How Thinking in Pictures Provides Perspective - Hear what Temple Grandin had to say at the 2011 ECS National Forum on Education Policy about what matters most to helping all kids succeed....

Children and Youth with Disabilities - See the Institute for Education Sciences' What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) for recommendations on improving services for children youth with disabilities. The WWC reviews the research on the different programs, products, practices, and policies in education. Then, by focusing on the results from high-quality research, they try to answer the question “What works in education?” The goal is to provide educators with the information they need to make evidence-based decisions. (WWC, September 2013)...

Thirtyfirst Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Parts B and C. 2009 - An annual report on the progress made toward the provision of a free appropriate public education to all children with disabilities and the provision of early intervention services to infants and toddlers with disabilities. Also provides information on progress: in assuring the rights of children with disabilities and their parents are protected, assisting states and localities in providing for the education of all children with disabilities, and in assessing the effectiveness of efforts to educate children with disabilities. (U.S. Department of Education, 2012)...

Boosting the Quality and Efficiency of Special Education - This study uses a database of information on special education spending and staffing to uncover significant variance in how districts staff for special education. The author concludes that if the highest-spending districts reduced their special education staffing to the national median the public could save $10 billion, and offers clear recommendations for improving special-education quality and efficiency. (Fordham Institute, September 2012)...

National Center on Dispute Resolution in Special Education - CADRE – The National Center on Dispute Resolution – encourages the use of mediation and other collaborative strategies to resolve disagreements about special education and early intervention programs. This extensive Web site provides links to many mediation resources, including research and training, as well as state-by-state information on early intervention mediation systems. (CADRE, January 2012)...

Research Synthesis Points on Quality Inclusive Practices - This report provides brief descriptions and supporting references for evidence-based and promising practices that support early childhood inclusion. It is organized into three major sections corresponding to the defining features of high quality early childhood: Access; participation; and infrastructure. (FPG Child Development Institute, November 2011)...

Do Special Education Interventions Improve Learning of Secondary Content? A Meta-Analysis - The authors describe findings from a research synthesis on content area instruction for students with disabilities. Seventy studies were identified from a comprehensive literature search, examined and coded for a number of variables, including weighted standardized mean-difference effect sizes. More than 2,400 students participated in the investigations. (National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities, August 2011)...

Neuroscience and Special Education - A brief overview of how links are being developed between the rapidly expanding field of neuroscience and the practice of special education. The author discusses how findings from neuroscience are being applied to the field of special education, describes outcomes from the limited research bridging the two disciplines and discusses how institutions of higher education and other organizations are creating interdisciplinary links between neuroscience and education/special education. (Eve Muller, National Association of State Directors of Special Education, July 2011)...

The World Needs All Kinds of Minds - Temple Grandin speaks about better serving kids with autism or autism spectrum disabilities and about better serving the "smart, geeky" kids who tend to be overlooked but who have enormous potential for creating new technology and making important contributions to society during their lifetimes. (video)...

New Hampshire Commission on Autism Spectrum Disorders: Findings and Recommendations - The New Hampshire Commission on Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) was created by the 2007 state legislature and charged with examining and making recommendations regarding the care, treatment and quality of life for children and adults with ASD and their families. This report presents the challenges for public policy and the guiding principles which must exist. Finally, the New Hampshire Commission on Autism Spectrum Disorders made recommendations for the important first steps to begin addressing the challenges the disorder poses to the state. (New Hampshire Commission on Autism Spectrum Disorders, 2008)...

Perceptions and Expectations of Youth With Disabilities - This report provides a picture of the self-representations and expectations of youth with disabilities, how they differ across disability categories and demographic groups and how they compare with youth in the general population. The report presents findings drawn primarily from interviews or surveys from youth ages 15 through 19. The report addresses questions such as how youth with disabilities describe their feelings about themselves and their lives, their secondary school experiences, their personal relationships and their expectations for the future. (U.S. Institute of Education Sciences, August 2007)...