School psychologists are well served to stay up to date on trends in special education law, particularly with respect to determinations when school teams' decisions are challenged. This allows them to focus on proactive best practices that foster accurate specific learning disability (SLD) identification and active collaboration with parents. This…

The National Technical Assistance Center on Transition: the Collaborative (NTACT:C) Collaborative Assessment Guide for Transition Planning (CAG) is intended to help students, family members, educators, vocational rehabilitation counselors, human services and health agency staff, and other partners develop a coordinated assessment approach for…

This article presents a structured blueprint for school psychologists to assess and intervene in cases of automatically maintained self-injurious behavior (SIB) while adhering to the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) mandate. We outline a six-step process for conducting Functional Behavior Assessments (FBAs) of automatically maintained SIB,…

Education laws and policies serve to guide the way programs and services are implemented in schools. The transition from law or policy to implementation can be fraught with complications that impact the education system across many levels. According to Viennet and Pont (2017), one of the areas that can either hinder or support the transition from…

Pediatric inflammatory bowel disease is on the rise. School psychologists must understand the significant physical, emotional, and psychological effects of this condition to be effective advocates for students and their families, and to conduct well-informed, comprehensive evaluations for this population. This article discusses the academic,…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) aims to ensure that all students are college- and career-ready by requiring all schools to implement high-quality accountability systems and services for students. The ESSA impacts assessment practices in schools by requiring staff to account for a broader range of variables related to student well-being,…

This issue of "Policy and Practice" offers counselors and student affairs professionals strategies to effectively support the mental health needs of today's students. Students require transparent, connected, and flexible systems that meet the full range of mental health needs. To achieve such systems, institutions must have a robust…

In July 2016, the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued two documents to clarify and provide guidance on Federal obligations of school districts to students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) under Section 504. This action was in response to numerous complaints (approximately 2,000 over 5 years)…

This article serves as the first in a series addressing comprehensive suicide prevention programming in the school context. Suicide is currently the second leading cause of death for 10- to 24-year-olds in the United States. As schools are a place where the majority of youth spend a significant amount of time, it follows that they are a natural…

School psychologists have a close, often uncomfortable relationship with the law, as much of what they do from day to day is defined by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA, 2004) and related state law. However, judges deciding cases often do not have a detailed understanding of how education and schools work, and…

For this eighth article in the series reviewing recent court decisions concerning appropriate school psychology practice from both professional and legal perspectives, consider the summary of the concussion-related case below and the questions-and-answers after it. The overlapping issues in this case are child find, evaluation, and eligibility of…

The ARP Homeless Children and Youth (ARP-HCY) program focuses on increasing state educational agencies' (SEAs) and local educational agencies' (LEAs) capacity to provide wraparound services by hiring staff, dedicating resources, and planning partnerships with community-based organizations (CBOs). This brief: (1) summarizes the role and expertise…

The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended by Title IV of the Workforce Investment Opportunities Act (WIOA) of 2014, defines Competitive Integrated Employment as, "work that is performed on a full-time or part-time basis for which an individuals is: (a) compensated at or above minimum wage or commensurate with individuals without disabilities…

Dyslexia has been the recent focus of a groundswell of interest, advocacy, and legislative activity. Struck by this salient movement and its implications regarding practice, the author set out to investigate the dyslexia advocacy movement. While mandates and initiatives vary greatly from state to state, the motivation behind the advocacy efforts…

Transgender students are a marginalized group of students who are calling for recognition and acceptance of their identities. Although Title IX assures students of freedom from discrimination based on sexual identity, many schools are struggling with policies that adequately provide these protections. Based on a previous qualitative study…