Refugees have been resettling in the United States for decades, but there has been little attention in the special education literature to this population. The existing literature notes numerous systemic barriers refugee families and professionals encounter but has not investigated the roles of professionals in refugee resettlement agencies in supporting families who have children with disabilities. In this study, we used semi-structured interviews to explore resettlement education case managers’ (ECMs) roles and experiences assisting refugee families to access special education. Our findings revealed that ECMs provided intensive support to newly resettled families by educating them on the special education process, connecting them with supports, and sharing information about disability characteristics. Implications for research and practice are also provided.

几十年来，难民一直在美国重新定居，但特殊教育文献很少关注这一群体。现有文献指出难民家庭和专业人员遇到的许多系统性障碍，但没有调查难民安置机构的专业人员在支持有残疾儿童的家庭方面的作用。在这项研究中，我们使用半结构化访谈来探索安置教育案例管理员 (ECM) 在帮助难民家庭接受特殊教育方面的角色和经验。我们的研究结果表明，ECM 通过对新移民家庭进行特殊教育过程的教育、将他们与支持联系起来以及共享有关残疾特征的信息，为他们提供了密集的支持。