The purpose of this research study was to explore how parents whose child was enrolled in an elementary school or middle school on Okinawa, Japan compared the referral processes leading to their child's placement in special education. In order for the parent to be eligible for the study, their child received special education services at their current school, which was a school that military-connected students attended, and they had received special education services in a public school in the United States. There were five parent participants in this study. The multiple case study research design was selected to amass data for the study via one-on-one interviews. The major findings from the data analysis suggested that: (a) parents typically did not have concerns about timelines/completion of eligibility process when their child received special education services from an early intervention program, (b) when transferring from a public school in the United States to a school that military connected students attended in overseas locations, additional assessments were not needed to determine eligibility, (c) both educational entities could be better at addressing academic concerns associated with a speech or language impairment, and (d) in both educational entities, there was generally a group effort to share concerns. Some of these findings coincided with conclusions in similar studies. These findings had real-world suggestions on how school personnel could improve communication with parents, how parents could utilize resources that in place for transitioning military families, and how special education professionals could collaborate with parents to ensure that all areas of concern are assessed during the referral process. Because of the limitations of this study, recommendations for further research on this topic were provided. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]