This article provides a case study (focus on an eighth-grader with autism) within a case study (focus on an urban middle school) in terms of the implementation of positive behavior support (PBS). Information is provided on the characteristics of three key components of schoolwide PBS-universal support, group support, and individual support. For each component, information is presented on policy, assessment, and intervention in terms of an evolving approach to schoolwide PBS with descriptions of how the components were implemented at the middle school with a particular emphasis on the eighth-grade student. The authors conclude with implications for practice in terms of assessing current resources, providing professional development, and intensifying universal support within urban schools to address some of the complex issues associated with poverty.

This article utilizes four knowledge sources to characterize a current gap in policy and practice related to serving families in early intervention (birth to 5) programs. It argues that the field of early intervention has focused primarily on implementing family-centered practices by focusing on how families and professionals should interact. The field has not sufficiently addressed what supports and services should be offered to families to enhance the likelihood of positive outcomes for families themselves and for their children with disabilities. The paper concludes with recommendations for enhancing policy, research, and professional development related to family services and supports.

Working in competitive employment (employment in community settings with nondisabled peers for minimum wage or higher) has many positive benefits for people with disabilities who have individualized support needs (Johannesen, McGrew, Griss, & Born, 2007). Nonetheless, many of these individuals work in segregated settings or are unemployed entirely (National Disability Rights Network, 2011). The Family Employment Awareness Training (FEAT) in Kansas sought to increase expectations for competitive employment and knowledge about employment services, supports, and resources among people with disabilities who have individualized support needs, their families, and the professionals that support them to increase competitive employment outcomes. Our findings from this pilot study indicate that FEAT succeeded in raising expectations and knowledge among these individuals.

This article frames the past and future role of the parents of children with disabilities within the context of special education. We highlight their past aspirations: to organize nationally to assert that their children could learn, to codify into law their children's right to an education, and to foster trust-based parent-professional partnerships. Using the past as a prelude to the future, we then identify two aspirations for the future: to foster empathy, compassion, and dignity; and to "get a life" rather than just "get an education." The theme of future aspirations is to develop schools and communities where empathy, compassion, and dignity abound and where, as a consequence, children and adults with disabilities can experience across the full lifespan the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act's outcomes of equal opportunity, independent living, full participation, and economic self-sufficiency.

The AAIDD's 11th edition of Intellectual Disability: Definition, Classification, and Systems of Support describes a framework for understanding the relationship between public policy and practice. The framework incorporates three inputs into public policy and practice affecting quality-of-life outcomes for individuals and families, society, and systems. The inputs are social factors, the core concepts of disability policy, and changing conceptualizations of disability. We accept the framework's basic premises, but we propose amendments to make the framework more useful for its stated purposes of elaborating on the "context" ( Schalock et al., 2010 , p. 17) that affects people with intellectual disability and "promot[ing] changes in public policy that will lead to the achievement of desired policy outcomes" ( Schalock et al., 2010 , p. 171).

This study reports the results of a survey and interviews with families who attended Family Employment Awareness Training (FEAT), a training designed to increase expectations for competitive employment and knowledge about employment resources among families who have members with disabilities, to determine their perceptions of barriers to competitive employment for people with individualized support needs (ISN). Analysis of survey and interview data identified barriers related to (a) characteristics of people with ISN, (b) agencies and programs, (c) families, (d) expectations, (e) employers, and (f) the economy. This study uses an ecological framework (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, 1986) to organize the findings. We also discuss implications for practice and policy, including recommendations for improving education and support for people with ISN, families, and professionals in the micro-, exo-, and macrosystems.

This article describes a 12-step model that can be used for policy analysis. The model encompasses policy development, implementation, and evaluation; takes into account structural foundations of policy; addresses both legal formalism and legal realism; demonstrates contextual sensitivity; and addresses application issues and different conceptualizations of IDD.

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