The initial special education identification process (SPED IDP) determines which students have disabilities and corresponding rights to IDEA supports. However, the disproportionate identification of Black, Indigenous Students of Color (BISOC) as emotionally disturbed necessitates the problematizing of special education structures within the SPED…

Special education is losing its identity--its visibility, distinctiveness, budget, and basic functions are all at risk. Special education functions include (a) sorting, categorizing, and labeling students who need it; (b) making the right comparisons; (c) honoring diversity but changing "particular" differences; (d) managing stigma; (e)…

Recent societal and political shifts have underscored the need for higher education programs to examine and reflect on the ways in which they address equity and social justice. As teacher-educators, we feel this call with particular urgency. In this paper, we describe our past and current efforts to engage in self-reflective inquiry and enact ways…

Young children with and without disabilities who are bilingual or in the process of learning multiple languages have many strengths; however, educational policies and bias related to bilingualism for children from linguistically minoritized groups have typically included deficit-based views. The purpose of this systematic review was to identify…

Young children with and without disabilities who are bilingual or in the process of learning multiple languages have many strengths; however, educational policies and bias related to bilingualism for children from linguistically minoritized groups have typically included deficit-based views. The purpose of this systematic review was to identify…

This article undertakes a comparative analysis of special education policy through the juxtaposition of two recent Supreme Court actions: "Allston v. Lower Merion School District" (2015) and "Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District" (2017). This comparison reveals an ordering of special education policy around questions of…

This article explores discriminatory discourses articulated by Italian professionals operating in educational, health and social services for refugees in Rome, in relation to the educational and social inclusion of unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee children. It locates such narratives within the historical 'concealment and invisibilisation…

This study utilized symbolic interaction theory and a phenomenological methodology to explore the meanings and perceptions of special education by parents whose children have special needs (i.e., disabilities) and their experiences working with school professionals. Parents who accepted Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) services and parents…

In 2010, "Intervention in School and Clinic" undertook a project to interview "giants" in the fields of learning disabilities and emotional/behavioral disabilities. The purpose of the interviews was to document the perspectives and reflections of leaders who had contributed to their respective fields over several decades (i.e.,…

Concerns about the mental health of students have been documented at every level of formal education (cf., Castillo & Schwartz, 2013; Durlak & Wells, 1997; Soet & Sevig, 2006). Addressing the entirety of these concerns is beyond the scope of this forum, thus the author's comments are geared primarily toward higher education; however,…

We suggest that special education could die among common myths about it. That is, special education could cease to exist, at least as we know it, because its true nature and requirements for its functioning are misunderstood. We discuss only 12 common myths about special education, recognizing that there are many more myths and that the ones we…

Special education labeling ignores historical, emotional, spiritual, sociocultural effects of labeling Black and Brown students with disabilities. Utilizing critical disability studies, critical race theory and spiritual paradigm, we interrogate construction and expression of differences of Learning Disability and Speech and Language Impairment.…

James H. Borland, Ph.D. is Professor of Education in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City. In this reflective conversation, he reflects on his experiences in an urban environment and the current challenges in gifted education. He argues for ongoing diagnosis of learners' needs without…

Racial minority youth are disproportionally removed from their learning environment due to school discipline and placed in special education for emotional disturbance. These disparities continue to trouble families, educators, and policy makers, particularly within urban schools. Yet there is a paucity of research on how behavioral outcome…

For decades, James M. Kauffman has been a reputable scholar in the field of special education. While his contributions to the field cannot be doubted, his ideas about special education have been somewhat controversial and even devastating to the education of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) learners with and without disabilities.…