Challenging behavior is often a source of frustration for parents. Challenging behavior is defined as any behavior that interferes with children's learning and development, is harmful to children and to others, and puts a child at risk for later social problems or school failure (Bailey & Wolery, 1992; Kaiser & Rasminsky, 2003). Children's…

Parents play important roles as advocates for their child with a disability. Advocacy is the process of striving to improve the quality of life for someone else. The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires parents and professionals to work together to design a service delivery plan for children with disabilities. An…

Under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act Amendments of 2004, special educators and related services personnel are required to support a child with disabilities in the setting deemed the least restrictive and most natural for that particular child. There is considerable variation in the consultation experiences and skills…

Nurturing potential is a critical aspect of development for young children with and without disabilities, especially if a child is gifted. This article provides resources that offer ideas for family members and professionals on how to recognize and support each child's strengths. Many of the materials specifically address nurturing potential in…

In recent years, the response to intervention (RTI) model has not only gained popularity as an alternate approach to identifying students with learning disabilities but also offered general education teachers a framework for problem solving at the classroom level. The model emphasizes ongoing progress monitoring of student performance to make…

This article provides early childhood practitioners a way to develop a common understanding of the importance of play in the early learning experience of young children. Meaningful discussion among teachers, parents, administrators, and teacher candidates regarding play in early childhood education programs is critical to ensure the growth and…

The general education curriculum comprises more than just the academic courses students take. The wide range of extracurricular clubs, sports teams, performing arts programs, student government positions, career development activities, service-learning projects, and other school-sponsored activities offered in middle and high schools provide a…

The Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA) states that transition planning should begin at the earliest age appropriate and no later than age 16. IDEA requires schools to make collaborative efforts to provide students access to an array of postschool activities including integrated employment, postsecondary…

The use of interventions to create behavior change among students with disabilities has an extended and complex history (Horner et al., 2005). Practitioners involved in the field of special education often debate best practices from an immense array of available interventions (Heflin & Simpson, 1998). Service providers express concern about…

Some young children show signs that they may not be learning in an expected manner, even during the prekindergarten (PreK) years. These children may exhibit learning challenges in areas such as developing language, counting objects, hearing differences in letter sounds, paying attention during story time, or learning how to write. Teachers,…

This study investigated the role of the family in career development and postschool employment outcomes for young adults with learning disabilities. Using a multiple-case study design, the authors examined a set of family structural and process variables. Fifty-nine in-depth interviews were conducted with young adults, parents, and school staff…

Most efforts to understand and support self-determination have dealt solely with adolescents and adults, sometimes overlooking and excluding the foundations in early childhood that are required for successful emergence of self-determination. The purpose of this article is to share what is known about early self-determination and to suggest how…

Practitioners and parents are seeking ways to help children who are not able to integrate sensory information; this has generated recent media attention. A child's inability to integrate sensory information can have implications for the whole family and their everyday routines. Research conducted by occupational therapists has provided a rich…

In classrooms, it is not unusual to see students who struggle to produce legible print. In actuality, many students have difficulty with the physical printing and writing processes ("handwriting")--difficulty that is significant enough to interfere with their academic performance. Some students grow out of this, and some, with extra practice,…

This article describes a data-based continuous-improvement framework that can help school teams use what the authors call "systems-level data" to support teachers in achieving successful beginning reading outcomes for all students. The authors also furnish an example of an elementary school in the Pacific Northwest that uses such a framework to…