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Although parents of children with disabilities often advocate for special education services, most research has only examined advocacy from the perspectives of parents. Given that advocacy is an interpersonal exchange, it is crucial to understand the perspectives of parents and school professionals. In this study, focus groups were conducted with 47 parents of children with disabilities and school professionals (i.e., special education teachers and speech language pathologists) regarding how parents advocate for supports, desired social-communication supports, the impact of advocacy, and the perceptions of school professionals toward advocacy. Parents and school professionals reported similar advocacy strategies and desired social-communication supports. Parents and professionals also reported that advocacy can yield positive outcomes for children with disabilities. However, parents reported that some school professionals negatively perceived parent advocacy and that parent advocacy can yield negative outcomes, whereas school professionals reported positively perceiving parent advocacy. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Study Design Single cohort study. Objectives To investigate the efficacy of real-time biofeedback provided during treadmill gait training to correct knee hyperextension in asymptomatic females while walking. Background Knee hyperextension is associated with increased stress to the posterior capsule of the knee joint, anterior cruciate ligament, and the anterior compartment of the tibiofemoral joint. Previous methods aimed at correcting knee hyperextension have shown limited success. Methods Ten women, ages 18 to 39 years, with asymptomatic knee hyperextension during ambulation, were provided with 6 sessions of real-time feedback of kinematic data (Visual 3D) during treadmill training. Gait evaluations were performed pretraining, posttraining, and 1 month after the last training session. Results Participants showed improved control of knee hyperextension during overground walking at 1.3 m/s at posttraining and at 1 month posttraining. Conclusion The present study demonstrated that knee sagittal plane kinematics may be influenced by gait retraining using real-time biofeedback. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2011;41(12):948–952, Epub 25 October 2011. doi:10.2519/jospt.2011.3660

The purpose of this systematic literature review was to determine trends in the curricular focus and instructional context of intervention research conducted with transition-age students with severe disabilities between 1975 and 2014. A total of 138 studies met inclusion criteria. Across the last three decades, interventions focused on functional skills declined while academic interventions increased. The most frequently used instructional contexts were special education classrooms, simulated activities, mass trials, and either a researcher or nonresearcher as the instructor. Differences in instructional context were present according to curricular focus. Findings suggest the need for interventions that span the breadth of curriculum promoted in the literature with specific emphasis on increasing interventions in areas predictive of positive post-school outcomes. Interventions are also needed that reflect instructional contexts that align more strongly with contexts valued within the field of severe disabilities.

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