The topics listed are individual websites that can be accessed by members of The National Association of Special Education Teachers (NASET). If you are not a member of NASET, you can join today.

Members of NASET, please login (member login and password) to have full access to all the information and other websites links, in our database.

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ABA for Children with Autism 

• A good overview of ABA -ABA Overview : "Applied" means practice, rather than research or philosophy. "Behavior analysis" may be read as "learning theory," that is, understanding what leads to (or doesn't lead to) new skills. (This is a simplification: ABA is just as much about maintaining and using skills as about learning.
 
• A very good and thorough site containing numerous links on ABA : I am the father of a school-age child who has autism. This is a collection of Internet and other resources which parents of children with PDD, PDD-NOS, autism, Asperger's Syndrome, or hyperlexia may find useful. 
 
• Books and materials on ABA - ABA Books : from the Institute for Applied Behavior Analysis- Click on Resources
• Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis : The Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis is a psychology journal that publishes research about applications of the experimental analysis of behavior to problems of social importance
 
• Introduction and Overview to The Applied Behavior Analysis Approach to Autism Treatment : In this Section, you will find scientifically validated information about the causes of autism, and the Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) approach to treating it. The content of this Section is carefully refereed by an Advisory Board comprising the leaders in ABA and Autism.
 
• Applied Behavior Analysis-Teaching children with Autism: Behaviorism is the examination of human and animal behavior using the principles of science: observation, reproduction, testing, objectivity, etc. Applied behavior analysis, then, is the application of this science of behavior to meet a certain end: to increase or decrease a particular behavior, to improve the quality of a behavior, to stop an old behavior, or teach a new.
 

Abbreviations and Acronyms Used in Special Education 

• Extensive ERIC list of terms used in special education: Acronyms frequently used in special education.
 
• Abbreviations and acronyms used in special education rights and responsibilities
 
• The great list of abbreviations used in special education
 

About Public Agencies 

• The agencies described provide assistance to people with disabilities and their families. : The agencies described below provide assistance to people with disabilities and their families and will tell you the names and addresses of these agencies in your state.
 
• Americans with Disabilities Act- What adoption agencies need to know: By its specific terms, the ADA applies to all adoption agencies, irrespective of the number of employees. Public adoption agencies are covered under Title II and private adoption agencies are covered under Title III of the Act. The ADA contains important requirements designed to protect the interests of individuals with disabilities -- requirements that may affect the way in which agencies utilize disability-related criteria in the selection of prospective adoptive parents.
 
• National agencies serving individuals with disabilities
   

Academic Goals and Objectives for IEP’s 

• IEP Goals and Objectives/Benchmarks : IEP meetings give you and the school a chance to work together to design an Individualized Education Program (IEP) for your child with learning disabilities who’s eligible for special education. The goals and objectives or benchmarks are the core of the IEP. As a parent, you play an important role in deciding what will be written.
 
• For Parents and professionals ...  a library book of over 6,000 IEP goals and objectives to select from for your next IEP: Use The Goal Digger to point-and-click on your computer screen the goals, objectives, and criteria for each area of learning and include the child's present level of performance if you wish. Personalized with automatic insertion of the child's name and gender-correct pronouns in goals and objectives.
 
• IEP4U.COM has over 4000 free Goals and Objectives (IEP-ITP) each with changeable benchmarks. : IEP4U.COM has over 4000 free Goals and Objectives (IEP-ITP) each with changeable benchmarks. The Idea Statements are spread out over seven subjects (Domains) and four functional levels. Teachers, parents and students can now access objectives directly from this Web Site.
 
• IEP goals: Questions and answers about goals and objectives
 
• Measurable IEP goals: explanation and samples included
 
• IEP links: extensive links about Info, elements of goals and objectives/benchmarks, methodology, suggestions, articles, links, etc.
 

Accessing Parent Groups 

• Accessing parent group information: Families with a child who has a disability have special concerns and often need a great deal of information: information about the disability of their child, about school services, therapy, local policies, funding sources, transportation, medical facilities, and much more.
 

Accessing Programs for Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers with Disabilities (ages 0-5) 

• Finding help for young children-birth to age 5: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has been amended! This is the law that guides how schools deliver special education and related services to students with disabilities.
 

Adaptations & Accommodations (Classroom and Testing) for Students with Disabilities 

• Nine types of adaptations that can be used in the classroom : a good place to begin for understanding how material can be adapted for children with special needs.
 
• This is a collection of pertinent articles and book references providing professionals with suggestions and techniques for designing curricula, settings, and evaluations for students with special needs. : Contains information on how to make adaptations and accommodations for students with disabilities in both general and special education classrooms. This information is needed in part because more and more students with disabilities are being educated in the general education environment along with their peers without disabilities, using the general curriculum—that is to say, the curriculum that is used with nondisabled students.
 
• This is a chapter from the author’s book, discussing concise strategies and alerts for professionals, who must accommodate special ed students in their classrooms. : Accommodations are neither difficult to provide nor distracting to the rest of the class. In fact, many of these accommodations may make learning easier for all your students.
 
• Suggested classroom interventions: This page provides some practical suggestions that can be used in the regular classroom as well as the special education classroom.  By looking through a given list of interventions, a professional will be able to select one or more strategies that are suited to a specific child in a specific environment.
 
• This site explains the legal issues for accommodations for high school students with disabilities, and gives examples of accommodations and assessments. : Fewer students with disabilities in middle schools and high schools use accommodations than students with disabilities in elementary schools.
  
• Author provides IDEA definitions of adaptations, accommodations, and modifications to help students with disabilities. : IDEA Reauthorization language provides the education community an opportunity to rethink how students with disabilities are served, not only in special education classrooms but also in every other setting on the school site. Does the student require behavior support on the bus? On the playground? Does the student require accommodations and/or modifications in curriculum instruction? Or accommodations during testing?
 
• An experimental analysis of accommodation decisions on large scale mathematics tests-Pdf file: This article reports on an investigation of professionals and students within special education to determine the accuracy with which professionals recommend read-aloud accommodations for mathematics tests, and develop a profile of students who benefit from this type of accommodation.
 
• Creating and using meaningful alternate assessments-Pdf file: How to ensure, decide, and design alternate assessments for children with special needs.
 
• Webpage presents homework strategies for teaching students with disabilities : Homework is one aspect of the general education curriculum that has been widely recognized as important to academic success. Teachers have long used homework to provide additional learning time, strengthen study and organizational skills, and in some respects, keep parents informed of their children's progress.
 
• Some testing accommodations not valid for many students with LD: Under IDEA '97, students with disabilities must be included in high-stakes assessments, but they are allowed certain accommodations to help them achieve valid scores on those tests. How does a professional determine which accommodations are most beneficial?
 
• Site contains disability specific strategies for accommodating students in classrooms both physically and via curriculum.
 
• This is a short guide to define and explain about accommodations for students with disabilities. : Laws require schools to provide aids, services and other accommodations to qualified students with disabilities, who need an accommodation to participate in school. This brochure will explain information about various accommodations and help you find out if you may qualify for an accommodation.
 

Adaptations and accommodations for specific disabilities-PDF files 

• Attention/Behavior Difficulties
• Attention Deficit
• Autism
• Deafblindness
• Deaf, Hard of Hearing
• Emotional Behaviors
• Mild Intellectual Disability
• Nonreader
• Sensory Impairments (Vision and Hearing)
• Significant Developmental Delay
• Specific Learning Disabilities
• Speech and Language Impairment
• Tourette's Syndrome
• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Visual Impairments

For a more extensive and disability specific list of recommendations on this topic Click Here to go to Exceptional Students and Disability Information on this website-

Adaptive Physical Education 

• This site provides educators with activity guides, national standards, definitions, assessment tools, adaptations, journal articles, research, newsletters, adapted texts, and IEP development.: The following information should be helpful to those who are responsible for educating students with various disabilities.
 
• What is adaptive physical education: Change the word "adapted" to "modified" and you have the idea of Adapted Physical Education. It is GOOD teaching which adapts (modifies) the curriculum, task, and/or environment so that ALL students can fully participate in physical education. Read more...
 
• Alliance for Disability: Lists urls of associations linked to adaptive sports, athletics, and activities for people with disabilities, and severe handicaps.
 
• United Cerebral Palsy:  has links to sites for exercise & fitness, sports & team games, advocacy, camps, arts & entertainment, services, and therapeutic hobbies for people with CP
 
• Health and PE Unit Plans: This is an alphabetical list of lesson plans and activities for disabled students
 

Adults with Disabilities 

• Resources for adults with disabilities: Once a student leaves high school, other agencies are available to assist with putting the individual in contact with helpful resources. This listing of resources is for adults to help them get started. This list offers organizations that provide information, referral, and/or direct services.
 
• Lists disabilities lawyers, glossary of terms, and links to disability laws.
 
• Disability information: This is a directory of government Internet links for those with disabilities, their families, employers, service providers, and others, with access to a wide variety of resources of info and issues on disabilities, and color-coded into 9 categories.
 
• Resource links for adults with disabilities: Employment, Difficulty on the job, Adult education and literacy-related activities, Recreation activities, Resources on independent living, AT, other organizations on disability, resource booklets and written information.
 
• This site is a guide for adolescents and adults with disabilities and attention disorders, and professionals.
 
• Association for children and adults with learning disabilities: This association provides information and their goals for helping children and adults with disabilities get the services they need and inform others of what should be done for this population.
 
• Correctional education programs for adults with learning disabilities: Correctional education programs are designed to help inmates acquire basic skills, social skills, workplace readiness and vocational skills, and to foster enhanced self-esteem. The ultimate goal of correctional education is to reduce recidivism -- to help inmates become self-sufficient so that they can be re-integrated into society and become productive and successful workers, citizens, and family members. 
 

Advocacy for Children with Disabilities 

• Wrightslaw: On this site find articles, cases, newsletters, and resources about dozens of topics in the Advocacy Libraries and Law Libraries. Wrightslaw is ranked #1 in education law, special education law and special education advocacy.
 
• Provides articles on all types of toddler disabilities - from learning to physical.
 
• US Department of Justice: Contains many publications, Mediation Program, how to file a complaint, guide to rights and laws for those with disabilities, guide for disabled seeking employment, and many other resources for parents.
 
• A tremendous resource for disabled children and their parents, offering help with goods and services.
 
• Special education advocacy: This is a site full of articles, newsletters, and Q and A’s to help parents get acquainted with advocacy issues, tactics, and strategies concerning their special needs child.
 
• Advocacy for children with special needs: This is an informative site that touches upon many topics that are helpful for parents and children with disabilities, including their rights and advice on various approaches.
 
• Special education advocacy strategies: This is an educational site where parents, advocates, attorneys, and school personnel can come for accurate and up-to-date information and strategies to secure the rights of children with disabilities.
 
• Federation for children with special needs: This is a helpful site to make parents aware of their rights and the law surrounding special education.
 

American Sign Language (ASL) 

• A basic dictionary of ALS terms:  Scroll down to see the dictionary letters. Click on any letter and get the hand sign for the word.
 
• ASL University-Fingerspelling: practice quizzes, spelling quizzes, animated spelling quizzes, practice sheets, fingerspelling alphabet and much more. A great site and a must see if you need assistance in this area.
 
• Gallaudet fingerspelling font page: The full alphabet and number keys contain graphic representations of the corresponding American Sign Language alphabet for the deaf. The font may be used for learning sign language, correspondence using sign language, or whatever purpose you dream up.
 
• Welcome to the ASL Fingerspelling practice site: A fun sight to visit. Shows actual hands spelling the words and letters.
 

Annual Review Preparation-Click Here

Asperger’s Syndrome 

• The plain diagnostic criteria for Asperger's Syndrome: The following criterion are from the 2000 Revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fourth Edition-Text (DSM IV-TR). See the DSM IV-TR manual for details and examples. Note: Asperger's Disorder is one of five specific Pervasive Developmental Disorders listed in the DSM IV-TR under the general heading of Pervasive Developmental Disorders.
 
• Online Asperger Syndrome Information and Support : As parents of children who are diagnosed with AS, we understand how essential is it that families of children diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome and related disorders, educators who teach children with AS,  professionals  working with individuals diagnosed with AS,  and individuals with AS who are seeking support, have access to information. 
 
• All about autism, Asperger Syndrome, and related developmental disorders. : a wealth of information, links, organizations and resources on this topic.
 
• Fact sheet on Asperger's Syndrome.
 
• Asperger's Syndrome publications including guidelines for diagnosis, assessment and treatment: from the Yale Child Study Center
 
• What are the warning signs for Asperger Syndrome? Visit First Signs. : dedicated to the detection of early warning signs of developmental disorders and delays.
 
• What the Autism Society of America has to say about Aspergers: Asperger's Disorder is one of five Pervasive Development Disorders (PDDs), which also includes Autism, Rett's Syndrome, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, and PDD-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). PDDs are a category of neurologically-based disorders that have a range of delays in different developmental stages.
 

Assessing Children for the Presence of a Disability 

• Overview article: This resource list provides school systems with information on assessment of school-aged children. The books and articles listed below may be useful to schools as they plan assessments of individual students to determine if they have a disability and, thus, are eligible for special education and related services. 

Assessment Measures Used in Special Education (Informal)- Click Here

Assessment Measures Used in Special Education (Standardized) 

• Reading Tests
• Math Tests
• Spelling and Written Language Tests
• Comprehensive Achievement Tests
• Early Childhood Assessment Measures
• Perceptual Assessment Tests
• Psychological Assessment Tests
• Speech and Language Evaluation Tests
• Occupational and Physical Therapy Evaluation Measures
 

Assistive Technology 

• Excellent site for overview information: family guide to assistive technology
 
• Types of assistive technology: Assistive technology products are designed to provide additional accessibility to individuals who have physical or cognitive difficulties, impairments, and disabilities. When selecting assistive technology products, it is crucial to find products that are compatible with the computer operating system and programs on the particular computer being used.
 
• Customizing technology solutions for college students with learning disabilities: Coupled with the application of universal design principles, new and different types of assistive technologies - many specifically designed for students with learning disabilities - are also becoming commonplace. These tools allow students greater independence in learning by customizing applications to maximize learning strengths and to minimize or circumvent specific learning weaknesses.
 
• Assistive technology and your child: Technology is one of the buzzwords of the late 20th century, conjuring up images of computers that talk or televisions so thin they can be mounted on the wall like a picture. Technology isn't just a matter of high-tech solutions to simple problems, however. People with disabilities are now taking advantage of all kinds of technological advances to overcome barriers caused by their disability.
 
• Assistive Technology: Becoming an Informed Consumer - NICHCY: Raising a child with a disability presents families and professionals with many challenges. Today, one of the major challenges facing people who care for and about children and youth with disabilities is technology -- what to get, where to get it, how to use it, how to pay for it, how to evaluate its effectiveness, and where to put it.


• Assistive Technology Guide for Students with Learning Disabilities: provides an overview of current technologies to help parents decide on available tools for their child.
 
• Assistive Technology for Students with Learning Disabilities: Despite adequate cognitive ability, learning disabled students' difficulties with basic skills such as reading and writing can prevent full participation in the classroom and later in critical adult life activities. Computer technology provides the answer for many of these students.
 
• Assistive Technology for Children with Autism: For years, different modes of technology have been used to improve the quality of life of people who have various developmental disabilities . However, the varied use of technology for children with autism continues to receive limited attention, despite the fact that technology tends to be a high interest area for many of these children.
 
• Technology in Early Childhood Programs: As technology becomes more accessible to early childhood programs and computer software becomes more user-friendly, early childhood educators have a responsibility to examine its impact on children and prepare themselves to use it for all children’s benefit.
 
• Assistive Technology Legislation: During the 1980's and 90's, the civil and education rights of individuals with disabilities were strengthened. As AT has the potential to provide opportunities for increased independence and participation in all of life's activities, the federal government recognized this ability
 
• The Public School's Special Education System as an Assistive Technology:  : The public school's special education system is a source of a wide range of educational services, special supports, and even AT that may be needed by children with disabilities to benefit from the public school's educational system. These rights to educational services and supports are grounded in two federal statutes, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, that have each been in place for more than 20 years.
 
• Simplified Technology for Children with Disabilities: This book is written for professionals, parents, therapists and others involved with children who have expressive language disabilities, including both expressive and receptive delays.
 
• Technology Related Articles from LD OnLine: Technology can open doors and break down barriers for children, youth and adults with learning disabilities. Whether in the classroom or workplace, technology can provide a vital difference. Here we explore new developments in technology, and practical insights into the promise and realities of making technology work for people with learning disabilities.
 
• The Alliance for Technology Access: The Alliance for Technology Access (ATA) is a network of community-based Resource Centers, Developers, Vendors and Associates dedicated to providing information and support services to children and adults with disabilities, and increasing their use of standard, assistive, and information technologies.
 
• This fact sheet from The Arc describes devices that are used by children and adults with mental retardation and other disabilities to compensate for functional limitations and to enhance and increase learning, independence, mobility, communication, environmental control and choice.: Assistive technology is the term used to describe devices that are used by children and adults with mental retardation and other disabilities to compensate for functional limitations and to enhance and increase learning, independence, mobility, communication, environmental control and choice. It also refers to direct services that assist individuals in selecting, acquiring or using such devices (The Arc, 1991).
 
• DREAMMS for Kids, Inc. specializes in Assistive Technology (AT) related research, development, and information dissemination.: Assistive technology solutions.
 
• EASI's K12 Information Technology Centre: EASI is the Premiere Provider of Online Training on Accessible Information Technology for Persons with Disabilities reaching more than 4,000 people in over 3 dozen countries since 1993
 
• Connecting technology with the way young children learn: resources and information for educators and care providers
 

Assistive Technology Equipment 

• Hundreds of assistive technology products: from Enable MArt, this site contains hundreds of different assistive technology devices and equipment for school, home and everyday use.
 
• The ABLEDATA database contains information on more than 30,000 assistive technology products:  ABLEDATA provides objective information about assistive technology products and rehabilitation equipment available from domestic and international sources. Although ABLEDATA does not sell any products, we can help you locate the companies that do.
 
• Assistive Technology, Inc. is a developer of hardware and software solutions for people with physical, cognitive, and speech disabilities.
• Leading-edge assistive technology: Assistive Technology, Inc. is a premier developer of hardware and software solutions for people with physical, cognitive, and speech disabilities. Explore our website to learn more about our augmentative communication devices, speech-generating devices, assessment software, and services.
 
• Products for persons with special needs (i.e. Special Education), including special software and hardware adaptations for persons with very special needs.
 

Assistive Technology Reports- Click Here

 

Associations, Organizations and Clearinghouses in Special Education- Click Here

Attention Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder- Click Here

 

Autism - Click Here

 

Autism Spectrum Disorder -  Click Here

 

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Behavior Assessment, Plans, and Positive Supports 

• This article provides you with sources of information for helping children who have behavior challenges.: This Connections page focuses on Behavioral Assessment, Plans, and Positive Supports. Without a doubt, a critical first step in addressing problem behavior is determining why the student is exhibiting the behavior. To do so, a behavior assessment must generally be conducted. Only when more is known about the cause or causes of the student's behavior can appropriate positive supports be identified and provided.
 

Behavior Contracts 

• Here you can purchase on issues such as: driving, substances, school, allowance, chores, working, citizenship, dating, and more.: KidsContracts are very simple to use, fill-in-the-blank, agreements which cover a wide variety of important health, safety, social and educational issues. We think you will find that these contracts are one of the most important things that you and your child will ever agree to. We also think your investment (time and money) in these agreements will be one of the best investments you ever made.
 
• Steps in implementing behavior contracts between students and professionals, pros and cons, sample contract, discussions.: The behavior contract spells out in detail the expectations of student and professional (and sometimes parents) in carrying out the intervention plan, making it a useful planning document. Also, because the student usually has input into the conditions that are established within the contract for earning rewards, the student is more likely to be motivated to abide by the terms of the behavior contract than if those terms had been imposed by someone else.
 

Behavior at Home 

• This article provides you with sources of information for helping parents cope with their child with his or her behavior at home.: Challenging behavior, of course, often occurs outside the home and may need to be addressed in other environments as well. Because behavior is such a huge topic, we've split up our resource lists into separate Connections pages, as follows... read more
 

Behavior at School 

• This article provides you with sources of information for helping children with disabilities with respect to behavior at school.: Having a child with challenging behavior can affect the entire family, and family members often find the need for more information and guidance in this difficult area. The resources listed below are intended to connect families with resources and support.
 

Behavior Expertise 

• This particular page is one of many focusing on behavior issues and the various areas of behavior that need to be addressed.: Within this page, you'll find who's who in the behavior field, and where to go for more information, reading, links, and assistance. The list below isn't intended to be exhaustive of the behavior resources and expertise available to you---it's ever-growing.
 

Behavior Intervention Plans 

• Offers services and resources to parents of autistic children.: From the Behavioral Intervention Association
 
• Evaluating the behavior intervention plan: This site  provides tips on how to use the information gathered during the functional behavioral assessment process to develop and implement positive behavioral intervention plans that address both the short- and long-term needs of the student.  Blank forms and sample completed forms that might be used for developing positive behavioral intervention plans and crisis/emergency intervention plans are included in the Appendices on this site.
 
• The Behavior Home Page: This site provides information on the three-tiered model of behavioral support. Interventions are developed at Universal (school-wide), Targeted (small groups or individual students), and Intensive (wraparound) levels to teach all students what they must do to be successful. This page identifies and provides links to resources for each level of behavioral support.
 
• Functional Behavior Assessment: This site provides its viewers with all of the resources needed to understand the usefulness of functional behavioral assessments and behavioral intervention plans in addressing student problem behavior, as well as what the law requires of school districts with regard to these topics.
 
• Developing Behavioral Intervention Plans: This site contains an article called, “Developing Behavioral Intervention Plans: A Sequential Approach,“ which explains the requirements of the IDEA regarding addressing problem behavior. It provides a step-by-step guide to conducting a functional behavioral analysis, and writing a behavior plan.
 
• Intervention Central: This site provides newly posted academic and behavioral intervention strategies, publications on effective teaching practices, and use tools that streamline classroom assessment and intervention.
 
• This site provides information and technical assistance for identifying, adapting, and sustaining effective school-wide disciplinary practices.: The Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) has been established by the Office of Special Education Programs, US Department of Education to give schools capacity-building information and technical assistance for identifying, adapting, and sustaining effective school-wide disciplinary practices.
 
• Addressing Problem Behaviors in Schools: Use of Functional assessments : Educators have long recognized that behavior difficulties can keep students from performing successfully in class. The 1997 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) address the issue of classroom behavior problems by requiring school- based IEP (Individualized Education Program) teams to use positive behavioral interventions and supports to address behaviors that interfere with the learning of students with disabilities and that of others (or that require disciplinary action).
 
• Addressing student problem behavior: This article describes the need for behavior intervention plans, lists some techniques, and goes into the topics surrounding behavior issues and how to address them using the behavior intervention plan.
 
• This site describes IEPs under the IDEA, functional assessment, and what you need to build a behavior intervention plan. It also lists the sources where the information was gathered from.: For some time, researchers and school personnel have been studying the effects of a wide range of problem behaviors on classroom learning. Research funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and other government agencies corroborates educators' concerns that behavior difficulties interfere with the learning of both the student exhibiting the behavior problem and his or her peers.
 

Behavior Modification 

• ADHD behavior modification across the ages of students, and what techniques work – a good cross-section of suggestions for parents.: AD/HD behavior modification techniques.
 
• Identifies, discusses, and suggests techniques for professionals in handling difficult students in the classroom. : A reference for handling over 117 behaviors at home and school.
 
• Offers youth programs and crisis intervention to bring about lasting change – help for parents of struggling teens.: Lifelines Crisis Intervention represents programs which have assisted families from all corners of the nation in finding the best program for their teen. We represent only the finest programs in the U.S. that will help your teenager internalize lasting changes and assist you in rebuilding family unity.
  
• Discussion of the guidelines for ADD in children.: New Guidelines for the Treatment of ADHD were issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics in September 2001.  They state that Behavior Modification should be used with medication and that some children may be helped by Behavior Modification alone
 
• This is a very informative site that explains behavior modification, its history, techniques, factors influencing the effectiveness of it, and several reference sites with articles about it.: The basic idea behind behavior modification is to change one's behavior from being an undesired act to one that is desired or more acceptable. There are many different definitions of behavior modification. It seems as though each psychologist has a definition of his /her own for behavior modification.
 
• This article clears up conflicts people have about behavior modification. It gives examples of children who may need it and how to implement it.: All adults who deal with children develop strategies to shape their behavior. Children need basic tools of language, learning, emotional maturity and self-control to function effectively with others. The principles of Behavior Modification describe a formalized method that observes behavior and seeks to shape it in positive ways. The purposes of Behavior Modification in the education of children are NOT brainwashing, bribery or mind control.
 

Bilingual and Culturally Diverse Students 

• A discussion on “Diagnosing Communication Disorders in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students”: The disproportionate referral of bilingual and culturally diverse students to special education and related services is a pressing challenge in public school systems. Not only are unnecessary services a drain on resources, but they are harmful to children, taking them away from the classroom and inevitably stigmatizing them. In addition, an incorrect diagnosis may mean that a child does not receive the services he or she does need.
 
• Identifying learniong disabilities in cultually diverse students: As you probably know, appropriate identification and placement of English language learners who may also have learning differences/special needs can be quite difficult, as it's often hard to tell what may be a language problem and what may be a learning problem—the two often look very similar. There is quite a bit of research available on this topic that may be of help to you.
 
• Educating lingually and culturally diverse students: This page explains the important role of teaching bilingual and culturally diverse students. It goes over several Acts such as the Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994, which describes the rights of these students.
 
• This is a very thorough article that explains how culturally diverse and bilingual students are affected in schools, their characteristics, why they may have problems succeeding, and many procedures to help them to improve their educational experiences.: The increasing diversity of student populations creates problems for many school systems (Weismantel & Fradd, 1989). The need to provide meaningful instruction to students who are not proficient in English creates difficulties for educators. Many limited-English proficient (LEP) students also have special educational needs.
 
• This is a highly informative module presentation of topics that surround diverse students. It gives many suggestions and strategies on how to teach these students effectively.: This module is designed to take the place of a formal presentation in the Instructional Effectiveness Program (IEP). It is available free for use by all faculty, students, and staff at Oklahoma State University. All participants who wish to obtain course credit or a certificate for completion of IEP and who wish to count this module, as part of their work will complete the activities related to this module. 

Bullying 

• Bullying is a serious problem with horrible consequences if left unchecked. The good news is that you can do lots to stop it. We hope that the resources listed are useful to you in that effort.
• Prevention: School is supposed to be a place where students feel safe and secure and where they can count on being treated with respect. The reality, however, is that a significant number of students are the target of bullying episodes that result in serious, long-term academic, physical, and emotional consequences. Unfortunately, school personnel often minimize or underestimate the extent of bullying and the harm it can cause. In many cases, bullying is tolerated or ignored 

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Can I Trust This Information? 

• Weighing information for its worth: This Connections page takes up that very real concern. As we rely more and more on the Internet for information, and as we seek to base our decisions upon research evidence, it's important to consider the information, and its source, through the lens of a cautious consumer. But how do we do that? The resources listed below will hopefully shed light on the "how" of weighing information, as well as the "why."
 

Cerebral Palsy 

• A very thorough overview of the illness including tips for professionals and parents.: Cerebral palsy--also known as CP--is a condition caused by injury to the parts of the brain that control our ability to use our muscles and bodies. Cerebral means having to do with the brain.
• Cerebral Palsy- numerous topics on this website in the section on Exceptional Children and Disability Information-Orthopedic Impairments-
 

Charter Schools

• Information about charter schools, locate in your area, updates on the topic of these innovative schools, incentives, learn about programs, how to start a charter school, special links for parents, grants.: From US Charter Schools Association.
 
• Charter Schools Development Center: Has workshops, services, grants, studies and research of and for charter schools.

Provides:

• Technical Assistance for Setting up a Charter School
• New York State Charter School Law
• Charter School Applications
• Charter Schools Operating in New York State
• Public Per Pupil Aid to Charter Schools
 
• This site provides a full list of informative topics about charter schools from employment requirements to student admission requirements and a list of links to related websites.: From the Arizona Department of Education
 
• This site informs you about the laws and issues surrounding charter schools and how they rate in different states.: From the Center for Education Reform
 
• This site explains what this organization does in terms of charter schools. It describes the curriculum under national and state standards, and has other information that is useful for getting familiar with the charter school system.: From Charter Schools USA.
 

Child Abuse and Neglect-Awareness and Reporting Responsibilities- Click Here

 

Child Study Teams 

• Prereferral-Child Study Team: The purpose of the prereferral process is to ensure your child tries reasonable accommodations and modifications before she’s referred for special education assessment. 

Children’s Literature and Disability 

• Children's Literature and Disability: This list of Resources You Can Use is intended to help parents and professionals identify books that are written about or include characters who have a disability. The list is grouped according to disability or issue
 
• Race, Gender, and Disability in Today's Children's Literature: Author highlights the importance of integrating into children’s literature, all the diversities of disability, race, gender, culture, and exposes their paucity in today’s publications for children.
 
• A Guide to Children's Literature and Disability: This is a bibliography intended to help professionals and parents identify books that are about, or include,  characters having disabilities. The list is grouped according to a large variety of disabilities.
 
• Internet resources on literature for children with learning disabilities: Shows booklists, audio/video sources, and other literary media resources designed for those with disabilities.
 
• This site provides information on a text dealing with disabilities, illness, and children’s literature: helpful for early childhood, elementary general education, and special education professionals.
 

Classroom Management

• Children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder
• Children with Autism
• Children with Emotional Disturbance
• Children with Hearing Impairments
• Children with Learning Disabilities
• Children with Mental Retardation
• Children with Orthopedic  Impairments
• Children with Other Health Impairments
• Speech and Language Impairments
• Children with Traumatic Brain Injury
• Children with Visual Impairments

 

Communicating Test Results to Parents- Click Here

Computer Software for Special Education

• Products for persons with special needs: Offers AT software, devices, services and workshops, special software, games, adaptive parts for furniture, and miscellaneous items adapted for many disabilities.
• Family Village computer software: Provides links for computer peripherals, communication aids, and assistive technology devices for a host of physical and other disability challenges.
• Closing the Gap: This is newspaper, resource directory, conference listing, AT solutions, and forum.
• LAB Resources:This site has products you can purchase and offers training classes and tutorials on how to use assistive technology software.
• Horizon Software: This site offers special education management software products.

Curriculum Activities for children with Disabilities

• Early Childhood Research Institute: Storybook activities for young children with disabilities and their families, and professionals.
• Selected Internet Resources for the Arts and Disabilities: A worthwhile site to links such as the American Arts Therapy Association, American Dance therapy Asociation, American Music Therapy Association and much more.
• Sports and Recreational Activities for Children with Physical Disabilities: Has numerours url links to organizations who hold the various athletic events for disabled children, with articles, websites, names, addresses, and phone numbers, government links, and long lists of sports accommodating the disabled, and all contact information included.
• Topics include numerous sites on multicultural education: issues covered: Multicultural education articles, multicultural activities for children, multicultural education curriculum
• Art for children and adults with disabilities: This site offers lesson plans and activities in art for people with disabilities and advice on how to go about teaching them.

Curriculum Adaptation-See individual disability categories under Exceptional Children and Disability Information- Click Here

Curriculum Based Assessment (CBA)

• Definitions of Curriculum based assessment

Curriculum Types-Coming Soon

D

 

Deafness/Hearing Loss - Click Here

Developing Your Child’s IEP

• A good article to give to parents to alleviate their concerns about IEP’s.: This guide explains the basics of the special education process and gives you information on how to be an effective partner with your child’s school.

Developmental Disabilities - Click Here

Developmental Milestones

• Birth to 12 months-milestone chart
• Birth to 12 months-numerous articles on all aspects of this age level
• Toddler ages 13 months to 18 months-milestone chart
• Toddlers ages 19 months-24 months-milestone chart
• Toddlers 25 months to 30 months-milestone chart
• Toddlers 31months-36 months-milestone chart
• Toddlers 35 months to 36 months-numerous articles on all aspects of this age level
• Preschoolers ages 2yrs-4yrs-Numerous articles on all apsects of this age level

Dictionary: For Parents of Children with Disabilities

• This is one of the most extensive dictionaries on special education terminology around. Great for professionals, parents and students.: a Pdf file

Directory of Summer Camps

• Summer camps for children with disabilities: This is a guide to some of the directories and listings of summer camps. Half of these resources identify camps specifically intended for children who have disabilities. The other half are simply directories listing camp opportunities available to all children.

Disability Awareness

• Materials on disability awareness: This listing of Resources You Can Use provides just a sample of selected materials available from different organizations. The material is arranged in the following five categories curriculum, books, children’s books, videos; and posters and other merchandise.

Disability Community

• Connections to the disability community: This article provides you with sources of assistance within the disability community. We hope that you'll find information here that's helpful in addressing your individual concerns.

Disability Publishers

• Connections to Disability Publishers: his article will connect you with publishers offering books, videos, and journals on specific disabilities, special education, parenting, and other disability and special needs topics. This list targets commercial publishers.

Down Syndrome - Click Here

DSM-IVTR-Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Information

• Want to know more about the DSM-VI-TR, and how it was compiled?
  

Due Process in Special Education

• Brief overview of due process with example articles: A due process hearing is usually a formal, contested, adversarial trial. Special education cases are similar to medical malpractice cases, with battles of expert witnesses, and the emotions of bitterly contested divorce cases with child custody and equitable distribution issues.


• Excellent overview of all the factors involved in the due process hearing: The list below is a basic overview of the special education process. It is not designed to show all the steps or the specific details. It shows what happens from the time a child is referred for evaluation and is identified as having a disability, through the development of an Individualized Education Program (IEP).

E

Educational Assessments-Who Administers the Tests? - Click Here

Educational Report Writing and Examples - Click Here

Educational Research Information Center Digests (ERIC)

• What are ERIC Digests?: The Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education, produces the world’s premier database of journal and non-journal education literature. The ERIC online system provides the public with a centralized ERIC Web site for searching the ERIC bibliographic database of more than 1.1 million citations going back to 1966. More than 107,000 full-text non-journal documents (issued 1993-2004), previously available through fee-based services only, are now available for free.
• Search the ERIC databases here


• Good list of ERIC digest in special education: The following digests are from the ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education (ERIC EC), one of 16 federally funded ERIC Clearinghouses.

Educational Terminology Associated with Special Education - Click Here

 

Eligibility Committee (IEP Committee, CSE etc.)  Presentation - Click Here

 

Emotional Disturbance - Click Here

 

Epilepsy - Click Here and scroll down to Epilepsy

 

Extended School Year Services

• Excellent overview: an example of the standards used in New Jersey.
• Good historical perspective as well as explanation-PDF file: In general, extended school year (ESY) refers to special education and/or related services provided beyond the normal school year of a public agency for the purpose of providing FAPE to a student with a disability. These services are distinct from enrichment programs, summer school programs, and compensatory services and are not simply an extension of time.

F

 

Floortime for Children with Autism

• Excellent overview with practical suggestions: Greenspan describes six emotional milestones or stages of development that form a developmental ladder. "Children achieve these milestones at different ages - there is wide variation even among children without challenges.
• Description of Floortime used for learning and development: Over the past 20 years, Stanley Greenspan, MD and colleagues have published numerous articles on theories of child development. Only one relates specifically to children with autism; others may include references to autism among an array of disabilities. At the National Center for Clinical Infant Programs, Greenspan et al have worked with children with a wide range of disabilities from infancy through age 10. Read more...

Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)

• Q&A and articles dealing with FAPE: This page has Qs & As, articles, law, cases, books, and other resources about FAPE.
• 7 steps to getting Free and Appropriate Education

Functional Behavioral Analysis

• Functional Behavioral Analysis and Change Plans: Website provides assistance to educators in evaluating problem behavior and designing behavioral interventions.
• The Childhood Learning Center: Their workshops cover a large variety of topics from the behavioral perspective. Each workshop is taught by a qualified behavior analyst and in most cases arrangements can be made for continuing education units.
• Addressing Student Problem Behavior: the article that provides a wide range of topics discussing behavioral analysis, strategies, assessments and techniques used with children with disabilities.
• This site provides information on useful behavioral strategies and techniques, when working with autistic children and their parents.: When considering what new behaviors to teach a child, one must typically consider the behaviors that the child is currently exhibiting. Often, a goal might be to replace a current behavior, one which may be inadequate in effectively meeting the child's needs, or inappropriate in the current environment, especially those behaviors are severely maladaptive, aggressive, or self-injurious.
• Using Functional Analysis to Improve Reading Instruction for Students with Learning Disabilities and Emotional/Behavioral Disorders: This site contains an article that describes an approach to reading instruction for students with learning disabilities and emotional/behavioral disorders in which professionals use principles of functional analysis to generate hypotheses for the causes of reading failure.

Functional Behavioral Assessment

• Functional Behavioral Assessment:  his mini-web is designed to provide you with the resources needed to understand the usefulness of functional behavioral assessments and behavioral intervention plans in addressing student problem behavior, as well as what the law requires of school districts with regard to these topics.
• Addressing Student Problem Behavior- An IEP Team’s Introduction To Functional Behavioral Assessment And Behavior Intervention Plans.
• Behavior OnLine- The gathering place for Mental Health and Applied Behavioral Science Professionals.
• Guidance on Functional Behavioral Assessments for Students with Disabilities
• Functional Behavioral Assessment: What, Why, When, Where, and Who?- An article by Stephen Starin, Ph.D.
• Multimodal Functional Behavioral Assessment- A recommended process.
 
• Multimodal Functional Behavioral Assessment- Multimodal functional behavioral assessment is the process of identifying important, controllable, and causal functions related to a specific set of target behaviors for a child. The basic philosophy of mfba is that strategic and valid interventions should be coupled with a commitment to treatment integrity and critical outcome evaluation.
• The Functional Analysis of Behavior- Examines the theoretical and ethical limits.
• The Link Between Functional Behavioral Assessments (FBAs) and Behavioral Intervention Plans (BIPs)- Most research efforts have focused on procedures for conducting an FBA. Fitzsimmons (1998) summarized the typical processes of conducting FBAs, which include five core steps: (1) verify the seriousness of the problem; (2) define the problem behavior in concrete terms; (3) collect data on possible causes of problem behavior; (4) analyze the data; and (5) formulate and test a hypothesis. However, individuals who conduct FBAs do not necessarily incorporate these data into the student's BIP.
• The Link Between Problem Behavior and Effective Intervention in Schools- An approach to functional behavioral assessments.
• What is a Functional Assessment?- A functional behavioral assessment, or analysis, is a process which seeks to identify the problem behavior a child or adolescent may exhibit, particularly in school, to determine the function or purpose of the behavior, and to develop interventions to teach acceptable alternatives to the behavior.
• Functional Behavioral Assessment and the New IDEA: This site discusses serious issues professionals in special education face, such as the presence of challenging behaviors. Functional assessment can be used to establish a basis for individualized behavior management programming. With the development of IDEA 1997, policies and procedures have changed to make functional behavioral assessment mandatory.

G

 

General Information about Disabilities

 

Disabilities That Qualify Infants, Toddlers, Children, and Youth for Services under the IDEA:

 

• Every year, under the federal law known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), millions of children with disabilities receive special services designed to meet their unique needs. This is a good overview article of services and needs of children with disabilities birth to 21.

 

Gifted and Talented - Click Here

 

Government Agencies - Click Here

H

Helping Your Students Understand Their Classmates with Special Needs

• A good overview on sensitivity training: The primary objective of this unit is to sensitize both students and professionals to special education students and their needs and their rights. Many regular education students and professionals have had limited contact with special education students. They have very little understanding of the various handicaps of children with special needs.

Helping Students Devlop Their IEPs-Click Here

 

High Stakes Testing

• High-Stakes Testing, Uncertainty, and Student Learning: This article provides a brief history of high-stakes testing and an analysis of eighteen states with severe consequences attached to their testing programs. These 18 states were examined to see if their high-stakes testing programs were affecting student learning, the intended outcome of high-stakes testing policies promoted throughout the nation.
 
• Pass the test or no diploma-High stakes graduation testing and children with learning disabilities: This article provides an explanation as to why there are high stakes tests, what sort of tests they are, legal authority for including children with disabilities in exit exam interviews, why there is backlash etc.
• High Stakes Testing: This site offers news and articles about high stakes testing by people who are for and against it so that you can get a feel for the positives and negatives of it.

Home Bound Instruction

• Example of homebound criteria: This page gives instructions on the process of setting up home bound or hospital instruction for children with disabilities.
• This page shows the procedure of getting a student home or hospital bound instruction and a sample request form.

Home Schooling

• A series of articles dealing with a variety of home schooling topics
• An overview of home schooling
• A-Z on Homeschooling: This site offers many articles and resources about home-school instruction through the web.

Homework Strategies for Children with Disabilities

• 5 homework strategies for working with children with disabilities: Homework is one aspect of the general education curriculum that has been widely recognized as important to academic success. Teachers have long used homework to provide additional learning time, strengthen study and organizational skills, and in some respects, keep parents informed of their children's progress.

I

 

IDEA Amendments of 1997/2004 - Click Here

IDEA-Part C-Early Childhood Intervention

• Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities (Part C-IDEA): This site explains the program for infants and toddlers with disabilities called “Part C of IDEA”. This federal grant program assists states in operation a comprehensive statewide program of early intervention services.
• This site describes the eligibility for Part C for children age birth-3 with disabilities. There are also links to other information on this topic.: Includes information on parent's rights, Individual Family Service Plans, transition, and service definition.

Impartial Hearings

• Parent Training and Information Center for Parents of Children with Special Needs: SPAN provides statewide training and technical assistance for families of children with disabilities or those who are at risk for academic failure due to poverty, limited English proficiency, inadequate education, special health, emotional or other needs. This site offers services and programs to help those in need.
• From the State Education Department of New York: This page is a proposed amendment to provide appropriate procedures for carrying out impartial hearings under the IDEA. It explains the duties of impartial hearing officers.

Inclusion

• Startegies for general education placement (Inclusion): an excellent list of classroom strategies, behavioral intervents, and strategies for mild impairments in the regular education setting.
• Legal requirments and history of inclusion: The most current language of the federal mandate concerning inclusive education comes from the 1997 Amendments to the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). These federal regulations include rulings that guide the regulation. The IDEA r equires that children with disabilities be educated in regular education classrooms unless "the nature and severity of the disability is such that education in the regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfac torily." This means that schools have a duty to try to include students with disabilities in the regular general education classes.
• Preparing students, professionals and parents for inclusion: Here are some thoughts to keep in mind as a team of educators, parents, and perhaps the student work on a student's IEP and inclusion. Professionals may look at concerns in a different way from parents or people with disabilities.
• Inclusion Models :More and more general education and resource professionals are working together using different forms of teaming. A number of these models been successfully implemented at building level in school districts across the United States. Three of those models ar e a consultant approach, teaming, and co-teaching. (Gartner and Lipsky, 1997).
• Helping parents deal with inlcusion: Welcoming parents into a classroom and school is vital to having them be part of the team for inclusive education. Parents of students with disabilities
• Support and strategies are explored here for the inclusion of children in the regular education classroom.: From the Florida Inclusion Network.
• Parents for Inclusion: This site is for parents helping parents, so their children will be successful in a school inclusion environment.
• Adapting Curriculum and Instruction in Inclusive Classrooms-A Video:This site offers a professional’s guide and video that has examples of different adaptations for inclusion classes.
• Supporting individual learning needs: This site offers four sources that give advice and information on special educational needs and inclusion.
• Inclusion definitions: This article contains definitions of vocabulary that pertain to inclusion, states the laws around it, gives examples of past court cases, gives results of research done on it, and has recommendations on how to implement it.

Individualized Education Programs (IEPs)

• Individualized Education Programs: An excellent and thorough overview for professionals and parents.
• This article addresses the seven habits of highly effective IEP teams.:
  It is essential for members of IEP teams to be proactive in collaborate efforts to help children with have individual educational plans.
 
• The IEP Process: This site defines IEP, provides the timelines for developing an IEP, composition of the IEP Committee, IEP meeting notification, revising the IEP components, and the IEP components.
• Individual Educational Programs: This site gives you information about IEPs such as who needs them, the referral and evaluation process, development of an IEP, and legal rights of parents and children.
• This site contains a slide presentation with topics pertaining to Individualized Education Plans.

IEP Goals

• Writing good IEP goals: This area contains a series of articles that answer many questions about writing IEPs, including goals and objectives.
• Making IEP Goals measurable: These examples are from the  handbook "A Guide for Understanding and Developing IEPs".
• Writing IEP Goals: A very well organized site that takes you through every step of writing an IEP including annual goals, writing measurable goals and objectives, present levels of educational performance checklists
• Basic IEP: a good site that explains the language of IEPs including measurable goals, number of goals, and numerous samples to help you understand how they are written.
• Sample iEP goals: a very extensive sample of IEP goals including annual goals and short term objectives for a variety of areas.
• Sample IEPs for children with autism: This site offers numerous examples of IEPs written for children with various types of autism. A good site to get started.
• Sample IEP for child with autism: a sample IEP outlining goals and objectives for a child with PDD.
• IEP goals/benchmarks: The goals and objectives or benchmarks are the core of the IEP. This site explains these areas and their importnace for parents and professionals.
• Objectives for behavior plans: If you are writing a plan to ensure that your behavior student will be successful, you will want to make sure that your goals are based on the student's past performance and that they are stated positively.
• Everything you need to write an IEP: The Individual Education Plan (IEP) is every exceptional or identified student's lifeline for academic success. If students with special needs are to achieve the academic curriculum to the best of their ability and as independently as possible, the professionals involved in the delivery of their programming must have a plan in place.
• Developing IEP goals: a good step by step description with some useful tools to determine appropriate goals.
• Annuals goals, short-term instructional objectives and benchmarks: a good step by step outline that explains in easy terms the basics behind writing annual goals.
• An IEP goal bank: thousands of goals that can be used to design IEP goals and objectives in 12 different areas including functional academics, independent living, motor, recreation and leisure, daily living skills, social emotional and much more.Easy to use.
• Motor goals behaviors and objectives: this site offers numerous goals in these areas for infants through 12 years og age.
• The dreaded IEP behavioral objective: This page is to give you extra information and practice, in case you are having difficulties writing them for your lesson plans.

Individualized Family Service Plan-IFSP

• Overview of the IFSP process
• IFSP forms and resources
• Example of an IFSP manual
• Good overview
• IFSP early intervention process
• Journal articles and resources on IFSP
• Service coordination

Intelligence Tests-Individual - Click Here

Interventions for Students with Learning Disabilities

• This article focuses upon two promising interventions for students with learning disabilities: helping students develop their use of learning strategies and helping them develop their phonological awareness.
 

J

Journals in Special Education ( Deaf and Special Education Databases)- Click Here

Journals in Special Education(Special Education/Gifted Education)- Click Here

K-L

Learning Disabilities-Click Here

Learning Strategies for Students with Learning Disabilities-Click

Learning Styles

• Chart to determine learning style: This chart helps you determine your learning style; read the word in the left column and then answer the questions in the successive three columns to see how you respond to each situation.
• Learning styles and multiple intelligences: Individuals learn best in many different ways, sometimes using a variety of learning styles, but professionals and trainers may not always present information & learning experiences in the ways that best suit you.
  
• Learning Styles Network: The Learning-Styles Network fosters life-long academic, intellectual, and personal success through the promotion and dissemination of research, information, publications and other resources focusing on learning, teaching, and productivity styles.
  
• Learning Styles Inventory: David A. Kolb's Learning Style Inventory describes the way you learn and how you deal with ideas and day-to-day situations in your life. 

Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) - Click Here

Lesson Plan Development Sites

• A complete guide to online lesson plans for K-12 Teachers: This site has millions of lesson plans on various subject matters including science, social studies, mathematics, reading and writing.
• Lesson search engines: The following 11 search engines for lesson plans is a selection of  top rated lesson search engines. New sites are added each month.
• Teacher Vision Lesson plan site: This site has various lesson plans on various subject matters including science, social studies, mathematics, reading and writing.
• Education World: This site offers lesson plans that have been written by professionals.
 
• TeachersFirst:  a rich collection of lessons and web resources for the K-12 classroom professional, their students and students’ families.

Literacy Resources

• NICHCY connections to literacy:  is pleased to connect you with sources of information and assistance on literacy. Literacy is knowing how to make meaning from written language by reading, writing, thinking, and communicating.

M

Magazines in Special Education

• Mainstream Magazine  : For over 25 years, MAINSTREAM has been advocating for disability rights. Produced by, for and about people with disabilities, MAINSTREAM covers news & current affairs, new products & technology, profiles of movers & shakers, education, employment, sexuality & relationships, housing, transportation, travel & recreation.
• Ability Magazine 
• 360 Magazine  : an e-zine magazine for the wheelchair community
• Assistive Technology Journal 
• inmotionmagazine   : deals with all aspects of disability i.e. advocacy, education, healthcare
• Special Education News   : answers a need in education for in-depth, timely news related to educating students with disabilities. The Web site and newsletter are journalistic publications centered on the news of the special education field. The Web site is also designed to offer unique resources to special education professionals in one convenient place. These include places for educators and others to exchange their views, find links to important information at other sites on the Web and keep track of news and events across the country.

Mediation in the Special Education Process

• This site discusses the regulations and procedures for the mediation process.: In June 1997, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was reauthorized and signed into law. Under the reauthorization, all school districts are required to make special education mediation available to parents of children with disabilities.
• This site compares mediation with the impartial due process hearings and complaint investigations.: When Congress reauthorized the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1997, it included the requirement that states make mediation available whenever a due process hearing has been requested. Mediation is a voluntary form of dispute resolution that offers an alternative to due process hearings in special education. It is less costly, tends not to be as adversarial, and therefore is usually less damaging emotionally than a due process hearing.
• This article addresses complaints, alternative dispute resolution, binding arbitration, mediation, fair hearings and due process.: speaks about Complaints, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Binding Arbitration, Mediation, Fair Hearing, and Due Process
  Links to Articles and Papers...
• This site explains the how the law works and what the parent’s role is in the mediation process.: Mediation is a way to resolve disagreements between school districts and parents of children with disabilities. In mediation, a neutral person called a mediator helps parents and school districts work together to develop an agreement resolving their dispute which is put into a written document.

Medical Terminology

• Contains 15,000 medical terms: containing easy-to-understand explanations of over 15,000 medical terms. This online medical dictionary provides quick access to hard-to-spell and often misspelled medical definitions through an extensive alphabetical listing.
• Medical spell checker for over 500,000 terms

Medicaid Information

• Sociial Security Online: This government sight gives information to anyone who is interesting in applying for Medicare for his or her child.
• Medicaid explained:   There are separate eligibility requirements for Medicaid vs Medicare.  Being eligible for one program does not necessarily mean you are eligible for the other. 

Medicare Information

• The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS): a Federal agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Programs for which CMS is responsible include Medicare, Medicaid, State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), HIPAA, and CLIA. This site provides information appropriate for professional, Government, and consumer audiences.
• Coalition for Medicare Choices: The site deals with working to preserve the ability of Medicare beneficiaries to choose health plans that meet their specific medical and economic needs.
• Medicare Rights Center: This national, not-for-profit organization is dedicated to ensure that people with disabilities have access to affordable, quality health care.
• Updated recent Medicare changes: This site defines Medicare, outlines the parts of the contract, the price of the plans and types of Medicare plans available.

Medication Information

• Information on thousands of prescription and over-the-counter medications

Mental Retardation - Click Here

Modifying Curriculum and Instruction-Click Here

Multiple Intelligences

• Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice by Howard Gardner. 320 pgs.
• Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century by Howard Gardner. 304 pgs.
• Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences by Howard Gardner. 446 pgs.
• Reflections on Multiple Intelligences: Myths and Messages, in Phi Delta Kappan by Howard Gardner. 8 pgs.
• Intelligence, Instruction, and Assessment: Theory into Practice (Chap. 2 "Minds at Work: Applying Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom") by Robert J. Sternberg, Wendy M. Williams. 248 pgs.
• Eminent Educators: Studies in Intellectual Influence (Chap. 4 "Howard Gardner and the Theory of Multiple Intelligences") by Maurice R. Berube. 196 pgs.
• Creativity and Development (Chap. Four "The Creation of Multiple Intelligences Theory: A Study in High-Level Thinking") by R. Keith Sawyer, Vera John-Steiner, Seana Moran, Robert J. Sternberg, David Henry Feldman, Jeanne Nakamura, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. 253 pgs.
• Education as the Cultivation of Intelligence ("Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences" begins on p. 33) by Michael E. Martinez. 240 pgs.
• A Theory of Conceptual Intelligence: Thinking, Learning, Creativity, and Giftedness ("Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences" begins on p. 33) by Rex Li. 260 pgs.
• Empowering Students through Multiple Intelligences, in Reclaiming Children and Youth by Karen Rubado. 3 pgs.
• An Analysis of Multiple Intelligences Theory and Its Use with the Gifted and Talented, in Roeper Review by Daniel Fasko Jr. 5 pgs.
• Sex Differences, Test Experience and the Self-Estimation of Multiple Intelligences, in New Zealand Journal of Psychology by Adrian Furnham, Colleen Ward. 8 pgs.
• Thinking: The Second International Conference (Chap. 5 "Symposium on the Theory of Multiple Intelligences") by D. N. Perkins, Jack Lochhead, John Bishop. 580 pgs.
• Helping Children Learn Mathematics through Multiple Intelligences and Standards for School Mathematics, in Childhood Education by Thomasenia Lott Adams. 7 pgs.
• Multiple Intelligences Theory: A Framework for Personalizing Science Curricula, in School Science and Mathematics by Karen Goodnough. 14 pgs.
• Using Multiple Intelligences to Teach Tennis: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences Has Wide Application, but Few Articles Have Discussed How to Use It to Improve the Teaching of a Specific Unit in Physical Education, in JOPERD--The Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance by Melanie Mitchell, Michael Kernodle. 6 pgs.
• Explanation, articles and links to other sites on this topic
• ERIC Digest overview

N

National Clearinghouses - Click here

National Toll Free Numbers - Click here

No Child Left Behind Act - Click here

O

Occupational Therapy-Glossary - Click Here

Occupational Therapist-Role and Responsibilities

• What is an occupational therapist: Occupational therapists are not, as many people think, nurses. Their profession aims at helping people live as comfortably as possible in their own personal space. Occupational therapy is therefore the use of self-care and work to increase independent function and prevent disability. Such people can work in lots of different places and not just the hospital. They coordinate the work of doctors, nurses, psychiatrists and others but there’s still a basic difference between their profession and that one of the nurse.
• Good overview from the American Occupational Therapy Association: Occupational therapy is skilled treatment that helps individuals achieve independence in all facets of their lives. It gives people the "skills for the job of living" necessary for independent and satisfying lives. Services typically include:
• Overview of role and responsibilities: Occupational therapists are health professionals trained to assist people to overcome various limitations in order to live more independent lives. People may need assistance due to injury or illness, psychological or emotional difficulties, developmental delay or the effects of ageing. Occupational therapists work in many different environments including schools, nursing homes, hospitals and workplaces. Their goal is to maximise skills for living which enhance personal productivity, well-being and quality of life.
  

Occupational Therapy Screening Checklist (PDF) - Click Here

Orthopedic Impairments - Click Here

Other Health Impairments - Click Here

P

Parent Teacher Conferences-Preparation and Effective Approach

• How to make parent professional conferences work: This site teaches parents how they can get the most out of a parent-professional conference.  Topics covered are how to prepare before the meeting, questions to ask during the meeting and what action plan to create for your child based on the feedback received from the professional.
• How to become an ace at managing parent conferences: This site reviews the parent-professional conference and how to conduct them successfully to make this event a positive experience. It addresses how to prevent struggles against principals, parents, coworkers and students.
• This site discusses prior, during and after strategies that parents may use when preparing for and going to a parent-professional conference.  : Parent-professional conferences are an opportunity to establish better communication between parents and professionals. Since children are different at home and in school, both the parent and the professional gain in understanding the child and can, therefore, be more effective in helping him or her. The professional may be very surprised to learn that what she thought was a humorous way of dealing with the child was actually making the child feel belittled. The parent may learn that the professional feels the child is not giving school his best effort. The professional may learn that the child is distracted because the family is going through a difficult time. Of course, many parents are pleasantly surprised to hear how much better behaved the child is in school than at home.

Parent’s Rights in the Special Education Process

• Helping Parents and Advocates Improve Educational Results for Children with Disabilities:This site aims to inform and educate families and advocates about the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997 and promising practices.
• This site offers information on a multitude of topics relating to special education. It reviews IDEA, No Child Left Behind and research based information on effective based educational practices.  Specific articles relating to parents rights in the special education process are included as well.
• A Parent's Guide: this example from NY State offers an example of parent's rights in the entire special education process
• A Parent's Guide to Special Education: from the The Federation for Children with Special Needs is a nonprofit organization based on the philosophy of parents helping parents. Founded in 1974 as a coalition of twelve disability and parent organizations, today the Federation is an independent advocacy organization committed to quality education and health care for all, and to protecting the rights of children. (Massachusetts)
• A Parent's Guide to Special Education: Connecticut-Pdf
• A Parent's Guide to Special Education: Missouri
 
• A Parent's Guide to Special Education and Realted Services: Provides an overview of how a child becomes eligible for special education and related services, parent's rights and the schools rights and responsibilities.

Parent Training and Information Centers

• Parent Training and Information Centers and Community Parent Resource Centers: Parent centers serve families of children and young adults from birth to age 22 with all disabilities: physical, cognitive, emotional, and learning. They help families obtain appropriate education and services for their children with disabilities; work to improve education results for all children; train and inform parents and professionals on a variety of topics; resolve problems between families and schools or other agencies; and connect children with disabilities to community resources that address their needs.
• A Parent Training and Information Center—or PTI—: a terrific information resource for parents of children with disabilities. Every state has at least one PTI. As you can probably guess from their name, their purpose is to provide parents with information and training

Parenting a Child with Special Needs

• EP Magazine: This site provides information, support, ideas, encouragement & outreach for parents and families of children with disabilities, and the professionals who work with them.
• Kids Needs:  This site provides access to comprehensive information and resources for children with special needs. Visitors can find professional opinions on important topics, read about public health policy initiatives and learn about local, statewide and national advocacy efforts on behalf of children with special needs and their families.
• Special Needs Practical Support: This site helps parents develop clear communication skills, a powerful knowledge of special education law, and provides parents with successful inclusion strategies.  Information about how parents can get a free and appropriate education for their disabled child comes from professional advocates and special needs experts

Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD) - Click Here

Preparation for Participation at the District’s Eligibility, CSE, or IEP Meeting - Click Here

Psychological Terminology - Click Here

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Questions & Answers about IDEA

Questions Often Asked by Parents about Special Education Services

• An excellent reading and educational source for the parents of your children with disabilities. This site nswers most of the questions that parents will have about the special education process.

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Recommended Links

• Marc Sheehan's Special Education /Exceptionality Page: hundreds of links in all areas of special education. One of the best resources on the web.
• Edvisors.com - The Online Education Resources Directory

Related Services Overview

• This site defines related services and explains how school districts can help those who are eligible for these services.: Students with disabilities may be able to function in a general education program full time with the assistance of supplementary services; may require supplementary services outside of the general classroom, or may require more intensive service, which necessitates placement outside of the general education program. Some students with disabilities require special education and related services; some do not. Economic and cultural disadvantaged conditions are not in themselves, disabilities, which justify special education programming.
• Related Services for school aged children with disabilities: This site defines related services, provides examples of related services, covers related services under Section 504, how related services are obtained for students, delivered to the students, how they are coordinated and funded.
• This site contains questions frequently asked by parents concerning related services and corresponding answers.: Related services are services that are needed to help a child with a disability benefit from his/her special education or early intervention program (for children under 3, they are called early intervention services).

Research Based Resources - Click Here

 

Research in Special Education - Click Here

Resource Rooms Overview

• Purpose of the Resource Room: This article states that purpose of the resource concept is to provide educational resources to the exceptional student, his professionals and his parents. These resources make possible the exceptional student’s continued enrollment in the regular classroom.  Included in the resource concept is the resource setting which consists of a student attending resource for one-half to three hours a day.
• Adapting the curriculum for children with special needs: This site provides information on how a special education professional has been managing her Resource Room to more effectively meet the needs of her diverse students.

Rett’s Syndrome - Click Here

Rights of Children with Disabilities

• Tennessee Department of Education-Division of Special Education-good overview typical of most states-PDF file- Click Here

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Setting up Your Classroom

• Some good suggestions on several topics
• The really big list of classroom management techniques: There are classroom management techniques tailored to elementary and secondary education, discipline ideas for new and experienced professionals, tips for handling special education, suggestions for getting organized, strategies for preventing behavior problems, sample classroom rules, ways of creating a caring community, and information on new products and services.

Sexual Harassment and Special Education

• Responding to sexual harassment in special education settings: Here are sobering facts: Sexual harassment permeates the culture of American schools. The majority of students report that they have experienced sexual harassment
• Frequently Asked Questions About Sexual Harassment of Students-From the Office of Civil Rights: Sexual harassment of students is a real and serious problem in education at all levels, including elementary and secondary schools, as well as colleges and universities. It can affect any student, regardless of sex, race, or age.
• Sexual Harassment in Schools Resources

Spanish Information on Disability Topics (look for "espanol" to the right) - Click Here

Special Education Research - Click Here

Speech-Language Impairments - Click Here

Spina Bifida - Click Here

State Education Departments - Click Here

State Listings of Agencies, Disability and Parent Organizations - Click Here

Strategies and tactics for effective instruction-PDF file - Click Here

Student’s Guide to Jobs

• This Student's Guide to Jobs: This booklet is especially for students with significant disabilities such as mental retardation and autism.

Student’s Guide to the IEP

• This guide will tell students what an IEP is, why you need to be part of your IEP team, how to help write your IEP, and much, much more!!

Summer Camps for Children with Disabilities

• Guide and listing of special education summer camps

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Teacher Checklists for Students with Disabilities

• Checklists for Teachers: This site features mentor professionals, teaching techniques, strategies, checklists and researches on how to teach students with Learning Disabilities. The article on this site that pertains to the aforementioned topic is, “The ADD/ADHD Checklist.”
• Checklists for students with learning disabilities: This site contains observational checklists that help one determine a child’s strengths and/or weaknesses. This is a valuable resource to bring to an IEP meeting or a parent/professional conference.

Technical Assistance Guide: Helping Students with Cognitive Disabilities Find and Keep a Job - Click Here

Terminology Used in Special Education

• Extensive source and easy to manage

Test Modifications and Accommodations

• Accommodations and Modifications of Test Administration Procedures for Statewide Assessments-an example of one state's standards
• 20 ways to examine test modifications
• Accommodation strategies
• The diverse classroom
• Accommodation checklist

Test Publishers in Special Education - Click Here

The Teacher's Guide - Lesson plans, thematic units, book activities, professional freebies, children's songs, and more.

Token Economy

• Guidelines for establishing and maintaining token economies: This site provides the steps in planning the token economy system, behaviors to be targeted, effective reinforcers and the administration of the plan.
 
• This site defines the Token Economy System, and its three levels:  Points, Progress and Merit. : school use of a behavior management system utilizing a token economy.
 
• This site describes the token economy system, how to use behavior token economies, activities and discussion questions and links to other sites regarding this topic.: One of the most often used behavior management techniques, especially in settings for students who have learning or behavioral difficulties, is the token economy system.  A token economy involves awarding tokens, chips, stickers, points, or other items/markings to students who demonstrate desired behaviors identified by the professional. 
• This defines token economy, the goals of token economy, what a token economy looks like, guidelines for creating and using token economy systems.: Token economies are one type of secondary (conditioned) reinforcement. That is, tokens begin as essentially neutral stimuli, of little significance in and of themselves. However, as the tokens become increasingly associated with the reinforcers for which they are exchanged, the tokens themselves can become mildly reinforcing, making learning that much more motivating.

Tourette's Syndrome

• FAQ about Tourette's Syndrome
• Overview
• Diagnostic criteria
• Tourette's Syndrome and yeast
• Tourette's Primer
• Support organizations
• Treatment options
• Interesting facts about Tourettes
• Tourette's Syndrome in adult life
• Medical progress-PDF file
• Tourette's Syndrome pen pals
• For parents
• Educating peers about Tourette's Syndrome
• School care plan-PDF file
• School based occupational therapy services for children with Tourettes-PDF file
• Educating children with Tourette's Syndrome
• Tips on dealing with Tics in the classroom
• Resource guide for professionals on Tourette's Syndrome-PDF file
• Guide to the diagnosis and treatment of Tourettes
• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Information page
• Tourette's Syndrome in the classroom-a professional's personal story

Transition Timeline

• a good example list from a Virginia school district-PDF

Transition Services

• Transition Services in the IEP: This site provides the following information:  what the transition services are, when the school districts must provide services, who determines what services are needed, how the team determines what services are needed, who provides the transition services, where the transitional services are provided, what the transition services include.
 
• Information on Transition Services: This website provides frequently asked questions and answers about the topic of transitional services.
 
• Transition Requirements: The site provides technical assistance for the appropriate implementation of the transition requirements of Public Law 105-17, IDEA of 1997 and the final regulations published on March 12, 1999. This site clarifies the transition requirements of the IDEA, provides samples, and suggests practices to implement those requirements.
 
• Transition services for children with mental retardation: Cooperative planning and preparation involving both the student and family, school personnel,and community representatives, which extends beyond the student's current educational setting. This planning process was mandated for the first time in educational legislation in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) which stipulated that one of the purposes of the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) was to plan for needed transition services. Transition planning is an outcome oriented process which creates an important link between school and community and provides opportunities for students with disabilities to discus their hopes and dreams for their future.
 
• Parent's Guide to understanding transition services: This article is a result of a collaborative project of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Mental Retardation, the Ashburnham-Westminster School District, and the May Institute.
 
• Transition FAQ: This section provides brief responses to questions about the transition planning and service process frequently asked by students, parents, schools and community service providers.

Transition Services -  Click Here

Traumatic Brain Injury - Click Here

Triennial Evaluation Preparation - Click Here

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Videos for Special Educators

• Videos for Special Educators: This video was co-developed by and features Taylor Crowe, a young man diagnosed at an early age with autism. Featuring home movie footage shot throughout Taylor’s life, viewers see Taylor as a typical infant and toddler, and then watch the emergence of the language and social characteristics over the preschool years that culminated in the diagnosis of autism. Interviews with Taylor’s speech therapist and with his father add depth, while the most powerful moments of the video are those of Taylor himself speaking about his life and his autism.
• Videos for Special Eeducation Professionals: This site is an on-line store offering videos on the topic of alternative assessment for special education students.
• Disability Awareness Video: This video uses humorous vignettes to teach about disability awareness. With over 53 million Americans having a disability, large corporations as well as small companies use this outstanding video to train employees, improve customer service and avoid losing talented employees due to ignorance or awkwardness. Human service agencies get "double duty" from this program when they utilize it to train their own staff and the community about disability etiquette.

Visual Impairments - Click Here

Vocational Assessment Guide for Teachers and Parents - Click Here

Vouchers

• This article addresses the issues of vouchers.: Milwaukee's voucher program, the country's oldest, has long been seen as a prototype for what, in essence, is a conservative strategy to privatize education under the guise of “choice.” With the U.S. Congress poised to start the first federally funded voucher program next fall in the Washington, D.C., schools, vouchers have once again jumped to the fore of educational debate.
• Vouchers-Right or Wrong: This article is about how policymakers on Capitol Hill wrestle with reforming the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Congressional Republicans and a host of conservative think tanks are vocally promoting school vouchers as a potential model for reform.

W-X-Y-Z

Who are the Children in Special Education - Click Here