School-based health centers (SBHCs) and other school-based clinics (OSBCs) reduce health care access barriers and support positive outcomes in disadvantaged children by providing primary medical care and other services, respectively. This study describes California SBHCs and OSBCs and identifies school characteristics associated with access. Databases on California SBHCs, OSBCs, and schools were compiled. Descriptive statistics characterize the number of clinics and services offered from 2011 to 2023. Multivariable logistic regression models estimate associations between school characteristics and SBHC/OSBC access in 2023. Between 2011and 2023, the SBHCs increased from 124 to 186, and services became more comprehensive. OSBCs increased from 18 to 104, with most offering mental health services. SBHC access was more likely in schools with a larger share of students who were English Learners and "other" as their race and ethnicity; high schools; and in large cities. OSBC access was more likely in schools with a larger share of English Learner students and in cities. SBHCs and OSBCs expanded and largely served disadvantaged schools, which may promote health and academic equity.

Is motivation the key? Linking motivational orientations and mental health among novice special education teachers

Unequal representation? Examining child and case characteristics in child protective services cases involving disabled children.

This study explored teachers’ perspectives on using YouTube videos to support vocabulary acquisition among primary school learners with mild to moderate autism. Data were gathered through interviews with six teachers from two disciplines, namely Special Education and Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL), to gain insights into how YouTube videos are perceived and used for vocabulary instruction in inclusive classroom contexts. Analysis of the data showed that teachers generally viewed the use of YouTube videos positively, perceiving them as effective in engaging learners, capturing their attention, and supporting a more meaningful understanding of newly learned vocabulary and related concepts. The findings further revealed alignment between the use of YouTube videos and Mayer’s (2021) Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML), particularly the principles of contiguity, segmentation, coherence, redundancy, and modality, which may help minimise unnecessary cognitive load. Overall, the findings suggest that YouTube videos can serve as an effective complementary educational tool for supporting vocabulary acquisition among learners with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) when used in alignment with appropriate pedagogical principles. The study contributes empirical insights into teachers’ perspectives on the use of YouTube videos as technology-mediated vocabulary instruction in inclusive primary school settings, an area that remains underexplored. Despite the positive feedback, teachers emphasised the need for careful planning and adequate professional support. Accordingly, the study highlights the importance of structured training and guidance to help teachers select and integrate YouTube videos in pedagogically sound, theoretically informed, and responsive ways to the learning needs of ASD learners.

This study aimed to determine the level of teachers’ awareness of the utilization of special education funds in the first-class municipality in the central Philippines. Specifically, it examined teachers’ awareness in four areas of SEF utilization: operation and maintenance of school facilities and equipment, construction and repair of school buildings, educational research, and the purchase of books and periodicals. The data needed for this descriptive study were collected from 166 respondents using a 32-item self-made data gathering instrument that had undergone stringent tests of validity and reliability. Throughout the entire research process, this study adhered to research ethics protocol. The ensuing analysis showed that teachers demonstrated a high level of awareness across all SEF utilization areas. Findings further indicated that awareness levels did not significantly differ when grouped according to the aforementioned demographic variables, thus failing to reject the null hypothesis. While teachers exhibited strong awareness of documentation and reporting processes, gaps were observed in their understanding of acquisition, disbursement, and research funding mechanisms. The study concludes that although teachers possess substantial general awareness of SEF utilization, technical awareness related to procurement and research remains limited. These findings provide a basis for proposing information, education, communication, and action plan to promote a deeper understanding and more effective utilization of SEF in public schools. Keywords: Teachers’ awareness; utilization of special education fund; Negros Occidental, Philippines.

ABSTRACT This study examines how Greek secondary school students construct the role of special education teachers (SETs) within the context of inclusive education. Fifteen students from mainstream secondary schools participated (seven assessed as having special educational needs [SEN] and receiving support, and eight peers without SEN support). Data were generated through in-depth semi-structured interviews, complemented by a two-year researcher journal. Analysis drew on reflexive thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke 2006) alongside Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (Fairclough 2013) to explore students’ meaning-making and the institutional conditions shaping these accounts. Findings indicate that students constructed SETs as sources of care and emotional support, as agents of regulation and normalisation, as largely invisible actors within the school, and as figures on whom some students became dependent. These constructions illuminate tensions within inclusive schooling, where support may simultaneously enable participation and reproduce forms of control.

Adolescent disability identity is a constantly evolving and changing process, involving connection to a broader disability community and disability community pride. This paper explores disabled adolescent understandings of disability community issues through the lens of political disability identity. This study focuses on a Youth Leadership Forum (YLF) program, focused on leadership development for adolescents with disabilities, in a Midwestern state in the US. I collected two years of responses (2023–2024) to an application essay prompt (n = 32). I completed a multi-phase qualitative content analysis of the YLF essays. I find that disabled youth are deeply engaged with issues that matter to the disability community, such as building accessibility (including schools and classrooms), disability awareness in community and schools, and bullying. Connections to the development of political disability identity in youth, and implications for special education and transition planning are discussed.

This within-child study examined whether a tailored, single-session virtual reality (VR) training can enhance social skills among children enrolled in special education programs for behavior problems. Forty-nine children (ages 7-13; 85.7% boys; 57.1% ASD, 20.4% ADHD) completed one 20-min VR session. For each child, teachers selected one skill for children to practice with: staying calm (anger regulation), asking to join a group (peer entry), or saying no (assertiveness). Relative to baseline, in-VR observations showed substantial immediate improvements of the targeted skill (η2p = .35), but teacher reports two weeks later showed no comparable improvement in the classroom (η2p = .07). Teachers also reported no changes in children's aggressive behavior or emotional problems two weeks later. Children reported moderate levels of immersion and perceived efficacy, low-to-moderate emotional engagement, and high appreciation of the training, VR, and trainer-child relationship. Overall, findings suggest that interactive VR is an attractive tool to practice socially skilled behavior, but that transfer to real life may require more sessions, explicit bridging strategies, and/or more emotionally engaging VR.

ABSTRACT In an effort to advance on a real educational inclusion in Chile, the School Integration Program (Programa de Integración Escolar, PIE) has been implemented with the stated aim of promoting school inclusion through the establishment of support and collaboration processes that remove barriers within the school context. This qualitative study describes and analyzes the actions undertaken in schools that implement PIE for deaf students, focusing on the dimensions of cultures, policies, and practices that support inclusion. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five professionals (two program coordinators and three special education teachers) from three schools in the Metropolitan Region. The findings reveal that, although policies ensure the presence of deaf students, effective participation and learning depend on sustained strategies that cultivate inclusive school cultures and pedagogical practices. The study contributes to scholarship by deepening understanding of how inclusion policies are enacted in daily school practices, and to educational practice by highlighting actionable approaches for developing coherent, sustainable inclusion processes in Chilean schools.

ABSTRACT Teachers and administrators increasingly turn to artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that promise to automate complex tasks in special education, from generating Individualised Education Programs (IEPs) to providing behavioural recommendations. Drawing on interviews with 32 special education professionals across Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, this study examines the hidden labour and professional expertise required to sustain supposedly ‘automated’ special education technologies. Findings reveal three key patterns: extensive ‘repair work’ needed to make AI-generated IEPs educationally appropriate; persistent tensions between algorithmic recommendations and professional judgement; and substantial invisible labour required to maintain inclusive educational environments within technologically mediated practice. Rather than reducing professional workload, these technologies intensify demands for contextual adaptation, ethical decision-making, and advocacy work. The study demonstrates how the apparent automation of special education depends fundamentally on unrecognised human expertise, challenging efficiency narratives that dominate policy discourse. These findings highlight the need for more realistic approaches to technology integration that acknowledge and value the irreplaceable role of professional judgement in special education contexts.

Life care planning for children with disabilities or special needs is most effective when developed through multidisciplinary collaboration. Families receive a comprehensive and coordinated plan that addresses financial, medical, developmental, and psychosocial needs by integrating expertise from life care planners, attorneys, special education teachers, and professionals in healthcare, rehabilitation, and social services. This collaborative, person-centered approach ensures the life care plan is a dynamic, evidence-based resource that guides care provision with life expectancy-based costs and aligns with a special needs trust and educational frameworks. This article focuses on the roles of the life care planner, attorney, and special education teacher in the development of special needs trusts and life care plans.

Given the apparent lack of reflection on dyscalculia in the initial and continuing training of mathematics teachers, we propose an investigation aimed at understanding how the topic is addressed in the pedagogical projects of initial teacher training courses and in mathematics textbooks. Inspired by Foucaultian theory and using cartography as a methodological approach, we analyze two pedagogical projects for mathematics courses and two projects for pedagogy courses. Our empirical material is complemented by a collection of mathematics textbooks aimed at audiences from 1st to 5th grade. Our analysis highlights the total absence of the topic in the documents analyzed. More than that, by highlighting insertions on the theme of special education in a punctually selected manner, an adjustment to power relations is made clear, which are limited to compliance with regulations that privilege what is in the order of discourse, explaining processes of in/exclusion

ABSTRACT Children with communication disorders require additional support in school to cope with the social and academic demands. Teachers play an essential role in creating environments that facilitate children’s communication development in schools. This study aimed to explore Malaysian preschool teachers’ knowledge about communication disorders, strategies they use when interacting with students with communication disorders, and their attitudes towards communication disorders. Fifty-four teachers from the Preschool Special Education Program of the Ministry of Education Malaysia provided information about their knowledge, practices, and attitudes by completing a questionnaire developed for this study. Teachers demonstrated limited knowledge about the symptoms, treatments, aetiologies, and impacts of communication disorders. However, despite having limited knowledge, they reported using various facilitative strategies when interacting with students with communication disorders in the classroom. Teachers also reported that managing students with communication disorders was challenging, and they were keen to learn more. This study highlights the need for Malaysian preschool special education teachers to receive adequate pre-service and in-service training to enable them to create environments that support communication development to prevent learned helplessness among students in the classroom.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandates that special education teachers be fully licensed, either by obtaining state certification or passing a licensure examination. However, despite this federal mandate, many states have historically issued emergency licenses to fill special education teacher positions due to persistent shortages in the workforce. We use longitudinal state data from Indiana spanning years 2012 to 2021 to document the proportion of special education teachers working under emergency licensure, the students they serve, and the instructional settings in which they work. We find that emergency-licensed teachers make up a growing proportion of the special education teacher workforce, and that they serve more students with autism and with intellectual disabilities in more restrictive settings than their non-emergency licensed counterparts.

Validating Kohler's taxonomy of transition programming 2.0 for youth students with disabilities in the Saudi Arabian context.

ABSTRACT This study investigated the effectiveness of an Augmented Reality (AR) application in enhancing executive functions among primary school students with hearing impairments. Using a mixed-methods embedded experimental design with the ASSURE instructional model, 60 participants aged 6–14 were randomly assigned to experimental and control (n = 30each) groups. The experimental group received eight weekly AR-based training sessions (30–45 minutes each) targeting inhibition, working memory updating, and cognitive switching through interactive environments including Space Lab, Mars, Forest, and Beach. Executive functions were assessed using Go/No-Go, Backward Digit Span, Corsi Block, and Thai Trail-Making Test. Quantitative analyses showed significantly better post-test performance in the experimental group than in the control group for inhibition response time (p < .05, d = 0.48), verbal working memory (p < .05, d = 0.54), spatial working memory (p < .05, d = 0.51), and switching ability (p < .05, d = 0.59). Qualitative thematic analysis identified four themes: enhanced visual engagement and motivation, improved self-regulation and focus, language-related challenges affecting task flow, and increased peer interaction. The AR application effectively leveraged visual strengths while compensating for auditory limitations, demonstrating potential for inclusive cognitive interventions in special education settings.

ABSTRACT This study examines how teachers determine the performance of students with visual impairments (SVIs) within the educational process, based on their views. The study group consisted of nine special education teachers working in a school for SVIs in Ankara, Türkiye. Data were collected using a semi-structured interviews that were audio-recorded and transcribed, and the data were analysed using content analysis. Teachers’ opinions about the assessment and evaluation process were organised under four main themes: preparation, implementation, evaluation, and other related issues related. Under the preparation theme, teachers frequently referred to the curriculum, particularly the individualised education program (IEP) and the general program. Regarding implementation, teachers reported a strong preference for traditional assessment methods, while the use of alternative methods remained limited in practice. For the evaluation phase, teachers commonly mentioned reporting student progress, but rarely described using materials to support process-based evaluation. Finally, under the other issues, teachers emphasised that the curriculum designed for students with visual impairments is not fully aligned with the general program.

Staff turnover is a critical issue for practitioners and policymakers alike. While extant research indicates teacher turnover has a detrimental impact on student outcomes generally, students with disabilities may be disproportionately impacted, as they receive services from both general educators and from special educators and paraeducators, who have higher turnover rates. Yet, prior research has not examined effects of turnover on students with versus without disabilities. Using administrative data from Washington State, we provide the first causal estimates of special and general education teacher and paraeducator turnover on outcomes for students with and without disabilities. We find general education teacher turnover negatively impacts test scores for both groups and there is an outsized impact of special education teacher turnover on test scores for students with disabilities. Estimates of paraeducator turnover, however, are small and not statistically significant. Our findings suggest the stability of the general education teacher workforce is important for all students, and the stability of the special education teacher workforce should be a key priority for improving outcomes for students with disabilities.

ABSTRACT This study explored the pedagogical practices of seasoned non-SPED (special education) teachers in inclusive classrooms. The term ‘seasoned non-SPED teachers’ refers to general education teachers with extensive teaching experience but without formal training in special education. The study aimed to examine how these educators develop inclusive practices through reflective engagement, mentorship, collegial collaboration, and sustained professional learning. Data were collected primarily through semi-structured interviews with 18 participants, complemented by two focus group discussions to capture collective perspectives on shared pedagogical practices. Findings revealed that these teachers employed differentiated and varied instructional strategies, promoted collaborative learning, fostered student engagement, implemented purposeful classroom management, provided holistic and relational support, and actively pursued professional growth and guidance. The study highlights how experience, reflection, and professional learning intersect to shape inclusive pedagogical expertise. These insights contribute to understanding how inclusive education can be effectively implemented by teachers without formal SPED training and align with Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 4: Quality Education and SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities. The findings offer guidance for educators, school leaders, and policymakers seeking to strengthen inclusive practices and support diverse learners.

ABSTRACT This article examines the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) system in England, and the ‘crisis’ it is reported to be in. It is argued that three principal factors lie at the heart of the crisis: a failure to be inclusive, out of control spending on SEND and the lack of confidence of children and families in the system. It reports the significant consequences of the damage inflicted upon young people and their families but reframes them, following Ladson-Billings’ construction of education debt, as special education debts. These are represented as inclusion debts, economic debts and trust debts. A series of provocations, in the form of questions aligned with the three principal factors and their attendant debts, are offered as a means of repaying these debts to children and their families, but also to teachers and educational leaders.