Parents of individuals with autism face many challenges in accessing appropriate services and supports for their offspring. Parents also play vital roles in advocating for their offspring's rights and needs. Furthermore, despite advocacy programs becoming increasingly common, it remains unclear how to best foster advocacy among parents of…

The ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, particularly Article 12 on children's right to participate in matters affecting them, provides a rationale for including the voices of young children when seeking to better understand their lives. Early childhood educators collaborate and converse with young children in their daily…

Although family-centeredness is a tenet of early intervention, families often report struggling to meaningfully participate in decision-making. To increase family involvement, in the United States Parent Training and Information Centers (PTIs) and service coordinators are charged with educating and empowering families to advocate for their…

Using Kimberle Crenshaw's (1990) intersectionality theory as the theoretical framework, this intersectional narrative study focused on how a Black, female school leader in an Alabama Black Belt public school navigated structural constraints to foster Black female student agency (Berry & Cook, 2018; Crenshaw, 1990; Esposito & Evans-Winters,…

Students with special learning needs (SSLN) have many issues when attempting to access quality education that would prepare them for post-secondary pursuits. Upon investigation, two themes stand out (1) persistent devaluing of the potential of the SSLN, and (2) the absence of the caregiver's voice in their son or daughter's educational plan. To…

Black children and their families encounter systemic disadvantages in their journey to and through an autism diagnosis. Black families often experience social and systemic barriers to service use. Providing family-centered, psychoeducational interventions can reduce barriers to service access and utilization for Black families raising autistic…

Parental stress increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Families with children with an intellectual or developmental disability (IDD) and extensive support needs--such as complex communication needs--experienced additional challenges, including service loss and difficulties accessing virtual learning. The purpose of this study was to understand…