Special Education and Teaching Commons^™

An Examination Of Specific Learning Disability Identification Post Participation In The Michigan Department Of Education Transformation Zone, Erin E. Senkowski

Dissertations

The identification of students with specific learning disabilities has evolved since the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) in 2004. This reauthorization gave state agencies parameters that disallowed using the severe discrepancy model for identification as a stand-alone method. In response to this change, Michigan provided Intermediate and local school districts with further guidance that disallowed the use of the severe discrepancy model for identifying children with Specific Learning Disabilities (SLDs) and instead required Intermediate School Districts, on behalf of their local districts, to choose one of three models, including Patterns of Strengths and Weakness (PSW), …

Individualized Instruction In The Special Education Classroom, Elizabeth Arnold

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

The purpose of this action research study was to determine if individualized instruction in the special education classroom positively correlates with vocabulary acquisition. This study focused exclusively on a middle school special education student diagnosed with autism and ADHD. The researcher utilized a pre-test to begin data collection prior to starting the unit. A post-test was given at the end of the unit to determine vocabulary acquisition. Data analysis revealed the student increased vocabulary over the course of the unit. The research findings suggest individualized education teams should consider the special education classroom when determining the least restrictive environment. The …

The Numeracy Intervention Project, Paige Smith

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This study focused on the Numeracy Intervention Project designed to detect gaps in student's mathematical learning. Research took place in the special education setting with one participant. Participants qualified by having an Individualized Education Plan with a goal specific to math instruction. The intervention took place over a two-week time period where the researcher and student met each day for thirty minutes. The Numeracy Intervention provided a scripted baseline assessment, hands on manipulatives, and several specific skill activities. Results from the baseline to post assessment showed no significant results. Study limitations and future research are included.

Developing Resiliency Skills Of Preschoolers Through Social-Emotional Behavioral Teaching Practices To Buffer Against Trauma And Increase Child Outcomes, Jill Mastin

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This school improvement plan responds to challenges that preschool teachers face with the growing number of young children in their classrooms who have experienced trauma and exhibit serious, highly disruptive, and dangerous behaviors. All children benefit from early learning experiences that are rich in social-emotional learning. Research has shown that students with well developed emotional literacy, problem solving skills, and self-regulation skills have better outcomes into adulthood compared to peers who struggle with these skills. This school improvement plan aims to provide insight and guidance for Early Childhood Educational Programs by providing intentional professional development to build staff capacity for …

Eds 702: The Young Child With Special Needs, Lingyu Li

Open Educational Resources

This introductory course addresses the concept of disability and the field of special education. It will also consider the social, cultural, and economic context surrounding the education of young children (birth to 8 years) with a wide range of developmental delays and disability conditions. Pertinent legislation, intervention with families, developing Individualized Family Service Plans (IFSPs), Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), and issues of advocacy will be studied within the context of the continuum of service delivery (home-based, center-based, and school-based interventions). (15 fieldwork hours required.)

The Effects Of Repeated Reading Strategies On 9th And 10th Grade Iep Students' Fluency Rate, Kylee F. Cooper

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

The purpose of this action research project was to study the effects of repeated reading on improving oral reading fluency of 9th and 10th grade students on an IEP. The researcher specifically examined the use of 6 Minute Solutions curriculum. The researcher is a high school special education teacher in her 7th year of teaching, where her own students were the participants in the repeated reading intervention. The six-week intervention was performed in their Learning Strategies or Reading Strategies class where the researcher collected their fluency data daily using the 6 Minute Solutions passages and materials. The findings revealed the …

The Transition To Adulthood For High School Students With Special Needs, Athena Hays, Mary Jan Greer, Jinna Danser

Spring 2024 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

The reason for many special needs students not engaging in occupations after high school is because many guardians have not had to navigate this type of transition before and are not provided enough education on what these opportunities include before their students graduate. Many students with special needs do not optimize their engagement in the community because guardians are not being provided with education on post-graduate opportunities.

The purpose of my Doctoral Capstone Project is to develop an educational transition service program for special needs students as well as guardians and teachers of these students preparing for high school graduation …

Perspectives Of Special Education Teachers On The Transition Of Students With Special Needs From High School To University, Noor Abdulkader Mamich

Theses

Post-secondary transition is a significant phase in the life of high school students with special needs. Special education teachers play a crucial role in supporting students in this process. This study aims at exploring the perspectives of special education teachers on transitioning high school students with special needs into university. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four special education teachers in Al Ain city in the United Arab Emirates. The teachers were asked questions on four themes: their skills on postsecondary transition, their post-secondary transition planning, the barriers they face during post-secondary transition, and finally the facilitation of smooth post-secondary transition …

Character Education And Its Effects On Athletic Performance, Melissa Brandenburg

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This action research was driven by the researcher's current interest in character education for female student-athletes and if the presentation of character education lessons plays a role in player performance. Along with the effects of character education and performance, the researcher also tried to decipher if timing of lesson delivery had an overall impact on the performance of the student-athlete. This quantitative action research took four weeks to complete with presentation of weekly lessons and student-athlete feedback in the form of a Google Form questionnaire. The researcher, a varsity head softball coach, enlisted in the voluntary help of her current …

Improving Literacy Skills For Els Through Targeted Pd, Kayla R. De Vos

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

Over the last few decades, schools have seen an increase in the number of English learners entering their classrooms. Meeting the needs of English learners continues to be a topic for discussion. Schools and teachers across the United States are struggling to appropriately meet the unique learning needs of this demographic of students. English learners continue to be pushed through the educational system while the gap between them and their non-EL peers continues to widen. This school improvement plan was created with the intention of providing a professional development plan that focuses on improving teacher knowledge and providing teachers with …

Improving Social And Emotional Learning In Middle School, Casey Canaday

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

Research shows that social-emotional learning has a direct impact on the academic and overall success of students in educational environments and beyond. Effective social-emotional programs and strategies implemented with fidelity can improve school climate and culture, positively impacting students, teachers, staff, and families. Without explicit teaching of social-emotional concepts, students are not given the opportunities to reach their full potential to be well-rounded individuals with developed social-emotional skills that support their overall wellness. The findings of a variety of research related to social-emotional learning guided the school improvement plan that was created to successfully implement social-emotional learning practices into schools. …

Action Research In The Teacher Candidate Clinical Experience, Krystal Kooiker

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

The purpose of this action research project was to determine the impact of explicit action research training during teacher candidates’ clinical experience with the hope of increasing their self-efficacy as reflective practitioners. The researcher utilized a qualitative action research methodology with a phenomenological design during the student teaching seminar capstone course. Participants were taken step-by-step through the action research process while they applied their personally designed project in their clinical experience setting over the course of a semester. The research was conducted to analyze teacher candidates’ perceived self-efficacy as action researchers, their use of collaboration with supervisors and peers, and …

School Leadership For The Practice Of Inclusive Education In Elementary Schools In The United Arab Emirates, Aysha Saeed Al Nuaimi

Dissertations

The number of students with disabilities in regular classrooms is increasing. In 2020, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) introduced a new policy with the goal of promoting inclusive education in all public schools. Although the UAE government is committed to the education of children with disabilities, the role of school leaders is vital to the successful implementation of inclusive education in schools. While school leaders have been found to be the main agents in steering inclusive practices, their contribution to practices in schools in the UAE context remains empirically unresearched. The objective of this study was to explore elementary school …

Global Strategies For Addressing Communication Disorders In Justice-Involved Youth, Sophia Martinez, Anne Marie Perrotti, Brooke Baker, Allison Chappell

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Throughout all stages of processing, most juveniles who encounter the justice system demonstrate cognitive-communicative difficulties (CCDs). Empirical evidence reveals that 19-22% of female and 28-38% of male youth offenders, culminating in approximately 50-60% of youth offenders, demonstrate language disorders that require intervention, but most have never received services (Snow et al., 2014; Winstanley et al., 2021). Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are communication experts certified to assess and treat CCDs. While nations abroad recognize the value of SLP involvement in all stages of processing for justice-involved youth (JIY), America lags in utilizing SLPs to improve JIY outcomes and lower youth's risk of …

From The Editors, Michele H. Koomen, Thomastine A. Sarchet-Maher, Jessica Williams

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

JSESD remains a venue for the dissemination of research and practice related to the education of students with disabilities in the science classroom and laboratory since 1998. Volumes #1 through 11 were published in a print format. Starting with Volume #12, the journal has been published online and Open Access. Having JSESD in the Open Access format maximizes access for readers and authors and allows the journal to remain economically sustainable. JSESD is proud to now be publishing articles in both PDF and HTML formats (the HTML versions can be accessed through a link from the main articles’ web-page).

The Integration Of Assistive Technology By Female In-Service Teachers Of Students With Learning Disabilities In Saudi Arabia: A Qualitative Interview Study, Badriah Alotaiby

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study is to explore the teachers’ perceptions of integrating assistivetechnology into the curriculum for students with learning disabilities in Saudi Arabia. It is known that teaching students with learning disabilities had been one of the significant difficulties in the past and nowadays. Therefore, integrating assistive technology into the educational process would make it easier for the teachers of students with learning disabilities to teach these students through the use of integrating assistive technology. The use of such assistive technologies will be beneficial for learning disabilities students as well. The main question guiding this research is: What …

How Prerequisite Skills Training Affects Math Achievement Scores For Students With Learning Disabilities: A Quasi-Experimental Control Group Study, Timothy Reedy

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest control group design, while controlling for math achievement pretest scores, was to investigate the impact prerequisite skills instruction has on math achievement scores for ninth-grade pre-algebra students with specific learning disabilities (SLDs) in math. While there have been several studies on how prerequisite skills affect students with learning disabilities in elementary school, very little research has extended into high school. Convenience sampling was used in the study and included 70 students from a high school that serves students across the state of Pennsylvania. The Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) was used …

The Impact Of Social Emotional Beliefs On Teachers' Self-Efficacy: A Correlative Study, Amber Davis

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative, corelative study was to determine if Social Emotional Learning (SEL) beliefs had an impact on teacher self-efficacy amongst teachers within a suburban school district population. Social Emotional Learning programs aim to address students’ negative social and emotional concerns. These negative social and emotional concerns amongst students also have a negative impact on teachers. This study served to educate and provide school level administration data on whether SEL beliefs impact educator self-efficacy. This investigation can guide school districts on developing appropriate and targeted professional development for specific subgroups of teachers. For this study, a sample of …

Inclusion For Asd Students In The Mainstream Setting, Stephanie Rohwer

Graduate Teacher Education

This comprehensive review delves into the complexities surrounding the education of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The exploration begins by addressing educator, parental, and paraprofessional perspectives. It reveals challenges related to a lack of autism competence among teachers, managing student behavior, and the pursuit of alternative placements by parents seeking tailored educational experiences. Examining the historical context of ASD, considering its neurodevelopmental nature, emphasizes the importance of continuously evolving teacher preparedness to meet the diverse needs of students. The studies draw attention to the multifaceted challenges educators face, particularly in the absence of consistent training in evidence-based practices (EBPs) …

Special Education Teacher Preparation In Saudi Arabia: Qualitative Interview Design, Salman Almughyiri

The Qualitative Report

This study explored preservice special education teachers’ perceptions regarding special education teacher preparation courses, practicum, and evidence-based practices they recently completed. The participants of the study included five preservice special education teachers from two universities, Shaqra University and King Saud University, in Riyadh. A variety of qualitative interview designs, such as semi-structured interviews and in-depth interviews were employed to gather the data. This involved conducting a total of 15 interviews. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Additionally, peer debriefing and member checks were used to increase the credibility of the study and help prevent personal bias. The study …