Special Education and Teaching Commons^™

Use Of Online Hybrid Supplemental Teaching In Field-Based Teacher Education Programs, Hank Bohanon, Wenjin Guo, Christopher Dickman

Education: School of Education Faculty Publications and Other Works

University faculty who implement field-based teacher education programs experience challenges providing instruction for clinical, site-embedded university-based students. These issues can include a lack of common times to meet with students, limited access to meeting space to provide direct instruction, and changes in the school schedule. A number of these barriers may be addressed by adding elements of online instruction to traditional in-person classes, making the course, in effect, a hybrid one. In this study, the researchers analyzed the perspectives of university-based, special education focused instructors and clinical partners on the barriers, needs, benefits, and content related to implementing hybrid instruction …

Let's Count The Ways We Can Utilize Technology To Improve Instructional Practices For Individuals With Autism, Heather Coleman, Annemarie L. Horn, Selena J. Layden, Christian Coogle

Human Movement Sciences & Special Education Faculty Publications

To maximize instruction and learning outcomes, it is essential that educators and family members who support individuals with autism have adequate training and support required to implement evidence-based practices (EBPs) with fidelity. Research shows various coaching methods, including self-coaching and classroom-based feedback, yield positive outcomes in terms of increasing practical application and sustained use of EBPs. With the growing prevalence of autism, it is essential to find effective coaching methods that can be utilized equitably across geographic locations and learning environments. Fortunately, technology affords educators and others the opportunity to receive quality coaching and feedback without facing traditional barriers (e.g., …

Measuring Teachers' Knowledge Of Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury In The Classroom, Alana C. Moser

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

As more children reintegrate into the educational classrooms with traumatic brain injuries (TBI), educational teams must know the best ways to assist these students as they return to school. This predictive correlational study used multiple regression to analyze the linear relationship between the need for additional training of classroom teachers in the area of traumatic brain injury (TBI) based on the number of hours of TBI training teachers have received and their years of teaching experience. The sample included 74 elementary, middle, and high school general and special education classroom teachers throughout Texas. In this non-experimental study, participants submitted their …

Harmonica Pedagogy For The Full Inclusion Instrumental Music Classroom, Expanding Opportunities For Students With Disabilities, George Wallace Miklas

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The harmonica was once taught in American public schools coast to coast from the 1920s through the 1940s when imports of harmonicas were curtailed due to World War II's efforts. Since then, American public-school instrumental music curricula have long forgotten the only wind instrument that makes music when the student inhales or exhales. The harmonica provides a natural calming effect to the player and medical benefits, including being a tool for overcoming mental health issues and expressing needs and feelings without words. During the era when the harmonica was taught, pedagogy lacked uniformity. Consequently, confusion about the instrument's unique tuning …

Thinkmed: Inspiring The Future Of Stem, One Project At A Time, Steven Trinh, Lauren Dudley

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

ThinkMED is a nonprofit initiative offering a four-week curriculum specifically designed to develop critical thinking and encourage evidence-based decision making. Each week’s content material revolves around the use of a ThinkBOX science kit containing four (4) wet-lab experiments designed to supplement the curriculum. Each experiment is formulated to be inclusive of all California Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) K-5. At the end of each week, students get the opportunity to speak with university professors & scientists from a multitude of subject areas including chemistry, anatomy, computer science, physiology, and bioengineering. ThinkBOXes are donated to children and families who do not …

Thinkmed: Providing An Environment For Disadvantaged Students To Explore Stem, Steven Trinh, Lauren Dudley, Peter Chang

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

ThinkMED is a nonprofit initiative offering a four-week curriculum specifically designed to develop critical thinking and encourage evidence-based decision making. Each week’s content material revolves around the use of a ThinkMED Science Kit containing a wet lab experiment designed to supplement the content curriculum. Each experiment is formulated to be inclusive of all California Next Generation Science Standards K through 5. Contained within each week’s ThinkMED Science Kit is a unique QR code that directs the student to an interactive simulation of the experiment created by our team of computer scientists and graphic designers. At the end of each week, …

Academic Literacy For Deaf Postsecondary Students Through Integrated Reading And Writing Instruction, Sue Livingston

Publications and Research

Based on theoretical findings from the literature on the integration of reading and writing pedagogies used with hearing postsecondary students to advance academic literacy, this article offers a model of instruction for achieving academic literacy in developmental and freshman composition courses composed of deaf students. Academic literacy is viewed as the product of acts of composing in reading and writing which best transpire through reciprocal rather than separate reading and writing activities. Pedagogical practices based on theoretical findings and teacher experience are presented as a model of instruction, exemplified as artifacts in online supplementary materials and juxtaposed with practices used …

The Issue Of Unemployment Among People With Disabilities, Angelina C. Pagano

English Department: Research for Change - Wicked Problems in Our World

The rate of unemployment for people with disabilities continues to rise greatly above that of people without disabilities. The issue seems to be exacerbated by employer biases and concerns which are not supported in the face of evidence. A lack of employer education on disability related subjects causes this misconception among both employers and the public as a whole. To resolve the underlying problem of miseducation, an increase in the self-identification of people with disabilities is necessary to provide researchers with data to assist in the formation of a revised curriculum.

Reviewing Tools For Evaluating K-12 Instructional Materials Through An Implementation Lens, Kristen R. Rolf, Sarah E. Pinkelman, Kaitlin Bundock

Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling Faculty Publications

This review examined how state-created tools for evaluating instructional materials support local schools and school districts to address implementation when adopting instructional materials. We followed a priori, systematic procedures to conduct a web search and visit each state’s department of education website in search of instructional materials evaluation tools. After identifying all of the state-created instructional materials evaluation tools in the areas of English/language arts and mathematics, we reviewed the tools and coded them for evidence of alignment with the six implementation indicators defined by the Hexagon Tool (Metz and Louison, The Hexagon Tool: exploring context. Based on Kiser, Zabel, …

Encapsulating Educational Design For Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Lauren Praeuner

Honors Theses

This paper is a thesis/creative project hybrid split into two parts. First, it examines different aspects of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), the symptoms experienced by those on the spectrum, and the guidelines that parents, medical professionals, and educators should follow to ensure a holistic approach to the care and education of children with autism. The text also notes some of the considerations that designers should review when designing educational facilities for these individuals, as well as few precedents that successfully do so. The second part of the paper presents my team’s architectural studio project, contributed to by UNL students Lindsay …

Racism In A Broken Special Education System, Andrew P. Johnson

Elementary and Literacy Education Department Publications

This is an excerpt from my book, ‘Essential Learning Theories: The Human Dimension’ published by Rowman and Littlefield in 2021.

Disclaimer: The special education teachers I have had the privilege to work with over the years are making a difference lives of their students. However, they are often trapped in a system that is broken. This system puts limitations on what they are able to accomplish. In this chapter (article), I am referencing this larger system. I am not referencing any particular school, school district, university, or teacher preparation program.

A disability is not disorder or deficit; rather, it is …

Enhancing Pedagogy Through Acue Certification, Janelle Espling

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

As instructors, there is an incredible responsibility to deliver content that is true to the standards of which the institution requires. But not only is it necessary to deliver content, it is necessary to deliver content in a way that promotes student learning, promotes student success, and an engages higher levels of thinking. The Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) Course in Effective teaching practices provides instructors evidence based strategies that do just that. As the reflections display, applying these strategies achieves the University goal to support students towards learning, success, and higher levels of thinking.

Literacy: The Shape Of Something Possible, Miles Caudesch

Student Published Works

This article discusses the author's experience utilizing library resources to bond with a student as a substitute special education paraprofessional.

Promoting College And Career Readiness With Middle School Youth With Disabilities: Lessons Learned From A Curriculum Development Project, Meg Grigal, Lori Cooney, Debra Hart

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

Engagement and academic success in middle school is critically important to ensure students with disabilities complete high school and have a viable path to and through postsecondary education. Although most middle school students say they want to pursue postsecondary education or training, a significant proportion are not actively engaged in college and career readiness (CCR) activities in middle school. This transition in practice article highlights the importance of early CCR instruction for middle school youth with and without disabilities. Lessons learned from developing an online CCR curriculum and implementing it with middle school youth in inclusive middle school settings will …

Learning Ideas - Understanding Accessible Educational Materials (Aem) And Their Use: Tips For K-12 Educators, University Of Maine Center For Community Inclusion And Disability Studies

Professional Development

Students arrive in classrooms with a variety of skills, interests and needs. For many learners, the typical curriculum—including instructional methods, classroom materials, and assessments of knowledge—may contain barriers to educational participation and achievement. Students who are unable to access print materials face particular challenges. Accessible educational materials reduce barriers and provide rich supports for learning. By using accessible educational materials, educators enable all learners to gain knowledge, skills and enthusiasm for learning.

Incorporating Multiple Intelligences Within Instructional Strategies, Hannah Smith

Senior Honors Projects

Teachers know there are many different ways to include students’ intellectual strengths within their daily instruction. Howard Gardner (1983) proposed the idea of multiple intelligences to broaden the scope of an individual’s potential beyond simply an IQ measure. Gardner originally grouped the broad range of human abilities into eight comprehensive categories, or in other words multiple intelligences (MIs) including: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic. Multiple intelligences are used to present and assess students’ intellectual abilities in a variety of ways. This paper summarizes my study on how catering towards students’ measured MIs influence their academic engagement. …

Universal Design Across The Curriculum: Training For Students And Teachers, Trish Mackeogh, James Hubbard, Kieran O'Callaghan

Articles

Providing an inclusive educational setting for children with disabilities is essential if they are to truly benefit from mainstream education. Universal design (UD) provides a framework to develop our classrooms, materials and methods to accommodate diverse learners and students with special educational needs without the need to retrofit or remove the student from the classroom. This paper outlines the theory and the approach of two training courses on Universal Design developed for teachers and students.

Differentiating Instruction Through Math Stations And Literacy Centers, Olivia Bates

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

Differentiating instruction based on students’ readiness, interests, and learning profiles is essential for creating effective and meaningful learning activities. Identifying these characteristics allows teachers to meet students’ needs and engage them in learning. By differentiating instruction, educators target specific students’ strengths and challenges in developing lessons to support their understanding of content. Two useful strategies for differentiating math and literacy instruction include stations and centers. In stations and centers, students work on specific skills catered to their educational needs while rotating activities in flexible groups. This guide supports teachers in identifying strategies and understanding the benefits of differentiating math and …

University Rankings: Evidence And A Conceptual Framework, Jonathan G.S. Koppell, Jacob Fowles, H. George Frederickson

Publications from President Jonathan G.S. Koppell

University ranking has high public visibility, the ranking business has flourished, and institutions of higher education have not been able to ignore it. This study of university ranking presents general considerations of ranking and institutional responses to it, particularly considering reactions to ranking, ranking as a self-fulfilling prophecy, and ranking as a means of transforming qualities into quantities. The authors present a conceptual framework of university ranking based on three propositions and carry out a descriptive statistical analysis of U.S. and international ranking data to evaluate those propositions. The first proposition of university ranking is that ranking systems are demarcated …

A Descriptive Case Study Examining The Perceptions Of Haitian American Parents And The Perceptions Of Their Children’S Teachers On The Parents’ Involvement In A Structured Parent Intervention Program, Kristina M. Taylor

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Parental involvement is legally mandated requirement in schools across the United States, and prevalent in special education legislation. However, methods for increasing and promoting parent involvement of minority subgroups in low socioeconomic areas are scarce. The purpose of this study was to develop, implement, and describe Haitian parents’ perceptions of their involvement in a structured parent intervention program and to describe the perceptions of their children’s teachers concerning the parents’ involvement in the program.

In this study, the researcher used a descriptive qualitative case study methodology. All participants in the 5-month program implementation were interviewed at three points throughout the …

Experiences Of Neurotypical Siblings Of Children With An Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Qualitative Exploration, Stacie R. Keirsey

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

In recent years, the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been on the rise, prompting a simultaneous increase in scientific study regarding cause, impact, and intervention (Hughes, 2009; Ravindran & Myers, 2012). Research has proposed advances in the treatment of the individuals diagnosed and focused efforts on scholastic, parental, and professional intervention and supports. However, the siblings of ASD children have largely been neglected in this scientific investigation. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore neurotypical siblings’ experiences in living with a child diagnosed with ASD. Seven adolescents were selected using criterion, convenience, and snowball sampling. …

Learning Families: Intergenerational Approach To Literacy Teaching And Learning, Unesco Institute Of Lifelong Learning, 58 Felbrunnenstr., 20148 Hamburg, Germany

IACE Hall of Fame Repository

Within a learning family, every member is a lifelong learner. A family literacy and learning approach is more likely to break the intergenerational cycle of low education and inadequate literacy skills, particularly among disadvantaged families and communities. The selection of case studies presented in this compilation show that for an intergenerational approach to literacy to be successful and foster a culture of learning, it is necessary to provide sustained teacher training, develop a culture of collaboration among institutions, teachers and parents, and secure sustained funding through longer-term policy support. The examples from twenty-two different countries also provide evidence of the …

Global Perspectives On Recognising Non-Formal And Informal Learning:Why Recognition Matters, Unesco Institute Of Lifelong Learning, 58 Felbrunnenstr., 20148 Hamburg, Germany

IACE Hall of Fame Repository

This book deals with the relevance of recognition, validation and accreditation (RVA) of non-formal and informal learning in education and training, the workplace and society. It examines RVA’s strategic policy objectives and best practice features as well as the challenges faced and ways forward as reported by Member States. Special attention is paid to the analysis of institutional and political requirements that give genuine value to the recognition of non-formal and informal learning; the role played by RVA in education, working life, voluntary work and social inclusion; and the interests and motivations of all stakeholders, as well as the importance …

Transforming Our World:Literacy For Sustainable Development, Unesco Institute Of Lifelong Learning, 58 Felbrunnenstr., 20148 Hamburg, Germany

IACE Hall of Fame Repository

This compilation offers global examples of innovative and promising literacy and numeracy programmes that link the teaching and learning of literacy to sustainable development challenges such as health, social equality, economic empowerment and environmental sustainability. This publication is a timely contribution to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which promotes the engagement of stakeholders to ‘ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.’

Designing A Data-Tracking System For A Private Therapeutic Day School, Olin J. Bittner

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The Children's Institute on Mercer Island (CHILD) is a private therapeutic day school in the Seattle area serving students in elementary and secondary education. Their stated mission is to "provide innovative school programs and therapies that promote social, emotional and academic development for children with special needs." In the fall of 2012 they engaged in a program evaluation that in many respects resembles a needs assessment in order to explore and improve aspects of their functioning. Through preliminary evaluation processes, including dialogue with CHILD's Leadership Team and a survey of internal stakeholders, an area of interest in student mental health …

Bibliotherapy: An Approach To Treating Mental Illness In The Classroom, Erin M. Curry

Senior Honors Theses

The prevalence of adolescent mental illness has increased at an alarming rate over the past two decades. Due to a lack of accessible mental health care and the stigmatization of mental illness, parents of children with these disorders are often reluctant to seek help. These children often resort to negative self-coping methods among which include substance abuse, violence, and suicide. These negative self-coping methods have a harmful, lasting impact on the individual as well as the surrounding community.

Bibliotherapy, which harnesses the meditative power of books, can teach helpful coping skills to students with mental illness. When effectively utilized in …

Social Compass Curriculum: Three Descriptive Case Studies Of Social Skills Outcomes For Students With Autism, Louanne E. Boyd, Deborah M. Ward

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

The Social Compass Curriculum (SCC) was investigated for its effectiveness in improving core social skills in three descriptive case studies of students with autism. Treatment fidelity of the SCC was also measured in the school setting. The Social Responsiveness Scale and the Autism Social Skills Profile were completed by parents to measure pre- and postintervention social skills for three students aged 8 to 11 years who participated in the present multisite pilot study. Fidelity of implementation data were collected via a checklist during observations for three educators who implemented the intervention. Results indicate that the SCC improved core social deficits …

Accommodating Accommodations: How A Small Liberal Arts College Certification Program Redefines The New Ell State Mandates, Brent C. Talbot, Kaoru Miyazawa

Sunderman Conservatory of Music Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Sexualized And Dangerous Relationships: Listening To The Voices Of Low-Income African American Girls Placed At Risk For Sexual Exploitation, Ann Cale Kruger, Erin Harper, Patricia Harris, Deshelle Sanders, Kerry Levin, Joel Meyers

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Publications

Introduction: Youth from low-income, urban backgrounds face significant challenges to maintaining a positive developmental trajectory. Dangerous neighborhoods and stressed relationships are common in these settings and threaten adaptation by weakening the natural assets that undergird resilience. African American girls in these contexts face specific, multiple risks, including gender stereotyping, violence, and sexual exploitation. The commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a multibillion-dollar industry victimizing over 1 million children around the globe.1 The typical victim in 1 city in the southeastern United States is an African American girl 12-14 years old. There has been little research investigating the characteristics of …

2nd Global Report On Adult Learning And Education:Rethinking Literacy, Unesco Institute Of Lifelong Learning, 58 Felbrunnenstr., 20148 Hamburg, Germany

IACE Hall of Fame Repository

Drawing on data gathered from 141 countries, the second Global Report on Adult

Learning and Education reviews progress in implementing the Belém Framework for Action, the set of recommendations made by governments at the Sixth

International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI) in Belém in December

2009. The report adopts a global perspective, describing the commonalities and differences of Member States as they work to improve their adult education

sectors.

This second Global Report has as its special theme ‘Rethinking Literacy’. UNESCO

hopes that this will help to position literacy as the foundation for lifelong learning. The report …