Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Evaluating The Need For Professional Learning That Highlights Proficient Teaching Strategies For Students With Autism In The Elementary Environment, Allison Norman

Dissertations

There is an increase in the identification of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) throughout the country. There is also an emphasis on inclusion within the classrooms in the country. This qualitative study addresses the need for teachers to grasp more knowledge about Autism so that they can help children with autism have better access to the general education curriculum and increase support for success in the classroom. Through an action research project, this study aimed to gauge elementary school teachers' existing knowledge about Autism and identify areas where they desired further education. The study involved surveying teachers to understand …

Inclusive Education For All: Identifying Teacher Beliefs About Working With Students With Disabilities, Chelsea Sharek

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the beliefs K-12 teachers have when working with students with disabilities in a rural Pennsylvania school district. This study aimed to identify if teachers’ personal beliefs created biases about their students and school systems; thus, forming barriers and preventing an inclusive education when working with disabled students. Instrumentation for this quantitative study is the Multidimensional Attitudes Towards Inclusive Education Scale (MATIES) survey. Findings suggest that some teachers at Sunnyside School District (pseudonym) hold personal beliefs that could create biases about their students and school system that may form barriers when working with …

Moments Of Meeting: 'Intersubjective Encounters' And ‘Emancipatory’ Experiences Of Individuals With (Intellectual) Disabilities In Inclusive Musical Contexts, Caroline Blumer

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The purpose of this study was to explore an intersubjective framework to better understand the relational aspects of two inclusive musical programs in London, ON. I focused on mutual recognition moments, called moments of meeting (MoM), researching how they are formed and manifested while music is shared, created, or experienced within these two environments. Approaching such programs as potentially intersubjective spaces, this study investigated the impact of MoM and intersubjective experiences on the participation of individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (ID) in music making as well as on their perceptions of themselves as subjects. Equally significant, this study looked at emerging …

General Education Preschool Teachers' Preparedness To Teach Students With Disabilities Within A General Education Preschool Setting, Mary-Margaret Satterfield

Ed.D. Dissertations

Since Congress passed amendments in 1997 to the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), there has been an emphasis on instruction to students with disabilities in the general education classroom, especially with preschool students. The significant increase of students with disabilities in general education classrooms precipitated the need for general education teachers to have knowledge and skills about special education to support and provide instruction to students with disabilities. The purpose of this basic, interpretive qualitative study was to investigate how general education preschool teachers in a large school district in Tennessee felt prepared by their preservice, in-service, and continuing education …

Teachers Of General Education: Perceptions And Experiences Teaching Inclusion In U.S. Schools, Ann C. Sander

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

This phenomenological qualitative study explored the perceptions and experiences of a group of U.S. public schools, kindergarten through fifth grade teachers, certified in general education with experience teaching inclusion--a federally mandated practice requiring schools to educate students both with and without disabilities in the same classroom. Much of the literature surrounding inclusion focuses on the perceived benefits of the program and children with disabilities' legal rights. The literature has a limited number of references describing the perceptions and experiences of teachers who are required to provide the educational services necessary for inclusion in the classroom.

In this study, 35 participants …