [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comprehensive search identified 42 court decisions from late 1996 to early 2014 concerning the primary modern meaning of child find under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)—whether the district had reasonable suspicion of eligibility and yet did not evaluate the child. The findings from a systematic analysis of these court decisions included (a) an upward trajectory in their frequency; (b) an outcome ratio of 2:1 in favor of the defendant school districts; (c) specific learning disabilities and emotional disabilities as the leading suspected IDEA classifications and attention deficit disorder as the predominant professional diagnosis; (d) wide dispersion across the K–12 grade levels; and (e) hospitalization as the only one of various factors characterized in typical training materials as “red flags” of reasonable suspicion the case law supported to serve this metaphoric role. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Since 1966 when we began our careers in special education, we and others in our cohort have seen substantial changes in our discipline. In our personal experience, we had the opportunity to work together in situations that led us to focus on practices and procedures that produced better outcomes for our students, and better outcomes for students became our primary metric for assessing educational recommendations. Regardless of the rationale, theory, or appealing argument for them, we wanted to know whether a proposed procedure helps students with disabilities succeed. Sometimes those procedures need to be employed in special places. We explain how we came to this perspective, why we hope that perspective does not get lost amid contemporary reform efforts, and what we hope it will mean for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

• Special education research and practice has had an inextricable link to case law. Recent legal developments in special education underscore the need for schools to focus on the following areas: • Individualized education programs: Meeting strict review timelines, scheduling meetings, and managing conflicts for staff are secondary to the importance of parental participation. • Discipline and behavior management: Managing the behaviors of students with disabilities continues to be a problem for schools as does the issue of disability-based harassment. • Providing services to students with autism: Schools need to ensure methods to educate students with autism are research based. • Participation in extracurricular activities: Schools need to provide students with disabilities equal access to extracurricular activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act allows three methods of determining whether a student qualifies for special education as a student with a specific learning disability (SLD). The first and most controversial is the Discrepancy model, which requires a significant discrepancy between the student's intellectual ability and academic achievement. The second is the Response to Intervention (RTI) model, which utilizes a process to assess a student's response to scientific, researched-based interventions. The third method involves reviewing the student's unique pattern of cognitive strengths and weaknesses (PSW) that result in academic deficits. The present article reviews the research regarding the strengths and weaknesses of each model. Furthermore, due to the recent emergence of PSW models, this article concludes with the authors' recommendations for further research prior to implementation of the PSW approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Council for Learning Disabilities’ Research Committee hosted a “Must Read” session at the 35th Annual International Conference in which they discussed influential articles published between August 1, 2012, and July 31, 2013. Articles were selected in six areas relevant to learning disabilities research and practice: response to intervention, reading assessment, math assessment, reading instruction, math instruction, and research methods. The six articles presented by the panel are summarized and explained with respect to why they are considered a “Must Read.” [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The reauthorization of IDEA (2004) significantly changed the delivery of services to students with disabilities as it aligned with the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) statute. This provision has resulted in the implementation of response to intervention (RTI) models in schools across the nation and has sparked significant debate in the field as to the best way to identify students with specific learning disabilities (SLD). This paper is not to advocate for a particular method of identification, but rather to assist diagnostic personnel (e.g., educational diagnosticians, school psychologists) in using informal assessment tools and strategies to increase diagnostic precision and improve the ecological and predictive validity of the SLD evaluation regardless of methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author evaluates and offers his opinion on the article "Challenges of Serving Students With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders: Legal and Policy Considerations" by C. R. Smith, A. Katsiyannis and J. B. Ryan, which appeared in a 2011 issue of the journal. In the article the author also offers his opinions on problems which he feels are associated with special education literature's treatment of legal issues, using the Smith et al. article as an example.

Learning disabilities (LDs) have long been presumed to be a neurological disorder resulting from a deficit in 1 or more cognitive processes. Although the emphasis on cognitive processing disorders has been included in the definition since the term was coined, and although it arguably represents the key distinguishing characteristic of LDs, it also has been the least well-operationalized component of the LD construct. In this article, first a brief synthesis of the emerging research examining the connection between cognitive processing deficits and academic achievement is presented. Next, the difficulty of operationalizing the implications from this body of research is described, as is the importance of developing an LD identification model that accurately reflects current understandings of the construct. Combined models for identification that rely on the use of both a student's response to intervention and a comprehensive evaluation of cognitive processes are presented as best practice. Finally, implications for transitioning school-based LD identification models are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Specific learning disability (SLD) identification and eligibility practices are evolving and sometimes contentious. This article describes the historical context and current status of the SLD definition, legislation, regulation, and case law related to the identification of students eligible for special education services. The first part traces the history of research related to identification practices and federal legislation. The second part discusses current federal law, state policies, and case law. The concluding part provides a synthesis and, based thereupon, future policy recommendations. The primary suggestions are the future policy priorities (a) provide clear regulatory guidance on the basis of available research evidence; (b) pay more specific attention to identification timelines; and (c) provide clarification of procedures for referral and eligibility determination when implementing response to intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article takes readers along the pathway of language learning and disorders across childhood and adolescence, highlighting the complex relationship between early (preschool) language disorders and later (school age) learning disabilities. The discussion starts with a review of diagnostic labels widely used in schools and other professional settings. The sometimes confusing interpretations of labels such as specific language impairment and specific learning disabilities are discussed. We outline key relations that exist among language proficiency, language disorders, and school success and emphasize the centrality of language in literacy and academic success within a conceptual framework that addresses both inherent factors (e.g., abilities the language a child "comes with" to school including one's foundational literacy levels) and external factors (e.g., classroom dynamics, textbook language). We argue that mismatches between these factors come together in a manner that is best captured by the term, language learning disability. We end with a summary of key points that encourage professionals to reevaluate and challenge the traditional view that children and adolescents with language disorders are a separate and distinct population from those with learning disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This chapter presents the personal perspectives of the author on issues related to methodology in teaching children with learning disabilities and to the role of methodology in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Additionally, problems schools have had in implementing IDEA are highlighted and proposals offered to alleviate those difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the latest U.S. Department of Education data, this article presents the enrollment figures for students identified with specific learning disabilities (SLD) under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) for the school years from 1995–1996 to 2011–2012. The figures for each year are (a) the number of students with SLD ages 6 to 21, (b) the percentage in relation to students classified under all of the IDEA classifications, and (c) the percentage in relation to total K–12 school enrollments. The discussion examines these trends and explores the possible reasons for them. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on special education law in the U.S. in 2013 and discusses if poverty can be considered a disability. Topics include the U.S. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), advancements in neuroscience research, and what can be considered a specific learning disability under the Act.

In 2004, Congress amended the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to ameliorate the over-inclusion of students diagnosed with "specific learning disabilities" (SLDs) in special education. To achieve this goal, the amendments permit the use of "response to intervention" (RTI), which is both a diagnostic tool used to identify students with SLDs, and an early-intervention pedagogical tool for general-education students at risk of academic failure. RTI addresses the problem of over-inclusion by improving the diagnostic reliability of SLDs, enhancing general-education services, and reducing referrals to special education. Although evidence indicates that RTI is serving its intended goal, there are inconsistencies associated with its implementation that arise from the denial of procedural safeguards to RTI students. These safeguards, set forth in § 1415 of the IDEA, protect the rights of children with disabilities to a "free appropriate public education." This Note argues that the denial of these safeguards conflicts with the goals of § 1415 and standards-based education policy reform. Accordingly, Congress should amend § 1415 of the IDEA to extend all § 1415 procedural safeguards to students receiving RTI services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Response to Intervention (RTI) models are likely to be implemented in early childhood settings with greater frequency to target academic and developmental skills. With an increasing number of classrooms serving children with identified special needs, it is necessary to examine how current frameworks for RTI models meet the needs of all children in the classroom, including those with identified developmental delays and disabilities. To do this, we reviewed five comprehensive RTI models proposed for preschool classrooms according to a framework based on foundational tenets in early childhood special education practice. Two independent researchers coded articles that described RTI models for presence of the foundational tenets and associated evidence-based practices described by Odom and Wolery (2003). Several foundational tenets were contained in the majority of RTI models, whereas others were not addressed adequately. Results provide the early childhood education and early childhood special education fields direction in development and implementation of inclusive early childhood RTI models. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004) has had substantial influence on special education in general and the field of learning disabilities in particular. Since its reauthorization in 2004, ongoing regulatory efforts have been underway to determine its operationalization and implementation. Of particular concern to those involved in the educational process (i.e., special educators, school psychologists, families, advocates) are the guidelines for identifying children with specific learning disabilities (SLD), including the use of Response to Intervention (RTI). In this article, some of the most relevant and controversial issues associated with the use of RTI for the identification of SLD are detailed. We discuss how SLD is conceptualized in terms of identification approaches and classification criteria and present position statements of special education professional associations on the changes to the federal SLD definition and identification criteria. Finally, we summarize proposed resolutions to the seemingly irreconcilable differences identified throughout the article. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The evaluation of minority children for special education by law should be nondiscriminatory. To be in compliance with federal mandates such as the Individuals with Disability Education Act (IDEA), No Child Left Behind (NCLB), and Public Law 94-142, minority children who are also English language learners (ELLs) should be assessed in their native language or other appropriate mode of communication. During assessment, the child's language skills in terms of both Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) and Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) should be considered. Assessments like the Woodcock-Munoz and Student Oral Language Observation Matrix (SOLOM) can be used to determine the child's dominant language and proficiency in both their first (L1) and second (L2) languages. Models such as that proposed by Olvera and Gomez-Cerrillo (2011) which includes procedures for formal and informal assessments, as well as data collection and observation, can help guide a school psychologist or diagnostician when assessing a bilingual child. One main goal of this type of evaluation is to distinguish academic delays caused by a learning disability from those caused by a lack of proficiency in English. Cautions with respect to the testing of ELLs are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), formerly the Education of All Handicapped Children Act, has exerted a profound influence on the education of students with disabilities. In 2004 major changes were made to the IDEA when it was amended in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act. The category of disabilities that was most profoundly affected by these changes may have been the category of learning disabilities. In this chapter we (a) review the development and major components of the IDEA, (b) explain the important changes in the 2004 amendments for the education of students with learning disabilities, focusing on two specific requirements, and (c) reflect on possible changes in future amendments to the IDEA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the identification and education of students with disabilities in the U.S. and examines the impact that the Education for All Handicapped Children Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act have had on individuals with disabilities. The author offers his opinions on the importance of identifying disabilities in children at an early age, the education of children with special needs, and the impact that U.S. legislation has had on special education programs.

In this introduction to this special issue, “A Decade Later,” we provide an overview of the accomplishments as well as the persistent questions surrounding RTI. We organize this discussion within 3 categories: assessment, instruction, and policy. Within each of these sections, we also highlight how the articles in the present special issue expand upon the key issues. Developed initially for the early grades (kindergarten through third grade) and primarily in the area of reading, many-although not all-of these issues speak to the expansion of RTI to address a broader set of academic content areas and the full range of grade levels. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this issue of Learning Disability Quarterly (LDQ), Professors Daves and Walker reply to my earlier LDQ article on confusion in the cases and commentary about the legal dimension of RTI. In this brief rejoinder, I show that their reply confirms rather than resolves the confusion in their original commentary in 2010. This persistent problem appears to be largely attributable to lack of accuracy and precision in examining and evaluating the law—including the legislation, regulations, court decisions, and administrative rulings—as distinct from the lore—including their particular professional perceptions and recommendations. For example, they confuse the specific scope and requirements for RTI in the IDEA with the more generic, long-standing practice of general education interventions. Indeed, their response inadvertently compounds the confusion by less than careful and complete interpretation and citation of various legal sources. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Professional confusion, as well as case law confusion, exists concerning the fidelity and integrity of response to intervention (RTI) as a defensible procedure for identifying children as having a specific learning disability (SLD) under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Division is generated because of conflicting mandates specified in IDEA when compared to mandates in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). This article is submitted to address (a) concerns about the misuse of RTI in identifying students with SLD and (b) how schools face the challenges of identifying students with learning disabilities, providing appropriate services within the least restricted environment while attempting to meet the requirements found in NCLB that all children will learn on grade level and be assessed accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study reports on the perceptions and instructional practices of Grades 3 through 5 special education teachers in a school district that implemented a multitiered response to intervention (RTI) framework for the previous 5 years. The authors used focus groups and interviews to examine special education teachers’ perceptions of RTI. In addition, the authors observed the mathematics and reading instruction that these teachers provided. This study contributes to the literature by presenting a qualitative, in-depth description of special education teachers’ perceptions related to RTI implementation at the upper elementary level. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose: This study investigated the narrative language performance of 3 types of readers who had been identified as being at risk through code-based response-to-intervention (RTI) procedures. Method: In a retrospective group comparison, 32 at-risk 1st-grade readers were identified: children who resolved without intervention (early resolvers, n = 11), children who met criterion following 4 weeks of intervention (good responders, n = 8), and children who failed to meet criterion following 4 weeks of intervention (poor responders, n = 13). A narrative retell and a norm-referenced language test were obtained before intervention. Results: There were no significant differences between the 3 learner types on the language test. However, the narratives of the good responders were significantly higher than the narratives of the other 2 groups on total number of words, number of different words, and number of communication units. The narratives of early resolvers and good responders differed significantly on the productivity index, number of coordinating conjunctions, and number of episodic elements. There were no other significant differences. Conclusion: Types of learners distinguished by a code-based RTI model showed differences in their narrative language. First graders who responded well to code-based reading intervention retold stories that contained more language and better story grammar than first graders who did not respond well to intervention. These results indicate the need to evaluate narrative language performance within RTI, especially for early resolvers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education is important for all children, but even more so for children with disabilities, whose social and economic opportunities may be limited. In this article, Laudan Aron and Pamela Loprest assess how well the nation's education system is serving students with disabilities. Aron and Loprest trace the evolution of the special education system in the United States from its origins in the civil rights movement of the mid-twentieth century. They note the dual character of federal legislation, which both guarantees eligible children with disabilities the right to a “free, appropriate public education in the least restrictive setting” and establishes a federal funding program to help meet this goal. They then review the types of services and accommodations these children receive from infancy through young adulthood. The special education system has given children with disabilities much greater access to public education, established an infrastructure for educating them, helped with the earlier identification of disabilities, and promoted greater inclusion of these children alongside their nondisabled peers. Despite these advances, many problems remain, including the over- and underidentification of certain subgroups of students, delays in identifying and serving students, and bureaucratic, regulatory, and financial barriers that complicate the program for everyone involved. More important, the authors show that special education students still lag behind their nondisabled peers in educational achievements, are often held to lower expectations, are less likely to take the full academic curriculum in high school, and are more likely to drop out of school. Only limited evidence is available on the effectiveness of specific special education services or on how to improve student achievement for this important subgroup of students. Improving the system will require better ways of understanding and measuring both ends of the special education continuum, namely, what services special education children need and receive, and what academic outcomes these students achieve. Without stronger evidence linking these two aspects of the system, Aron and Loprest argue, researchers will be unable to gauge the efficacy of the services now being delivered or to formulate effective reforms to the system as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last three decades the number of US graduate students with disabilities has increased exponentially. Institutions of higher education have responded by developing and implementing multiple programs and initiatives to meet the needs of this population. One initiative, Universal Design for Instruction (UDI), is believed to have considerable promise. There is a lack of marriage and family therapy (MFT) literature on how to develop and implement pedagogical strategies for students with disabilities and diverse learning styles. Thus, UDI has the potential to enable MFT educators to increasingly foster inclusivity and provide accessible educational experiences for all students, including those with disabilities. When correctly incorporated UDI should diminish the need for individualized accommodations and increase the accessibility of courses and clinical training. We provide a synopsis of the history and philosophy of UDI and describe strategies for applying its nine principles to MFT education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is now well established that learning disabilities (LD) persist into the adult years, yet despite a developing literature base in this area, there is a paucity of evidence-based research to guide research and practice. Consistent with the demands of the adult stage of development, autonomy and self-determination are crucial to quality-of-life issues to adults in general, and specifically to adults with LD. There are many areas of functioning in which adults need to adapt successfully, such as employment, family, social and emotional, daily living routines, community, and recreation and leisure. In essence, there are a myriad of challenges and outcomes as adults navigate the trials and tribulations of LD as it manifests itself into adulthood. This review of the extant evidence-based literature seeks to discover relevant knowledge that can be shared with practitioners who serve adults with LD in a variety of professional and volunteer roles, particularly in adult education settings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Accommodating adult basic education (ABE) learners with learning disabilities (LD) is common practice across many instructional, testing, and work settings. However, the results from this literature search indicate that very few empirically based studies are available to support or reject the effectiveness of a great deal of accommodation implementation. In addition, in light of the profound changes to literacy taking place in today’s digital, networked, and multimodal world, technology is redefining traditional concepts of accessibility and accommodation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article relates the appropriate means of the term Specific Learning Disability (SLD), a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using spoken or written language, evaluation to the U.S. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). It discusses Michigan's new evaluation criteria for SLDs and reflects an ineffective implementation of the IDEA legislation in states to ensure a free and appropriate public education to all children.

The article focuses on the definition of a child educational disability under the U.S. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Topics include the enactment of the U.S. Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) in 1975, what can be considered a specific learning disability, and how learning disabilities are diagnosed in children.

The article presents a study which investigated electronic communication as a potential method to enhance social communication in students with disabilities. The researchers investigated the usability of an adapted e-mail interface, TeenMail for middle school students with learning and communication disorders. The unanticipated high number of e-mails that were sent over the project is said to be the most notable finding of the study.

This study was conducted to examine changes in the identification rates and national and state placement practices for school age students with learning disabilities (LD) between 1990-1991 and 2008-2009. Findings revealed that while identification rates of students with LD declined by about 4 percent during this time, general education placements increased over 166 percent, pullout placements declined by more than 50 percent, while students educated in highly restrictive separate class and separate school settings declined by approximately 60 percent. Unlike earlier studies, most states made at least some progress toward educating students with LD in less restrictive settings. Much of the change in placement practices for students with LD occurred since 2000. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The identification of children who are twice-exceptional-those who are gifted and have concomitant learning disabilities (LDs)-has historically posed a number of challenges for school psychologists and other school personnel. With the reauthorization of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act and the shift to the use of a Response-to-Intervention (RtI) model to identify students with LDs, the task of identifying those who are twice exceptional is even more daunting. This article proposes an integrated model for the identification of gifted children with LDs that blends standardized assessment methods with practices consistent with RtI. This balanced approach brings together the best of both worlds to more accurately identify twice-exceptional students and better meet their educational needs. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students with disabilities participate in two major measurement systems. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act emphasizes working within a Response to Intervention (RTI) framework to identify and monitor the progress of low-performing students. Persistent low-performing students also may be eligible for some form of an alternate assessment for accountability purposes. Working within these two systems, educators need technically sound measures to inform decision making. This study presents scaling results from a Curriculum Based Measurement tool designed within an RTI framework and specifically for persistently low-performing students. We use the phrase 'persistently low-performing students' to refer to a specific group of students who have been identified with a nonsevere learning disability and who perform well below grade-level expectations. Key findings indicate that items appear to function well in the lower tail of the distribution of students' estimated ability level. Further, the distribution of items is positively skewed, resulting in many accessible items that are most informative for low-performing students. Results provide initial validity evidence for the measurements as one source of data for progress monitoring within an RTI framework and the identification of persistent low-performing students who may be eligible for a large-scale assessment option other than the general grade-level assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses three aspects of development that should be addressed to meet the intent of the Response to Intervention (RTI) Legislation. RTI is part of the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) which requires that all students receive excellent classroom instruction first, i.e., Tier I, and then those considered to be low performing, i.e., Tier II, are offered "supplementary, small group tutorial intervention" for 30 to 40 minutes. This is what the legislation requires before students can be classified as learning disabled or placed in special education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a computer-mediated intersensory learning model as an alternative to traditional instructional approaches for students with learning disabilities (LDs) in the inclusive classroom. Predominant practices of classroom inclusion today reflect the six principles of zero reject, nondiscriminatory evaluation, appropriate education, least restrictive environment, procedural due process, and parental and student participation. These practices guide the amended Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004. For nearly 35 years the act has championed for the rights of children with disabilities. The act mandates that students with LDs are educated in the general education classroom (Hock, Deshler, & Schumaker, 1999). Those with LDs are expected to reach a mastery level of the subject matter in the inclusive classroom (Kameenui & Carnine, 1998). Among other things, society now expects all learners of the digital generation to be able to manipulate and process information, and to learn to apply it in their daily lives (Gilbert & Driscoll, 2002). These high expectations place increased demands on students with LDs leading to a need for instructional alternatives to help them succeed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses teaching literacy to U.S. students with significant cognitive disabilities. An example is given of a student who suffers from cerebral palsy, seizures, and cognitive disabilities. The student has received systematic instructions on various goals, such as identifying colors. Topics include the importance of time delay as an effective teaching strategy in children with cognitive abilities despite the low rates of participation from many students, an overview of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and the goals of the Standard Course of Study (SCOS). An in-depth discussion of the seven comprehensive approaches for teaching students with cognitive disabilities literacy is presented.

The Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA) requires assistive technology (AT) be considered at the yearly individualized education program (IEP) meeting of every student in special education. IDEA also directs that AT be implemented on the basis of peer-reviewed literature despite a paucity of research on AT's effectiveness in the public schools. This repeated-measures quasi-experimental study explored AT's effect in a public school special education setting. Participants (N = 13) were a heterogeneous group of students in 1 school system who had newly provided AT to address academic and communication goals in one school year. Results suggest that relative to other interventions, AT provided by a multidisciplinary team may have a significant effect on IEP goal improvement (t[12] = 5.54, p = .00) for students in special education (F[2] = 9.35, p = .00), which may support AT's use in special education by occupational therapists as directed by IDEA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The passage of No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act has strengthened the conditions for instructional accountability for all learners. The standards-based approach promulgated by curriculum and state assessments is central to the accountability of conditions in today's schools; however, national and state data continue to document a performance gap between students with learning disabilities (LD) and their nondisabled peers. Building on 5 years of experience in developing and testing the Blending Assessment with Instruction Program in mathematics, we present three basic principles that are essential to ensuring that students with LD achieve curriculum standards: (1) instruction must be aligned with curriculum standards, (2) teachers' content knowledge is essential to translating curriculum standards into aligned instruction, and (3) instructional methodology should receive greater attention during teacher preparation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]