Special Populations: Migrant Students with Disabilities; Native Pacific Basin and Native Hawaiian Students with Disabilities. Appendix G.

This appendix to the 14th annual report on implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act contains reports on progress in addressing the needs of two special populations: migrant students with disabilities and Native Pacific Basin and Native Hawaiian students with disabilities. Migrant students with disabilities tend to have additional disadvantages that complicate service delivery, including poverty, limited English proficiency, residence in rural areas where services are limited, disruptions to service delivery and needs assessment due to mobility, lack of parental involvement, and shortages of qualified teachers and other personnel. Recommendations for improving service delivery to this population include development of appropriate teacher education programs, expanded data collection, development of assessment instruments for language-minority limited-English-proficient students with disabilities, improving communication between sending and receiving school districts, reassessment of the Migrant Student Record Transfer System, interagency cooperation, and inclusion of bilingual migrant staff members. Native Pacific Basin students with disabilities also have additional disadvantages: geographic isolation, language and cultural differences, very limited financial resources, and shortages of trained educators. Issues related to cultural and linguistic differences are also relevant for Native Hawaiians. Interagency cooperation in the provision of services and innovative approaches to programming have shown some promise in the Pacific region. However, additional data and research are needed. The two reports contain 65 references. Data tables detail numbers and percentages of students receiving special education services, by disability.