Education Commons^™

Using Repeated Reading And Previewing Vocabulary Interventions With Elementary-Aged Struggling Readers To Improve Fluency And Comprehension, Khaled S. Alotaibi

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

Students with Learning disabilities and at risk for reading difficulties often face challenges in reading fluency and comprehension that impact negatively on academic success. Repeated reading (RR) is an intervention designed to increase reading fluency and comprehension skills among students at risk and diagnosed with disabilities. The purpose of this review was to investigate the effectiveness of the repeated reading (RR) and vocabulary previewing (VP) interventions on the fluency and comprehension skills of elementary school students. The review yielded a modest number of research articles published between 2008 and 2019. The results of these studies suggested that RR can have …

Check-In/Check-Out To Increase Academic Engagement And Classroom Behavior Among Adolescent Students In Juvenile Detention Centers, Rakan M. Alshammari

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

The use of multi-tiered techniques can address many students’ needs (e.g., problem behaviors, academic disengagement) in schools and juvenile detention centers. Some students have serious problems that may lead to poor academic performance and prevent them from being successful in school and in life. Check-in, check-out (CICO) is an effective second-tier intervention to address problem behaviors evidenced by these students. The purpose of this experimental study was to examine the effectiveness of using the CICO intervention on the four dependent variables (i.e., problem behaviors, appropriate behaviors, academic engagement, academic disengagement) among four incarcerated students. An A-B-A-B reversal design was used …

A Survey Of Registered Behavior Technicians: Initial And Ongoing Training And Support, Gabriela Mcwhorter Zapatero

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) benefit from early intervention, specifically applied behavior analysis (ABA). ABA is often implemented by paraprofessionals who are known as registered behavior technicians (RBTs). For many years, educators have known the value of corrective feedback in relation to skill acquisition. In this case, emphasis was placed on the proclivities of the staff in regard to feedback. This mixed methodology study examined the various strategies currently utilized to instruct RBTs, as well as their preferences for initial and continued training. Results indicated the majority of RBTs who responded to the online survey were being trained …

Comparison Of Motor-Enhanced And Visual-Enhanced Interventions For Grammar In Young Children With Developmental Language Disorder, Alisha P. Springle

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

Up to 7.6% of children demonstrate a developmental language disorder (DLD), which can persist through adulthood, causing difficulty with academic achievement, social relationships, and financial stability. Grammar development, as a hallmark of DLD, is an important area of need for these children. Existing grammar interventions do not clearly distinguish the sensory input techniques that meet these children’s neurobiological instructional needs. This adapted alternating treatment design study implemented intervention using systematic paired visual and verbal and systematic paired motor, i.e. standardized gestures, and verbal sensory input techniques. A moderate-strong functional relation between intervention techniques using motor supports on grammatical outcomes in …

Using The Question-Answer Relationship Strategy To Improve Listening Comprehension In Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Lisa A. Phalen

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

A well-established research base indicates that many children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience deficits in reading comprehension skills. There is currently limited research which examines the relation between the communication and language impairments in ASD and emergent literacy skills in early childhood. Listening comprehension has been identified as one emergent literacy skill closely linked to reading comprehension development. The purpose of the study is to examine the effects of the question-answer relationship strategy (QAR) and QAR cue cards as a shared book reading intervention package on the listening comprehension skills of children with ASD. A single-subject concurrent multiple-baseline …

An Examination Of Oral Argumentation Using Socioscientific Issues Among Secondary Students With Disabilities, Mindy A. Gumpert

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

The recent science education reforms mandate that all students must receive adequate opportunities to access the science curriculum in order to gain a better understanding of how science and the world works (National Research Council, 2012). According to these reforms, engagement in argumentation is one science practice essential to today’s K-12 science education (Sampson & Clark, 2011). Engagement in argumentation promotes critical thinking, problem solving and communication skills, and has the potential to promote growth of cognitive and metacognitive reasoning (Venville & Dawson, 2010). Additionally, engagement in argumentation using socioscientific issues provides students with authentic links to contemporary real-world social …

The Effects Of Teacher Coaching In The Lincing Routine On The Vocabulary Knowledge Of Secondary Students With Disabilities, Dana W. Cho

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

A pretest-posttest time series design controlling for teacher coaching was used to evaluate the effects of the LINCing Routine to support secondary students with disabilities while increasing students’ vocabulary knowledge. Two special education teachers and 26 secondary students with disabilities participated in this study. Student performance was investigated in terms of increased accurate use of the LINCing Routine and overall improvement of vocabulary knowledge while controlling for teacher coaching. The dependent variable increased and remained stable throughout intervention. Pretest and posttest results were also favorable. Students reported average social validity while teachers reported high social validity for the intervention. The …

The Effect Of Choice Of Ipad-Delivered Math Independent Practice Of Elementary Grade Students With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Characteristics, Nora A. Altaweel

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

A choice-making strategy is an antecedent control that has proven to be effective for students with problem behaviors. Because students with Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) may display disruptive behaviors and show poor academic performance, it has been suggested that incorporating choice-making strategies into academic instruction could serve to increase academic engagement and task accuracy. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of iPad-based choice-making opportunities during math independent practice on each participant's task engagement, time required to complete task, task accuracy, and task completion, as well as the teacher and participants perceptions of social validity of the intervention. …

Predicting Speech-Language Pathology Graduate Student Success: Executive Functions And Standardized Admission Tests, Jane E. Roitsch

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

Within the next three years, the number of available speech-language pathology (SLP) jobs is projected to increase by 18% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2018). The most logical response to the escalating market demand would be to increase the number of students admitted into SLP graduate programs. However, this may not be as simple as it sounds.

Successful training of graduate SLP clinicians requires the professional, emotional, financial, and time commitments of the program’s clinical and academic faculty. The accreditation status of graduate SLP programs is based in part on graduation completion rates and students passing the national examination in SLP, …

Using Constant Time Delay And Ecoaching To Teach Employment Skills To Young Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder And Intellectual Disability In A Community Work Environment, Annemarie L. Horn

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

The goal of secondary education is to prepare students for greater levels of independence, especially in the areas of continued education and community employment. However, despite underlying potential, young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and comorbid intellectual disability (ID) are vastly underrepresented in the area of post secondary employment. This could be attributed to the unique characteristics and learning needs of these students, or it may be a function of the lack of effective, evidence-based teaching practices, implemented with fidelity.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness and participant perceptions of implementing the constant time delay …

Enhancing Early Interventionists' Abilities To Support Caregiver Learning Through Multi-Component, Technology-Mediated Inservice Professional Development, Dana C. Childress

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

In order to have qualified service providers from a variety of disciplines (e.g., early childhood special education, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology) who are well-prepared to provide effective early intervention (EI), high quality professional development is needed that is easily accessed by service providers and enhances their abilities to implement specific, evidence-based intervention practices with children and families. Because of the family-centered nature of EI, service providers must be knowledgeable about how to support caregiver learning during EI visits, using practices that are grounded in adult learning theory. The case study research project described in this dissertation addresses those …

An Exploration Of Infant And Toddler Child Care Consultation: A Multiple Case Study, Christine Marie John

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative, multiple case study was an exploration of the professional development (PD) experience of consultation as it occurred within infant and toddler child care settings. Consultation is dependent upon the establishment of a relationship between the consultant and the consultee and offers opportunities for professional growth and enhanced quality child care. This researcher followed four infant and toddler child care consultants working with child care centers through a quality enhancement PD program in a Mid-Atlantic state. Within each of the four participating centers, a member of the administration and one infant and/or toddler caregiver along with their consultant contributed …

Does Teacher Behavior Change In Middle School Math Classes When Teachers Receive Instructional Coaching Using Bug-In-Ear Technology?, Ellen L. Browning

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate if there is a relationship between the use of immediate feedback provided through instructional coaching and teacher behaviors shown to improve student achievement. Specifically this study used a time-series nonequivalent control group design to explore the relationship between instructional coaching using Bug-In-Ear (BIE) technology and teacher frequency of the following behaviors: (a) teacher use of technology-enhanced choral response as part of completed three-term contingency trials, (b) the high-access strategy of choral response versus the low-access strategy of call-outs and blurt-outs, (c) re-directs, reprimands, and behavior-specific praise statements. Measures of student engagement and …

The Effects Of Function-Based Thinking On Teacher Selection Of Interventions For Disruptive Student Behavior, Kimberly Yanek

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

Traditional approaches to addressing student misbehavior often involve the imposition of reactive and punitive consequences. Certain groups of students who engage in disruptive behavior experience a disproportionate amount of these punitive disciplinary responses. African American males are one such group. A growing body of research suggests that a need exists for more proactive and positive approaches to addressing student classroom misbehavior. One promising option is function-based thinking—a critical component of functional behavioral assessment. The present study examined both the accuracy of and change in teacher selected antecedent and/or consequence interventions aligned with the function of student behavior. Additionally, changes in …

Using Schematic-Based And Cognitive Strategy Instruction To Improve Math Word Problem Solving For Students With Math Difficulties, Lisa L. Morin

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

For students with math difficulties (MD), math word problem solving is especially challenging. The purpose of this study was to examine a math word problem solving strategy, bar model drawing, to support students with MD. The study extended previous research that suggested that schematic-based instruction (SBI) training delivered within an explicit instruction framework can be effective in teaching various math skills related to word problem solving. As a more generic schema approach, bar model drawing may serve as an effective form of SBI that can be developed across word problems. Moreover, the bar model approach has the potential to enhance …

The Effects Of A Tiered-Training Intervention On Teachers' Use Of Behavior Specific Praise During The Reading Instruction Of Elementary Students With Emotional Disabilities, Lauren Collins Reed

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

Despite longstanding acknowledgement regarding the effectiveness of behavior specific praise for students with emotional disabilities, there continues to be an underuse of this strategy with this population. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a tiered training intervention on teachers' use of behavior specific praise during the small group reading instruction of elementary students with emotional disabilities. A multiple baseline design was used across two groups of teacher and student participants as the means of investigating the effectiveness of the training model on teachers' use of behavior specific praise and the associated student outcomes. Similar to …

Using Two Formats Of A Social Story To Increase The Social-Communication Skills Of Three Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Nicole A. Anthony

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

An alternating treatment design was used to compare the effects of two interventions on the initiations and on-topic responses of three adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. The interventions were participant specific social stories on an iPad and in paper format, both of which occurred in an after-school setting. Results indicated two participants increased the number of initiations and on-topic responses during gaming sessions over baseline levels. In addition, all three children generalized targeted skills to another typical peer while playing the same game introduced during baseline. Implications for current educational practices are addressed and directions for future research are discussed.

Impact Of Noise And Working Memory On Speech Processing In Adults With And Without Adhd, Anne M. P. Michalek

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

Auditory processing of speech is influenced by internal (i.e., attention, working memory) and external factors (i.e., background noise, visual information). This study examined the interplay among these factors in individuals with and without ADHD. All participants completed a listening in noise task, two working memory capacity tasks, and two short-term memory tasks. The listening in noise task had both an auditory and an audiovisual condition. Participants included 38 young adults between the ages of 18-35 without ADHD and 25 young adults between the ages of 18-35 with ADHD. Results indicated that diagnosis, modality, and signal-to-noise ratio all have a main …

The Impact Of Computer-Assisted Sight Word Instruction On The Reading Skills Of Students With Significant Intellectual Disabilities, Colleen Frances Wood-Fields

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

There is a paucity of research identifying instructional methods that promote the reading development of students with significant intellectual disabilities (ID). This research study employed a single subject, multiple baseline design to evaluate the effects of computer-assisted sight word instruction employing constant time delay (CTD) procedures with incidental phonics and comprehension stimuli on the reading skill development of six elementary students with moderate ID and expressive language impairments. Study results suggest that the seven week PowerPoint slide show sight word intervention had very small to moderate intervention effects on receptive sight word identification. However, students learned some incidental letter-sound correspondences …

Parent Interventionists In Phonodialogic Emergent Reading With Preschool Children, Sabra B. Gear

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine an activity-based intervention, dialogic reading with embedded explicit phonological awareness strategies, applied as a preventive approach by parents in their home settings located within a culturally and ethnically diverse urban region. This study investigated the effects of training parents to employ a phonodialogic activity-based emergent reading intervention protocol to increase the phonological awareness skills of their 4- and 5-year old children. Helping young children learn phonological awareness skills are vitally important to the development of early reading (Anthony & Lonigan, 2004; Ziolkowski & Goldstein, 2008). This investigation provided an empirical examination of …

Establishing A Connection Between Quality Of Life And Pre-Academic Instruction For Students With Profound Multiple Disabilities, Jonna L. Bobzien

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

The field of special education has begun to concentrate its efforts on developing objectives and procedural strategies that promote a positive quality of life for students with profound multiple disabilities, while determining which educational strategies are the most appropriate. A multi-element design was used to compare the effects of two educational conditions, pre-academic skills instruction and functional life skills instruction, on the quality of life indicators of four students with profound multiple disabilities. Results indicated that all four students demonstrated a greater number of happiness indicators while receiving pre-academic instruction. Implications for current educational practices are addressed and directions for …

An Examination Of Section 504 In Practice: Dark Days For Student Rights, Ann S. Maydosz

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is a broadly worded statement that addresses discrimination in schools and other settings. Enacted at about the same time as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Section 504 has been used sparingly in elementary and secondary schools. Section 504 presents an opportunity to redress educational inequities for struggling students because it can provide support for students with disabilities and impairments not covered by IDEA. However, due to vague wording, unclear case law, and limited training for school divisions and practitioners, schools are unsure how to implement and to comply with Section …