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Access to education for children with disabilities remains a significant challenge in many countries despite international agreement of its importance. This paper describes results from a comparative analysis of education for students with disabilities in Brazil, Canada, and South Africa with a focus on how differences in disability policies, pedagogy, professional development for teachers, and sociocultural factors shape access to schooling in these three countries. The paper also reviews relevant literature to discuss how structural and cultural barriers can exacerbate exclusionary practices. The analysis highlights ways that these countries and others can increase participation in society and enhance quality of life for individuals with disabilities.

Access to basic education for all students is an essential goal for many countries around the world. Also, as worldwide calls for providing inclusive education continue to intensify, access to basic education for many students with disabilities in Kenya remains a pervasive challenge. Large class sizes, inadequate funding, limited teacher training, cultural perceptions, and lack of disability awareness exacerbate this challenge. In 2009, the Kenyan government put forth a national Special Needs Education policy framework that provides comprehensive strategies and policies to improve services for people with disabilities. Creating advocacy and awareness, revamping the curriculum, incorporating technology, providing teacher training, and improving data collection are some of the recommendations included in the policy framework to enhance special education services and facilitate inclusive practices.

Access to schooling and special education services remains a challenge for many children with disabilities around the world. In the United States, much attention has focused on disproportionality--the over- and underrepresentation of student groups within special education. In this study, to contextualize and better understand the scope and factors associated with disproportionality in the United States and abroad, we synthesized literature on special education disproportionality in international contexts and identified trends across student groups and countries, including the ways in which scholars have examined this topic. Results show that studies focused mainly on the overrepresentation of ethnic minority, immigrant, and Indigenous populations in European or English-speaking nations. Nearly all studies emphasized structural inequalities in society over cultural barriers as mechanisms contributing to disproportionality. Policy recommendations, however, were more likely to focus on improving the special education identification process. The review has implications for research, practice, and policy to improve education for children with disabilities in the United States and abroad.

With the increasing availability of technology and the emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education, there is an urgent need to understand the impact of technology-mediated mathematics (TMM) interventions on student mathematics outcomes. The purpose of this study was to review studies on TMM interventions that target the mathematical outcomes of K-12 students with or at risk for mathematics learning disabilities (MLDs). A review of the literature revealed 19 studies (9 single-case and 10 group/quasi experimental designs) published between 2000 and 2016. Results suggest that TMM interventions had mainly positive results on the mathematics outcomes of students with or at risk for MLD. This study also examined the extent to which principles of explicit instruction were integrated in TMM interventions. While many of the interventions provided frequent practice opportunities with academic feedback, few complemented such practice opportunities with overt demonstrations and explanations of mathematical content. Implications for designing TMM interventions are discussed.