Special Education: Foundational Resources

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common neuro-developmental disorders of childhood, with a prevalence rate of about 5 percent of the childhood population. Many people do not believe that it is a 'real' disorder. This bibliography includes sources on the history, defining features, prevalence, assessment, diagnosis and intervention for ADHD.

This article looks at autism from the psychologist's perspective, and includes sections on the historical research and identification of the condition, diagnosis and classification, possible causes (genetic and environmental), intervention methods, and pseudoscience and dubious theories on the subject.

This is an introductory article from the social work perspective and includes information on screening and diagnosis, family issues, and autism in adulthood.

This article focuses on behavioral characteristics, communication needs and issues, and educational interventions for children with autism.

Congenital disabilities are those that are present at birth, including Down Syndrome, chromosome-linked intellectual disabilities, spina bifida, blindness, deafness, and other physical disabilities, fetal alcohol syndrome, etc.

This bibliography looks at "disability" in a very broad way, seeing it as a cross-disciplinary field, combining psychological, medical, social, technical, and philosophical sciences.

This article seeks to find a legal definition of emotional behavioral disorders, identification of students with EBD, placement issues, over-representation of minorities, discipline, suspension, and expulsion issues, positive behavior support, RTI and other intervention strategies as well as in-school and post-school outcomes for students.

Learning difficulties is an umbrella term for academic problems of different origin. It comprises general learning deficits and low academic performance in the context of disabilities, as well as specific forms like reading, spelling, and arithmetic disorders.

For the purposes of this article, physical disability covers a broad sweep of areas. Types may include congenital disabilities (e.g., cerebral palsy), acquired disabilities (e.g., spinal cord injury), and sensory/communication disabilities (e.g., low vision). Although co-occurring intellectual and developmental disability may be present, this article focuses solely on persons with a physical disability.

Response to intervention (RTI) is a comprehensive, systematic approach to teaching and learning designed to monitor academic and behavioral progress for all students, provide early interventions of increasing intensity to struggling learners, and potentially identify learners with more significant learning disabilities.

School-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS), also known as positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS), is a framework for organizing positive, proactive, and evidence-based behavioral practices within a school setting that has been implemented in more than 18,000 schools in the United States. There are resources here about schoolwide support, as well as intensive individual support.

Secondary transition is about helping students with disabilities prepare to successfully move from high school to adulthood. This bibliography identifies essential resources on this topic.

People with severe disabilities are considered to have the following disabilities: severe intellectual disability (formerly referred to as “mental retardation”), autism, deaf-blindness, and multiple disabilities. They present great learning, behavioral, personal, social, physical, and sensory challenges and have extensive support needs (e.g., related service providers, paraprofessionals, peer tutors). Additionally, a number of these individuals may have serious medical and health-care needs and be dependent on medical technology (e.g., mechanical ventilator, gastric feeding tube). This article presents citations related to educational and social practices that have enhanced the education, integration, and acceptance of persons with severe disabilities, and advanced the quality of educational and social services they receive.