New technology devices such as iPads and iPods have become very popular and widely used in special education settings to teach students with disabilities. The 20 selected single-case design studies published by November 2015 were comprehensively reviewed to examine the effects of using iPads and iPods on academic performance and engagement of…

Evidence-based reforms that emphasize the identification and implementation of empirically validated practices are at the forefront of educational research, and recently, the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC; 2014) published a set of standards for establishing evidence-based practices in special education. Although 30 years of research…

Legally, the ultimate criterion for eligibility under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is whether the child needs special education. A new decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals suggests that providing various interventions and accommodations in general education might mean that a child who meets the criteria for any…

Training and coaching are cited frequently to achieve different goals, by different people, across different fields. "Who" provides training and coaching and "where" and "how" they are provided may influence the effectiveness of the training and coaching efforts, making the clear identification of these contextual…

Writing standards and objectives outline complex skills for narrative essay writing at the secondary level. Students with disabilities often produce disorganized narratives with fewer narrative elements than their peers without disabilities. A multiple-probe design was used to examine effects of Self-Regulated Strategy Development for the Pick my…

Students with disabilities need to be more involved in planning and presenting individualized education program (IEP) meetings, and teachers need an effective, efficient curriculum to teach students how. "My IEP" curriculum uses folding graphic organizers to teach students to self-direct IEP meetings, targeting self-advocacy and…

This study employed an adapted alternating treatments single-case design to explore students' learning of biology content when using a general note-taking (GNT) strategy and a content-specific graphic organizer (CGO) to support reading high school biology texts. The 4 focal participants were 15-18-year-olds committed to a moderate risk juvenile…

Although parent involvement is required by special education law and is important for all students, the literature synthesizing studies on parent involvement has focused on the general education parent population, often without addressing students with disabilities. The purpose of this review was to descriptively synthesize the literature on…

Some researchers have characterized Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a promising framework to provide diverse students with access to the general education curriculum, but to what extent and how have UDL-based interventions fulfilled that promise? The purpose of this review was to analyze studies that investigated impacts of UDL-based…

Special education is losing its identity--its visibility, distinctiveness, budget, and basic functions are all at risk. Special education functions include (a) sorting, categorizing, and labeling students who need it; (b) making the right comparisons; (c) honoring diversity but changing "particular" differences; (d) managing stigma; (e)…

Young people with emotional and behavioural disorders (EBD) comprise a unique group of students involved in school bullying. The present case study examined the bullying experiences of a group of students, aged 10-14 years, identified as having EBD. A total of ten students participated in self-report questionnaires and interview-style journaling.…

Drawn from an investigation of the emergent technological practices of post-secondary students with mathematics learning disabilities, this case study employs an enactivist framework in considering the bootstrapping processes our participants report engaging in when using personal electronic devices for academic support. Video-recorded,…

Many students with significant disabilities have complex communication needs and are not yet able to express themselves using speech, sign language, or other symbolic forms. These students rely on non-symbolic forms of communication like facial expressions, body movements, and vocalizations. They benefit from responsive partners who interpret and…

Although parents often advocate for the best educational services for their children with disabilities, few studies examine parents' advocacy activities; identify parent-school relationship, parent, and student correlates of advocacy; or describe the conditions of advocacy. Responding to a national, web-based survey, 1087 parents of students with…

Although students with disabilities are over-represented in the juvenile justice system and frequently receive poor educational services, few studies have examined strategies to increase compliance with student needs and individualized education programs. In this study, we conducted interviews with eight probation officers in the Advocacy Unit of…