Special Education and Teaching Commons^™

From The Editors..., Todd Pagano

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

No abstract provided.

Sensory Preference And Learning Preference In Children With Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder And Dyslexia, Jennifer Gomez, Hope Mccarroll, Lisa Griggs-Stapleton

Spring 2022 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

Is there a connection between a child’s sensory preferences and their learning preference? Sensory processing disorders are a heavily researched topic in current literature and many children with sensory differences present with learning disabilities, but research is lacking concerning any connection between sensory processing and learning. This research study examines children’s sensory preferences and learning preferences and denotes trends between these two variables. 15 participants were recruited from the Accommodated Learning Academy in Grapevine, Texas, a private school for students 1st-12th grade with learning delays. The sample of 15 participants consisted of 12 females and 3 males, aged 11-15 years …

Early Intervention Occupational Therapy Program Development Abroad, Hattie Fleming, Karen Park

Spring 2022 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

This program aimed to address the disparity in access to early intervention (EI) occupational therapy (OT) services which exists in certain communities abroad. This project worked with The Inspiration Center (TIC) in Belize, a community identified through needs assessment as having limited access to OT services, to expand current programming to include EI OT services, to increase understanding of the role of OT, to advocate for the OT profession within Belize, and to increase access to EI services for families with children with disability and/or developmental delay within the country. An emphasis was placed on caregiver coaching and culturally responsive …

Individuals With Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities And Meaningful Employment, Bethanie Hernandez, Angela Labrie Blackwell, Evan Edward Dean

Spring 2022 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

Individuals with disabilities tend to face poverty at a higher rate compared to those without disabilities (Kelley, 2016). Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) benefit from a variety of supports to work in their communities. Not providing services to address these needs can cause increased unemployment rates and dependence on others. Currently, there is a lack of attention by OTP on supporting individuals with IDD (14-26 years) when acquiring meaningful employment. Increasing OTP’s awareness about the relationship between self-determination and employment can promote more services. Self-Determination is about acting or causing things to happen in your life as you …

Issue In Equity For Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Students With Complex Support Needs: A Comparative Analysis Of District-Level Student Data, Rosalia Pacheco

Special Education ETDs

Research has shown that English learners with disabilities should have access to both special education and Title III services as required by law (de Valenzuela et al., 2006, 2018, 2016, 2022; de Valenzuela & Copeland, 2018; Kangas, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2021). This quantitative study uncovers issues of educational inequities related to: (a) the identification of these students as English learners; (b) their access to Title III services; and (c) the instructional settings in which they are educated for culturally and linguistically diverse students with Autism (ASD), Developmental Delay (DD), Intellectual Disability (ID), Multiple Disabilities (MD), or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). …

Developing A Growth Mindset For Teachers Of Secondary Students With Learning Disabilities, Jonathan L. Wilkins

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the Ernst and Sara Lane Volgenau College of Education at Morehead State University by Jonathan L. Wilkins on April 12, 2022.

Diagnosed With Autism Spectrum Disorder In Adulthood: The Often Overlooked Subdivision Of Individuals In The Autism Community, Kayla L. Piacquadio

Honors Student Research

Awareness surrounding the increasing prevalence of autism spectrum disorder and Asperger syndrome has become much more widespread in recent times. Children are diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum more than ever. However, the key here is the word “children.” We focus on the behavior, development, and well-being of our children for good reason.

While the oversaturated focus on children is entirely justified, this focus overshadows a minority within the autism community that deserves the same attention and recognition. This minority group consists of the adults who have gone years without a formal diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder or Asperger …

Collaborating With Parents With Disabilities To Create Accountability In The Special Education System, Brooke Crosby, Julia Lutz-Lawlor, Kelsy Farley, Khadra Geelle

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Minnesota is a state that prides itself on prioritizing education. As such, all school personnel must fulfill their obligation to ensure meaningful access for parents with a disability. As part of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA), the development of an Individualized Education Program (IEP) is required under both federal and state special education law. In the special education IEP process, parental involvement is mandated to ensure the child's best interest. Research shows parents’ involvement in their children’s education can lead to an improvement in grades, performance, literacy, attendance, and homework completion. Disabled parents must be engaged as …

Serving Students With Disabilities Who Are Culturally And Linguistically Diverse In Rural Communities: Technology Access Is Essential, Benjamin Gallegos, Lisa A. Dieker, Rebecca Smith, Nicole C. Ralston

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

Before the COVID-19 pandemic changed the educational landscape, students with disabilities, especially those who are culturally and linguistically diverse, and their special education teachers who worked and attended schools located in rural communities faced barriers most schools and communities experienced nationwide. As schools shifted to remote virtual learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, rural schools were already at a disadvantage with the lack of resources with technology access. The call for addressing shortcomings in the various digital technology supports towards enhancing the teachers’ delivery of content and the students’ academic outcomes has been a continual challenge to address. This paper …

Trauma-Informed Teaching: Professional Development For School Staff, Heather Roesinger, Chelsea Williams, Tammy L. Hughes

Graduate Student Research Symposium

Trauma is defined as a response to a negative event that includes both an emotional and physiological component. Two thirds of children experience some form of a traumatic event by the age of 16 (Cavanaugh, 2016). Many youth with disabilities, particularly emotional and behavioral, have experienced trauma and show visible signs of difficulty in the classroom (Cavanaugh, 2016). Trauma-informed schools take a strengths-based approach and focus on building safe, positive environments and relationships. Research has provided evidence that a trauma-informed approach can be instrumental in supporting positive outcomes of children exposed to trauma, but school staff feel ill-equipped to support …

Examining Teacher Self-Efficacy Of General Educators In Inclusive Settings In Northwest Arkansas Secondary Schools, Marleah Hannaford

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine teacher self-efficacy among general education teachers in inclusive settings in the Northwest region of Arkansas. The study further explored factors that contribute to the perceived level of efficacy, and the role of teacher education programs and professional development sessions in the level of self-efficacy. For the quantitative portion of this study, 101 general education teachers from six districts in Northwest Arkansas completed a survey with Likert-style questions. Qualitative data were provided through six follow-up interviews among participants that participated in the survey. Results from the study indicate that the overall …

Care Through The Lens Of Special Education Teachers, Lisa Vale Rebimbas

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Through the theoretical lens of care, this qualitative case study explored special education teachers’ perceptions of how they exhibit care and key factors that support or threaten their enactment of care. Interview and lesson plan data sources were collected from six middle and high school special education teachers in a high performing New Jersey district and analyzed using a priori and descriptive coding strategies for thematic generation. Key findings were teachers perceived academic success as multifaceted, teachers perceived care as interactive, relational, and intentional. They identified organizational factors such as professional learning communities (PLCs) and leadership as supports for care …

How Exemplary Special Education Administrators Lead From The Heart Using Mark Crowley’S Four Principles (Building A Highly Engaged Team, Connecting On A Personal Level, Maximizing Employee Potential, And Valuing And Honoring Achievements) To Accomplish Extraordinary Results In Their Schools, Aimee Barnard

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe how exemplary district-level special education administrators lead from the heart using Mark Crowley’s four principles (building a highly engaged team, connecting on a personal level, maximizing employee potential, and valuing and honoring achievements) to accomplish extraordinary results in their organizations.

Methodology: This qualitative phenomenological study explored the lived experiences and specific ways in which district-level special education administrators implemented and used Crowley’s (2011) four principles of heart-led strategies to understand the specific experiences and actions of the district-level special education administrators in relation to Crowley’s leading from the heart framework. …

Autism To Higher Education: Tools For Parents, Amber L. Jordan, Shannon Emery

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Over the years, a marked increase in the number of students with High Functioning Autism (HFA) attending colleges and universities has occurred. This can be attributed to: (a) the passage of legislation such as the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA); (b) revisions to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM); and (c) early intervention and treatment (Pillay, 2012). Although the increase in enrollment may be an indicator that a more welcoming climate for individuals with HFA has been created, many institutions are not adequately prepared to accommodate these students and parents have …

The Benefits And Challenges Of Rural Special Education Teachers: Improving Teacher Retention In Rural Districts, Olga Karadimou

College of Education & Professional Studies (Darden) Posters

Per the U.S. Census Bureau (n.d.), a rural area is “any population, housing, or territory NOT in an urban area.” Specifically, a rural area is defined as the area of 5 to 25 miles from an urban area (Geverdt, 2015). Nationally, rural school districts represent nearly 20% of the student population in the United States, but limited attention is given to the unique needs of these areas by national policymakers (Johnson et al., 2018). Rural schools face multifaceted challenges that often impede educational opportunities and post-school outcomes of students, including those who receive special education services (Erickson et al., 2012; …

Teaching Writing To Middle School Students With Disabilities: A Merc Research Brief, David Naff, Jennifer Askue-Collins, Julie S. Dauksys

MERC Publications

This research brief by the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium explores peer reviewed literature about effective strategies for teaching writing to middle school students with disabilities. It answers the following questions: 1) Why is it important to teach writing? 2) What is the nature of the challenge in teaching writing to middle school students with disabilities? 3) What interventions help with teaching writing to middle school students with disabilities? and 4) What strategies are utilized in the MERC region for teaching writing to middle school students with disabilities?

Computer Assisted Delivery Of Discrete Trials To Teach Early Literacy Skills To Students With Significant Intellectual Disabilities, Tammi Waltjer-Haverly

Dissertations and Theses

This study was designed to determine the effectiveness of a computer assisted instruction to deliver discrete trial training of academic skills to students with significant intellectual disabilities. Based upon the principles of Applied Behavioral Analysis, discrete trial training was identified as an evidence-based practice in teaching skills to students with disabilities. The criteria for single-subject case research within a multiple baseline design across behaviors and participants was implemented for this study. The individual subject and the repeated measures across skills served as the experimental control to verify results. The multiple baseline design evaluated the effect of the intervention computer assisted …

“I Just Stay In The House So I Don’T Need To Explain”: A Qualitative Investigation Of Persons With Invisible Disabilities, Gillian Hendry, Claire Wilson, Mairi Orr, Rebecca Scullion

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Research has shown that persons with disabilities continually face discrimination. More research attention has focused on individuals’ experiences of visible disability, despite evidence that there are higher numbers worldwide of people with invisible disabilities. As such, persons with invisible disabilities can feel under-represented in disability literature. A qualitative study was conducted to address this. Twenty-five persons with an invisible disability were recruited to take part in focus groups and interviews aimed at understanding the lived experience of invisible disability on social life and within the workplace. Data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis, identifying themes of (1) …

Cultivating Family Empowerment In Schools: The Experiences Of Marginalized Families In Special Education, Rachel-Marie F. Sinco

Honors Theses

The provision of special education services to special needs students is largely upheld by federal and state policies and regulations, such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) which ensures that children with disabilities have the opportunity to access a free appropriate public education (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 2004). However, marginalized families of low-income and linguistically diverse backgrounds continue to face barriers and challenges to effectively participate in their child’s education and secure the necessary and appropriate services for their child. Family Empowerment Centers on Disability (FECs) in California provide a policy solution to assist families navigate …

All Scientists Should Write Poetry: Creative Writing As Essential Academic Practice, Mariya Deykute

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Creative writing in undergraduate academics has often been regarded as an elective practice that has benefits primarily for students who plan to pursue creative or literary majors. However, poetic inquiry specifically offers crucial benefits to STEM students, owing both to the transformative nature of poetic process and to the way poetic inquiry can stimulate innovative, ethical, multilingual and interdisciplinary growth. The author frames the issue through individual experience of teaching poetry to STEM undergraduates in the context of a rich multilingual environment, in which many students are fluent or proficient in several languages. The author argues that due to the …

Front Matter - Jaepl Volume 27, Wendy Ryden

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Front Matter

Spring Break In Chernobyl: Urbex, Apocalypse, And Materiality In Writing Classrooms, K Shannon Howard

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

The practice of urban exploration, or urbex—an activity in which we confront and document landscapes of ruin and make meaning from them—acts as a focal point through which students may investigate and write about the world surrounding them by gaining new perspectives of physical spaces and objects that often go ignored in daily living. More importantly, urbex inspires writing that responds to existing problems in our world (resource scarcity, lack of sustainability, and environmental trauma) while also helping students to conceptualize a better one.

Toward A Decolonial Creative Writing Workshop: Mbari As A Case Study In Examining Intercultural Models For Arts Education, James W. Ryan, Steve Westbrook

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

The creative writing workshop has been the subject of sustained critique for its tendency to reproduce dominant cultural norms, especially in spaces where admissions to the workshop do not reflect local ethnic and cultural diversity. In an effort to aid the search for alternate models/foundations for creative writing instructions, the authors turn to the history of mbari, a cultural practice among the Owerri Igbo of Nigeria, which was briefly adapted into the pedagogical foundation for a visual arts workshop conducted between the time of Nigeria’s independence and the onset of its civil war. In its original form, mbari was a …

Jaepl Vol 27 Table Of Contents, Wendy Ryden

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

TOC

A Meditation: Why Teach?, Joonna Smitherman Trapp

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

What makes teaching a vocation that continues to draw smart and talented people even though the pay can be less-than-great, the workload damaging, and the rewards from societal and political opinion currently nonexistent? Frederick Buechner, a presbyterian minister, talks about the notion of vocation in his well-known book, Wishful Thinking. Our English word “vocation” comes from vocare, a Latin word meaning “to call,” and Buechner further defines the word as signifying “the work” we are “called to do” (118). I’m always amazed at my university that teachers haven’t heard about this idea. To them, vocation smacks of career-mindedness and doesn’t …

Introduction: Finding Meaning On The Road To Hell, Wendy Ryden

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

SPECIAL SECTION: CREATIVE WRITING IN HIGHER EDUCATION: WHERE ARE WE GOING? WHERE HAVE WE BEEN? Introduction: Finding Meaning on the Road to Hell

Grading, Naomi C. Gades

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Poem

Jaepl Volume 27, Wendy Ryden

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Full Issue

Dear Search Applicant Committee, Naomi C. Gades

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Poem

Werk At Play: Exploring The Creative Play Of A Graduate Student Writer To Reimagine Graduate Writing In The Humanities, Michelle Lafrance, Jay Hardee

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

This nontraditional essay poses the imaginative possibilities of fostering creative, intellectual play in graduate classes in the Humanities. Exploring the case study of a vlog produced by a student in a graduate seminar, the essay traces how the hybrid, multimodal writing—writing that meshes the digital conventions of creative and scholarly genres—in the course enabled this student to “reimagine” the purpose and stock moves of effective “scholarly” writing as the student blended voices, identities, and genres in his work. Creative play can be understood as an important pedagogical tool that allows graduate students to resist coercive and exclusionary processes of socialization, …