Pub Date : 2025-08-12DOI: 10.1177/00144029251363836
Ankita Bhattashali, Zachary A. McCall
In this conceptual paper, we introduce intersectional field analysis as a theoretical framework for understanding how power operates in the special education field broadly and how it affects immigrant families in their efforts to influence special education decisions for their children. We apply the framework, which merges key insights from intersectionality and field analysis to describe (a) special education capital and its unequal distribution among positions in the field and (b) the habitus most favored in the field and factors likely to determine immigrant families’ fit with that habitus (i.e., language resources, social identities in the country of origin, and supports in the United States context). In our concluding sections, we discuss implications for practice, future research, and applications of intersectional field analysis for other persistent power and equity dilemmas in special education.
{"title":"Intersectional Field Analysis: Conceptualizing Immigrant Families’ Encounters with Special Education Power","authors":"Ankita Bhattashali, Zachary A. McCall","doi":"10.1177/00144029251363836","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00144029251363836","url":null,"abstract":"In this conceptual paper, we introduce intersectional field analysis as a theoretical framework for understanding how power operates in the special education field broadly and how it affects immigrant families in their efforts to influence special education decisions for their children. We apply the framework, which merges key insights from intersectionality and field analysis to describe (a) special education capital and its unequal distribution among positions in the field and (b) the habitus most favored in the field and factors likely to determine immigrant families’ fit with that habitus (i.e., language resources, social identities in the country of origin, and supports in the United States context). In our concluding sections, we discuss implications for practice, future research, and applications of intersectional field analysis for other persistent power and equity dilemmas in special education.","PeriodicalId":48164,"journal":{"name":"Exceptional Children","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144898797","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-12DOI: 10.1177/00144029251350069
Allison F. Gilmour, Equia Aniagyei-Cobbold, Roddy Theobald
We used longitudinal staffing data from Pennsylvania to explore differences in special education personnel attrition across personnel categories, individual characteristics, and district characteristics. Special education administrators and school psychologists had the highest attrition rates among special education personnel, with special education administrators 6.4 percentage points more likely to leave their district than observably similar special education teachers in the same district. Black special education personnel were 2.1 percentage points more likely to leave than observably similar White special education personnel in the same district. Special education personnel in urban districts and districts serving high proportions of students of color also were more likely to leave, all else equal. These trends suggest the need for targeted retention efforts for these important categories of special education personnel.
{"title":"Special Education Personnel Attrition in Pennsylvania","authors":"Allison F. Gilmour, Equia Aniagyei-Cobbold, Roddy Theobald","doi":"10.1177/00144029251350069","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00144029251350069","url":null,"abstract":"We used longitudinal staffing data from Pennsylvania to explore differences in special education personnel attrition across personnel categories, individual characteristics, and district characteristics. Special education administrators and school psychologists had the highest attrition rates among special education personnel, with special education administrators 6.4 percentage points more likely to leave their district than observably similar special education teachers in the same district. Black special education personnel were 2.1 percentage points more likely to leave than observably similar White special education personnel in the same district. Special education personnel in urban districts and districts serving high proportions of students of color also were more likely to leave, all else equal. These trends suggest the need for targeted retention efforts for these important categories of special education personnel.","PeriodicalId":48164,"journal":{"name":"Exceptional Children","volume":"80 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144898762","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-29DOI: 10.1177/00144029251360445
Tara Kulkarni, Elizabeth L. Shaver, Thuy Nguyen, Edvin Pepic, Evie M. Harter, Amanda L. Sullivan
Educators, families, and policy actors rely on federal and state special education law to inform many decision-making processes. Vague eligibility criteria within the laws can result in conflict between school districts and parents. Resulting due process hearing decisions can have important implications for future practice. One area of particular ambiguity and inconsistency is the disability category—other health impairment—for which students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder may qualify. We examined outcomes of cases regarding disputes about eligibility for other health impairment where attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder was considered, including judges’ decisions, rationales, and factors influencing their decision-making, as well as trends over time and location. The systematic search process yielded 202 relevant cases wherein the majority of judges’ decisions (67%) were in favor of the school district, often citing educational need, or lack thereof, in their rationale. The second most common rationale was the evaluation itself being deemed (in)appropriate. Parents who had an expert witness were almost four times more likely to prevail in their cases. We discuss implications for parents, practitioners, and policy.
{"title":"When Is It OHI? A Review of Case Law Decisions for OHI - ADHD Eligibility","authors":"Tara Kulkarni, Elizabeth L. Shaver, Thuy Nguyen, Edvin Pepic, Evie M. Harter, Amanda L. Sullivan","doi":"10.1177/00144029251360445","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00144029251360445","url":null,"abstract":"Educators, families, and policy actors rely on federal and state special education law to inform many decision-making processes. Vague eligibility criteria within the laws can result in conflict between school districts and parents. Resulting due process hearing decisions can have important implications for future practice. One area of particular ambiguity and inconsistency is the disability category—other health impairment—for which students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder may qualify. We examined outcomes of cases regarding disputes about eligibility for other health impairment where attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder was considered, including judges’ decisions, rationales, and factors influencing their decision-making, as well as trends over time and location. The systematic search process yielded 202 relevant cases wherein the majority of judges’ decisions (67%) were in favor of the school district, often citing educational need, or lack thereof, in their rationale. The second most common rationale was the evaluation itself being deemed (in)appropriate. Parents who had an expert witness were almost four times more likely to prevail in their cases. We discuss implications for parents, practitioners, and policy.","PeriodicalId":48164,"journal":{"name":"Exceptional Children","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144748206","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-15DOI: 10.1177/00144029251350094
Rachel Elizabeth Fish, Kenneth Shores, João M. Souto Maior
This essay provides a two-pronged critical assessment of a subset of the literature on racial disproportionality in special education: that which aims to estimate racial disparities among otherwise similar children. This body of research has shown that Black students are less likely than comparable White students to receive special education, and has been interpreted by many to mean that current policies meant to reduce Black over-representation may be exacerbating inequality. Our essay argues that this subset of research has fundamental limitations in its covariate adjustment practices and its data quality, making “under-representation” findings questionable. We argue that caution and further study are needed for an accurate understanding of the nature of racial disproportionality in special education.
{"title":"A Critical Appraisal of the Evidence on Racial Disproportionality in Special Education","authors":"Rachel Elizabeth Fish, Kenneth Shores, João M. Souto Maior","doi":"10.1177/00144029251350094","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00144029251350094","url":null,"abstract":"This essay provides a two-pronged critical assessment of a subset of the literature on racial disproportionality in special education: that which aims to estimate racial disparities among otherwise similar children. This body of research has shown that Black students are less likely than <jats:italic>comparable</jats:italic> White students to receive special education, and has been interpreted by many to mean that current policies meant to reduce Black over-representation may be exacerbating inequality. Our essay argues that this subset of research has fundamental limitations in its covariate adjustment practices and its data quality, making “under-representation” findings questionable. We argue that caution and further study are needed for an accurate understanding of the nature of racial disproportionality in special education.","PeriodicalId":48164,"journal":{"name":"Exceptional Children","volume":"84 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144629819","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-06-27DOI: 10.1177/00144029251350065
Hannah Morris Mathews, Lindsey Kaler, Malavika Ragunathan, Elizabeth Bettini, Kathryn M. Meyer
Teachers’ beliefs influence the educational experiences they provide for students with disabilities. Furthermore, beliefs are highly contextualized, necessitating careful attention to the contexts in which they are developed and deployed. Informed by DisCrit, we employed narrative analysis to explore the beliefs of five special educators working in self-contained settings serving students labeled with emotional and behavioral disabilities (EBD). We identified two distinct beliefs profiles—asset-oriented and deficit-oriented—and one profile that drew on both asset- and deficit-oriented beliefs. Teachers’ beliefs about students labeled with EBD informed how they made sense of the purpose of special education and the roles they should take up in pursuit of that purpose. Findings have implications for teacher education and development efforts.
{"title":"“Well, Those Students Have a Name:” Special Educators’ Beliefs About Students Labeled With Emotional/Behavioral Disorders","authors":"Hannah Morris Mathews, Lindsey Kaler, Malavika Ragunathan, Elizabeth Bettini, Kathryn M. Meyer","doi":"10.1177/00144029251350065","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00144029251350065","url":null,"abstract":"Teachers’ beliefs influence the educational experiences they provide for students with disabilities. Furthermore, beliefs are highly contextualized, necessitating careful attention to the contexts in which they are developed and deployed. Informed by DisCrit, we employed narrative analysis to explore the beliefs of five special educators working in self-contained settings serving students labeled with emotional and behavioral disabilities (EBD). We identified two distinct beliefs profiles—asset-oriented and deficit-oriented—and one profile that drew on both asset- and deficit-oriented beliefs. Teachers’ beliefs about students labeled with EBD informed how they made sense of the purpose of special education and the roles they should take up in pursuit of that purpose. Findings have implications for teacher education and development efforts.","PeriodicalId":48164,"journal":{"name":"Exceptional Children","volume":"52 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144513240","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-06-25DOI: 10.1177/00144029251350061
Sarah L. Curtiss, Melissa Stoffers, Amy Brown, Philinda Mindler
Puberty education is a widely accepted, critical component of sex education, yet little is known about its instruction. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a promising pedagogical approach for meeting the needs of diverse learners in the puberty classroom especially students with disabilities. This community-based participatory research project partnered with a community organization that provides 4-day puberty workshops to randomly assign schools ( n = 30) to receive either a UDL or a traditional form of their 4-day workshop. Averaging across all students ( n = 2,054), there were significant differences in knowledge scores between pre- and post-tests. Using hierarchical linear models, we identified that there were no differences between conditions for students’ knowledge, but there were differences in students’ sense of self-competence such that students who received the UDL version of the workshop reported higher self-competence. For both outcomes, there were no associations between condition assignment and Title 1 school status or the percentage of children with disabilities at the school. Although educators had high rates of fidelity when implementing the UDL version of the workshop, and they felt it facilitated participation, they struggled with multiple forms of representation, classroom management, and technology. This study suggests that a brief puberty workshop can have an immediate effect on students’ knowledge, and that UDL impacts students’ sense of self-competence.
{"title":"The Effects of Universal Design for Learning on Fifth-Grade Puberty Instruction to Enable Accessibility for Students with Disabilities","authors":"Sarah L. Curtiss, Melissa Stoffers, Amy Brown, Philinda Mindler","doi":"10.1177/00144029251350061","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00144029251350061","url":null,"abstract":"Puberty education is a widely accepted, critical component of sex education, yet little is known about its instruction. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a promising pedagogical approach for meeting the needs of diverse learners in the puberty classroom especially students with disabilities. This community-based participatory research project partnered with a community organization that provides 4-day puberty workshops to randomly assign schools ( <jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 30) to receive either a UDL or a traditional form of their 4-day workshop. Averaging across all students ( <jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 2,054), there were significant differences in knowledge scores between pre- and post-tests. Using hierarchical linear models, we identified that there were no differences between conditions for students’ knowledge, but there were differences in students’ sense of self-competence such that students who received the UDL version of the workshop reported higher self-competence. For both outcomes, there were no associations between condition assignment and Title 1 school status or the percentage of children with disabilities at the school. Although educators had high rates of fidelity when implementing the UDL version of the workshop, and they felt it facilitated participation, they struggled with multiple forms of representation, classroom management, and technology. This study suggests that a brief puberty workshop can have an immediate effect on students’ knowledge, and that UDL impacts students’ sense of self-competence.","PeriodicalId":48164,"journal":{"name":"Exceptional Children","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144513355","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-06-23DOI: 10.1177/00144029251350059
Dian Mawene, Aydin Bal, Dosun Ko, Linda Orie, Elizabeth Schrader, Jahyun Yoo
Racial disproportionality in special education and school discipline remains a persistent social justice issue in the U.S. education system. Drawing from a 4-year-long school-community-university partnership within an Anishinaabe Band of Ojibwe in northern Wisconsin, we propose a theoretical and practical framework called decolonizing agency to address racial disproportionality through systemic transformation. Decolonizing agency transcends the recognition and utilization of others’ support in solving wicked education problems. It requires policy actors to draw from the historical legacies of oppression, racism, and systemic racial violence embedded within everyday schooling routines. It also entails surpassing epistemic ignorance to understand inequity problems, shifting from an individual approach to a systemic one. Lastly, the decolonizing agency demands that policy actors and educators center the epistemology, ontology, and value system of families, communities, and students from historically marginalized backgrounds as the knowledge producers. Informed by data and theory, we suggest six dimensions of decolonizing agency as core principles that educators and policy actors across decision-making levels can adopt to address their unique inequity issues.
特殊教育和学校纪律中的种族不成比例问题仍然是美国教育体系中一个长期存在的社会正义问题。借鉴威斯康辛州北部奥吉布族Anishinaabe Band of Ojibwe长达4年的学校-社区-大学伙伴关系，我们提出了一个名为“非殖民化机构”的理论和实践框架，通过系统转型来解决种族不成比例问题。非殖民化代理超越了承认和利用他人的支持来解决邪恶的教育问题。它要求政策行为者从根植于日常教育程序中的压迫、种族主义和系统性种族暴力的历史遗留问题中汲取教训。它还需要超越认识上的无知来理解不平等问题，从个人的角度转向系统的角度。最后，非殖民化机构要求政策制定者和教育者将家庭、社区和历史边缘化背景的学生作为知识生产者的认识论、本体论和价值体系作为中心。根据数据和理论，我们建议非殖民化机构的六个维度作为决策层面的教育工作者和政策参与者可以采用的核心原则，以解决其独特的不平等问题。
{"title":"Decolonizing Agency: A Framework for an Inclusive Co-Design of Behavioral Support Systems in Indigenous Land","authors":"Dian Mawene, Aydin Bal, Dosun Ko, Linda Orie, Elizabeth Schrader, Jahyun Yoo","doi":"10.1177/00144029251350059","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00144029251350059","url":null,"abstract":"Racial disproportionality in special education and school discipline remains a persistent social justice issue in the U.S. education system. Drawing from a 4-year-long school-community-university partnership within an Anishinaabe Band of Ojibwe in northern Wisconsin, we propose a theoretical and practical framework called <jats:italic>decolonizing agency</jats:italic> to address racial disproportionality through systemic transformation. Decolonizing agency transcends the recognition and utilization of others’ support in solving wicked education problems. It requires policy actors to draw from the historical legacies of oppression, racism, and systemic racial violence embedded within everyday schooling routines. It also entails surpassing epistemic ignorance to understand inequity problems, shifting from an individual approach to a systemic one. Lastly, the decolonizing agency demands that policy actors and educators center the epistemology, ontology, and value system of families, communities, and students from historically marginalized backgrounds as the knowledge producers. Informed by data and theory, we suggest six dimensions of decolonizing agency as core principles that educators and policy actors across decision-making levels can adopt to address their unique inequity issues.","PeriodicalId":48164,"journal":{"name":"Exceptional Children","volume":"46 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144341053","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-06-18DOI: 10.1177/00144029251350074
Melissa Fanshawe
Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) are used to document the needs of students with disabilities and outline provisions with which to support access and inclusion in educational settings. However, often the programs focus on students’ specific needs rather than giving agency to students or considering how wider ecosystems impacts students’ ownership of learning. This study adopted Bronfenbrenner's Systems Model (BSM) to support two Australian general secondary education students with low vision to identify factors which impacted access and participation in the process of codesigning their IEPs. Using Bronfenbrenner's Systems Model (BSM) both students were able to identify factors which impacted access and participation in their educational context. Additionally, the model was useful to gain information about their learning needs from pertinent stakeholders within their ecosystem. Results from the two case studies show positive benefits from using the Systems Model within the educational context to give voice to the individual student and to understand intersecting factors impacting students with disability in their education contexts. Information gained from the IEP co-design process, using the BSM, can be used to personalize the student's learning in educational contexts.
{"title":"“This is me”: Using Bronfenbrenner's Systems Model to Prioritize Student and Stakeholders’ Voices in the Co-Design of Individualized Education Programs","authors":"Melissa Fanshawe","doi":"10.1177/00144029251350074","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00144029251350074","url":null,"abstract":"Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) are used to document the needs of students with disabilities and outline provisions with which to support access and inclusion in educational settings. However, often the programs focus on students’ specific needs rather than giving agency to students or considering how wider ecosystems impacts students’ ownership of learning. This study adopted Bronfenbrenner's Systems Model (BSM) to support two Australian general secondary education students with low vision to identify factors which impacted access and participation in the process of codesigning their IEPs. Using Bronfenbrenner's Systems Model (BSM) both students were able to identify factors which impacted access and participation in their educational context. Additionally, the model was useful to gain information about their learning needs from pertinent stakeholders within their ecosystem. Results from the two case studies show positive benefits from using the Systems Model within the educational context to give voice to the individual student and to understand intersecting factors impacting students with disability in their education contexts. Information gained from the IEP co-design process, using the BSM, can be used to personalize the student's learning in educational contexts.","PeriodicalId":48164,"journal":{"name":"Exceptional Children","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144319324","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-05-30DOI: 10.1177/00144029251342416
Kathleen King Thorius
{"title":"A Refusal to Normalize Homogeneity, Inequity, and Exclusion in Special Education","authors":"Kathleen King Thorius","doi":"10.1177/00144029251342416","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00144029251342416","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48164,"journal":{"name":"Exceptional Children","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144193091","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-05-15DOI: 10.1177/00144029251331861
Matthew C. Zajic, Juliette Gudknecht, Nancy S. McIntyre
Many autistic children receive special education services via Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) that include specific educational goals and needs. Prior research has examined programming options available to support autistic students, but less is known about their educational needs across academic and developmental educational goals. Additionally, existing approaches have often relied on small studies focused on describing individual goal areas. This study uses data from 551 families from across the United States with an autistic child in grades K-12 and latent class analysis to (a) identify latent, or underlying, subgroups based off multivariate response patterns across educational goals endorsed in six domains (reading, writing, math, language and communication, social skills, behavior), and (b) examine if demographic and developmental covariates predict latent class membership. We identified five latent classes: All Goals (40.49%); Autistic Characteristics (21.63%); Language, Literacy, and Autistic Characteristics (18.99%); Academic (13.94%); and Language and Communication (4.95%). Two covariates—percentage of time spent in general education and adaptive behavior—predicted differences in latent class membership. Findings offer a comprehensive examination into the heterogeneous educational needs of autistic school-age children. Our results emphasize the need for researchers and educators to understand the educational needs of autistic students beyond the presence of an IEP.
{"title":"Characterizing the Special Education Goals of Autistic Students: Latent Class Analysis With Demographic and Developmental Covariates","authors":"Matthew C. Zajic, Juliette Gudknecht, Nancy S. McIntyre","doi":"10.1177/00144029251331861","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00144029251331861","url":null,"abstract":"Many autistic children receive special education services via Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) that include specific educational goals and needs. Prior research has examined programming options available to support autistic students, but less is known about their educational needs across academic and developmental educational goals. Additionally, existing approaches have often relied on small studies focused on describing individual goal areas. This study uses data from 551 families from across the United States with an autistic child in grades K-12 and latent class analysis to (a) identify latent, or underlying, subgroups based off multivariate response patterns across educational goals endorsed in six domains (reading, writing, math, language and communication, social skills, behavior), and (b) examine if demographic and developmental covariates predict latent class membership. We identified five latent classes: <jats:italic>All Goals</jats:italic> (40.49%); <jats:italic>Autistic Characteristics</jats:italic> (21.63%); <jats:italic>Language, Literacy, and Autistic Characteristics</jats:italic> (18.99%); <jats:italic>Academic</jats:italic> (13.94%); and <jats:italic>Language and Communication</jats:italic> (4.95%). Two covariates—percentage of time spent in general education and adaptive behavior—predicted differences in latent class membership. Findings offer a comprehensive examination into the heterogeneous educational needs of autistic school-age children. Our results emphasize the need for researchers and educators to understand the educational needs of autistic students beyond the presence of an IEP.","PeriodicalId":48164,"journal":{"name":"Exceptional Children","volume":"92 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144066105","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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