The rural special education context is unique because of the distinct environment and the variety of rural school subcultures. However, little information about rural special education is available prior to the late 1970's, partially because federal agencies lacked a working definition of "rural." Although rural and urban special…

Rural school psychologists face unique challenges because of inherent rural attributes including sparse populations, geographic and climatic barriers, and traditional value systems. Mental health resources are typically inadequate in rural America, and the comprehensive roles of well trained school psychologists are frequently misunderstood in…

This report describes factors distinguishing rural families with special-needs children and their communities from those in non-rural settings. Rural communities have distinct environments and unique strengths and weaknesses, differing even among themselves. A diversity among rural lifestyles, values, resources, and other socio-cultural factors…