Special Education
This section examines several key issues involved in special education services as mandated under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), amended in 2004. For information on recent changes to the law, check our featured section on IDEA 2004. Be sure to also learn about the laws and regulations that govern special education in your state.
There are 81 articles in this section.
Go to page: |< < 1 2 3 4 5 > >|
Sort by: | Date | Title |
Documenting Communication with the School About Special Services
When dealing with a bureaucracy, and school districts are bureaucracies, you need to keep detailed records. Logs, journals, and calendars provide answers and support memories and testimonies. This article provides examples of how to keep a paper trail.
Understanding the Special Education Process
This overview walks parents through each step of the special education process. PACER Center, author of this article, describes what happens from the time a child is referred for evaluation through the development of an individualized education program (IEP).
Response to Intervention (RTI): A Primer for Parents
Learn what questions to ask about Response to Intervention (RTI), an approach to helping struggling learners that's gaining momentum in schools across the country. The National Association of School Psychologists tells you the most important features of the process, key terms, and its relationship to special education evaluation.
The Content's Best Modality Is Key
The idea that people may differ in their ability to learn new material depending on its modality — that is, whether the child hears it, sees it, or touches it — has been tested for over 100 years. And the idea that these differences might prove useful in the classroom has been around for at least 40 years.
Do Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Learners Need Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Instruction?
How does the mind work — and especially how does it learn? Teachers' instructional decisions are based on a mix of theories learned in teacher education, trial and error, craft knowledge, and gut instinct. Such gut knowledge often serves us well, but is there anything sturdier to rely on?
Disabilities That Qualify Infants, Toddlers, Children, and Youth for Services under IDEA 2004
Learn which children are eligible for services under IDEA, the special education law. This article lists thirteen disability categories, including specific learning disability, and defines them.
Identification of Specific Learning Disabilities
Highlights of Key Provisions and Important Changes in the Final Regulations for IDEA 2004
Schools in Which All Kinds of Minds Can Grow
As we discover more about how students learn and how different minds learn differently, our schools have a golden opportunity to increase the percentage of their students who experience true academic success.
Mediation Opens Door to Amicable Dispute Resolution
Parents’ Rights To Information About Professionals Who Work With Their Children Under IDEA
Developing Behavioral Intervention Plans: A Sequential Approach
Assessment accommodations help people with learning disabilities display their skills accurately on examinations. Teachers, learn how to test the true knowledge of your students. Don't test their ability to write quickly if you want to see their science skills! Parents, these pointers will help you assure that your children are tested fairly.
Understanding Assessment Options for IDEA-eligible Students
The No Child Left Behind law requires each school test students in Reading/Language Arts & Math each year in grades 3-8, and at least once more in grades 10-12. In some cases, children eligible for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) services may be able to access testing accommodations or even alternate tests, but parents need to fully understand the implications and potential consequences of participation in the various testing options.
No Child Left Behind: Making the Most of Options for IDEA-eligible Students
If a Title I school repeatedly underperforms, federal law provides opportunities for students to change schools or obtain additional instructional support. This parent advocacy brief looks at the information parents of students with disabilities need to know and understand in order to maximize these options.
Making the "No Child Left Behind Act" Work for Children Who Struggle to Learn
This article provides an overview of the federal No Child Left Behind law and includes information to help parents use provisions of NCLB to ensure that their child has access to appropriate instruction.
Responsiveness to Intervention and Learning Disabilities
Social Skill Autopsies: A Strategy to Promote and Develop Social Competencies
Rick Lavoie teaches the social skill autopsy- a strategy to help your child or student learn from their social errors. Turn those embarrassing incidents into teachable moments- and help the person with a learning disability to correct their mistakes and not repeat them. If you are a person with a learning disability, consider sending this article to a trusted mentor or friend.
