An expanded follow-up to a CEC bestseller, this guide includes tools for assessing families’ and practitioners’ engagement in practices that promote positive post-school outcomes for youth with disabilities. Engaging and Empowering Families in Secondary Transition: A Practitioner’s Guide gives schools and agencies planning tools and practical strategies to foster family partnerships in five dimensions: collaborators in the IEP process; instructors in their youth’s emergent independence; peer mentors; evaluators and decision-makers; and systems-change agents.

Transition from secondary education to adulthood represents a period during which adolescents with disabilities face multiple responsibilities and changing roles that include establishing independence, attending postsecondary education or training, developing social networks, choosing a career, participating in their communities, and managing healthcare and financial affairs. Sponsored by the Division of Career Development and Transition (DCDT) of the Council of Exceptional Children, this handbook provides a comprehensive resource to the communities of educators, related service and agency personnel, families, caretakers, counselors, and other stakeholders who facilitate these complex transitions to adulthood for adolescents with disabilities. Comprehensive – This comprehensive volume includes coverage of historical foundations, policy, transition programming and planning, development of student skills, and program structure. It also recommends transition supports for students with specific disabilities. Organizing Taxonomy – The book is organized around a well recognized taxonomy for adolescent transition used by many states to design and reform their transition services. Expertise – The volume editors are past-presidents of the Council for Exceptional Children’s Division on Career Development and are leaders in transition research and practice. Contributors are well-recognized for their expertise in transition. Chapter Structure – Each chapter includes a discussion of evidence-based research, recommended practices, suggestions for transition personnel and families, and additional resources. This book is appropriate for researchers and graduate-level instructors in special education and vocational education, inservice administrators and policy makers, and transition service providers.

Parents and Families of Students With Special Needs: Collaborating Across the Age Span teaches students the skills they need to effectively collaborate with parents and families to ensure a child's success in the classroom. Authors Vicki A. McGinley and Melina Alexander’s text takes a lifespan approach with a special emphasis on the critical transition points in a child’s life. Information is provided on what can be seen at each stage of an individual with disabilities’ development, and addresses concerns and needs that families may have during these unique phases of growth. Chapters written by professors and professionals who are also parents of students with special needs bring a diverse range of voices into the narrative. The authors provide an in-depth discussion of how parents and families are affected by particular disabilities, family system theory, the laws that affect individuals with disabilities, and assessments for individuals with disabilities.

This book presents a collection of research-based, effective, and culturally responsive practices that are used in schools and communities to support and empower families of students with disabilities to be equal partners for schools. As the demographics of the U.S. population become increasingly diverse, the U.S. Census Bureau projects that, by 2044, more than half of the U.S. population will belong to a minority group. Currently, students from diverse backgrounds comprise over 53% of the special education student population. While their parents are the key decision makers and advocates who ensure that they receive services and support that address their individual needs, research consistently indicates that families from diverse backgrounds face many challenges that prevent them from taking on these active roles. Along with the improvements in the U.S. since the enactment of its first special education law in 1975, other parts of the world are also making changes to their special education systems in terms of responding to the diverse needs of children and students with disabilities and their families. This book also shares research-based and effective practices from other countries. The studies presented employ both qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate family-school-community partnerships.

Bilingual students with disabilities have an established right to be educated in their most proficient language. However, in practice, many culturally and linguistically diverse students still do not receive the quality of education that they are promised and deserve. Multilingual learners with disabilities must be acknowledged for the assets they bring and engaged in classroom learning that is rigorous and relevant. Bilingual Special Education for the 21st Century: A New Interface addresses the complex intersection of bilingual education and special education with the overlay of culturally and linguistically sustaining practices. This work provides practical solutions to current dilemmas and challenges today’s educators of multilingual learners with disabilities face in the classroom. Covering topics such as dual language education, identification practices, and transition planning, this book is an essential resource for special education experts, faculty and administration of both K-12 and higher education, pre-service teachers, researchers, and academicians.

Navigating the Transition from High School to College for Students with Disabilities provides effective strategies for navigating the transition process from high school into college for students with a wide range of disabilities. As students with disabilities attend two and four-year colleges in increasing numbers and through expanding access opportunities, challenges remain in helping these students and their families prepare for and successfully transition into higher education. Professionals and families supporting transition activities are often unaware of today’s new and rapidly developing options for postsecondary education. This practical guide offers user-friendly resources, including vignettes, research summaries, and hands-on activities that can be easily implemented in the classroom and in the community and that facilitate strong collaboration between schools and families. Preparation issues such as financial aid, applying for college, and other long-term planning areas are addressed in detail. An accompanying student resource section offers materials for high school students with disabilities that secondary educators, counselors, and transition personnel can use to facilitate exploration and planning discussions. Framing higher education as a possible transition goal for all students with disabilities, Navigating the Transition from High School to College for Students with Disabilities supports the postsecondary interests of more than four million public school students with disabilities.

Engaging Families in Schools is a practical resource that provides strategies and ideas that will contribute to the effective engagement of families and the involvement of parents in their child’s education. Parental engagement with school staff has a significant and very positive impact on children’s learning, and strategies presented have been extensively trialled in a variety of different settings. Nicola S. Morgan shows school staff how to understand the importance of family engagement and evidence the outcomes. This book has been split into ten easily accessible units: Understanding the importance of parent engagement Using whole-school strategies to engage parents The role of the family engagement officer Engaging all parents Engaging Dads Engaging multicultural parents Difficult to engage parents Working with parents to improve student attainment Working with parents to improve behaviour and attendance Working with parents of children with additional needs This is a must-read guide for teaching and non teaching staff who wishes to bridge the gap between their student’s school and family life and understand the effects of positive family engagement.