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Essential Components Of Special Education For English Language Learners With Learning Disabilities: Position Statement Of The Division For Learning Disabilities Of The Council For Exceptional Children, Janette Klingner, Amy L. Boele, Sylvia Linan-Thompson, Diane Rodriguez

Amy Boele

No abstract provided.

Select Methods For Teaching Reading To Ells [Book Chapter], Amy L. Boele

Amy Boele

About this book:

Make appropriate instructional and eligibility decisions for English language learners!

This research-based guide offers educators and service providers proven methods for determining when ELLs are having reading difficulties that are related to language acquisition and when students’ performance issues might be linked to learning disabilities. The book provides an overview of the language acquisition process and outlines:

• Assessment techniques for identifying learning disabilities and measuring proficiency in English

• Instructional tips for working with ELLs who struggle with reading
• A multi-tiered, data-driven intervention model to assist in determining a student’s learning needs
• The role of Response to Intervention …

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Teaching Students With Ld To Use Reading Comprehension Strategies (Book Chapter), Alison Boardman, Janette Klingner, Subini A. Annamma, Brooke A. Moore, Amy L. Boele, A. Davidson, R. Figueroa, N. Sager

Amy Boele

About this book: Among the most commonly reported characteristics of individuals with learning and behavioral disabilities are significant and persistent problems with literacy acquisition. Applied research has revealed a number of methods for facilitating literacy learning among individuals with learning and behavioral disabilities. Included in this volume are chapters from a group of internationally-prominent authors, addressing important issues in the conceptualizing, assessing, and treating problems in literacy. These chapters include conceptual factors in reading assessment, reading comprehension, and a critique of the 'dyslexia' concept, implementation of Response to Intervention models for treatment of literacy deficits, applications for individuals with Attention …

Cultural And Linguistic Diversity In Special Education (Book Chapter), Janette Klingner, Alison Boardman, Subini A. Annamma, Brooke A. Moore, Amy L. Boele, A. Davidson, R. Figueroa, N. Sager

Amy Boele

About this book:

Enduring Issues in Special Education is aimed at any course in the undergraduate or graduate special education curriculum that is wholly or partly devoted to a critical examination of current issues in special education. The book organizes 28 chapters into seven sections using familiar structuring principles―what, who, where, how, when, why, and whither. Each section begins with an introduction that provides historical, legal, and theoretical background information and organizing commentary for the chapters that follow. The book’s objective, in addition to informing readers about the issues, is to develop critical thinking skills in the context of special …

Challenging The Idea Of Normal In Schools, Subini A. Annamma, Amy L. Boele, Brooke A. Moore, Janette Klingner

Amy Boele

In this article, we build on Brantlinger's work to critique the binary of normal and abnormal applied in US schools that create inequities in education. Operating from a critical perspective, we draw from Critical Race Theory, Disability Studies in Education, and Cultural/Historical Activity Theory to build a conceptual framework for examining the prevailing ideology of normal found in US schools. We use our conceptual framework todeconstruct the current, westernised, static ideology of normal. Once deconstructed, we explore current iterations of the ideology of normal in schools. Finally, we suggest using the conceptual framework as a tool to reconstruct the …

Capitalizing On Connectors: Paraeducator Supervision Training Infused In Teacher Preparation Programs, Caron Westland, Ritu Chopra

Caron Westland

No abstract provided.

School Culture For Students With Significant Support Needs: Belonging Is Not Enough, Diane Carroll, Connie Fulmer, Donna Sobel, Dorothy Garrison-Wade, Lorenso Aragon, Lisa Coval

Connie L. Fulmer

This qualitative study examined the influence of school culture on services for students with significant support needs. Students with significant support needs are defined as those who typically have cognitive impairments, often paired with sensory and physical challenges, and who require substantial supports to receive benefit from education. Using Schein's (1988) definition of culture, ethnographic methods, including observations, interviews and artifacts, were used to collect data related to artifacts, values, and assumptions. Results of this study indicate a strong sense of family, community and belonging. However, belonging did not include critical components of instruction as described as best practice in …

The Acquisition Of Classifiers In American Sign Language, Rebecca Kantor

Rebecca Kantor

The purpose of this study was to obtain data on the developmental stages that deaf children pass through in acquiring the adult form of pronominal classifiers in American Sign Language, by obtaining data on production, comprehension, and imitation from nine children aged three to eleven years. All nine children are congenitally, profoundly deaf and have deaf parents. In all cases classifiers were mastered much later than would be predicted from a timetable for signs with similar structure. Evidence was found for a developmental sequence and for acquisition strategies similar to those that have been identified for hearing children learning a …

Communicative Interaction: Mother Modification And Child Acquisition Of American Sign Language, Rebecca Kantor

Rebecca Kantor

The communicative interaction in American Sign Language (ASL) of two deaf mothers with their deaf children was studied at 3-week intervals for 10 months to find what modification, if any, the mothers made in their language utterances addressed to the children (12–20 and 20–30 months old). As was hypothesized, and has been shown of hearing-speaking mothers’ language, modification in the direction of simplified and more linear language was found. Special attention was paid to POINTing behavior (i.e. pointing gestures constrained by the linguistic rules of ASL) and to verb “modulation” or inflection (changes from ASL citation forms to mark the …

Listening To Their Voices: Factors That Inhibit Or Enhance Postsecondary Outcomes For Students' With Disabilities, Dorothy Garrison-Wade

Dorothy Garrison-Wade

Although an increasing number of students with disabilities are considering postsecondary educational opportunities, many of these students find the challenges daunting as compared to their secondary educational experiences. The purpose of the qualitative case study reported herein was to learn more about students' perceptions of services received in college in order to develop a clearer understand of how to better ensure positive outcomes. Fifty nine students with various disabilities and six disability resource coordinators from five two year community colleges and three four-year universities participated in the study. Three major themes emerged from the data, including: (a) capitalizing on student …

A Conceptual Framework For Understanding Students' With Disabilities Transition To Community College, Dorothy Garrison-Wade, Jean Lehmann

Dorothy Garrison-Wade

Students with disabilities are significantly underrepresented in the nation's community college population for multiple reasons. These include low expectations, poor high school preparation and transition planning, lack of communication or support services, and ineffective or poor support from school services personnel and faculty. This paper presents a literature synthesis. Its purpose is to inform an initial framework for building towards a conceptual framework for understanding the transition to community college by students with disabilities. The framework was developed from an earlier mixed methods study involving 100 college students with disabilities and 10 disability resource counselors in eight universities and colleges, …

School Culture For Students With Significant Support Needs: Belonging Is Not Enough, Diane Carroll, Connie Fulmer, Donna Sobel, Dorothy Garrison-Wade, Lorenso Aragon, Lisa Coval

Dorothy Garrison-Wade

This qualitative study examined the influence of school culture on services for students with significant support needs. Students with significant support needs are defined as those who typically have cognitive impairments, often paired with sensory and physical challenges, and who require substantial supports to receive benefit from education. Using Schein's (1988) definition of culture, ethnographic methods, including observations, interviews and artifacts, were used to collect data related to artifacts, values, and assumptions. Results of this study indicate a strong sense of family, community and belonging. However, belonging did not include critical components of instruction as described as best practice in …

Alternative Service Delivery Models For Students With Learning Disabilities, Evelyn Johnson, Carrie Semmelroth

Carrie Semmelroth

More than 40 years of intervention research describes effective interventions for increasing the academic performance of students with learning disabilities. However, the performance and outcomes for students with learning disabilities remain discouraging, especially in light of the increasing cost to provide special education services. Between 60 – 70 percent of students with learning disabilities are unable to meet grade level performance standards in the basic academic areas of reading, writing and mathematics. The disconnect between research and practice suggests a need for rethinking special education service delivery. This paper reports the results of a program evaluation of a not-for-profit center …

The Technical Properties Of Science Content Maze Passages For Middle School Students, Evelyn S. Johnson, Carrie Semmelroth, Jennifer Allison, Teresa Fritsch

Carrie Semmelroth

The use of Curriculum-Based Measures is rapidly expanding to the middle school level, where maze passages are frequently used to monitor progress in reading. At secondary grade levels, the focus of reading is on reading to learn, especially in the content areas. Therefore, we were interested in developing maze passages based on grade-level science texts to determine whether maze passages constructed from expository texts would have sufficient reliability and validity to serve as reading and science benchmarking tools. Participants included 367 seventh-grade students from three states. Students completed eight maze passages over three testing periods, a reading measure at two …

Introduction To Aei’S Special Issue On Special Education Teacher Evaluations, Evelyn Johnson, Carrie Lisa Semmelroth

Carrie Semmelroth

The purpose of this introductory article is to provide an overview to the special issue on special education teacher evaluation. This special issue features five articles that collectively present a comprehensive review of the current state of understanding about the issues concerning devising and implementing special education teacher evaluation systems. Within this special issue are articles that provide a discussion of some of the primary challenges associated with evaluating special education teachers; an overview of the issues associated with using observation tools to measure special education teachers; and three studies that each feature a unique approach to special education teacher …

Measuring Rater Reliability On A Special Education Observation Tool, Carrie Lisa Semmelroth, Evelyn Johnson

Carrie Semmelroth

This study used generalizability theory to measure reliability on the Recognizing Effective Special Education Teachers (RESET) observation tool designed to evaluate special education teacher effectiveness. At the time of this study, the RESET tool included three evidence-based instructional practices (direct, explicit instruction; whole-group instruction; and discrete trial teaching) as the basis for special education teacher evaluation. Five raters participated in two sessions to evaluate special education classroom instruction collected from two school years, via the Teachscape 360-degree video system. Data collected from raters were analyzed in a two-facet “partially” nested design where occasions (o) were nested within teachers …

Special Education Teacher Evaluation: Why It Matters, What Makes It Challenging, And How To Address These Challenges, Evelyn Johnson, Carrie Lisa Semmelroth

Carrie Semmelroth

There is currently little consensus on how special education teachers should be evaluated. The lack of consensus may be due to several reasons. Special education teachers work under a variety of complex conditions, with a very heterogeneous population, and support student progress toward a very individualized set of goals. In addition, special education is marked by historical rates of attrition, with a lack of highly qualified teachers entering the field, and a number of special education teachers completing alternate certification programs, leading to a combined effect that impacts overall professional quality. In this article, we first review the challenges associated …

Abandoned To Their Fate: A History Of Social Policy And Practice Toward Severely Retarded People In America, 1820-1920, Philip Ferguson

Philip M. Ferguson

This study examines the history of severely mentally retarded people from 1820 to 1920 in America, and their relationship with an emerging class of professionals newly charged with their care. The early history of one specialized asylum in Rome, New York, receives particular attention as an illustrative case study of the processes that influenced institutional development throughout the last half of the nineteenth century. The notion of "chronicity" is adopted to refer to a process of social construction whereby multiple dimensions of social failure (aesthetic, moral, and economic) in the lives of people called "idiots" and "imbeciles," were subsumed under …

Finding A Voice: Families’ Roles In Schools, Dianne Ferguson, Amy Hanreddy, Philip Ferguson

Philip M. Ferguson

Every day, around the world, families of children with disabilities experience a wide range of settings and services meant to provide support for the challenges they face.

Place, Profession And Program In The History Of Special Education Curriculum, Scot Danforth, Steve Taff, Philip Ferguson

Philip M. Ferguson

"This chapter explores how three topical threads: place, professionalism, and program, have woven their way through the history of special education. The authors argue that these themes have played out over the last 200 years in the United States in a way that provides a helpful explanatory narrative for the evolution of policies and practices for children with disabilities. The authors' narrative looks at three key eras. First, they look at the influence of the French Enlightenment on American social activists in the middle of the 19th century. This was a time when the theme of place held sway as …

The Present King Of France Is Feeble-Minded: The Logic And History Of The Continuum Of Placements For People With Intellectual Disabilities, Philip Ferguson

Philip M. Ferguson

This chapter focuses on the logic and history of the continuum of placements for people with intellectual disabilities.

“First Grub, Then Ethics”: The Place Of Research In A Time Of Crisis, Philip Ferguson

Philip M. Ferguson

A reflection on school's failures to meet the needs of students with disabilities and their families in light of the attacks of September 11, 2001 and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

Symbol Mastery And The Retention Of Dolch Spelling Words, Reesa Sorin, Patricia Carson

Reesa S Sorin

While the majority of students are verbal, conceptual thinkers, some students have a different learning style. Three Dimensional Visual Thinkers (3DVT) think “with the mental picture of concepts and ideas” (Davis; 1994). “Symbol Mastery” is a process of creating a three dimensional visual picture definition of a word or concept in clay; including how it is actually spelled. This paper is based on a study into the effect of Symbol Mastery on students’ learning and recall of common sight spelling words.

Homework Plans: A Tool For Promoting Independence, Patricia Hampshire, Gretchen Butera, Jack Hourcade

Jack Hourcade

With long brown braids and a huge smile, Kelly is a 12-year-old sixth grader attending an intermediate school in a large suburban community. Kelly is currently receiving special education services to address academic and behavioral learning needs. When given extended time and reminded (sometimes repeatedly) to think about what she has to do, Kelly usually completes at least part of her school and homework assignments.

At school, Kelly spends the majority of her day in the general education classroom. Debbie, her general education teacher, works hard to include Kelly in daily classroom activities. Kelly's special education teacher, Tina, works with …

The "Rap" On Reading Comprehension, Jessica Hagaman, Robert Reid, Kati Luschen

Robert Reid

Reading problems are one of the most frequent reasons students are referred for special education services and the disparity between students with reading difficulties and those who read successfully appears to be increasing. As a result, there is now an emphasis on early intervention programs such as RTI. In many cases, early intervention in reading instruction focuses primarily on foundational reading skills, such as decoding. However, with much of the focus on fluency, reading comprehension may be overlooked. How can special educators implement an effective reading comprehension strategy with young students who exhibit reading comprehension problems? The authors taught the …

Autism Spectrum Disorders In Children And Adolescents: Evidence-Based Assessment And Intervention In Schools., Lee Wilkinson

Lee A Wilkinson, PhD

School professionals and clinicians share the challenge of identifying and providing interventions for the increasing number of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This book is an authoritative resource that presents up-to-date research and evidence-based tools for accurate assessment and intervention. It includes procedures to help identify children using the new DSM-5 symptom criteria and offers essential guidance for assessing a variety of emotional, behavioral, and academic problems. The book provides practitioners with an evidence-based assessment battery, which includes tests of cognitive, academic, neuropsychological, and adaptive functioning. The pragmatic, social-communicative functions of language are considered together with assessments to identify …

Multitier Screening And Identification, Lee Wilkinson

Lee A Wilkinson, PhD

Although autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects approximately 1% of the school-age population, it is not unusual for children with mild levels of impairment to remain unidentified until well after entering school. A recent study examining the timing of identification among children with autism using a population-based sample from an ongoing surveillance effort across 13 sites in the United States found the gap between potential and actual age of identification (for those identified) to be in the range of 2.7 to 3.7 years. Combined with the fact that more than one quarter of cases were never identified as having ASD through …

A Review Of Assistive Technology And Writing Skills For Students With Physical And Educational Disabilities, Howard Parette, Jack Hourcade, George Peterson-Karlan

Jack Hourcade

In recent years effective instruction in reading for learners with physicaland educational disabilities has received great attention in the schools.However, instruction in the corollary skill of writing has received considerably less emphasis. This review paper notes that through the use of assistive technology, students with a variety of physical and educationaldisabilities can learn to effectively (a) plan and organize their writing,(b) draft and transcribe their work, and (c) edit and revise their narrativeand expository writing.With teachers increasingly being held accountable for the development ofliteracy skills in all students, including those students with physical and educational disabilities, schools are paying substantial …

The Use And Effectiveness Of A Targeted Math Intervention For Third Graders, Juli Pool, Gabriel Carter, Evelyn Johnson, Deborah Carter

Juli Lull Pool

Students who fail to develop proficiency in math skills in the primary grades are more likely to experience difficulties in the math curriculum later on. These students may be in need of a more targeted intervention, or Tier 2 supports, in mathematic instruction. Although the instructional principles of an effective math intervention are becoming better understood, the practice of designing and implementing an effective Tier 2 math intervention system challenges many schools. This article documents a case study of one school’s experience in designing a Tier 2 math intervention system for 10 third graders to provide a model of effective …

Systematic Implementation Of A Tier 2 Behavior Intervention, Deborah Carter, Gabriel Carter, Evelyn Johnson, Juli Pool

Juli Lull Pool

Schools are increasingly adopting tiered models of prevention to meet the needs of diverse populations of students. This article outlines the steps involved in designing and implementing a systematic Tier 2 behavior intervention within a tiered service delivery model. An elementary school example is provided to outline the identification, implementation, and data-based decision-making process. Recommendations are provided for teachers related to supporting the effective and systematic implementation of Tier 2 behavior supports.