Special Education and Teaching Commons^™

Using Ipads In Vocabulary Instruction For Elementary English Language Learners, Rachel Janice

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine if English language learners (ELLs) would increase their vocabulary scores in the areas of word recognition, word meaning, and word application when iPads were used during vocabulary instruction. Five at risk third graders enrolled in the school's ELL program participated in the study. All students demonstrated weak English vocabulary skills in the tests during the baseline. During the intervention, 36 vocabulary words selected from the 3rd grade's Dolch word list were taught using flashcards and practiced using the iPad application: Learning Touch Sight Words Pro. All students were assessed weekly and their …

The Effects Of Elementary School Teachers’ Instructional Practices On The Self-Confidence Of College Students With Dyslexia, Christina Miceli

Honors Program Theses and Projects

When learning to cope with dyslexia, it is not uncommon for a child to develop a lack of self-confidence when falling behind academically in comparison to his or her same-aged peers. The teaching style and method of instruction in the classroom directly affects a dyslexic student’s self-confidence (Burden, 2009). Teacher responses collected through a questionnaire and voice recorded interviews were compared to college students with dyslexia’s survey and interview responses. This research determined there are discrepancies that exist among students self-identified with dyslexia, their descriptions of the impacts of elementary school teachers, and the perceptions of the strategies, attitudes, and …

Manifestation Determinations: An Interdisciplinary And User-Friendly Guide To Best Practices, Molly E. Knudsen

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Rates of suspensions and expulsions are increasing in public schools in the United States, despite research stating that such exclusions have negative effects on students and are generally ineffective in addressing misbehavior. There is an overrepresentation of students with disabilities in the population of excluded students, which poses a threat to their right to a free and appropriate education (FAPE). When a student with a disability faces an exclusion, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires a manifestation determination review (MDR) to be held by a committee of school personnel and the student’s parent(s)/guardian(s) to determine the cause of …

The Effects Of Schema-Based Instruction On Word Problem Solving In Students With Disabilities, Tamika C. James

Specialist in Education Degree (Ed.S.) Theses

Word problem solving is a difficult portion of the math curriculum for students with disabilities. Schema-based instruction is an intervention used to help these students increase their word problem solving performance. This study involves three 9^th grade students (1 female and 2 male) who attended a public high school in the southeastern part of the United States. The intervention took place in a small group setting. A single subject multiple baseline across participants design was used to implement schema-based instruction. Results indicate growth in word problem solving among these students at the secondary level. Diagram generation and quality was …

Satisfaction Of Students With Visual Impairment Within Different School Settings, Jeremiah Jordan

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

This is an investigation of the satisfaction of students with visual impairment attending school in different educational settings, including students attending school in a specialized educational setting, as well as students with visual impairment attending school in a mainstreamed educational setting. This paper explores research on the effectiveness and perceptions of inclusion for children with disabilities, particularly children with visual impairment. Specific research on this topic is sparse and the researcher proposed a new research study, in which the satisfaction of students with visual impairment was targeted and explored in both a specialized educational setting and mainstreamed educational setting. High …

Teacher Knowledge, Skill. And Willingness To Work With Students With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd), Colleen Mcknight

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined whether or not general education and special education teachers possess the knowledge and skill needed to assist students with ADHD with meeting academic success in their classrooms. Surveys were distributed to all teachers within a pre-kindergarten through sixth grade district in rural Southern New Jersey. An e-mail correspondence specifying the directions for completing the survey as well as a personal request to complete the survey was sent out district-wide to teachers at all grade levels and of all subject areas. Surveys and directions were then placed in teachers' school mailboxes in each of the four district school …

Designing Social Stories For The Brooklyn Children's Museum, Brigid Tuschen

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The author found that there was a significant amount of recent research done on how best to use social stories in the classroom and none in a museum setting, which led her to research and write two social stories for the Brooklyn Children's Museum.

The Effects Of Peer-Led Interventions, "Stay, Play, Talk", On Social Skills With Students With Autism, Elizabeth G. Deganian

Specialist in Education Degree (Ed.S.) Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the peer-led intervention, “Stay, Play, Talk” on three target social skills with elementary aged children with autism. The target skills are as follows: 1) initiating a greeting by either waving or saying, “hi”; 2) waiting his/her turn while playing a structured game/activity; and 3) staying close to a peer during a 10 minute free play period. A multiple probe across behaviors combined with a multiple probe across participants demonstrated that “Stay, Play, Talk” as an effective intervention for social skills on three participants served in an autism classroom. Additionally, this study examined …

Perceptions Of Customized Employment Among Employers: A Survey And Focus Group, Melanie D. Adams

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Employment for individuals with significant disabilities can be achieved through customized employment. Unfortunately the employer perspective of customized employment is often overlooked. This study sought to identify employer's feelings about customized employment.

A focus group developed a list of barriers and facilitators to customized employment. The list was turned into a survey that was given to a different group of employers. The results showed that employers were unfamiliar with customized employment and were most concerned with the cost of accommodations. Researchers found that employers considered support from other agencies, financial incentives and increased productivity to be upsides to customized employment.

A Translational Investigation Of Positive And Negative Behavioral Contrast, Megan A. Boyle

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Applied behavior analysts implement research-based techniques to improve behavior. However, research with nonhumans suggests that intervening to improve behavior in one context may result in a worsening of that same behavior in another context (behavioral contrast). Although there are clinical implications of behavioral contrast, the vast majority of research on contrast has been conducted with nonhuman animals. Results from basic research suggest that contrast is influenced differentially depending on whether a change in conditions follows versus precedes a given context. For example, a child might encounter three contexts each day: home, school, and daycare. An intervention to reduce the child’s …

Negative Reinforcement Through Contingent Easy-Task Presentation, Cicely Irene Nickerson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Escape from instructional demands is one of the most common functions of problem behavior. Some research suggests that a switch from difficult to easy tasks may function as a reinforcer for problem behavior. This is of particular concern for situations in which easy tasks are part of the intervention procedure to reduce problem behavior. This project examined the reinforcing effects of a switch from low-probability (low-p) to high-probability (high-p) tasks for individuals whose problem behavior was maintained by escape from demands. It also provided preliminary evidence as to the quality of reinforcement provided by a switch from low- high-p tasks. …

Randall Lynn Wright—A Tribute To A Colleague And Friend, Carolyn Eggleston, Thom Gehring

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

A tribute to Professor Randall Lynn Wright who died in October 2014.

A Case Study Of Landau Kleffner Syndrome: A Look At Strategies, Experiences, Challenges, And Perceptions Of Teachers, Family, And Support Personnel, George Mathenge Wairungu

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is an unprecedented increase of rare low-incident severe disabilities in today's classroom. Some of them pose classroom management challenges due to concomitantly appearing behavior challenges. Landau Kleffner Syndrome is one such disability. It was cited for the first time in 1957 (Zhang, & Gregory, 2010) and is characterized by a typical language and cognitive growth that retrogresses after three to nine years of age (O'Hare, 2008). Behavioral regression is exhibited by students being physically and verbally aggressive (Ekinci, Isik, & Melek, 2012). Children also depict abnormal electroencephalographic (EEG) traits, especially when sleeping (Slyke, 2002). Other concomitant characteristics include attention …

The Effects Of Expository Text Structure Instruction On The Reading Outcomes Of 4th And 5th Graders Experiencing Reading Difficulties, Janet J. Bohaty

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of a standard protocol supplemental expository text structure intervention (i.e., Structures) on 45 4^th and 5^th graders experiencing reading difficulties. Students were enrolled in six K-8 parochial schools located in a Midwestern suburban city. Within classrooms, students were randomly assigned to Structures intervention or a business-as-usual control condition. Students in the Structures condition were taught to identify and discriminate among the five text structures used by authors of expository text (Meyer, 1975, 1985): description, sequence, cause/effect, compare/contrast, and problem/solution. Students in the business-as-usual control condition participated in the …

Teaching Students With Special Needs In A Local Catholic K-8 School Setting, Allison A. Pheatt

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Many students with special needs are enrolled in private, Catholic schools and are included in the general education classroom. In most cases, these schools do not have the necessary resources or information on how best to serve these students. The purpose of this study is to evaluate a local K-8 Catholic school’s current special education program(s) and to document strategies and services that can be implemented in this school setting to serve students with special needs. A review of the literature revealed that teachers in a Catholic school setting are not aware of how to work with and best serve …

Exploring Cognitively Accessible Academic Lessons For Students With Intellectual Disabilities Using The Ipad, Jamie Linn Gunderson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Students with intellectual disabilities often lack access to general education curricula. This is because many teachers struggle with adapting these curricula to meet the unique learning needs of these students. Technology, having the potential to facilitate access to general education curricula, has been successfully used as a tool to adapt curriculum for this population. The use of the iPad (Apple, 2010), which is easily programmed to support the unique needs of students with disabilities, is beginning to be explored as a tool for the learning and instruction of students with intellectual disabilities and results have been favorable. Further research is …

Helping Parents Navigate Occupational Therapy In The Iep Process, Noelle Bakken, Kelly Calton, Molly Hyland, Shannon Landau

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

At the request of Matrix Parent Network and the Marin Autism Collaborative, the project developers have gathered information in order to help parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) better understand Occupational Therapy (OT) in the school setting. The development of the resource guide consisted of three needs assessments to identify areas of occupational therapy in which parents required further clarification. After meeting with the director of parent services from Matrix Parent Network, and receiving the online survey results from twenty-eight parents in Marin County, who have children with ASD, the project developers identified areas of OT to focus …

Comparison Of Neurological Activation Patterns Of Children With And Without Autism Spectrum Disorders When Verbally Responding To A Pragmatic Task, Daphne U. Hartzheim

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study examined the neurological activation of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) while performing a pragmatic judgment task. In this study, children between the ages of 9 and 15 years responded to questions regarding a social situation, taken from the Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language, while concurrently having their brain activity measured. We targeted four brain regions for analysis: dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), superior temporal gyrus (STG), and the inferior parietal lobule (IPL).

Ten children with ASD and 20 typically developing (TD) children participated. Matching occurred in a bracketing manner with each child in the ASD …

Parents Attitude Towards Inclusion Of Students With Disabilities Into The General Education Classrooms, Maitha Khalifa Ali Al Neyadi

Theses

This study aims at examining parents’ attitude toward including students with disabilities into the general education classrooms. The objectives of this study are threefold as follows: a) investigating parents' attitudes towards including children with disabilities in the general education classrooms, b) examining whether there is a difference in attitude between parents of children with and without disabilities, and c) examining the influence of the child's severity level on parents’ attitudes toward inclusion. Participants were 100 parents ( 50 parents of children with disabilities from a rehabiltation centers, and 50 parents of children without disabilities). The research employed a quantitative analysis …

Cognitive Function And The Administration Of A Writing Strategy Compendium Incorporating Autobiographical Recall And Art, Jonnie Sue Cleveland

Dissertations

The ability to write is vital in many academic areas (U.S. Department of Education, 2011). Roughly 70 percent of U. S. students in a representative sampling during 2010 (grades 8 and 12) scored only at the Basic (fractional grasp of prerequisite information and abilities) level and below (U.S. Department of Education, 2011).

Fifty-four percent of students in the eighth grade and 52 percent of students in the twelfth grade in the United States scored at the Basic level. Another 20 percent of students in the eight grade and 21percent of students in the twelfth grade scored below the Basic level. …