Existing literature regarding special education in California elementary schools reveals that Black students are disproportionately recommended to these programs, such as the Individualized Education Program (IEP); these wrongful recommendations perpetuate racial discrimination as they are often executed through racial profiling due to lack of culturally relevant teacher trainings (Alexander, 2009). There is currently minimal attention given to the consequences created for Black students and for their families. This research uses critical education theory and critical white study as a framework to provide further insight into culturally relevant educational policies and teacher training.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is among the second most prevalent neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood. Children with ADHD face challenges in their social interactions, such as rejection by their friends and strained relationships with their parents. There are several treatments used for the management of ADHD in children, including pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical treatment modalities. It is unclear which ADHD treatment approach works best in children and adolescents between psychological and pharmacological treatment approaches. The purpose of this study is to analyze evidence to determine which treatment option between the non-pharmacological treatment options and pharmacological shows greater efficacy. The meta-analysis involved a search of relevant articles from the MEDLINE database, which was accessed using the PubMed search engine, and data extraction using a data extraction sheet. The study only used studies that had full texts because they provided complete information on individual study reporting measurements which were to be used for the meta-analysis. Three randomized control trials were critically appraised and secondary data from the article quantitatively analyzed through forest plot. From the review of the forest plot, it can be noted that the results favor the use of pharmacological treatment methods over non-pharmaceutical treatment methods for ADHD among children and adolescents.

Latinx immigrant parents may arrive in the United States with an optimistic attitude toward the challenges that await them, but too often the community cultural wealth that they bring goes mainly unacknowledged by educational institutions. Though many Latinx parents lack some of the necessary skills to access resources and services that may support their children’s academic success, they utilize their navigational capital to maneuver the special education system with the hopes of supporting their children’s academic success. My research aims to identify the community cultural wealth of Latinx families with children with special needs, and to learn about how they utilize it and other forms of capital to engage with educational institutions. Likewise, I will explore the barriers that these families encounter. Given the current state of the Covid-19 health crisis, I am concerned that the barriers that they face have exacerbated these preexisting challenges and created additional barriers for parents to navigate. I will conduct a qualitative study through telehealth, which will consist of semi-structured interviews to be carried out with Latinx parents of children with special needs. My research will illuminate some of the current challenges faced by this particular group of parents while highlighting their resiliency and desire to organize. My findings will shed light on areas of further research and may have policy implications to reduce barriers for immigrant parents.