The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA; P.L. 108-446) is the primary source of federal funding to states for the identification and education of children with disabilities. The majority of IDEA appropriations are allocated to states by formula to carry out activities under Part B, which covers 14 disability categories. Each state is…

A previous exploratory analysis revealed that students with autism were notably overrepresented in published court decisions concerning the IDEA's core concepts of "free appropriate public education" (FAPE) and "least restrictive environment" (LRE). More specifically, for the period 1993 to 2006, the proportion of this…

Using data from the Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study (SRI International, 2002), this study estimated reading growth trajectories in a nationally representative sample of 3,421 students with disabilities ages 7 to 17 representing 11 federal disability categories. Reading achievement in all disability categories increased with age,…

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. Early intervention services are provided through the state to infants and toddlers with disabilities under three years of age and their families. For…

This report describes three extensions to a classification system for paediatric speech sound disorders termed the Speech Disorders Classification System (SDCS). Part I describes a classification extension to the SDCS to differentiate motor speech disorders from speech delay and to differentiate among three sub-types of motor speech disorders.…

Special education outcomes were evaluated for 3,608 children (2,513 males) with a preschool history of developmental disability. Sixty-six percent of the children had an identified disability in fourth grade. The percentage of children with a disability at outcome varied across preschool disability categories from 54% to 96%. The consistency of…

A study compared children with autism or Asperger syndrome with speech delays (n=23) with those without speech delays (n=24). No significant differences were found on any of the 71 variables analyzed, including autistic symptoms and expressive language. Results suggest that early speech delay may be irrelevant to later functioning. (Contains…