Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Special Education and Teaching Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 11 of 11

Full-Text Articles in Special Education and Teaching

Advance Organizers In Secondary Special Education Resource Classrooms: Effects On Student Engagement Behaviors, Lisa King Aug 2013

Advance Organizers In Secondary Special Education Resource Classrooms: Effects On Student Engagement Behaviors, Lisa King

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Student engagement and appropriate behaviors are essential for effective instruction in secondary special education classrooms. Research suggests that proactive engagement strategies and interventions can have a greater effect on overall classroom behaviors than negative consequences. A single case experiment measured the effects of expository advance organizers on academically engaged behavior, respectful behavior, and disruptive behavior in the special education self-contained resource classroom. The single-case A-B-A-B design for this study evaluates these components of student engagement during academic instruction over a four-week period. Three secondary special education small-group resource Language Arts classes from a Northeast Georgia high school comprised the subject …


Impact Of Remedial Reading Interventions On A Secondary Student With Emotional Behavior Disorder: A Case Study, Lucinda Cooper Jun 2013

Impact Of Remedial Reading Interventions On A Secondary Student With Emotional Behavior Disorder: A Case Study, Lucinda Cooper

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Students who struggle with emotional behavior disorders (EBD) often enter high school with reading levels far below those of their peers. At the secondary level, these at-risk students must regularly read and write proficiently in order to demonstrate their literacy achievement and potential for success either in college or on the job. As a result, many EBD students choose to drop out of school instead of daily feeling that they do not measure up. This instrumental qualitative case study examined the impact of the five essential components of reading instruction, teacher modeling, repeated readings, and progress monitoring on the disruptive …


A Collective Case Study Of The Perceptions And Implementation Of Self Advocacy From Four Educators Of Students With Disabilities, Heather Heap Apr 2013

A Collective Case Study Of The Perceptions And Implementation Of Self Advocacy From Four Educators Of Students With Disabilities, Heather Heap

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative study identified four educators' perceptions and their implementation of teaching advocacy to students with disabilities within a public secondary educational setting. Federal mandates, such as Public Law 94-142, requested educators including administrators, counselors, special educators, and general educators to help facilitate self advocacy skills in the public educational setting. Using observations, comprehensive interviews, and available documentation, this collective case study identified four educators' experiences (an administrator, a counselor, a special educator, and a general educator) in developing student self advocacy as it pertains to the educators' perceived role in working with students with disabilities. This study identified their …


High School Teachers' Perceptions Of Inclusion, Carmen Wiggins Oct 2012

High School Teachers' Perceptions Of Inclusion, Carmen Wiggins

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

With the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind, school systems must ensure students with disabilities receive instruction in general education classrooms. Implementing the inclusion model has been challenging for many school systems as the systems try to find ways to meet the needs of their diverse student populations. The purpose of this quantitative casual-comparative and correlational study is to identify high school teachers' perceptions of inclusion. One hundred seventy-three high school teachers from six school districts located in a southeastern metropolitan area completed a survey to allow the researcher to examine if a relationship existed between teachers' perceptions of inclusion …


Effectively Ministering To Congregants With Attention Deficit Disorder (A.D.D.), Jason Whitehurst Jul 2012

Effectively Ministering To Congregants With Attention Deficit Disorder (A.D.D.), Jason Whitehurst

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

A survey of recent medical studies show a rise each year in the number of people diagnosed with A.D.D., or Attention Deficit Disorder. However, pastors have not been adequately educated on how to effectively communicate, counsel, and minister to those with A.D.D. The goal of this project is to educate pastors and church leaders about the nature of A.D.D., the statistics, the symptoms, so that they may better understand how to minister to these people in their congregation. Medical statistics, findings, and new approaches to preaching and ministering will be utilized in this project to fulfill the goal.


The Co-Teaching Journey: A Systematic Grounded Theory Study Investigating How Secondary School Teachers Resolve Challenges In Co-Teaching, Sharon Gerst Jul 2012

The Co-Teaching Journey: A Systematic Grounded Theory Study Investigating How Secondary School Teachers Resolve Challenges In Co-Teaching, Sharon Gerst

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this systematic grounded theory study was to explain how problems inherent in co-teaching relationships are resolved by secondary school special education and general education teachers at an urban school district in Eastern Iowa. The participants were general and special education secondary school teachers involved in effective co-teaching partnerships. Data was collected from five partnerships, utilizing focus groups, interpersonal behavior theory questionnaires, classroom observations, and individual interviews. The researcher analyzed the data using systematic grounded theory procedures of open coding, axial coding, and selective coding to develop a theory grounded in the data collected about the process by …


Accommodations In Homeschool Settings For Children With Special Education Needs, Patricia Koelsch Stoudt Apr 2012

Accommodations In Homeschool Settings For Children With Special Education Needs, Patricia Koelsch Stoudt

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative study was designed to examine how homeschooling parents in Pennsylvania make the determination to engage with public school districts to accommodate the special education needs (SEN) of their children. This phenomenological study used direct interviews with 30 Pennsylvania families who are homeschooling children with SEN. Data were analyzed by using the constant comparative method. The study found that even though Pennsylvania's law allows families and school districts to work together to provide services to address the children's SEN, this does not happen often. Most families in this study utilized services from private resources. These private services were paid …


The Pros And Cons Of Inclusion For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders: What Constitutes The Least Restrictive Environment?, Lindsay J. Vander Wiele Nov 2011

The Pros And Cons Of Inclusion For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders: What Constitutes The Least Restrictive Environment?, Lindsay J. Vander Wiele

Senior Honors Theses

In the contemporary educational system, the issue of full inclusion has brought about much discussion and debate. Because the principle of the least restrictive environment (LRE) mandates that students with special needs should have the opportunity to be educated with non-disabled peers to the greatest extent appropriate, the necessary components of inclusion impact all educational circles without exception. In fully inclusive settings, students with disabilities are provided with the services and supports appropriate to their individual needs within the general education classroom. Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are defined as neurodevelopmental disorders resulting in impairments in communication and social interaction. In …


Teacher Perceptions Of Disproportionality Of Minorities In Special Education, Kristy Henry Park Oct 2010

Teacher Perceptions Of Disproportionality Of Minorities In Special Education, Kristy Henry Park

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The intent of this study was to determine if special education teachers had certain perceptions regarding the disproportionate amount of minorities in special education classes. I examined special education teachers' awareness of the disproportionality, their causal theories, and the effectiveness of Response to Intervention (RTI) to regulate disproportionality. I implemented three different data collection methods to measure the teachers' perceptions: an initial face-to-face interview session, a written survey, and additional interview questioning. Participants in the study included 11 special education teachers from three middle schools in Northern Georgia. Ten of the 11 teachers admitted awareness of the problem of disproportionality, …


School Achievement For Students With Behavioral Disorders, Steven Wayne Burnett Feb 2010

School Achievement For Students With Behavioral Disorders, Steven Wayne Burnett

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of the descriptive qualitative study was to examine the successful strategies, accommodations, and interventions utilized for students with emotional behavior disorder (EBD) and the influences they have on the students' academic achievement (GPA, passage rates of courses, passage rates of state mandated assessments, student satisfaction, attendance rates, and disciplinary infractions) and glean greater understanding of instructional strategies and environmental differences alternative schools offer to students with EBD. In addition to a parent and a student with EBD, an alternative school staff was analyzed in rich detail to glean understanding of environmental influences. Data were collected using document analysis, …


Inclusive Learning Environments: An Analysis Of Early Intervention Service Options For Preschoolers With Special Needs, Mimi L. Heath Jan 2009

Inclusive Learning Environments: An Analysis Of Early Intervention Service Options For Preschoolers With Special Needs, Mimi L. Heath

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In the quest to restructure educational programming toward higher student outcomes for preschoolers with special needs, professional educators are continuously challenged to provide with integrity a free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restricted environment (LRE) as mandated by law. This study analyzed the effectiveness of an inclusive programming model for preschoolers with special needs by examining achievement gains in the developmental domains of adaptive, motor, and cognitive skills as assessed by the Battelle Developmental Inventory, Second Edition. Analysis of an inclusive learning environment for six preschoolers with special needs as guided by IEP committee recommendations occurred. In order …