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Post-school outcomes are poor for youth with disabilities, in general, but even more discouraging for certain subpopulations of individuals with disabilities, particularly those from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds. The authors discuss structural inequalities in public schools which potentially contribute to the poorer transition outcomes of CLD youth with disabilities compared with their White peers with disabilities and identify 11 research-based practices (RBPs) for supporting CLD youth with disabilities and their families during the transition planning process. A study is subsequently described involving the development and implementation of a survey measuring the degree to which these 11 RBPs are being implemented in public school districts. The survey was administered during 2011 to 2016 to interdisciplinary transition teams representing more than 90 school districts in the United States who were attending state capacity-building transition services training institutes. Group consensus was sought on the 11 items appearing on the survey. Results from the study found that most school districts were not implementing any of the RBPs to any significant degree, school staff were in need of cultural competence professional development training, CLD families of transition-aged youth with disabilities lacked access to quality resources and supports, and CLD youth with disabilities lacked opportunities to strengthen their self-determination skills. Implications for practice and future research on this topic is presented and discussed.

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As an Asian graduate student and a Native professor at a U.S. Midwestern Predominantly White Institution, we reflected upon Masta’s (2018) article, What the Grandfathers Taught Me: Lessons for an Indian Country Researcher, to examine the decolonizing aspects of autoethnography. Masta’s use of autoethnography to explore her experiences provides a deeply personal view into the phenomenon of living and researching Indigenous in an America that is inherently White in character, tradition, structure, and culture. The use of participatory and constructivist Indigenous autoethnography places the lived experience of an Indigenous woman at the center of the study, using the Indigenous lens to respect the cultural values, beliefs, and teachings of a community that remains largely overlooked in Eurocentric research. Such an appreciation and understanding led us to argue that autoethnography is a promising decolonizing methodology which has the potential to inform decolonization and social justice movements.

News of teenager’s death in California shocked the special education community in early December 2018. Despite the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act’s provision for positive behavior supports for students with disabilities, these inidividuals continue to be secluded and restrained at disproportionately higher rates than their nondisabled peers. Using the Special Ed Connection® database, the authors identified 11 court cases from 2018 and analyzed their contents based on individualized education program (IEP) behavior components, type of restraints used, and prevalence of seclusion. Within these cases, all 12 included students were boys, four IEPs included behavior components, nine students were physically or mechanically restrained, and two were secluded. A review of the four cases that included the use of positive behavior supports is included.

With transition litigation on the rise in recent years, educators need access to current legal trends in special education. Traditionally, educators have been dependent on researchers and attorneys to report on the implications of legal cases to guide the education and services for students with disabilities. In response to this, the Three Dimensions of FAPE Rubric (FAPE3DR) was created to help educators analyze legal cases in a timely manner. Specifically, the authors applied this rubric to five recent legal cases that were decided in favor of the family or transition-age youth. Findings are reported within the scope of broader transition issues.