The author provides an overview of the prevailing assessment and instructional issues related to culturally and linguistically diverse students with special education needs. Also, the author presents current trends and prevalence rates of students with disabilities who are also English language learners, in addition to general guidelines for the appropriate assessment of such students for special education services. Last, the author describes research-based academic and behavioral strategies for these students, along with web-based resources geared to assist general and special educators working with diverse students with special needs.

Makes point that national-level and state-level and local-level representation of ethnically diverse students in special education are different -- that is, that Hispanic/Latino students may be only a little bit overrepresented in LD category nationally, but there is a wide variability of over- and under-representation at the state and local levels.

Overrepresentation of ethnically-diverse students in special education, especially in the disability categories that are not visibly apparent -- LD, EBD, etc. -- are due to biased testing (a norming issue), lack of skill in distinguishing multilingual development processes from true skill deficits (an examiner bias and examiner preparation issue)

Identifies strategies to address these problems:

1. analytic teaching

2. curriculum-based assessment

3. language sampling

4. narrative analysis

others: RtI (per Klingner & Harry) as a pre-referral approach

professional development for those involved in referral to placement process

specific academic strategies:

TPR (total physical response) -- used in non-native language instruction

comprehension strategy instruction and reciprocal teaching

semantic mapping

marginal gloss

language experience approach