The Special Education Division of the Office of Public Instruction (OPI) provides many services to Montana schools to assist them in providing a quality education to all students. The programs managed through this division are all aligned with Superintendent Juneau's Graduation Matters Montana initiative. The special education division is…

The Montana Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) is administered by the Montana Office of Public Instruction every two years to students in grades 7 through 12. The purpose of the survey is to help monitor the prevalence of behaviors that not only influence youth health, but also put youth at risk for the most significant health and social problems…

This final report documents the achievements of the State of Georgia Department of Education Speech-Language Pathology Assessment Project (SPAP), which examined competencies needed by school speech-language pathologists and developed the Speech-Language Pathology Assessment Instrument (SPAI) to assess those competencies. Trainees, instructed in…

Public schools must make available special education and related services to all IDEA-eligible (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) students with disabilities beginning at age three and through age 18. Services to students, ages 19, 20, and 21, are permissive. That means the decision to serve 19, 20 and 21-year-old students is determined…

Public schools must make available special education and related services to all IDEA-eligible (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) students with disabilities beginning at age three and through age 18. Services to students, ages 19, 20, and 21, are permissive. That means the decision to serve 19, 20 and 21-year-old students is determined…

Once limited to correcting articulation and lisps, speech-language pathologists now work with students with wide-ranging disabilities and educational needs. Principals should support their efforts to help teachers integrate speech and language goals with students' academic objectives, conduct screening and diagnostic assessments, develop…

The "sociocultural framework" highlights the contributions of children's cultural and linguistic contexts to early language and literacy development. To collaborate with parents in early intervention programs, including speech-language therapy, there must be a sincere commitment to the development of cultural competence. Hispanics are…

This report evaluates the availability of speech-language pathologists, audiologists, physical therapists, and occupational therapists to provide federally required services to students with disabilities in Ohio schools. Findings include the following: (1) while there is a general shortage of therapists, schools tend to have more difficulty…

The report summarizes achievements of a 3 year project to provide continuing education to speech-language-hearing clinicians and special education personnel via a speaker telephone. Committees were formed in each participating district to plan for staff development based on local needs. Consultants chosen to present training were asked to mail any…

As most special educators endure the periodic legal changes in education and special education, related service providers face the same challenges. These challenges include Inclusion, IDEA 04 regulations, NCLB and curricular related services. This paper presents these challenges and discusses a variety of solutions providing the most appropriate…

This final report describes activities of the 3-year Project Lexington Multidisciplinary Training Program for Child Care Personnel at the University of Kentucky. The project goal was to train child care personnel in skills needed to facilitate the integration of children with disabilities into generic child care settings. The project worked with…