Research and Policy on Disability: Linking Special Education to Developmental Science. (March 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Farmer, Thomas W.; Gatzke-Kopp, Lisa M.; Lee, David L.; Dawes, Molly; Talbott, Elizabeth
• Editors: Fiske, Susan T.
• Other Names: Levine Felice guest-editor.; Mayer Richard guest-editor.; Murphy Karen guest-editor.; Newcombe Nora guest-editor.; Worrell Frank guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Policy insights from the behavioral and brain sciences. Volume 3:Number 1(2016)
• Page Start: 138
• Page End: 145
• Publication Date: 2016-03
• Subjects: special education -- developmental science -- policy -- adaptation; Human behavior -- Periodicals; Brain -- Periodicals; Political planning -- Periodicals; Behavioral Sciences; Public Policy; Brain; Human behavior; Political planning; Periodicals; Periodicals; 150
• DOI: 10.1177/2372732215624217
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2372-7322

Abstract

Bridging special education (SE) and developmental science recognizes their shared focus on individual adaptation, growth, and outcomes. Adaptation continuously aligns the proclivities of students and the opportunities of their contexts. Considerations for the adaptation of students with disabilities include developmental malleability, problem behavior, intervention supports, and SE services. Policy implications center on the need to focus on the individual in context in both research and intervention, merge data from the implementation of intensive interventions and person-oriented analysis to establish comprehensive frameworks that include a focus on neurophysiological processes, and train the next generation of SE leaders in intensive interventions and applied developmental science.