NICHCY: National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilitites

Building the Legacy / Construyendo el Legado gives you 19 training modules in English and 8 in Spanish covering the major topics within IDEA 2004.  Materials for each module include: a slideshow presentation, handouts for participants, and detailed background text, plus supplemental resources for trainers. You can use these materials to inform yourself or to train others.

Self-determination, the combination of skills, knowledge, and beliefs that enable a person to engage in goal-directed, self-regulated, autonomous behavior, has become an important part of special education and related services for people with disabilities. Research on the outcomes of self-determination interventions has been sparse. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive review of literature and used quantitative methods of meta-analysis to investigate what self-determination interventions have been studied, what groups of individuals with disabilities have been taught self-determination, and what levels of outcomes have been achieved using self-determination interventions. Fifty-one studies were identified that intervened to promote one or more components of self-determination; 22 were included in meta-analyses. The median effect size across 100 group intervention comparisons (contained in 9 studies) was 1.38. In contrast, 13 single subject studies included 18 interventions and produced a median percentage of nonoverlapping data (PND) of 95% with a range of 64% to 100%. Seven of the interventions had a PND of 100%, suggesting strong effects. Although all components of self-determination were reflected in this research, most focused on teaching choice making to individuals with moderate and severe mental retardation or self-advocacy to individuals with learning disabilities or mild mental retardation. The outcomes are discussed regarding the need to demonstrate that self-determination can be taught and learned, and can make a difference in the lives of individuals with disabilities.

This meta-analysis considered the relationship between Response-to-Intervention (RTI) and systemic and student achievement outcomes. Four existing large-scale RTI models were analyzed alongside RTI models implemented within a research context. Twenty-four effect sizes and unbiased estimates of effect (UEE)* were computed. The UEE for student achievement and systemic outcomes both exceeded 1.0. The UEE for systemic outcomes among large-scale RTI models was significantly greater than those implemented within a research context.

To help a child with a disability benefit from special education, he or she may also need extra help in one area or another, such as speaking or moving. This additional help is called related services. Find out all about these critical services here.