Special Education and Teaching Commons^™

Teacher Perceptions On Student Portfolio Assessment And Implementation, Diane Caldwell

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the perceptions of teachers on portfolio development, implementation, and assessment for all students, specifically for students with disabilities. An interview was conducted individually with ten teachers working in diverse educational settings in southern Wisconsin.

A short survey gathered data on teacher demographics including gender, teaching experience, portfolio experience, and education. The interview protocol organized the questions into five sections: (1) Teacher Knowledge of Portfolios, (2) Developing and Implementing Portfolios, (3) Effectiveness as an Educational Tool and Influence on Instructional Practices, (4) Portfolio Legitimacy as an Alternative Assessment, (5) Student Roles and Responsibilities of Developing Portfolios.

The results …

What Do Families Want? Utah Families Respond To Current Early Intervention Practices, Amy Poole-Zisette

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This study surveyed Utah families who are currently enrolled in six different early intervention programs for their children 0-3 years of age with special needs. The purpose of this study was to examine how skills and qualities families felt were important in their early interventionists changed in order to determine what skills and qualities were most important to different demographics of families. Participating families filled out a questionnaire which rated the degree to which they found various skills and qualities important for an early intervention practitioner to possess, as well as the perceived frequency with which early interventionists used said …

Attitudes Of Counselor Educators Toward Persons With Disabilities, Adrianne Johnson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship of nine variables with attitudes of Counselor Educators toward persons with disabilities. The objective was to identify several potential variables that may influence attitudes. Nine variables were examined to test their relationship with attitude among the participants. An analysis was completed of the significance between each of the factors and attitude as measured by the SADP (Antonak, 1981). The independent variables were: a) age; b) gender; c) ethnicity; d) amount of contact with disabled persons; e) knowledge of disability legislation; f) comfort with type of disability; g) theoretical orientation; h) …

A Study On High School Graduates With Disabilities: How Is Their Transition From School To Adulthood?, Dawn M. Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the transition of high school students with disabilities after graduation, including their satisfaction with their preparedness for college, vocational school, employment options, and independent living, and the school's transition plan and services. A total of 125 high school graduates with disabilities, in the past five years, were included in this study and 50 were randomly selected for a phone interview to obtain their responses in detail. In this study, the effect of a student's transition plan and services was evaluated by the percentage of graduates attending college after high school and their …

Beyond The Classroom: The Implementation Of Creative Movement And Music In Schools For The Disabled, Rachel Katz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Creative movement and music are an invaluable means of creativity and expression. These art forms captivate children and nurture their growth, letting them experiment with body and sound. For students with special needs, the implementation of programs centered around creative movement, music, and dance are extremely beneficial. This study examines the effects of implementing a program based around creative movement and music in a school for the disabled in Samoa. This project is based around the observations and analysis of these activities and looks at the effects of such activities, improvements of the students, and the reactions of teachers and …

Culturally Adapted Mental Health Treatments: A Meta-Analysis, Derek Griner

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years psychologists have increased awareness and concern regarding the quality of mental health services provided to people of color. For several reasons clients of color often find traditional mental health services foreign or unhelpful. To help diminish obstacles faced by clients of color, several authors have advocated traditional mental health treatments be modified to better match clients' cultural contexts. Researchers have also begun investigating outcomes associated with culturally modified mental health treatments, often contrasting them with traditional mental health services. Recently numerous studies containing empirical data have been published. To date there has been no attempt to review …

Stability Of A Normal Heterosexual Female Response To Affinity 2.0, Kara L. Harmon

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the temporal stability of a normal heterosexual female response to the Affinity 2.0, a newly standardized viewing time (VT) instrument that purports to measure sexual interest. Participants were 120 female undergraduate and graduate students from a private university (mean age = 21.67 years) who met inclusion criteria of non-pedophilic interest/history, identified as “Exclusively Heterosexual" on the Kinsey Scale, and who took the Affinity 2.0 both at test and at retest (approximately two weeks later). Participants also filled out a questionnaire following the retest composed of demographic questions, a shortened version of …

Legislation, Litigation, Regulation, And Implementation Of Paraprofessional Supervision In School Settings, Sungti Hsu

Theses and Dissertations

Since the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2002 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) of 2004, there is a strong emphasis on the supervision of paraprofessionals who provide instructional assistance to classroom teachers. Scholars have stressed and litigation has highlighted the importance of paraprofessional supervision. However, there is limited information regarding the definition of supervision, who should and how that supervision should happen. The NCLB and IDEIA legislation leaves room for states to establish state regulation and litigation to interpret supervision. This study explored the current litigation and scholarly works concerning how …

The Effects Of Life Skills Instruction On The Personal-Social Skills Scores Of Rural High School Students With Mental Retardation, Mary K. Quigley

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The Effects of Life Skills Instruction on the Personal-Social Skills Scores of Rural High School Students with Mental Retardation. (Under the direction of Dr. Margaret Ackerman) School of Education, March, 2007. The current legislation No Child Left Behind mandates that students with mental retardation have access to core curriculum courses. A comprehensive life skills program, Life Centered Career Education (LCCE), was integrated into the curriculum of high school students with mental retardation. The LCCE program was utilized to educate students on Personal-Social, Daily Life skills, and Occupational lessons with an academic emphasis. The study measured improvements made in the personal-social …

Physical Inclusion Yet Curriculum Exclusion? School Staff Perceptions Of The Curriculum For Students With Learning Disabilities In Mainstream Secondary Schools In Tel Aviv, Israel, Tsafi Timor Ph.D., Neil Burton Ph.D.

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

The Israeli education system has, over the past decade, moved towards the adoption of a more inclusive approach to meet the needs of students with identified learning disabilities. As a consequence many more students in the secondary sector (12-18) are now more willing to acknowledge that they require additional support. The main focus of this research was to assess the extent to which school staff perceives that the curriculum in secondary schools is being reasonably adjusted to meet these learning needs. The study examines the views of head teachers, counselors and teachers in five secondary schools in Tel-Aviv area, Israel. …

The Role Of Personal Characteristics And Job Support In Retaining Teachers Of Students With Emotional And Behavioral Disorders, Bianca P. Prather-Jones Ph.D.

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

This study was a qualitative investigation of the reasons that experienced teachers of students with emotional and/or behavioral disorders give for remaining in that field. The findings of this study indicate that these teachers’ decisions to remain in the profession of teaching students with emotional and/or behavioral disorders were most strongly influenced by both having a sufficient level of support and having certain personal characteristics which they felt made them a good fit for this field. Implications of these findings suggest that changes in recruitment and advising, teacher preparation and professional development opportunities, and processes for providing support to new …

Effect Of Increased Academic Tone On Reading Achievement Of Sixth Grade Students With Disabilities, Brandi E. Walker

The Corinthian

This study investigated the effect of increased academic time on reading achievement of sixth grade students with varying mild disabilities (n=15) and compar~ their results to a control group (n=18). After receiving a year of intensive reading intervention, the experimental group scored better on the reading section of Georgia's Criterion Referenced Competency Test (M = 324, SD= 28) than the controls (M = 316, SD= 25). ANCOVA was statistically significant. The effect size was .33. The boys in the experimental group (M = 338, SD = 28) outscored the girls (M = 304, SD = 9). One way of increasing …

The Emergence Of Inclusion For Students With Disabilities In Ukraine, Sharon A. Raver

Communication Disorders & Special Education Faculty Publications

Since independence in 1991, Ukraine has struggled with restructuring its Soviet style educational system. The process has been sluggish and fraught with tension, resistance, and set backs, mirroring Ukraine's efforts to revamp its economy and regain productivity levels that characterized it prior to independence (Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, 2003). One of the initiatives currently being discussed is integration of students with disabilities with their nondisabled peers in educational and social settings. The debate has prompted heated discussions and caused some to recommend a reexamination of the special education system (Zasenko, 2004). This article discusses some of the initial …

The Star Protocol Process: Facilitating Collaboration Between Families And School District Personnel, Joan Nicoll-Senft Ph.D., Kathleen Whitbread

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

This paper describes a process that was developed to facilitate communication and collaboration between school district personnel and families of children with significant disabilities. The Star Protocol was designed to engage families and educators in a structured conversation in order to first collectively define the presenting issue(s) and then co-create an action plan. The Star Protocol draws from elements contained in both person-centered planning processes from the disability field and reflective protocols that have been developed to assist educators to improve their teaching. Each step of the protocol is detailed and an example of the use of the protocol is …

Inclusive Education In India, Kumar Sanjeev Ph.D., Khagendra Kumar Ph.D.

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

India is one of the few countries world over where the education of children with special needs doesn’t fall within the purview of human resource development ministry. It is generally the burden of the omnibus ministry of social justice and empowerment, the prime focus of which is rehabilitation, not education. In fact, till today it does not have education as part of its agenda and the issue of education of children with disabilities remains imperceptible, hidden from the public domain, a private problem for families and NGOs to deal with. It’s time that governmental agencies as well as mainstream institutions …

Welcome, Patricia R. Renick Ph.D.

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

Welcome to the Summer/Fall Edition, volume 2 edition 8, of The Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education. This edition continues the conversation concerning inclusive education, with an international voice.

Polly Haselden begins this issue with research into the use of co-teaching and inclusive classrooms. The results of co-teaching are positive except with African-American students. She addresses the issue of accountability and proposes further study.

Gyagenda Khamis follows with a study concerning the efforts for inclusive practice in developing nations. This study focuses on the interplay of theories of education and teacher change. He discusses the need for support from society in …

Vestibular-Evoked Myogenic Potentials, Julie A. Honaker, Ravi N. Samy

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Purpose of review: This article reviews the literature on vestibular-evoked myogenic potential testing, a short latency electromyogram evoked by high acoustic stimuli and recorded via surface electrodes over the sternocleidomastoid muscle. Applications and refinements of this technique are described for different pathologies and in adults and children.
Recent findings: Various techniques for electrode placement have been described to elicit a vestibular-evoked myogenic potential response, which has been clinically investigated in normal individuals, under pathological conditions, and in adult and pediatric patients. As vestibular-evoked myogenic potential amplitude is linearly related to the level of background activity of the sternocleidomastoid …

Modulation Of The Trigeminofacial Pathway During Syllabic Speech, Meredith Estep, Steven M. Barlow

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

The human orofacial system is richly endowed with low threshold, slowly adapting mechanoreceptors that respond to self-generated movements and external loads. The functional linkage between these afferents and the recruitment of motor units in the lower face during the dynamics of speech is unknown. Mechanically evoked activity in the orbicularis oris muscles was studied in young human female adults (N=10) during a lip force recruitment task associated with the repetition of the nonsense speech utterance “ah-wah.” This speech task involved the recruitment of perioral motor units against an elastic load. A skin contactor probe coupled to a servo-controlled linear motor …

Welcome, Patricia R. Renick Ph.D.

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

This edition continues the international conversation concerning the inclusion of students with articles from an author with close geographic ties to the Journal and ends with an author on the far side of the world.

This continued international research reveals the struggles and concerns to include all students in a free appropriate education that is now global in its efforts. Students with disabilities and from different ethnic backgrounds are now being included and the struggle for acceptance of the students as individuals with contributions to make to society continues.

This edition begins with an article from Dr. Thomas Knestrict from …

Changes In Preservice Teachers' Observations Of Middle Georgia Schools And Teacher Practice In The Inclusion Of Students With Disabilities From 1998 To 2006, Karen K. Brooks Ph.D.

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

This mixed method study found that teachers’ attitudes toward inclusion practices in the middle Georgia area in the past six years have become more inclusive. The study also showed that teachers’ attitudes about inclusion varied from elementary, middle and high schools; and those teachers’ attitudes do affect the implementation of inclusion. The participants were preservice teachers in elementary, middle, high school and special education classrooms. They completed a questionnaire to evaluate their field placements by rating their experiences and noting their observations of inclusive education in local schools where they were required to volunteer 20 hours weekly for about six …

"Plug-In" - What Is In A Name? Including Children With Disabilities In The World Of Educational Quality, Glenda Moss Ed.D., Jane Leatherman Ph.D.

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

This narrative research study examined aspects of an inclusive program for students with mild disabilities. The overall goal of the research was to evaluate the effectiveness of the inclusion program for an elementary school in a rural Midwest neighborhood while using the ongoing inquiry process to design and conduct professional development. This specific paper explores participants understanding of the history of inclusion in their school and the definitions of inclusion as presented through the practitioners’ words as they reflect about the “Plug-in” program. The multiple definitions provided in individual interviews of participants of “Plug-in” exhibited the complexities of the evaluation …

Children With Developmental Disabilities : Considering Positive Impact On The Family System, Tracie L. Self

Graduate Research Papers

Families who have at least one child with a developmental disability face challenges unique to their situation. With reported incidents of developmental disabilities on the rise, research parameters are being expanded to give more complete consideration of growing family needs. While the historical treatment of these families has often been negative, current research trends have begun to consider positive impact on families.

Positive impact includes areas such as quality of life, the child as a source of happiness, and an overall increase in personal family strength. The trend towards positivism is beginning to be reflected in theoretical understanding and in …

Preservice Teachers' Confidence In Teaching Students With Disabilities: Addressing The Intasc Principles, Amelia Jenkins Ph.D., Cecily Ornelles Ph.D.

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

A survey was developed from the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium’s (INTASC) ten principles that specify what all general and special education teachers should know and be able to do to teach students with disabilities. Two groups of students, those in a general education only and a dual elementary/special education program, were surveyed. Teacher candidates in the general education program scored significantly lower across all variables as compared to those who were completing the dual preparation program. These results, similar to studies of general education teachers, indicate general education preservice teachers need more training concerning students with disabilities.

The Social Participation Of Young Children With Developmental Disabilities In Inclusive Early Childhood Programs, Sue Walker Ph.D.

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

The study reports an analysis of the social integration of six focus children with developmental disabilities in four preschool programs and their relative competences in relation to the typically developing children in the early childhood programs. For the 85 children in the preschool programs, including the children with developmental disabilities, peer acceptance was measured with sociometric interviews; social competence was rated by teachers; and observations of play activities and social engagement were made during four free play periods. A social constructivist analysis focuses on how learning was supported in the settings and implications are drawn about how opportunities for learning …

Teachers' Perceptions On Implementation Of Rti, Steven Grant Tesar

Theses and Graduate Projects

Responsiveness to Intervention (RTI) is progressing its way through school districts and could be used as a new model for identifying learning disabilities, thus replacing the discrepancy model of learning disability identification. Although RTI was established within IDEA 2005 and the No Child Left Behind Act, school districts are slowly transitioning to thisinnovative, three-tiered process. The purpose of this study was to explore the implementation of RTI and introduce its use to elementary school teachers. Further, another goal of the study was to ascertain its connection to reading instruction and intervention already present in one elementary school and their views …

Audio-Assisted Reading With Digital Audiobooks For Upper Elementary Students With Reading Disabilities, Kelli J. Esteves

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

Audio-assisted reading has been used as an effective instructional intervention for students with learning disabilities (Carbo, 1978; Gilbert, Williams, & McLaughlin, 1996) and with struggling readers (Chomsky, 1976; Hollingsworth, 1978; Hoskisson & Krohm, 1974; Koskinen, Blum, Bisson, Phillips, Creamer, & Baker, 2000; Rasinski, 1990). The strategy involves reading along while listening to an audio recording of a fluent model (Evans, 1997).

The goal of this study was to compare the efficacy o f audio-assisted reading with digital audiobooks against the traditional practice of sustained silent reading in terms of reading fluency rates and reading attitude scores with upper elementary students …

“I Was Bitten By A Scorpion”: Reading In And Out Of School In A Refugee’S Life, Loukia K. Sarroub, Todd Pernicek, Tracy Sweeney

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

A refugee student’s literacy practices are examined. Discrepancies between his in-school and out-of-school literacies highlight the tension he and his teachers experience.

The purpose of this study is to examine a high school boy’s experiences in an ELL language acquisition program, at home, and in the work place. Within these contexts, we explore Hayder’s participation in literacy events in light of his identity as a Yezidi Kurdish refugee in and out of school.

Our study indicates that reading instruction works for students such as Hayder when certain support structures are in place. Teaching “styles” matter, as does the content of …

Process-Oriented Versus Task-Oriented Treatment For Children With Autism, Allison Ann Dery

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

In today’s society, Autism has become quite prevalent. New research has indicated that the prevalence of diagnosed Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) has increased (Ouellette-Kuntz, 2007). Research hasn’t yet concluded what specifically causes ASD (Mankoski et al, 2006). However, new theories and information from research indicates that it may derive from genetic reasons (Mankoski et al, 2006). Although scientists haven’t discovered the specific origin of the disorder, research has clearly shown the benefits of therapy in helping children with ASD. Research indicates that children in early childhood education programs and children diagnosed early (pre-verbal or beginning verbal stages) are more likely …

Childhood Apraxia Of Speech: A Parent's Guide, Alexis Mimikos

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Factor Structure, Internal Consistency, And Interrater Reliability Of The Early Childhood Behavior Problem Screening Scale, J. Ron Nelson, Michael Epstein, Annette Griffith, John Hopper

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

The current study examined the initial psychometrics of the Early Childhood Behavior Problem Screening Scale (ECBPSS; Epstein & Nelson, 2006), namely the factor structure and associated internal consistency of factor items of parent and teacher versions as well as interrater reliability. Data came from samples of preschool- and kindergarten- age children from 2 medium-size cities in the U.S. midwest. Separate analyses of the parent and teacher data revealed internalizing and externalizing factors, with Cronbach’s alphas ranging from .83 to .95. Parent and teacher interrater reliability coefficients ranged from .32 to .37. Overall, the results suggest that the 12-item ECBPSS Parent …