For the past ten years, concerns have been voiced about the preservice preparation of occupational therapy (OT) practitioners to work in schools and early childhood programs. States and local districts have long complained of shortages of occupational therapists (OTs) in these settings. In addition, the "Twenty-Second Annual Report to Congress on…

The majority of graduate programs in communication sciences and disorders train generalists who may not be prepared for the unique demands of employment in the schools (e.g., curriculum-based assessments, classroom-based interventions, collaborative consultation) because the complexities of caseloads and the roles and responsibilities of…

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) is the professional, scientific, and credentialing association for more than 109,000 audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and speech, language, and hearing scientists. ASHA's mission is to ensure that all people with speech, language, and hearing disorders have access to quality…

This paper seeks to shift debate from the question of whether charter schools are serving their "fair share" of students with disabilities to the more fruitful question of how finance and choice policies influence special education enrollment rates in charter schools. A school's incentive to enroll a student with disabilities depends on the…

Though the utilization of special education paraprofessionals has increased, contemporary literature and research highlight a series of concerns about the field's continuing reliance on this approach. This article presents a three-component administrative model for effective utilization of paraprofessionals that includes paraprofessional supports,…

Inservice training (locally or state provided) is the primary means used to improve teachers' instruction employed in public school districts throughout the United States. Individual states are increasing inclusion efforts in the local schools. Various states have established state-initiated training programs to improve instruction for students…

The impact of standards-based reform on students with disabilities has been a topic of considerable concern in recent special education literature although scant information has been reported from the school system level on this issue. Recognizing that a key element in ensuring that students with disabilities are successfully involved in a…

This study examined the experiences of administrators of Massachusetts out-of-district special education schools two years after they began aligning their curriculum with state standards. The majority of administrators described faculty as "Somewhat Familiar" with state frameworks, and their curriculum as "Partially Aligned." School-based study…

Recent legislation from IDEA 1997 to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act--Revised of 2002 (No Child Left Behind) and the pending reauthorization of the IDEA--present challenges for administrators of special education programs and building-level administrators that oversee educational programs for all students on a daily basis. This article…

There has been a continuing drama over the unanswered question of whether students with disabilities deserve a high school diploma. Currently, a student is awarded a high school diploma if he or she meets local standards and if he or she passes the state's competency test of if his or her passage of the Indiana Standardized Test of Educational…

One principle of applied research is to design intervention programs targeted to teach useful skills to the participants (Baer, Wolf, & Risley, 1968), while structuring the program to promote generalization of the skills to the natural environment (Stokes & Baer, 1977). Proficiency in community skills (e.g., community navigation and shopping…

This paper reports the experiences of special education needs co-ordinators (SENCOs) on the inclusion of pupils with a visual impairment (VI) in mainstream schools in Northern Ireland. A mixed method approach (postal questionnaire survey (n=113) and interviews (n=6)) was utilised to triangulate the findings. The results indicate an inverse…

The present study explored typically developing children's understanding of, and attitudes towards, the inclusion of children with physical disabilities (PD) in mainstream settings. The 60 children who participated in the study attended sixth grade in two mainstream primary schools (30 in contact with a child with PD and 30 without such contact).…

The aim of this single-case intervention study was to examine whether a conceptual knowledge-based strategy training would improve the accuracy of single-digit arithmetical calculation in a child with specific language impairment. The intervention concerned an 11-year-old Finnish-speaking child with specific language impairment. He was trained…

This article presents the authors' response to the commentaries on their article. In reply to Julie Allan they contend that it is not so much the exposure to democratic ideas that they are against as much as the argument that democratic practices ought to be a central element in schooling. Moreover, they do not argue that introducing democratic…