D aniel (a pseudonym) is a very bright, 9-year-old, fourth-grade student. Despite his intelligence, Daniel has a history of social, emotional, behavioral, and learning problems. He has had numerous evaluations and diagnoses, including dyslexia, clinical depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and most recently, Asperger syndrome (AS). Daniel's profile illustrates the intersection of giftedness and his disability.Daniel has many strengths. He is highly verbal, has an extensive vocabulary, and is a visual learner. He is extremely knowledgeable in the areas of entomology, arachnology, and paleontology. He can spend many hours drawing insects, spiders, and dinosaurs, or watching documentaries on any of these subjects. Despite his reading disability and difficulties with fine motor skills, Daniel's fascination with his favorite subject motivated him to spend several weeks creating a 22-page illustrated book detailing what he observed in one of his videos on prehistoric arthropods. Daniel is a visual thinker with an incredible memory, particularly for facts related to his interests. Daniel enjoys time with adults and challenges them to test him by asking him anything about insects! Gifted students with Asperger syndrome (AS) frequently exhibit behaviors that puzzle and challenge teachers and other professionals. They display many of the behaviors typically associated with AS and therefore receive educational interventions designed to address their deficit areas. Often lacking is strength-based programming-that is, educational planning with systematic attention to students' learning strengths, interests, gifts, and talents. If their strengths are not addressed, these students are at social, emotional, and academic risk. Gifted students with AS require dually differentiated instruction, including interventions that foster interests and strengths while providing strategies to compensate for areas of weakness. This article offers suggestions and resources for developing strengthbased programming for gifted students with Asperger syndrome.

Portfolios are increasingly being used in educational settings and provide benefits to all stakeholders in the educational process. They are especially useful for students with autism spectrum disorders because they allow for the collection and communication of authentic data across a variety of skill areas and settings. This article explains the benefits of portfolio usage for students with autism spectrum disorders and details what to include and how to organize the portfolio so that students, parents, and professionals reap the maximum benefit.

Many individuals With autism have deficits in their ability to function independently and need extensive instruction to master daily living skills. Further, federal laW requires that schools and families Work together When planning transitions. This article explains three techniques (videotaped modeling, photographic or pictorial schedules, and peer/ sibling tutoring) that can be used both at home and in school to teach functional daily living skills to students With autism. Examples of appropriate skills to teach With each technique are given.

Race-based educational segregation has a long history in the United States and continues to exist even though prohibited by law. Recent manifestations of race-based educational discrimination are found in the overrepresentation of black students in special education programs, their subjugation to high rates of exclusionary discipline, and their underrepresentation in gifted programs. This study used the ProQuest Education database and selected search terms to retrieve records of publications and examine trends in professional literature during four decades. Patterns were found in scholarship related to disproportionate representation of black students in special education programs and the use of exclusionary suspension and expulsion with black students as well as the underrepresentation of black students in gifted programs. The most scholarship was found related to gifted programs, in which blacks were underrepresented, and the amount of scholarship progressively decreased as the level of segregation of black students increased from special education placement to suspension and expulsion. Further, the absolute amount of scholarship and the percentage of works published in scholarly journals were inversely related to the number of search terms with negative connotations used, including special education, minority, and poverty. Use of search terms with negative connotations was positively associated with the percentage of scholarship done by students in the form of dissertations and theses. Conclusions note scholarly findings of reduced adult outcomes caused by inequitable access to educational opportunities and encourage additional research into effective provision of culturally responsive teacher preparation and continuing education as alternatives to reliance on zero-tolerance and other policies that increase educational segregation of black students.

Empirical evidence suggests that college attendance by students with intellectual disability (ID) results in numerous short- and long-term academic and social benefits. However, insufficient literature has explored the attitudes of constituent groups of universities toward the social and academic inclusion of students with ID before introducing these students to educational programs on campus. This paper reports on the results of a survey applied to administrators, faculty, staff, and students of a Southeastern public university to examine their attitudes toward students with ID in college academics and social activities on campus. The differences in attitudes were also examined based on the participants’ academic discipline, gender, and role within the academic community. The results indicate that all constituencies on campus had positive attitudes toward the participation of students with ID in college academics. However, significant differences were found based on their academic disciplines; participants from the College of Education had the most positive attitudes, while those from the College of Business had the least positive responses. Recommendations for future research are included. The article emphasizes the benefits of planning inclusive post-secondary programs to include students with ID and create a welcoming education environment to provide the best possible education to all students.