Special Education and Teaching Commons^™

Paraprofessional Training Project, Robert L. Morgan, G. W. Gassman, S. Rule, Charles L. Salzberg

Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Lesson 4: Academic Self-Management, Nancy K. Glomb

Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of Utah's Prereferral Intervention Mandate, J. Ron Nelson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The primary purpose of the present study was to evaluate the impact of Utah's prereferral intervention policy on the numbers of mildly handicapped students receiving special education services. Associated with this purpose, the study was also designed to identify the (a) types of prereferral intervention procedures available in school districts, (b) extent to which the procedures were implemented by schools, (c) effectiveness of the prereferral intervention procedures for maintaining students with handicaps in regular education, and (d) degree of prereferral intervention inservice training. In addition, LEA officials' perceptions regarding the prereferral intervention process were also examined.

It was expected, in …

Teaching Behaviorally Disordered Adolescents To Use Self-Management Skills For Improving The Completeness, Accuracy, And Neatness Of Creative Writing Assignments, Nancy K. Glomb, R. P. West

Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a self-management procedure known as WATCH that was designed to teach adolescents with learning and behavior problems to improve the completeness, accuracy, and neatness of their creative writing homework assignments. The procedure was based on four strategies: teaching students the fundamentals of behavior change, teaching students to use self-instruction, teaching students to set goals and implement plans to achieve those goals, and teaching students to accurately evaluate their work. Two high school students who were classified as behaviorally disordered were taught to develop plans for completing their creative writing …

The Effects Of Incidental Teaching On The Generalized Use Of Social Amenities At School By A Mildly Handicapped Adolescent, L. K. Oswald, Benjamin Lignugaris / Kraft, R. West

Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling Faculty Publications

Recently, researchers have begun exploring the effects of incidental teaching on the acquisition of socially appropriate behavior by handicapped children and adults. The results of these investigations suggest that incidental teaching may facilitate the generalization of newly trained social skills. This study used incidental teaching procedures to teach a 16-year-old mildly handicapped student to use social amenities in a resource classroom. In addition, generalization was assessed to another resource classroom and to an art classroom. The results of the study indicated that the student increased his use of social amenities in the training setting. Moreover, directions to use thank you …

The Effectiveness Of Language Intervention With Preschool Handicapped Children: An Integrative Review, Beverly Marie Poirier

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Controversies surrounding language intervention for preschool children have primarily focused on specific issues about which approach is better than another. However, most researchers consider language intervention to be effective--even though many studies yield conflicting findings. Previous reviews on language intervention added little to resolving the controversies because of inadequate sampling procedures and insufficiently addressing methodological issues. A more systematic review of prior research was needed to clarify the status of the language intervention literature. The purpose of this study was to conduct a comprehensive integrative review of the primary research on language using a meta-analysis approach to determine the relative …

Judgments Of Restrictiveness, Social Acceptability, And Usage: Review Of Research On Procedures To Decrease Behavior, Robert L. Morgan

Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling Faculty Publications

Research on professionals’, consumers’, and others’ judgments of the restrictiveness, social acceptability, and estimated frequency of use of procedures to decrease behavior were reviewed. General findings were that (a) respondents generally were consistent in rating procedures from least to most restrictive; (b) most respondents agreed that procedures judged more restrictive should be used as a last resort; (c) more restrictive procedures were not frequently used in practice; (d) respondents generally agreed that less restrictive procedures were more socially acceptable, and vice versa; and (e) the social acceptability of procedures changed as a function of contextual variables. Problems related to research …

The Generalization Of Treatment Gains Of Mildly Handicapped Adolescents From Special Education To Regular Education Classrooms Using Peer-Mediated Self-Management Procedures, Deborah J. Smith

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether a self-evaluation procedure paired with a token economy would be effective in reducing the off-task and talk-out behavior of behaviorally disordered and learning disabled high school students in a resource classroom. The study also examined the effects of the self-evaluation procedures when monitored by regular education peers on target students' behavior in their regular education English class. In addition to improving classroom behavior, another purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness of the self-evaluation procedures when paired with an academic goal-setting component on academic variables in both the …

Social-Vocational Skills Of Developmentally Disabled And Nonhandicapped Workers In Two Community Employment Sites, Benjamin Lignugaris / Kraft, Charles L. Salzberg, S. Rule, J. J. Stowitschek

Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling Faculty Publications

The social interactions of employees with and without developmental disabilities were observed in two community employment settings during work and breaks. Conversations were frequent and generally concerned work-related topics. Target workers different in how often they interacted with coworkers with and without developmental disabilities. During work, workers with developmental disabilities received commands more often than did their counterparts without developmental disabilities. Work-related information was requested more often from workers who were not developmentally disabled than from those who were. During breaks, requests for information were observed most often. Differences were found between workers in the frequency with which greetings, kidding, …

An Expert System To Train Secondary Special Education Teachers In Language Arts Instruction, Elizabeth Shafer Martindale

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Writing, a complex organizational process that makes excessive attentional demands, can be frustrating for handicapped students. These students seldom complete a finished written product because t he y are usually trying to master the mechanical aspects of writing . Teaching the secondary-aged student with learning problems to use and unify writing skills into a finished product may be an initial step in helping them acomplish more difficult writing tasks.

The purpose of this Research and Development (R & D) study was (a) to develop and validate an expert system which suggests teaching and management strategies for special education teachers and …

The Effects Of Reprimands And Work Observation With Pay Loss On The Maintenance And Generalization Of High-Quality Work By Developmentally Disabled Adults In Community Work Settings, Benjamin Lignugaris/Kraft

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of these studies was to examine the effects of reprimands, a mild disciplinary procedure, and work observation and pay loss, a severe disciplinary procedure on the maintenance of high-quality work among mild developmentally disabled individuals employed as housekeepers. In general, participants were more responsive to reprimands after work observation and pay loss was applied. In addition, the increased sensitivity to reprimands appeared to generalize to other work settings for one participant. While participants' work quality varied across conditions, their work rate was relatively stable. These results are discussed in terms of other research that examined the use of …

Teaching Minimum Based Competency Test Skills To Secondary-Aged Learning Disabled Students Through The Use Of Precision Teaching, Michael E. Byrnes

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This project investigated whether a precision teaching method used with learning disabled high school students (grades 9-12) could give them the skills needed to pass a minimum based competency test in the area of local, state and national government. The specific objective of this project was to determine if the use of precision teaching enabled the students to retain the facts needed to pass a competency test required for graduation. A multiple-baseline design across behaviors was used to show the effect of precision teaching in mastering the needed facts. The data from each baseline improved and surpassed the set criteria …

Social Interpersonal Skills Of Handicapped And Nonhandicapped Adults At Work, Benjamin Lignugaris / Kraft, S. Rule, Charles L. Salzberg, J. J. Stowitschek

Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling Faculty Publications

The pattern and content of social interactions of successful handicapped and nonhandicapped employees were observed in two employment settings. Data suggest that both groups were active social interactants who frequently worked cooperatively, yet interacted relatively infrequently with their supervisors. Implications for future research are discussed.

Social Interaction Patterns Among Employees In Sheltered And Nonprofit Business Settings, Benjamin Lignugaris / Kraft, Charles L. Salzberg, J. J. Stowitschek, E. K. Mcconaughy

Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling Faculty Publications

Recently, researchers have identified a number of social behaviors considered important for job success. Important social skills for entry-level employees include following instructions, clarifying instructions, providing assistance, and providing job-related information to co-workers (Buehler, 1969; Johnson & Mithaug, 1978; Rusch, Schutz, & Agran, 1982; Salzberg, Agran, & Lignugaris/Kraft, in press). Researchers have also recognized that these behaviors must be examined in the context in which they occur in the workplace (Berkson & Romer, 1980; Brody & Stoneman, 1977).

The context of a social interaction might be described in terms of the job setting in which the interaction occurs (e.g., restaurant, …

Generalization And Maintenance Of Treatment Gains Of Behaviorally/Emotionally Handicapped Students From Resource Rooms To Regular Classrooms Using Self-Evaluation Procedures, Ginger Rhode

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Students who are removed from their regular classrooms for treatment in special education classrooms commonly exhibit positive behavior gains in those settings. Typically, however, the gains do not generalize and maintain when the students are returned to their regular classrooms. The present study initially provided six Behaviorally/Emotionally Handicapped elementary school students with a short-term resource room treatment to bring their behavior under the control of a combination of procedures emphasizing self-evaluation. Once acceptable levels of appropriate behavior were maintained with only minimal external reinforcement and students accurately self-evaluated their own work and behavior, generalization and maintenance of behavior gains were …

The Use Of High School Paraprofessional Tutors With Programmed Tutorial Materials To Instruct Elementary Learners With Handicaps, Deborah A. Wingert

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This investigation focused on the examination of the effectiveness and costs of instructional delivery in using programmed tutorial materials by trained high school paraprofessionals to instruct learners attending the elementary self-contained and resource rooms. Forty tutees, divided equally into experimental and control groups, were administered two pre and posttest measures, the E-B Beginning Reading Placement Test and the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test (WRMT). Tutees in experimental groups received tutorial instruction from the paraprofessional tutors 25 minutes daily over the ten-week treatment period. An analysis of covariance was computed on the two measures to compare the academic performance between the experimental …

A Comparison Of Attendance Records Of Handicapped And Non-Handicapped Pupils In Two Weber County Junior High Schools, Jewell S. Bezowski

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A study was done of the attendance of 1,251 non-handicapped and 131 handicapped pupils in the Weber County, Ogden, Utah School District. This study was done at the request of the district administration. The basic questions were 1) would there be a difference in attendance of the handicapped and the non-handicapped and 2) would the reasons for absence differ as stated on excuses presented to the office.

Data for the entire 1978-79 school year were tallied and analyzed. There were no significant differences in the attendance rates of the two groups. Inspection of the data showed that there was a …

Field Testing A Pre-Service Needs Inventory For The Utah State Rehabilitation Services, Donald R. Uchida

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A pre-service needs inventory was field tested for possible use by counselors of the Utah State Division of Rehabilitation Services. The field testing was carried out by utilizing two groups of consultants for evaluating format, content, and usability of the inventory.

Examination of the data collected from the consultants indicated that a pre-service needs inventory was helpful during the intake process and in filling out the Individual Written Rehabilitation Program. It also indicated that the checklist was broad enough to gather sufficient information and that the instructions were adequate. Finally the data indicated that over 75% of the counselors participating …

Primary Prevention Of Child Abuse And Neglect: Identification Of High Risk Adolescents Prior To Parenthood, Stephen John Bavolek

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of the study was to develop a valid and reliable instrument designed to assess the parenting and child rearing attitudes of adolescents, Responses to the instrument would allow for the identification of "high risk" adolescents, i.e., those adolescents whose attitudes towards parenting and child rearing indicated a high potential for child abuse.

A review of the literature identified the following four parenting constructs most commonly associated with abusive parents: Construct A: Inappropriate parental expectations of the child; Construct B: Inability of the parent to be empathically aware of the child's needs; Construct C: Strong parental belief in the …

The Incidence Of Child Abuse And Neglect In The Population At The Utah State Industrial School, Jeff Clark

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

There has been some speculation that abuse/neglect may lead to later antisocial behavior by the abused/neglected child. It was the purpose of this project to determine the frequency of abuse/neglect in the population at the State Industrial School and to compare the types of crimes committed by abused/neglected delinquents with those delinquents not abused/neglected.

The subjects consisted of all the adolescents committed to the State Industrial School. During the research project, 159 adolescents were at the State Industrial School. Of those, 63 had data in their files indicating some form of abuse or neglect.

The findings of the study showed …

A Model Child Abuse And Neglect Reporting Policy And Procedure For Use By Utah School Personnel, Samuel Barry London

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A model child abuse and neglect reporting policy and procedure was developed which Utah school districts could use in preparing their own district specific policies and procedures for use by district personnel. The development of the model policy was carried out using two groups of consultants for evaluating the model's format, content, and usability. A third group of consultants, the superintendent or a designee in each of the 40 Utah school districts, was asked to evaluate the model policy for completeness, format, and adoptability. The evaluation was made with a questionnaire developed by the researcher and mailed to the 40 …

Special Education And Pupil Personnel Services Offered By The Utah State Board Of Education, Mark J. Bankhead

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

In the United States responsibility for education is a function of the state, local school districts derive their authority from the state legislature (Graham, 1962). For many years, especially during the 19th century, the only legislative provision for the education of handicapped children was the limited support of state institutions and residential schools. Recent federal court decisions have substantiated the right of handicapped children to equal protection under the law, including an education, and made state departments of education "solely responsible for providing handicapped children with a free and public education appropriate to their individual capacities." (Abeson, 1972, p. 11) …

An Assessment Of The Level Of Awareness Of Utah Public School Special Educators Concerning The State's Child Abuse Reporting Laws And Procedures, Charles Guy Riddle

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

An assessment was made to determine the level of awareness among Utah public school special educators concerning the state's child abuse reporting laws and procedures. The assessment was made with a questionnaire developed by the author and mailed to those teachers involved with programs for the learning disabled, the emotionally disturbed, and the trainable and educable mentally retarded. Accompanying each questionnaire was a letter of transmittal and a self-addressed, stamped, return envelope. Two mailings were utilized, fourteen days apart, to achieve a useable 81.9% return.

The data collected showed the following: (1) More than half of the population knew only …

Implementation Of Previous Research On Competency-Based Practicum In Special Education At Usu, Clifton W. Jenkins

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

There is a very real need for exploration and development of alternative approaches to special education (Lilly, 1971). Some have questioned the necessity of teachers receiving preservice training at teacher education institutions (Popham, 1971). Schwartz (1971) suggested that teachers need special training before being placed in a diagnostic-prescriptive teaching situation.

The recent trend is to integrate the special student into the regular classroom. This requires that special educators be trained to perform specialized assessment and provide remedial instruction for a variety of exceptional children in a way that is compatible with regular classroom routine and procedure (Burrello, Tracy, and Schultz, …

Educational Opportunities For Pregnant Students In Selected Utah Schools, Pearl Bergeson

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Education of women has been neglected in many ways throughout history. In recent decades educational opportunities for women have been greatly expanded. Women have become leaders in education and compose the majority of public school teachers. In spite of these strides in women's education, and growing educational provisions for both men and women, some special groups remain neglected.

This investigator is particularly concerned with one special group: School-age girls who are pregnant. Special educational needs of most school-age pregnant girls are not being met. These young women often face insurmountable difficulties in the schools.

Procedure For Identifying Emotionally Disturbed Freshmen At Utah State University: A Study And Recommendation, Carl D. Allen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The encouragement of individual self-improvement and enlightenment through the process of a formal education is basic to the social system of our nation. College and university administrators are therefore faced with a practical exigency for understanding those factors that are associated with academic achievement. (During the past several years there has been increasing evidence that college achievement is dependent upon something more than intellectual ability. From experience, the average counselor in a college or university has become aware of this fact time and time again. Some studies have gone further and suggested specific personality characteristics of successful and unsuccessful students. …

A Comparison Of A Math-Center And A Traditional Program In Mathematics With First Grade Pupils In The Roosevelt Elementary School, Barbara Jean Knecht Eldredge

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The phone rang at the home of the principal the evening of the first day of school. The voice on the telephone said, "I must talk with you-- tonight!" The principal arranged an appointment for 7:30 that evening in his office at the school.

A Study Of The Relative Importance Of Training On The Employability Of The Mentally Retarded As Rated By Employers And Educators In Cache County, Utah, John F. Hurst

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Relative differences in attitudes between educators and employers concerning training of the mentally retarded within Cache County were studied by analyzing their responses to 40 questions dealing with Academic, Personal, Social, and Vocational Skills.

Academic Skills were found to show no statistical significance in terms of attitude differences expressed by educators and employers as they relate to successful employability criterion.

Personal Skills were found to show no statistical significance in terms of attitude differences expressed by educators and employers tested as they relate to successful employability criterion.

Personal Skills were found to show no statistical significance in terms of attitude …

Teaching Reference Skills To Secondary Students With Reading Disabilities, Sheila Sunada Newlin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

How can I find a job by looking at a newspaper?

What articles does this magazine contain?

What is an index?

How do I find the meaning of this word?

These are problems which any high school student may encounter. Some students may be able to locate the answers immediately. However, the student with a reading disability may be greatly hampered and frustrated because of his lack of general skills in reading and locating information. This student may have difficulty finding facts from common sources of information both in and out of school.

An Experiment To Determine The Effectiveness Of A Remedial Reading Program With Students At Utah State University, Judith J. Ivarie

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of 20 hours of remedial reading instruction as compared with 20 hours of vocabulary instruction on a select group of university freshmen in the Remedial English Program. Three measures of effectiveness used were comprehension, rate, and effective reading rate. The effective reading rate was determined by computing the arithmetic product of level of comprehension and rate of reading. The results indicated that for this particular population, using the materials and instructional techniques described, neither group increased reading rate at the .01 level of significance. The effective reading rate of the …