Special Education and Teaching Commons^™

How Array Size Affects The Efficiency Of Constant Time Delay In Systematic Instruction For Students With Intellectual Disability, Amanda T. Kousen

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The purpose of this research study was to determine how three different array sizes affect the efficiency of acquiring target functional words utilizing constant time delay in systematic instruction for students with intellectual disability. The results shown throughout this study can support teachers and administrators to know if adaptations to the array size in which the materials are presented visually during constant time delay instruction yield a more efficient way to teach. The current study utilized an adapted alternating treatment design, replicated across two students, to determine efficiency through trials-to-criterion for functional food and grocery words. The researcher presented array …

All Means All: Implementation Of Augmentative And Alternative Communication As A Gateway To Achievement, Angelina K. Bassett

Theses and Dissertations from 2019

The importance of individuals’ ability to communicate cannot be overstated. Educational teams are charged with making educational placement decisions for students, like the ones in this study, with assessment tools that are not normed for nonverbal students with autism. This study focused on identical male twins with autism who are nonverbal and have acquired augmentative communication devices equipped with the Language Acquisition through Motor Planning learning system in order to facilitate their communication and learning. Interviews were conducted with parents, sibling, teacher, principal, and the speech-language pathologist that work directly with the twins daily. The twins received their individual devices …

Developing An Explicit Instruction Special Education Teacher Observation Rubric, Evelyn S. Johnson, Yuzhu Zheng, Angela R. Crawford, Laura A. Moylan

Early and Special Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this study, we developed an Explicit Instruction special education teacher observation rubric that details the elements of explicit instruction, and tested its psychometric properties using many-faceted Rasch measurement (MFRM). Video observations of classroom instruction from 30 special education teachers across three states were collected. External raters (n = 15) were trained to observe and evaluate instruction using the rubric, and assigned scores of ‘implemented’, ‘partially implemented’ or ‘not implemented’ for each of the items. Analyses showed that the item, teacher, lesson and rater facets achieved high psychometric quality for the instrument. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Developing A Creative Learning Format For Street Children, Shazina Masud

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

Developing a Creative Learning Format for Street Children

As the number of street children grow globally, governments and UN agencies are looking at solutions to cater to their needs of shelter, health and safety. Efforts to provide formal education to street children are not always successful. This project hypothesizes that equipping these children with essential knowledge in an informal but creative learning environment will allow them to live safe and productive lives. The prototype of the creative learning format is based on approaches and tools that have worked with children in other settings and has been modified for street children. …

Exploration Of Learning, Social, And Behavioral Experiences Of Female High School Graduates With Emotional Behavior Disorder From Public Schools In The United States: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study, Christie Renee Simpson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental, phenomenological study is to describe the lived experience of public high school female college preparatory graduates diagnosed with an emotional behavior disorder (EBD) in the United States. The queries are: (a) how do female students with EBD describe their high school experience, and (b-d) what learning factors, behavioral supports, and environmental influences contributed to their ability to meet graduation requirements. The theory guiding this study is Bandura’s (1986) social cognitive theory as it is firmly grounded in behaviorism and explains the impact of complex interactions on behavior, learning, personal development, and social outcomes. Miller’s (1976) …

Teaching For Whose America?: Corporate Education Reform And Students Labeled As Disabled, Barbara A. Hubert

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Today’s education reform movement is funded heavily by a network of wealthy elite that often prize neoliberal and free-market interests. Within this network, Teach for America (TFA) is at the nexus of overlapping interests in an educational marketplace where corporate values become the norm for defining both progress and success. Students labeled as disabled and placed in special education have generally not been well-served by neoliberal, free-market reforms yet TFA overwhelmingly places corps members in urban special education classrooms. Because TFA has a large network of alumni that go on to lead schools, educational organizations and influence policy, this study …

Self-Efficacy And Job-Related Tasks: Special Educators Who Teach Students With Emotional Disorder, Cheryl J. Andrews

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe how special education teachers view their self-efficacy for teaching ED students and manage classroom tasks within the context of the self-contained setting. The theoretical frameworks that guided this study were Bandura’s social cognitive theory and Rotter’s locus of control theory as they related to self-efficacy and the management of tasks specific to teaching students with emotional disorder. The research questions that guided this study sought to describe how self-efficacy helped special educators manage ED students’ individualized instructional programs (IEPs), cope with student behavior, and the management of para professional personnel. …

A Grounded Theory Study Explaining Teachers’ Instructional Decision-Making On Mathematics Fact Fluency For Students With A Mathematics Learning Disability, Awilda Soto Rudd

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this systematic grounded theory study was to explain the process teachers undergo when making instructional decisions on mathematics fact fluency for students with a learning disability in mathematics (MLD). The study focuses on revealing the factors, influencers, and knowledge that teachers negotiate to make instructional decisions. These constructs are necessary to understand and explain as the field of mathematics looks to improve the use of evidence-based instructional practices for students with MLD. There are currently no studies that provide an in-depth understanding of teachers’ decision-making within the construct of instructional decisions in mathematics fact fluency for students …

Effects Of Under-Diagnosis Of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder In Female Students, Nina Hobbs

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The number of students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is increasing in the United States; but there is a shortfall in the under-diagnosis of female students with ADHD. This senior capstone examines the effects of the under-diagnosis of ADHD in female students through the use of extensive literature review and questionnaires posed to local school elementary teachers. The findings indicate that female students with undiagnosed ADHD do not only suffer academically, but also socially and mentally throughout their life. Although assessed through the same process and criteria, female students with ADHD display symptoms far different from those of their …

The Effects Of Imitation, Modeling, And Prompting On Play Skills Of Young Children With Disabilities, Andrea Rau

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

The purpose of this action research was to determine if direct instruction of play skills would improve the play of three-year-old children with disabilities in the inclusive setting. Participants included five children with disabilities ranging in age from 38 to 48 months old. Quantitative data was collected using event sampling to assess the number of different independent play actions performed by participants before and after intervention. Qualitative data was collected to determine commonalities in which intervention action steps resulted in successful imitation. The intervention implemented was a combined systematic approach of contingent imitation, modeling, and a system of least prompts …

How Inclusion Affects Students In The Ela Classroom, Nicole K. Jones

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

The purpose of this literature review is to examine literature based on the following question: What are the effects on the academic achievement of inclusion on regular education students, those without Individualized Education Plans or special education needs in the English Language Arts classroom? After examining and reviewing the literature on this topic, the data will be shared and used to determine if there is adequate research available and whether that research provides enough information to apply inclusion to current practice.

Benefits Of Modifications And Accommodations Training, Brandie J. Malm

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

The purpose of this action research project was to determine the relationship between modifications and accommodations training for school staff and the academic experience of special education students. Participants were three special education students in a public, inclusive, elementary school setting. Data was collected through I-Ready reading and math testing in August and December of this school year and compared to the same data from the previous year. The research question guiding this study was, would special education student’s educational experience improve when the special education teacher provides a comprehensive modifications and accommodations training for general education teachers and paraprofessionals? …

The Effects Of A Metacognitive Strategy On The Reading Comprehension Of High School History Students, Carollynn Anders

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of the current study is to add to existing research on the effectiveness of the SRSD RAP strategy on reading comprehension. This study describes a single-subject research design involving professional development in the RAP metacognitive strategy and a teacher’s implementation in her high-school history courses. The study aims to assess the strategy’s effectiveness in the high school general education setting with inclusive instruction and without pull out sessions to learn that strategy. The current study explores RAP strategy research and uses a week-long unit of instruction for teaching the RAP strategy. The results of the RAP strategy on …

What Participants Say About The San Bernardino Usd’S Restorative Youth Court Program, John M. Winslade

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

Interviews were conducted with eighteen graduates of the San Bernardino City Unified School District’s Restorative Youth Court. These interviews yielded a view of how participants in the Youth Court program viewed their experience. In their view, the Youth Court was nearly always transformative and its dispositions fair. They were affected by the presence of their parents for their hearings but the main thing that seemed to lead to the transformation was being judged by their peers. They also took their responsibility seriously when they became the jurors for other respondents and doing so affected their thinking about their own case.

Effects Of An Electronic Visual Activity Schedule On Independence For A Student With Severe Disability, Ashwag Alghamdi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the effects of an electronic visual activity schedule (eVAS; i.e., FIRST THEN Visual Schedule application) paired with the system of least prompts on the latency period and level of independence that a fifth-grade student with Intellectual Disability needed to transition throughout the day. Also investigated were the value that the teacher and student placed on the use of an eVAS to teach daily life and school routines instead of typical instruction (e.g., traditional visual schedule) and the student’s ability to generalize the use of the eVAS across instructors and materials (display). An ABAB single case design was …

Exploratory Application Of A Sensory Activity Schedule In Head Start Preschool, Marian Perez, Elaine Wong, Michelle Perryman

Occupational Therapy | MSOT Capstone Projects

Objective: The objective of this research is to determine whether the implementation of sensory activity schedule in a preschool classroom can increase the on-task behaviors of the students.

Methods: Three students were recruited to participate in a quantitative multiple single subject design with qualitative follow-up study. The participants performed sensorimotor activities before circle time and were monitored for frequency of their off-task behavior using a time sampling frequency data collection. Afterwards, the head teacher was interviewed to discuss the experience.

Results: Off-task behavior decreased from baseline on all three children, which supports the efficacy of sensory activity schedule in reducing …

African-American Christian Female Missionaries In Nyasaland, Congo, And Liberia: Perpetuation And Resistance At The Intersections Of Blackness, Gender, Disability, And Christianity, Karen Yvette Dace

Doctoral Dissertations

Events are taking place in the United States today regarding blackness, gender, disability, and Christianity, and the perceived place of those with black and brown bodies. Current efforts have focused on blackness and gender, blackness and disability, gender and disability, and disability and Christianity; but there has not been concerted efforts focusing on the historical intersections of blackness, gender, disability, and Christianity and how these intersections help in understanding the contemporary black social movement and the climate in which we now live.

The purpose of this qualitative study sought to understand the narratives of Christian mission agencies and how African-American …

The Impact Of Explicit Social Skills Instruction And Increased Play In A Kindergarten Special Education Classroom, Samantha Klaren

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

The purpose of this action research project is to determine the impact of explicit social skills instruction and an increased amount of play in a kindergarten special education classroom. Data was collected to determine the effect that this intervention had on students’ behavior and academic progress. Data was collected through student referral data and Individualized Education Plan progress monitoring data. Analysis of the data collected suggested that this explicit social skills instruction and increase in play had a positive impact on student behavior in the school setting.

Does Goal Setting Make A Better Reader?, Elayna Bierle

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This action research project looked at the relationship between goal setting and an increase in reading levels in six public school students in 4th and 5th grade with learning disabilities in reading. Data was collected through Individualized Education Plan progress reports and individual goals written by the students in connection with the Developmental Reading Assessment test over the fall 2018 semester. The data was compared to the 2018 spring semester IEP goal data from the previous school year when the students had not written goals.

Caring Choices? Supporting And Dreaming With Students In New York City’S Stratifying High School Admissions System, Megan R. Moskop

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In New York City, all eighth graders attending public school must apply for high school. They have 400 schools from which to choose, and they must create a ranked list of twelve choices. They are then matched to one school. The results of this process play a large role in creating one of the most segregated and unequal school systems in the country. In “Caring choices? Supporting and dreaming with students in New York City’s stratifying high school admissions system,” I share an autoethnographic account that spans ten years of work as an activist educator striving both to support students …