The Archive

The Department of Education’s official overview of IDEA. It explains free appropriate public education, early intervention, special education, individualized education programs, least restrictive environment, related services, family rights, and students’ access to the general education curriculum.

A locator connecting families with nearly 100 Parent Training and Information Centers and Community Parent Resource Centers throughout the United States and its territories. These centers serve children and youth from birth through age 26 and help families participate effectively in special education and locate state-specific support.

A practical, step-by-step guide that helps individuals identify the appropriate representative, explain how a policy affects their family or community, make a specific request, and write an effective letter or email supporting or opposing proposed laws, policies, budgets, or government actions.

A foundational article introducing Dis/ability Critical Race Studies. It explains how race and disability are interdependently constructed in education and society, outlines DisCrit’s principal framework, and demonstrates why educational research, policy, and practice must address racism and ableism together.

A landmark disability-studies article challenging the dominance of Global North assumptions. It connects disability to colonial history, highlights the marginalization of Global South experiences and Indigenous knowledge, and calls for theories and policies that acknowledge unequal global power relations.

A population-based study of U.S. elementary students. After accounting for observed behavior, achievement, executive functioning, and other factors, it found disparities affecting Black children, girls, and emergent bilinguals and supports culturally, linguistically, and gender-sensitive diagnostic and treatment processes.

A framework for designing learning environments around learner variability instead of waiting until students struggle. Version 3.0 emphasizes multiple means of engagement, representation, action, and expression while addressing bias, exclusion, belonging, learner identity, multiple ways of knowing, communication differences, and learner agency.

An official federal guide explaining how Section 504 applies to students with ADHD. It covers schools’ duties to identify, evaluate, and serve eligible students; the relationship among Section 504, the ADA, and IDEA; placement decisions; related aids and services; and procedural safeguards.

A practical module that distinguishes accommodations from modifications and interventions. It explains the four categories of accommodations and guides educators in selecting, implementing, and evaluating supports according to an individual student’s barriers and needs. The IRIS Center is supported by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs.

A current FDA communication about extended-release stimulants in children younger than 6. It explains that these products are not approved for that age group and summarizes labeling changes concerning higher drug exposure, weight loss, other adverse reactions, growth monitoring, and consideration of alternative treatments.

Official medication-safety guidance covering appropriate use, updated boxed warnings, risks of misuse and sharing, monitoring, secure storage, and disposal. It makes the important distinction that prescription stimulants can provide benefits when used appropriately while still carrying serious risks when misused.

A summary of a large national study examining school-level stimulant treatment and nonmedical stimulant use among adolescents. The findings show an association rather than proof of causation and support prevention, safe-storage education, individualized assessment, and conversations with students about medication sharing.

A current federal overview of ADHD across childhood and adulthood. It explains inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity, functional impact, co-occurring conditions, research priorities, treatment information, clinical trials, and ways to find help without reducing ADHD to a single stereotype.

The American Academy of Pediatrics’ evidence-based guideline for evaluating and treating ADHD from ages 4 through 18. It emphasizes multi-setting assessment, screening for co-occurring conditions, age-specific treatment, family preferences, behavioral and classroom interventions, and coordinated school supports.

A practical guide to evidence-based ADHD treatment by age. It explains why parent training in behavior management is recommended before medication for children under 6 and outlines behavior therapy, medication, organizational-skills training, healthy routines, school supports, and family-school-clinician collaboration for older children.

A peer-reviewed study examining whether autism should be understood as deficit, difference, or both. It identifies meaningful common ground between medical and neurodiversity perspectives, supporting acceptance of autistic identity while still recognizing disability, difficulties, and support needs.

An autistic-authored guide to autism, identity, community, history, rights, and support. It gives autistic people direct access to community knowledge and helps families and educators learn from lived experience rather than relying only on professional interpretations.

An open-access review that defines neurodiversity and presents a person-environment model of disability. Although its examples focus on adults and work, the framework is useful in education because it shows how strengths, difficulties, accommodations, and exclusion depend on context.