Digital Commons Network^™

Improving Writing Skills With Kindergarten Students Using Embedded Learning Opportunities In Dramatic Play, Samantha Tabor

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

How do kindergarten teachers meet the required instructional mins, get students to reach mastery of common core standards, and embed learning opportunities in play? Teachers will need to focus on creating environments that foster creativity, problem-solving, and will help their individual students grow academically, socially, and emotionally (Cress & Holm, 2017). There are very few studies that discuss embedding learning opportunities for kindergarten students using kindergarten common core standards. There are no current studies that address kindergarten teachers using embedded learning opportunities to increase kindergarten writing skills as outlined by common core standards. This study focused on just that: Do …

Evaluation Of Preschool Life Skills (Pls) Program To Teach Social Skills In A Preschool Class, Zhenying Jiang

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a Tier 2 PLS program on increasing critical social skills (i.e., requesting for attention, framed requesting for materials and assistant, and delay and denial tolerance) and decreasing problem behaviors for the participants with risk of delay in social domain. A multiple probe across behaviors design replicated across participants was employed. The intervention terminated due to the end of school year before skill 3 could be introduced. Two of three participants met criteria for two taught skills, while one participant did not acquire all skills. Decrease of problem behavior accompanied …

The Effects Of Interactive Shared Book Reading Recall Procedures On Preschoolers' Friendship Development, Samantha M. Mcgehee

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

Developing friendships is an important aspect in the lives of children. Children begin developing friendship related skills in toddlerhood and can begin maintaining these friendships by preschool-age. Few Tier 1 interventions exist to support children in preschool classrooms to develop these critical friendships. Interactive shared book reading is a common practice in early childhood classrooms that involves an adult reading a book to one or more students with embedded questions about the book to increase engagement and understanding with book themes. Reading to Engage Children with Autism in Language and Learning (RECALL) is an adaptation of interactive shared book reading …

Inclusive Practices In Teacher Education Programs, Melike Yozgatli

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

Inclusive education is a global trend and an educational right that refers to the inclusion of students with disabilities in general education settings (GECs). Applying to the most effective practices is particularly essential for students with disabilities in GECs. Most of the responsibility to implement inclusive practices and create a positive inclusive classroom environment falls on special and general education teachers in GECs. Thus, pre-service teacher education is crucial for teachers’ future achievements in inclusionary settings to address the diverse needs of students with disabilities. The purpose of this survey study was to investigate teacher education programs in the United …

Teaching Social Communicative Intents To Elementary Aged Students Through The Use Of Aided Language Modeling, Kaitlyn Yvette Kousins

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

The purpose of this study was to extend the research of using aided language modeling as an intervention with elementary aged students with extensive support and complex communication needs. A multiple probe design across participants was used to determine if there is a functional between an aided language modeling intervention and improvements in contextually relevant initiations (i.e., requests and comments) between children with extensive support and complex communication needs. The results showed that using aided language modeling within play-based sessions was effective in teaching social communicative intents to students with extensive support and complete communication needs.

Coaching And Training Paraprofessionals To Implement Communication Strategies In The Classroom With Students With Disabilities, Andrea Grace Antoniewicz

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

The purpose of this project was to evaluate the effects of a training and coaching intervention on increasing paraprofessionals use of communication strategies to increase the participation between students with disabilities and paraprofessionals. Students with CCN struggle to interact with peers and communicate appropriately, and therefore need guided instruction by adults. To encourage interactions across contexts, paraprofessionals must first learn how to use communication strategies. This skill also was chosen to extend our knowledge on coaching paraprofessionals to use different communication strategies to promote communication with students with ESN and CCN.

Front Matter

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.

William V. Dorsaneo, Iii, Nathan L. Hecht

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tribute To Professor Bill Dorsaneo, Elizabeth G. Thornburg

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tribute To William V. Dorsaneo, Iii, Chip Babcock

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Addressing Big Tech’S Market Power: A Comparative Institutional Approach, Thomas A. Lambert

SMU Law Review

This Article provides a comparative institutional analysis of the three leading approaches to addressing the market power of large digital platforms: (1) traditional antitrust law, the approach thus far taken in the United States; (2) ex ante conduct rules, the approach embraced by the European Union’s Digital Markets Act and several bills under consideration in the U.S. Congress; and (3) ongoing agency oversight, the approach embraced by the United Kingdom with its newly established “Digital Markets Unit.” After identifying the general advantages and disadvantages of each approach, the Article examines how they are likely to play out in the context …

A Functional Approach To Agency (In)Action, Lidiya Mishchenko

SMU Law Review

In the last five years, the Supreme Court has had a frenzied approach to judicial review of agency action, with two wings of the Court pulling it in opposite directions. The ideological divide of the Court on deference to agency action was on stark display in three recent cases dealing with the Patent and Trademark Office’s (PTO’s) new proceeding for reevaluating issued patents (inter partes review (IPR)). Specifically, in three vacillating opinions, the Court expanded, contracted, and then again expanded the scope of whether and to what extent a decision by the PTO Director to institute this new proceeding can …

Solving The Procedural Puzzles Of The Texas Heartbeat Act And Its Imitators: The Potential For Defensive Litigation, Charles W. "Rocky" Rhodes, Howard M. Wasserman

SMU Law Review

The Texas Heartbeat Act (SB8) prohibits abortions following detection of a fetal heartbeat, a constitutionally invalid ban under current Supreme Court precedent. But the law adopts a unique enforcement scheme—it prohibits enforcement by government officials in favor of private civil actions brought by “any person,” regardless of injury. Texas sought to burden reproductive-health providers and rights advocates with costly litigation and potentially crippling liability.

In a series of articles, we explore how SB8’s exclusive reliance on private enforcement creates procedural and jurisdictional hurdles to challenging the law’s constitutional validity and obtaining judicial review. This piece explores defensive litigation, in which …

Front Matter

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Photo Of Elizabeth G. Thornburg

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tribute To Professor Elizabeth Thornburg, Jennifer M. Collins

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tribute To Professor Beth Thornburg, Melinda Arbuckle

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Whole Truth: A Tribute To Professor Beth Thornburg, Julia Patterson Forrester Rogers

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Contract Law’S “Too Good To Be True” Doctrine—Is It?, William A. Drennan

SMU Law Review

In a wonderful variety of emotionally charged contract law opinions, including the cases of the boastful cheater, the opportunistic attorney, and the careless concrete contractor,3 courts unfortunately have used the phrase “too good to be true” as a single-step test to decide enforceability. These cases can generate emotional responses ranging from empathy4 to schadenfreude5 because they involve a mistake with potentially disastrous results for one party (and a windfall for the other side). It is understandable that courts would be drawn to a catchy, down-to-earth phrase to reach a just resolution in these entertaining and memorable cases.

Nevertheless, this Article …

When Time Stands Still: Eliminating Immigration “Death Sentences”, Lori A. Nessel

SMU Law Review

The nation prides itself on the notion of rebirth—the ideal that one can leave their past behind, come to the United States, and seize the opportunities available to advance and remake oneself. Yet, when it comes to immigration law, neither the passage of time nor a life full of positive equities ameliorates past wrongdoing or allows for future opportunities. In the words of the Senate Subcommittee when Congress permanently removed the statute of limitations for deportation from the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1952, “If the cause for exclusion existed at the time of entry, it is believed that such …

Front Matter

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Algorithmic Destruction, Tiffany C. Li

SMU Law Review

Contemporary privacy law does not go far enough to protect our privacy interests, particularly where artificial intelligence and machine learning are concerned. While many have written on problems of algorithmic bias and data deletion, this Article introduces the novel concept of the “algorithmic shadow” and explains the new privacy remedy of “algorithmic destruction,” also known as algorithmic disgorgement or machine unlearning. The algorithmic shadow describes the persistent imprint of training data that has been fed into a machine learning model and used to refine that machine learning system. This shadow persists even if data is deleted from the initial training …

The Unexpected Consequences Of Automation In Policing, Elizabeth E. Joh

SMU Law Review

This Article has two aims. First, it explains how automated decision-making can produce unexpected results. This is a problem long understood in the field of industrial organization, but identifying its effects in policing is no easy task. The police are a notoriously difficult institution to study. They are insular, dislike outsiders, and especially dislike critical outsiders. Fortunately, we have the benefit of a decade’s worth of experimentation in police use of automated decision-making and the resulting political backlash against some of these uses. As a result, some large urban police departments have undergone external investigations to see whether tools like …

Coding The Code: Catala And Computationally Accessible Tax Law, Sarah Lawsky

SMU Law Review

“Caligula posted the tax laws in such fine print and so high that his subjects could not read them . . . . That’s not a good idea, we can all agree. How can citizens comply with what they can’t see? And how can anyone assess the tax collector’s exercise of power in that setting?”

Expanding Civil Rights To Combat Digital Discrimination On The Basis Of Poverty, Michele Estrin Gilman

SMU Law Review

Low-income people suffer from digital discrimination on the basis of their socio-economic status. Automated decision-making systems, often powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence, shape the opportunities of those experiencing poverty because they serve as gatekeepers to the necessities of modern life. Yet in the existing legal regime, it is perfectly legal to discriminate against people because they are poor. Poverty is not a protected characteristic, unlike race, gender, disability, religion or certain other identities. This lack of legal protection has accelerated digital discrimination against the poor, fueled by the scope, speed, and scale of big data networks. This Article …

Front Matter

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Flubs That Bind: Stare Decisis And The Problem Of Indeliberate Doctrinal Misstatements In Appellate Opinions, Richard Luedeman

SMU Law Review

Speak to enough lawyers (especially litigators) about their experiences grappling with binding appellate case law in their jurisdictions, and a significant number of them will complain about statements in appellate case law that patently contradict prior precedent, incorrectly articulate legal standards, or otherwise mangle the doctrine in an area. The image of courts as deliberative doctrine-producing machines ignores the reality that certain statements in judicial opinions might not have been carefully, deliberately constructed. Often, the result is harmless. But in some instances, doubt about the deliberateness of dubious doctrinal statements in judicial opinions can become an unavoidable problem for litigants …

Bostock: A Clean Cut Into The Gordian Knot Of Causation, Melissa Essary

SMU Law Review

Regardless of merit, most individual employment discrimination claims die a fast death at summary judgment. Judges apply the fine mesh net created by McDonnell Douglas v. Green, and most cases are caught in its trap. This dated, obfuscatory Supreme Court case creates a complex and flawed binary approach to causation: either discrimination or an innocent reason caused an adverse employment action. For decades, all three levels of the federal judiciary have wrestled with McDonnell Douglas, creating snarls and knots in construing causation. Because of this causal confusion, the ideal of equal opportunity in employment is on life-support.

Judges and practitioners …

Ai, Equity, And The Ip Gap, Daryl Lim

SMU Law Review

Artificial intelligence (AI) has helped determine vaccine recipients, prioritize emergency room admissions, and ascertain individual hires, sometimes doing so inequitably. As we emerge from the Pandemic, technological progress and efficiency demands continue to press all areas of the law, including intellectual property (IP) law, toward incorporating more AI into legal practice. This may be good when AI promotes economic and social justice in the IP system. However, AI may amplify inequity as biased developers create biased algorithms with biased inputs or rely on biased proxies. This Article argues that policymakers need to take a thoughtful and concerted approach to graft …

Psychologically Bound: Why Expert Evidence Regarding Battered Woman Syndrome Should Be Admissible, Christa Bunce

SMU Law Review

The affirmative defense of duress was created to protect a person coerced into committing a violent physical crime. Alongside duress, battered woman syndrome (BWS) is a psychological theory created to explain why women choose to kill abusive partners rather than leave them. Although BWS is a well-known and supported legal theory, historically, courts have been reluctant to allow expert evidence regarding the syndrome into testimony to help explain a battered woman’s behavior. Battered women have been so subjected to abuse and violence that their psychological perception is altered. In cases where expert evidence has been admitted, it profoundly affected jurors’ …