Special Education and Teaching Commons^™

The Effect Of An Ipad Application With Systematic Instruction On Ela Related Skills For High School Students With Significant Disabilities, Andrew C. Baxter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The following study looks to examine the effect of an iPad application on the English Language Arts (ELA) skills of listening comprehension for students with significant disabilities. The procedure was evaluated using a multiple probe across participants single case design. Outcomes were measured for improved ELA skills after intervention and were also measured for student engagement. Building upon the research of recent studies that have sought to develop and adapt grade-level literature for students with moderate and severe disabilities, this study seeks to find the effectiveness of an adapted text version of To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee for …

Examining The Effectiveness Of Implementing Orton-Gillingham Reading Intervention On Student Engagement For Elementary Students With Challenging Behaviors., Lauren L. Evanovich

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Providing support to students with challenging behaviors is a critical focus of classroom teachers’ success. Finding ways to prevent and mediate academic and behavioral difficulties is a high priority area for both research and practice. The focus of this dissertation is on the effects of implementation of Orton-Gillingham Reading intervention strategies on active engagement for students with challenging behaviors. This study is a single-subject alternating treatments design across 3 elementary school classrooms, that examined the effects of increasing the rate of teachers’ positive feedback and OTRs on students’ engagement as measured direct observations for students identified with challenging behaviors. Dissertation …

Toward Writing Skill With A Toddler Who Is Blind Using A Braille Writer, Paige Renee Maynard

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The topic of emergent literacy development in children younger than 36 months has not been extensively researched, while the topic of emergent literacy development in children who are blind and younger than 36 months has even less empirically-validated literature. Within the umbrella of emergent literacy lie emergent writing skills, emergent braille writing skills, emergent reading skills, and emergent braille reading skills. The purpose of this study was to understand how the presence and utilization of a braille writer in the home of a young child who is blind fits into the development of the child's emergent literacy repertoire, as part …

A Comparison Of The Effects Of Peer Networks And Peer Video Modeling On Positive Social Interactions Performed By Young Children With Developmental Disabilities, Conrad Oh-Young

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A concern that parents of children with disabilities have is whether or not their offspring are able to interact and be accepted by children who do not have disabilities. Unfortunately children with developmental disabilities (DD) may experience difficulties when interacting with typically developing peers. One method of addressing this issue has been to ensure that children with DD receive instruction in the same school setting as their peers. However, simply attending the same school as children who are typically developing may not be enough. Hence the need for interventions such as peer network (PN) and peer video modeling (PVM), that …

Perceived Relevance Of Special Education Performance Indicators: Teacher Excellence And Support System, Tiffany Kristin Mrla

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A study was conducted to investigate the perceived relevance of using a teacher evaluation rubric with performance indicators specific to special education services in place of the standard rubric for teachers used in the State of Arkansas Teacher Excellence Support System (TESS). Through a multi-method approach, the perceptions of special education teachers and administrators regarding implementation of the current model, the significance of perceived differences in pedagogical factors, and potential barriers to effective implementation were identified. This was achieved through survey, interviews, and observations.

Special education teachers and administrators in a given school district were sent a brief survey to …

From Teachlive™ To The Classroom: Building Preservice Special Educators’ Proficiency With Essential Teaching Skills, Melanie Rees Dawson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Preservice special education teachers need to develop essential teaching skills to competently address student academics and behavior in the classroom. TeachLivE^TM is a sophisticated virtual simulation that has recently emerged in teacher preparation programs to supplement traditional didactic instruction and field experiences. Teacher educators can engineer scenarios in TeachLivE^TM to cumulatively build in complexity, allowing preservice teachers to incrementally interleave target skills in increasingly difficult situations.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of TeachLivE^TM on preservice special education teachers’ delivery of error correction, specific praise, and praise around in the virtual environment and …

Peer-Implemented Script Fading To Promote Play-Based Statements In Children With Autism, Jessie Rosdahl

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Teaching communication and social skills to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) requires systematic teaching and instruction. Teachers provide these interventions to multiple students and the efforts can be strenuous. In order to help relieve teachers, as well as provide a more efficient way to teach social skills, this study was conducted to assess the benefits of using peers as implementers and communication exchange partners for children with ASD. In this study, we used an intervention called script fading, a prompt procedure that provides children with ASD with an appropriate audio phrase, which they then repeat during play. This study …

The Effect Of Behavioral Skills Training On Teachers Conducting The Recess-To-Classroom Transition, Sarah C. Smith

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Although it may not seem harmful, students in the elementary grades often take several minutes to move from recess back to their classrooms. The problem, however, is that these lengthy transitions add up over time, and teachers lose valuable time to instruct. The less instruction students receive, the poorer their academic performance tends to be. But how much time can teachers save by reducing their students’ transitions?

According to the current study, the answer is a lot. Dr. Thomas S. Higbee and Sarah C. Smith of Utah State University recently conducted a study in which they trained second, third, and …

The Implementation Of Interventions For Problem Behavior Based On The Results Of Precursor Functional Analyses In The Early Childhood Setting, Hayley Halversen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study consisted of three parts. We first used a video observation method and statistical analysis to identify benign behaviors that occurred before the problem behavior. These benign behaviors are known as precursor behaviors. We then used a precursor functional analysis to identify the function of the precursor behaviors. Lastly, we developed and implemented an intervention based on the results of the precursor functional analysis. The interventions effectively reduced problem behavior for the participants in the study. The participants engaged in minimal instances of problem behavior throughout the study. The results of this study may be useful to teachers and …

Effects Of A Self-Management Procedure Using Student Feedback On Staff Members' Use Of Praise In An Out-Of-School Time Program, Cade T. Charlton

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Out-of-school time (OST) programs are under increasing pressure to improve student achievement. However, OST program administrators face a number of challenges to improving program effectiveness including inconsistent student participation, inexperienced staff members, and a lack of high-quality professional development. OST program administrators can address these challenges by implementing staff development practices that encourage the use of effective instructional strategies.

Specific praise is a simple and effective instructional strategy that has been linked to improved student engagement, enhanced academic achievement, and stronger student-teacher relationships. Unfortunately, there have been very few studies examining the effects of interventions designed to increase OST staff …

An Analysis Of Variability Of Play Behavior With Preschool Children With Autism, Mary Katherine Endicott Harris

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Children with autism often display repetitive, stereotypical movements with toys in lieu of appropriate play skills. Unlike typically developing children, they do not vary their play with toys. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine whether three preschoolers with autism would vary their play actions when exposed to a lag schedule of reinforcement and physical prompting procedure. All three participants demonstrated varied play actions with the lag schedule and prompting procedure in place. These behaviors maintained when a probe was conducted two weeks later in the absence of the lag schedule. Although responding was high in the 2-week …

The Transfer Of Self-Regulation And Self-Monitoring From The Resource Room To The Science Classroom, Stacy Myers

Masters Theses/Capstone Projects

The purpose of this capstone project was to determine if assignment attack strategy skills learned in the resource room setting of a middle school would transfer into the general education classroom, and if on-task behavior would increase in the general education setting as a result of the resource room instruction. The project was framed with mixed method, multiple-case study design of self-regulation across multiple settings in a middle school. The elements of the assignment attack strategy skills for my study were committing to an assignment, preparing materials, proceeding, and sustaining attention. For the study, data collection included general education teacher …

Don’T Keep A Good Man Down: Intervention Strategies For Common Causes Of Anger And Aggression, Samantha N. Wright

Scholars Week

Seclusion and Restraint have been often used as intervention strategies in public schools for many years, and were not limited by law in Kentucky until 2012. 704 KAR 7:160 was the first legislation to respond to dangerous interventions being used in Kentucky’s public schools. This presentation summarizes common causes of anger and aggression in our students, and provides research-based strategies for intervention in all three phases of a behavior: antecedent (prior to the behavior, the escalation of a situation), behavior (during the aggressive behavior itself), and consequences (subsequent actions that occur as a response.) The concept is to provide strategies …

Teaching Special Education In The Es/Fl Classroom, Melinda Koerth

Senior Honors Theses

English language learners (ELLs) are growing in number in the United States school system. With this increase in population comes the task of providing quality and appropriate education for these students. A great part of this responsibility falls on instructors of English as a Second/Foreign Language (ES/FL) courses. As with every other content area, the possibility of having students with disabilities and disorders in the classroom exists. However, in the context of language acquisition unique obstacles and pitfalls exist which are particular to this field. Providing services for ELLs with special needs is a major concern in the realm of …

Swimming For Inclusion, Alexa Draman

The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research

This paper attempts to demonstrate how disabilities are portrayed to children through Walt Disney's popular film Finding Nemo. Through this film, children are exposed to inclusiveness which can then transfer to their overall impressions of disability in society. This film ultimately spins the negative connotation associated with disability and portrays it positively as an exceptionality.

Youth In Arts: Evidence Of Effectiveness Their Music Program Has On Communication And Social Aspects Of Students With Special Needs, Sarah V. Foley

Scholarly and Creative Works Conference (2015 - 2021)

Music education has an important place for students with special needs. Through the Youth in Arts program, student benefits range from social to academic. The problem is that too often music education, among arts programs, is not taught in special education classrooms. The purpose of this study is to measure the impact that music education has on students with special needs, focusing specifically on socialization and communication aspects. A review of the literature revealed that music is beneficial to students in a variety of ways, when they are provided the opportunity to engage in music education. Through this qualitative study, …

From Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder To Substance Use Disorder: Perspectives From Recovering Addicts, Elena Potovsky

Scholarly and Creative Works Conference (2015 - 2021)

People who have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are often at high risk of acquiring Substance Use Disorder (SUD). When a diagnosis is determined for a school age child, the special education team mainly focuses on the most obvious problems that occur with ADHD: executive function issues, reading and writing impairments, and disruptive behavior. They may not realize how common it is for those identified with ADHD to also acquire SUD.

The literature revealed that there may be a shared genetic basis between ADHD and SUD, that there is commonly an early onset of SUD for those who have ADHD, …

Research In Special Education: Implications For Practice, Sarah Rushworth, Shannon Ward, Anna M. Veelman, Kristen Wimpee

Scholarly and Creative Works Conference (2015 - 2021)

Identifying How to Better Support Parents of Children with Autism by Sarah Rushworth

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is collection of neurological disorders affecting communication, social, and behavioral development (Nealy, 2012). More and more children are being diagnosed as having ASD each year in America. Today, 1 in every 110 children in the United States has autism (Nealy, 2012). The families of these children with autism must learn how to cope with the challenges that come along with the disorder. These challenges include lacking social and communication skills, which can lead to difficult behaviors. Raising a child with autism is associated …

Inclusive Early Childhood Classroom Management Plan, Megan Janosky

Honors Projects

Effective classroom management is essential in order for any classroom to run smoothly. However, this topic is largely overlooked by many current classroom teachers and those who are training emerging teachers in university programs. Therefore, the purpose of this plan is to provide research-based procedures, routines, and systems that will set a positive foundation for learning and keep my classroom, and those of others, running smoothly all year long. In order for effective learning to take place, the classroom environment must be set-up and managed in such a way that enables students to focus on learning. Having a pre-developed plan …

Roles And Responsibilities Of Paraprofessionals In Creating Inclusive Communities: A Three Dimensional Perspective, Shehreen Iqtadar

Annual Graduate Student Symposium

In this presentation, I explore the roles and responsibilities of paraprofessionals within an inclusive classroom from three different stakeholder perspectives: 1) the general education teacher, 2) the special education teacher, and 3) three paraprofessionals. This study was carried out in a 4th grade general education classroom in the Midwest school district. Qualitative research design was used for the purpose of data collection.