Education Commons^™

Secondary Educators’ Writing Practices For Students With Disabilities: Examining Distance Learning And In-Person Instruction, Amber B. Ray, Apryl L. Poch, Shawn M. Datchuk

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

We report results of a national survey of secondary teachers who teach special education and/or English language arts in the United States. A total of 50 teachers from 27 different states completed the survey. In the survey, we asked teachers about their experience delivering distance and in-person instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. We specifically focused on three broad areas: writing assignments, writing instructional practices, and adaptations used to support students with disabilities. We also collected information about teacher characteristics, technology use, and teacher attitudes and self-efficacy about writing. On average, teachers reported receiving minimal preparation to teach writing via distance …

Five Steps To Teach Simple Sentence Writing To Students With Learning Disabilities, Shawn M. Datchuk, Leah M. Zimmermann, Kyle Wagner, Apryl L. Poch

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

Many students with learning disabilities struggle with sentence writing fluency, the skill of quickly and accurately generating words that follow rules of semantics, spelling, syntax, and usage within sentence structures understandable to readers. Students who struggle with sentence writing fluency may face difficulty fully expressing their ideas while engaging in academic writing. In the present article, we describe how a combination of explicit instruction and fluency practice can improve the simple sentence writing fluency of students with learning disabilities. We detail how five design and delivery steps can help to create a supplemental writing intervention that addresses simple sentence structure, …

Educating Students With Learning Difficulties In The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, Apryl L. Poch, Duaa Alzahrani, Jawaher Aljuwayhir, Maram Alnahari

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

Identification of and services for students with learning disabilities share both similarities and differences across cultures, including the term(s) used to label and subsequently provide services for these students. Learning disabilities, in Arabic, translates to “learning difficulties.” This column provides a brief overview of the current educational system in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia including the identification and services available for students with learning difficulties and concludes with future directions. Much opportunity remains for supporting the needs of students with learning difficulties in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Scoring Measures Of Word Dictation Curriculum-Based Measurement In Writing: Effects Of Incremental Administration, Apryl L. Poch, Abigail A. Allen, Erica S. Lembke

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

Spelling has been identified as a key transcription skill that emerges during the elementary years as students learn how to write and subsequently develop fluency with writing, making the assessment of spelling a critical component of evaluation systems within schools. This includes the use of curriculum-based measures of writing (CBM-W). This study examined the extent to which word dictation CBM-W administered during the Fall, Winter, and Spring of an academic year maintained technical adequacy across 1-min time intervals in grades 1–3. Results revealed moderate predictive and concurrent validity estimates with the Spelling subtest of the Weschler Individual Achievement Test-III. Statistically …

Using Data-Based Instruction To Support Struggling Elementary Writers, Apryl L. Poch, Abigail A. Allen, Pyung-Gang Jung, Erica S. Lembke, Kristen L. Mcmaster

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

Writing is a critical academic and life skill, but many school-age children struggle with the complexity of written expression. Given the importance of writing, there is a clear need for a systematic approach to identifying and supporting struggling writers, including writers with learning and emotional disabilities. One such approach is known as data-based instruction (DBI). This article presents an overview of DBI and guidance on how educators can use the DBI steps with assessment data to inform their classroom writing instruction. Additional resources are shared to support teachers in using DBI with their struggling writers and writers with learning and …

Usability And Feasibility Of Data-Based Instruction For Students With Intensive Writing Needs, Apryl L. Poch, Kristen L. Mcmaster, Erica S. Lembke

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

A small proportion of students do not benefit sufficiently from standard intervention protocols and require more intensive, individualized instruction. Data-based instruction (DBI) has a strong evidence base for addressing students’ intensive academic needs, yet it is not widely implemented. In this study, we explored the usability and feasibility of a professional development system to support teachers’ use of DBI in writing. Data analyzed using a mixed-methods design revealed that teachers perceived supports such as coaching as facilitators of DBI implementation, whereas access to materials and external factors such as time conflicts presented challenges. Teachers made statistically significant growth from pretest …

Chapter 12. Informing Inquiry Into Writing Across The Lifespan From Perspectives On Students With Learning Disabilities Or Autism Spectrum Disorder, Apryl L. Poch, Matthew C. Zajic, Steve Graham

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

The value of writing is not limited to single points of time in our lives but serves many different purposes across the lifespan (Bazerman et al., 2018). For instance, young children begin to experiment with writing as early as two years of age, using it as a vehicle for play, communication, and self-expression (Rowe, 2008). With the advent of school, the purposes for writing expand greatly to include writing to inform, persuade, describe, summarize, learn, and narrate to identify just some of the ways children, adolescents, and young adults learn to write and use writing as part of their education. …

Chapter 3. Quantitative Perspectives To The Study Of Writing Across The Lifespan: A Conceptual Overview And Focus On Structural Equation Modeling, Matthew C. Zajic, Apryl L. Poch

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

As echoed throughout this edited collection, writing researchers are well aware of the complexities involved when adopting lifespan approaches to the study of written language. Writing researchers come from a wide array of fields (e.g., composition studies, rhetoric, psychology, education, and special education) that adopt different methodological approaches to answer a variety of research questions. A central issue to unpacking the complexities underlying the development of written language across the lifespan requires examining the available tools and methods offered by different research designs to pose and answer different types of research questions.

From Nclb To Essa: Implications For Teacher Preparation And Policy, Ambra L. Green, Jennifer Mckenzie, Timothy J. Lewis, Apryl L. Poch

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

With the 2001 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the term highly qualified teacher (HQT) became an important component of teacher licensure, including for special educators. However, when ESEA was reauthorized in 2015 as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the highly qualified regulations were removed. The purpose of this study was to look back at the historical record of policy implementation of HQT and compare the record across states to provide implications for teacher preparation and licensure policy in the era of ESSA. This was accomplished through a review of the history of special education teacher …

Improving The Sentence Writing Fluency Of A Student With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder And Speech/Language Impairment: A Pilot Study, Shawn M. Datchuk, Apryl L. Poch, K. L. Panos

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

The skill of sentence writing – the composition of connected text into sentence types understandable to readers – is foundational to written expression. Unfortunately, many students with learning disabilities – particularly those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and speech and/or language impairment (S/LI) – struggle to develop sentence writing and its multiple, related skills. Using a single-baseline design, we studied effects of a supplemental writing intervention on one elementary-aged student with comorbid ADHD and S/LI. The intervention entailed delivery of a writing fluency intervention with several antecedent- and consequence-based components: explicit instruction, fluency practice, a reinforcer survey, and contingent …

Technical Adequacy Of Curriculum-Based Measures In Writing In Grades 1–3, Abigail A. Allen, Pyung-Gang Jung, Apryl L. Poch, Dana Brandes, Jaehyun Shin, Erica S. Lembke, Kristen L. Mcmaster

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to investigate evidence of reliability, criterion validity, and grade-level differences of curriculum-based measures of writing (CBM-W) with 612 students in grades 1–3. Four scoring procedures (words written, words spelled correctly, correct word sequences, and correct minus incorrect word sequences) were used with two CBM-W tasks (picture–word and story prompt) during fall, winter, and spring of one academic year. A subsample of participants (n = 244) were given a criterion measure in spring of the academic year. Pearson’s r coefficients were calculated to determine evidence of alternate form reliability and criterion validity, and a …

Secondary Teachers’ Beliefs About Teaching Writing To Typically Achieving And Struggling Adolescent Writers, Apryl L. Poch, Morgan Hamby, Xiaohan Chen

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

Writing is a critical component of many secondary classrooms, but little is known about teachers’ beliefs and assumptions surrounding their teaching of writing at the secondary level (particularly including the beliefs of special educators) and teaching writing to students with disabilities. Yet, teachers’ beliefs impact their own perceptions and judgments, which can then affect their behavior (i.e., instructional decisions) within their classrooms. The purpose of this study was to describe middle and high school general and special educators’ beliefs about writing. Results of this study demonstrated that secondary teachers (a) felt somewhat self-efficacious about teaching writing and somewhat less self-efficacious …

Five Reasons To Write For Ld Forum, Apryl L. Poch

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Supporting Teachers’ Use Of Data-Based Instruction To Improve Students’ Early Writing Skills, Kristen L. Mcmaster, Erica S. Lembke, Jaehyun Shin, Apryl L. Poch, Alex R. Smith, Pyung-Gang Jung, Abigail A. Allen, Kyle Wagner

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

We examined the effects of a professional development (PD) system designed to support teachers’ use of data-based instruction (DBI) to improve early writing outcomes for children with intensive needs. The PD system, called DBI-TLC, provided tools for early writing assessment and intervention, learning modules including face-to-face workshops followed by classroom application, and ongoing coaching to support DBI implementation. Special education teachers in 19 classrooms in 2 Midwestern districts were assigned randomly to receive DBI-TLC or to a business-as-usual control group. All teachers completed pre- and posttests of DBI knowledge and skills and self-efficacy, and DBI-TLC teachers’ fidelity to DBI was …

Power Up: A Persuasive Writing Strategy For Secondary Students With Emotional And Behavioral Disorders, Philip D. Nordness, Jessica L. Hagaman, Rebecca Herskovitz, Elizabeth Leader-Janssen

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

In the area of written expression, students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) typically perform one to two grades below their same age, non-disabled peers. Unfortunately, there is a lack of research on writing interventions to improve these outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a persuasive writing strategy called POWER UP to improve the quality of persuasive essays for secondary students with EBD. The results suggest that a mnemonic strategy based on the Self-Regulated Strategy Development Model (SRSD) can improve the quality of persuasive writing essays for secondary students with EBD.

Special Education Teachers’ Perceptions Of Students’ With Disabilities Ability, Instructional Needs, And Difficulties Using Visual Representations To Solve Mathematics Problems, Delinda Van Garderen, Apryl L. Poch, Amy Scheuermann

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

In this article, we present findings that examined special education teachers’ perception of students’ with disabilities ability, instructional needs, and difficulties for using visual representations (VRs) as a strategy to solve mathematics problems. In addition, whether these perceptions differed by instructional grade or setting currently teaching was examined. Survey data from 97 in-service teachers revealed, regardless of instructional setting or grade level taught, that they believe students with disabilities have the ability to learn about and use VRs and need to be taught to use VRs. Furthermore, the special education teachers perceived students with disabilities to have difficulty with all …

Exploration Of New Complexity Metrics For Curriculum-Based Measures Of Writing, Kyle Wagner, Alex Smith, Abigail A. Allen, Kristen L. Mcmaster, Apryl L. Poch, Erica S. Lembke

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

Researchers and practitioners have questioned whether scoring procedures used with curriculum-based measures of writing (CBM-W) capture growth in complexity of writing. We analyzed data from six independent samples to examine two potential scoring metrics for picture word CBM-W (PW), a sentence-level CBM task. Correct word sequences per response (CWSR) and words written per response (WWR) were compared with the current standard metric of correct word sequences (CWS). Linear regression analyses indicated that CWSR predicted scores on standardized norm-referenced criterion measures in more samples than did WWR or CWS. Future studies should explore the capacity of CWSR and WWR to show …

Promoting Content Knowledge Of Secondary Students With Learning Disabilities Through Comprehension Strategies, Apryl L. Poch, Erica S. Lembke

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

Students with learning disabilities struggle with basic comprehension skills across all content areas. By pairing comprehension strategies with content instruction, secondary content area teachers can strengthen students’ reading skills and content knowledge. This article provides an overview of two comprehension strategies, anticipation guides and double entry journals, that align with research-based recommendations in adolescent literacy and that can be employed across the primary content areas (i.e., English language arts, social/global studies, mathematics, and science).

An Exploration Of Alternative Scoring Methods Using Curriculum-Based Measurement In Early Writing, Abigail A. Allen, Apryl L. Poch, Erica S. Lembke

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

This manuscript describes two empirical studies of alternative scoring procedures used with curriculum-based measurement in writing (CBM-W). Study 1 explored the technical adequacy of a trait-based rubric in first grade. Study 2 explored the technical adequacy of a trait-based rubric, production-dependent, and production-independent scores in third grade. Results of Study 1 suggest that the rubric holds promise as a valid measure of sentence writing ability in first grade and has utility as a supplemental scoring procedure when using CBM-W as a screening tool. Results of Study 2 show that correct word sequences maintained the highest correlation coefficients across time with …

Looking Backward To Look Forward: Reflections Of Past Presidents Of The Council For Learning Disabilities, Apryl L. Poch

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

Anniversaries offer a time for reflection, celebration, validation, and sometimes, simply a candid conversation on the current state of a field. In the field of learning disabilities, anniversaries offer a time to consider how far the field has come and just how far is left to go to understand what a learning disability is. Definitional understanding is foundational for moving forward. This column presents findings from a series of short conversations with past presidents of the Council for Learning Disabilities, individuals who are also leading experts in the field of learning disabilities. Results suggest four different thoughts about the definition …

Chapter 11: Teaching Mathematics To Students With Disabilities From Diverse Backgrounds, Delinda Van Garderen, Apryl L. Poch, Christa Jackson, Sarah A. Roberts

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the literacy and numeracy skills that are distributed across a population will have significant impact on economic and social outcomes. In particular, the “higher the levels of inequality in literacy and numeracy skills … the greater the inequality of distribution of income” (OECD, 2013, p. 26). However, although literacy skills are important, it has been suggested that poor mathematical skills may be more of a handicap than poor literacy skills, especially in the workplace (Butterworth, 2005; McCloskey, 2007). As McCloskey (2007) notes, “… quantitative concepts and information are involved in …

Visual Representation In Mathematics: Special Education Teachers’ Knowledge And Emphasis For Instruction, Delinda Van Garderen, Amy Scheuermann, Apryl L. Poch, Mary M. Murray

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

The use of visual representations (VRs) in mathematics is a strongly recommended practice in special education. Although recommended, little is known about special educators’ knowledge of and instructional emphasis about VRs. Therefore, in this study, the authors examined special educators’ own knowledge of and their instructional emphasis with VRs in mathematics for students with disabilities (SWDs) in Grades K-12. A total of 146 teachers (pre- and in-service) responded to an online survey. A mixed methods triangulation research design was utilized. Findings include the following: (a) teachers hold conceptions about VRs and the roles they serve in problem solving; their ideas, …

Getting More From Your Maze: Examining Differences In Distractors, Sarah J. Conoyer, Erica S. Lembke, John L. Hosp, Christine A. Espin, Michelle K. Hosp, Apryl L. Poch

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

The present study examined the technical adequacy of maze-selection tasks constructed in 2 different ways: typical versus novel. We selected distractors for each measure systematically based on rules related to the content of the passage and the part of speech of the correct choice. Participants included 262 middle school students who were randomly assigned to 1 of the 2 maze formats. Scoring of the maze included both correct and correct-minus-incorrect scores. Students completed 3 criterion-reading tests: the Scholastic Reading Inventory, the AIMSweb R-Maze, and a high-stakes state assessment (the Missouri Assessment Program). Alternate-forms reliability was similar across maze formats; however, …

Parental Directiveness And Responsivity Toward Young Children With Complex Communication Needs, Shari L. Deveney, Cynthia J. Cress, Matthew Lambert

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

Purpose: The aim of the present study was to determine if parent responsiveness to their children with complex communication needs (CCN) during naturalistic play changed over an 18-month period and determine if any such changes were influenced by the child’s overall level of receptive and expressive language development, motor development or differing play contexts. This longitudinal information is important for early intervention speech-language pathologists and parents of children with developmental disabilities for whom the use of parent-directed responsivity interventions may be encouraged.

Method: Over an 18-month period, 37 parents of young children who had physical and/or neurological disabilities …

Voice Disorder Management Competencies: A Survey Of School-Based Speech-Language Pathologists In Nebraska, Amy F. Teten, Shari L. Deveney, Mary J. Friehe

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

Purpose: The purpose of this survey was to determine the self-perceived competence levels in voice disorders of practicing school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and identify correlated variables.

Method: Participants were 153 master’s level, school-based SLPs with a Nebraska teaching certificate and/or licensure who completed a survey, including demographic information and a 25-item voice disorders competency checklist.

Results: Findings indicated school-based SLPs did not feel particularly competent in their ability to assess and treat students with voice disorders. Only 1 response mean was higher than a “moderately competent” level. All other item means were at or below this level. Four correlations indicated …

Comparison Of Parent-Implemented And Clinician-Directed Intervention For Toddlers Identified As Late Talkers: A Literature Review, Shari L. Deveney, Jessica L. Hagaman

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

Claire had been worried about her son Henry for several months. He did not seem to talk like other children his age and did not say as many words as his older sister when she was a toddler. Claire consulted with Henry's pediatrician at his two-year wellness check. They discussed Henry's medical history and, other than his lack of words, neither had concerns about his development. "He really seems to understand everything we say to him or tell him to do," Claire explained, "But he barely says anything at all."

She decided to contact her local public school district for …

Test-Retest Reliability Of Independent Phonological Measures Of 2-Year-Old Speech: A Pilot Study, Katherine Wittler, Shari L. Deveney

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

Introduction: Within the field of speech-language pathology, many assume commonly used informal speech sound measures are reliable. However, lack of scientific evidence to support this assumption is problematic. Speech-language pathologists often use informal speech sound analyses for establishing baseline behaviors from which therapeutic progress can be measured. Few researchers have examined the test-retest reliability of informal phonological measures when evaluating the speech productions of young children. Clinically, data regarding these measures are critical for facilitating evidence-based decision making for speech-language assessment and treatment.
Objectives: The aim of the present study was to identify the evidence-base regarding temporal reliability of two …

Chapter 4: Using Curriculum-Based Measurement Fluency Data For Initial Screening Decisions, Erica S. Lembke, Abigail Carlisle, Apryl L. Poch

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) has enjoyed a long history of success and study as a practice for data-based decision-making (Deno, 2003). Originally developed and studied at the University of Minnesota in the mid-1970s (see Shinn, 2012 or Tindal, 2013 for a detailed history), Stan Deno and his colleagues developed CBM measures and the problem-solving process as part of one of the Institutes for Research on Learning Disabilities (IRLDs), centers funded by the Office of Special Education Programs that addressed significant issues for students with learning dis- abilities. With Deno’s interests in applied behavior analysis, it seemed logical to apply methodologies such …

Auditory And Visual Cues For Topic Maintenance With Persons Who Exhibit Dementia Of Alzheimer’S Type, Amy Wilson Teten, Paul A. Dagenais, Mary J. Friehe

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

This study compared the effectiveness of auditory and visual redirections in facilitating topic coherence for persons with Dementia of Alzheimer’s Type (DAT). Five persons with moderate stage DAT engaged in conversation with the first author. Three topics related to activities of daily living, recreational activities, food, and grooming, were broached. Each topic was presented three times to each participant: once as a baseline condition, once with auditory redirection to topic, and once with visual redirection to topic. Transcripts of the interactions were scored for overall coherence. Condition was a significant factor in that the DAT participants exhibited better topic maintenance …

“Dosage” Decisions For Early Intervention Services, Miriam E. Kuhn, Christine A. Marvin

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

Evan is 2 years old. He has been referred by his pediatrician to the early intervention program in his small town due to signs of global developmental delay. Evan says two words—ma (for mom, dad, or grandma) and ba (for bottle). He is still on a bottle and rejects many table foods. Evan began walking 4 months ago, and still falls down quite a bit. Although his parents report that Evan is generally a happy toddler, when he becomes upset, he is prone to intense temper tantrums that include screaming and kicking. His parents handle these episodes in a calm, …