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Many issues arise in the discussion of the evidence-based practice (EBP) movement and implementation science in special education and specific educational practices for students with severe disabilities. Yet cultural adaptations of EBPs, which have emerged as an area of research in other fields, are being left out as a focus of EBP discourse. The aim of this article is to examine key challenges and concerns in the movement of EBP and implementation science in special education, as well as the emergence of cultural adaptation of EBPs in other fields. Apart from an argument for the need of cultural adaptations of EBPs in special education, we discuss guiding principles and provide recommendations for developing culturally adapted EBPs in special education.

This book reviews the intervention literature on practices for supporting families of children with intellectual disabilities or autism and evaluates their status as evidence-based. It meta-analyses group comparison design studies and reports on single subject design studies of major psycho-social programs to support families.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to gain insight into how Chinese special education teachers(1) conceptualize individual education plan (IEP) and how IEP is implemented in their daily work. Method: Fourteen administrators and teachers from several special education schools in three metropolitan cities in China were interviews about their perspective of IEP and IEP practice at their work. Results: The results suggested that despite remaining concerns about the implementation of IEP Chinese teachers highly commit to the value of IEP. It is noted that the IEP process in Chinese schools is quite similar to that of US schools in terms of some major requirements and yet some adaptions are made given the different social–cultural context and that the IEP practice is influenced by a variety of factors such as schools' policy, curriculum, and the paucity of educational resources. Conclusion: There is a need for developing a systematic guideline of IEP considering inconsistency of implementing IEP in schools. Improving teachers' professional competence is critical to the effectiveness of IEP practice in China, and local governments should put in more efforts in ensuring adequate resource being provided to schools and teachers regarding the implementation of IEPs.

AbstractObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to develop a measure of readiness to be trained as a supporting parent volunteer for the Parent to Parent USA Network.BackgroundParents of children with disabilities may suffer from isolation, stress, and depression due to increased burden of caregiving, lack of knowledge about disability, stigmatization by community and family and/or reduced family income. Peer support can serve as a buffer to stress.MethodsMeasure items are based on qualitative findings and a review of relevant literature. Exploratory factor analysis was employed to determine the factor structure, and predictive validity was assessed using two‐sample t tests.ResultsThe 17‐item measure comprised three factors—Into Action, Wellbeing, and Skills and Navigation—and demonstrated good internal consistency. Additionally, significant differences in readiness score were found between parents who had and those who had not been trained to be peer supports and parents who had and had not received support from P2P.ImplicationsThis measure may facilitate further study and evaluation of P2P and may be useful to other programs serving families of children with special educational or health care needs.

AbstractThis qualitative inquiry focused on the perceptions that Chinese families of children with developmental disabilities have pertaining to their needs. Data were collected through focus group discussions and in‐depth interviews; transcript analysis relied on the constant comparative method. We identified seven categories of needs, subsumed under the following three thematic areas: survival needs, sufficiency needs, and enhancement needs. Survival needs refer to maintaining basic family existence and include (1) financial needs and (2) physical health needs. Sufficiency needs refer to families' needs for social inclusion, educational support, and relationships with others, and include the categories of (3) higher quality education and therapy for the child; (4) home‐based education and information for parents; and (5) social inclusion for both parents and the child. Finally, the third theme relates to enhancement needs, defined as families' needs to realize family growth and development for a better family life; this includes the categories of (6) emotional health and (7) future planning. The authors found sufficiency needs were more child focused among respondents and that survival and enhancement needs for families in this study were directly linked to the whole family unit in promoting the family's overall functioning. The dynamic nature of needs suggests that more than one need may motivate families' desires for enhanced family quality of life.

This study examined family quality of life (FQOL) of Turkish families who have children with intellectual disabilities (ID) and autism. To research the perceptions of FQOL and relevant predictive relationships, data were gathered from 3,009 families who have children with ID and autism. The data were collected by using a Socio-demographic Family Information Form, Beach Center Family Quality of Life Scale, and the Family Support Scale. The FQOL and subdomain perceptions of families who have children with ID and autism were slightly above a moderate level; the highest perceptions were in the Family Interaction domain, and the lowest perceptions were in the Physical/Material Well-Being domain. We computed significant positive correlations between overall FQOL perception and family social support domains as well as between overall FQOL perception and sociodemographic variables. In the prediction of overall FQOL perception, the variable that mostly explained total variance was emotional support. For the covariates of care support, household/income, information support, socioeconomic status, age of child, type of disability, and affiliation support, the ability to predict FQOL was weak. Conversely, age of mothers, employment status of mothers, and material support domain were not important predictors in FQOL.

Abstract  The conceptualization of individual quality of life is reasonably well established, and now family quality of life and intellectual disability is emerging as an important field of study. This article examines comparative family quality of life in three types of families: those with a child who has Down syndrome, those with a child with autism, and those of similar household composition but without a child with a disability. Data were collected using the Family Quality of Life Survey, which was sent to participating families, and by interviews with selected families on a follow‐up basis. Data from the 3 groups were analyzed in terms of quantitative and qualitative information. The needs and choices of families were contrasted in terms of the child's diagnosis. Findings showed that families' satisfaction and needs varied within the 9 quality of life domains assessed, raising questions of support and care and the ability of families to pursue desired goals. The authors suggest that there is a need to both identify and provide measures of care and support that would enable families to function at an optimum level within their home and community, so they may experience a quality life similar to that of families without a child with a disability.

TASH's historic commitment to advocacy and science has enabled it to be a trusted voice for people with severe disabilities and their families. We review recent developments in the controversy over facilitated communication (FC) in light of major contextual continuities and changes in the past two decades. A series of scholarly reviews of the literature on controlled experiments have established a preponderance of evidence that FC is not reliably an expression from the individual who receives facilitation. Evidence indicates that the facilitator is the usual source of the text. We discuss the standards of proof of efficacy that must apply before an intervention should be endorsed by a national organization that aims to have a major impact on policy and practices. The need for controlled experiments in evaluation interventions is discussed. The central concern in establishing efficacy of a practice is to rule out other plausible explanations for an outcome. The main concern in establishing effectiveness is replication under real-world conditions. The science-based practices movement has been taken up by most of the helping professions contributing to the education and support of people with severe disabilities. The movement aims to identify practices and catalog them in terms of the trustworthiness of the evidence supporting them. The movement has led to establishing standards for determining when an intervention can be said to be efficacious. We urge TASH to join this movement and, in light of a commitment to science-based practices, argue that it should withdraw its stated endorsement of FC, which is not supported by science-based research.

The concept of family quality of life has emerged as an important outcome of service provision for children with disabilities and their families. In this article, we report families' perceptions of their advocacy efforts and the impact of these efforts on their family quality of life. A total of 104 family respondents participated in focus groups and individual interviews. Through qualitative analysis we identified two themes related to parents' perceptions about their advocacy actions: Advocacy as an obligation and advocacy as a means to improve services. Three themes also emerged regarding parents' perceptions of the impact of their advocacy actions: Advocacy enhances coping, advocacy involves struggle, and advocacy causes stress. We discuss issues related to these themes as well as two factors (the quality of their partnerships and of their child's education) that may mediate the impacts of parental advocacy. We also discuss the implications for practice and provide tips for educators to improve their practices to better support families in their advocacy efforts.

The field of early intervention has recognized a growing need to study contributing factors of family outcomes such as family quality of life (FQOL). This study of 130 fathers and 234 mothers of families in early childhood programs explores the associations between family income and severity of disability, and fathers' and mothers' satisfaction with their FQOL. The results reveal that severity of disability is a significant predictor of fathers' and mothers' satisfaction ratings of FQOL; that family income is a significant predictor of mothers' satisfaction ratings of their FQOL, but not of fathers; and that there is no interaction effect of family income and severity of disability with respect to fathers' and mothers' satisfaction ratings of FQOL.

Abstract  The International Family Quality of Life Project, begun in 1997, involves the collaboration of a team of researchers from Australia, Canada, Israel, and the United States whose aim was to conceptualize "family quality of life" and develop a survey tool. The authors describe the basis for the conceptualization and explain the survey development process. An initial version of the survey (the Family Quality of Life Survey—FQoLS‐2000) was used to collect FQoL data across several countries in the early 2000s. The experiences of survey respondents and administrators and subsequent data analysis suggested modifications that resulted in an updated version—the FQoLS‐2006. This new version focuses on 9 areas of family life: health, finances, family relationships, support from other people, support from disability‐related services, influence of values, careers and planning for careers, leisure and recreation, and community interaction. The authors explore each of these areas in relation to 6 underlying concepts: importance, opportunities, initiative, attainment, stability, and satisfaction. Other sections entail obtaining information on the family make‐up, family member, or members, with intellectual disability, and an overall summary of FQoL. The authors note that information from the FQoLS‐2006 should be useful for a wide variety of purposes related to providing supports to individuals and families.

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Given that <i>PD-L1</i> is a crucial immune checkpoint in regulating T-cell responses, the aim of this study was to explore the impact of <i>PD-L1</i> gene polymorphisms and the interaction with cooking with solid fuel on susceptibility to tuberculosis (TB) in Chinese Han populations. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> A total of 503 TB patients and 494 healthy controls were enrolled in this case-control study. Mass spectrometry technology was applied to genotype rs2297136 and rs4143815 of <i>PD-L1</i> genes. The associations between single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) and TB were assessed using unconditional logistic regression analysis. Marginal structural linear odds models were used to estimate the gene-environment interactions. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Compared with genotype CC, genotypes GG and CG+GG at rs4143815 locus were significantly associated with susceptibility to TB (OR: 3.074 and 1.506, respectively, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.05). However, no statistical association was found between rs2297136 SNP and TB risk. Moreover, the relative excess risk of interaction between rs4143815 of the <i>PD-L1</i> gene and cooking with solid fuel was 2.365 (95% CI: 1.922–2.809), suggesting positive interactions with TB susceptibility. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> The rs4143815 polymorphism of the <i>PD-L1</i> gene was associated with susceptibility to TB in Chinese Han populations. There were significantly positive interactions between rs4143815 and cooking with solid fuel.