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Indigenous youth comprise a significant and diverse collection of populations. School psychologists are uniquely placed to serve Indigenous students and improve their long-term outcomes. However, in the face of longstanding colonial practices and systemic oppression, which have resulted in poor educational outcomes for Indigenous students, school psychology research broadly underrepresents Indigenous students. This proves problematic considering research informs practice. The goal of this review is to evaluate the current standing of school psychology research focused on Indigenous youth and identify areas of need. The current systematic review yielded 57 articles focusing on Indigenous youth from 10 indexed school psychology journals. A significant portion of the articles were published in the 1980s, with fewer than three publications per year in the two decades following. The articles demonstrated a preference for assessment and related topics, with limited research focused on intervention, culture, and equity. This focus on assessment to compare Indigenous youth with youth of other racial and ethnic backgrounds serves to support the systems of oppression in place. These findings highlight the need for school psychology research to exert a concentrated effort toward Indigenous-focused research with more varied topics beyond assessment. Implications for trainers, researchers, and school psychology journals are discussed.

Currently, little research exists on disabilities among Native American communities and no research exists on how Native Americans perceive disabilities, services currently available, and unmet needs. Understanding these key areas is essential to providing efficacious and culturally relevant care. To address this gap in the literature, we used Indigenous research methodology through sharing circles throughout the state of Utah to listen and amplify the voices of the Native communities. Participants shared how they conceptualize "disability," what they thought of current services, and how they thought the needs of Native persons with disabilities should be addressed. Four major themes emerged in the data: a culturally-based conceptualization of "disability," barriers to services, belonging, and needed actions. These themes highlight the cultural strengths among Native communities surrounding disabilities and bring attention to systematic change needed to better address the needs of Native Americans with disabilities. POINTS OF INTEREST: Native Americans are diagnosed with disabilities more than the general American population. Cultural understandings, including the definition of "disability," may influence diagnosis rates. This study aimed to get a more complete picture of how Native Americans understand disabilities and what services would be helpful for those with disabilities in their communities. Native American participants shared their experiences and thoughts about disabilities in sharing circles to discuss important topics in a cultural way. Four major themes were identified following these sharing circles, including a culturally-based definition of "disability," barriers to services, belonging, and needed actions. These themes highlight the cultural strengths among Native communities surrounding disabilities and bring attention to what changes could be made to better serve the needs of Native Americans with disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) are victims of pervasive violence that began centuries ago, one that has gone unrecognized by governments, institutions, and society as a whole. To fight this silencing, Native communities have come together to decolonize the narrative, advocate for MMIWG, and honor the lost lives of their daughters, sisters, and matriarchs. We provide an overview of the history of MMIWG, the lack of response by the US government, and the decolonial action and advocacy by Native communities. However, we also go far beyond the typical academic article, in that we present both the factual information behind MMIWG and the emotional weight that each of the authors and those we know carry. We have incorporated stories, pictures, art, and the names of MMIWG to illustrate the ongoing reality of the attempted genocide of Native women and girls. We pray that this article aids in the honoring of our lost sisters and their families while bringing awareness of this tragedy to the eyes of those who can join us in fighting the silence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social communication and interaction deficits are a diagnostic criteria of autism and integral to practitioner and researcher conceptualization. Culture is an influential factor in expectations for, and demonstration of, social communication and interaction skills, but there is limited research published in autism journals on this topic. This paucity of autism research examining cultural factors related to social communication and interaction may contribute to known identification disparities for racial and ethnic populations minoritized by systemic factors and research bias. We call for increased commitment from researchers to recruit racially and ethnically minoritized participants, prioritize investigating cultural expectations and perceptions of social communication and interaction, and evaluate measures related to social communication for cultural and linguistic responsivity. Lay Summary: A diagnosis of autism requires the presence of deficits in social communication and interaction. Examples of these behaviors and skills include holding a back‐and‐forth conversation, the use of nonverbal communicative behaviors (e.g., gestures), and developing and maintaining social relationships. Culture influences the expectations for, and presentation of, these behaviors. However, research on this topic is lacking. Conducting more research related to culture and social communication could help reduce the disparities in autism identification across racially and ethnically minoritized populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social communication and interaction deficits are a diagnostic criteria of autism and integral to practitioner and researcher conceptualization. Culture is an influential factor in expectations for, and demonstration of, social communication and interaction skills, but there is limited research published in autism journals on this topic. This paucity of autism research examining cultural factors related to social communication and interaction may contribute to known identification disparities for racial and ethnic populations minoritized by systemic factors and research bias. We call for increased commitment from researchers to recruit racially and ethnically minoritized participants, prioritize investigating cultural expectations and perceptions of social communication and interaction, and evaluate measures related to social communication for cultural and linguistic responsivity. LAY SUMMARY: A diagnosis of autism requires the presence of deficits in social communication and interaction. Examples of these behaviors and skills include holding a back-and-forth conversation, the use of nonverbal communicative behaviors (e.g., gestures), and developing and maintaining social relationships. Culture influences the expectations for, and presentation of, these behaviors. However, research on this topic is lacking. Conducting more research related to culture and social communication could help reduce the disparities in autism identification across racially and ethnically minoritized populations., (© 2021 International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals LLC.)