Special Education and Teaching Commons^™

Educated Guesses That Affect Access To Educational Resources Beyond Early Childhood, Pamela Colton

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Misconceptions about cognitive development cause damaging assumptions that affect access to academic intervention after middle childhood, especially for older students who also have significant disabilities (Aos, Lieb, Mayfield, Miller, & Pennucci, 2005). In this study, possible sources for reduced expectations for post-middle childhood students are discussed and evaluated. Brigance test scores of seven adult students labeled with severe cognitive impairment are documented at the beginning of a regular school year, and then compared to scores at the end of the school year. Target students received regular school based speech language therapy and occupational therapy, as well as direct academic instruction …

Transition Programming For Students With Learning Disabilities From High School To College, Christine H. Georgallis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have shown the importance of effective transition services for students with learning disabilities entering college. Few studies, however, have explored the perceptions of students with learning disabilities going through the transition process while pursuing postsecondary options. To address that gap, this study analyzed how students with learning disabilities perceive the effectiveness of their secondary transition services and preparedness for college. The conceptual framework was based on Rogers's theories of learning, which suggest learning includes feelings and emotions as well as cognitive development. Education should promote the type of learning that leads to this personal growth and development. A phenomenological …

An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Of Caregivers' Support For Their Preschool Children's Language And Social Skills Development, Sheri Stein Blum

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Some children have difficulty communicating due to a lack of age-appropriate language and social skills. Researchers have explored how music and language share features that shape language processing. The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological analysis was to explore the experiences of caregivers of preschool children who participated in a music-based program and to understand their perspectives related to children's language and social skill development. Learning style and sensory integration processing theories were used as framework to provide foundations of skills in this study. Research questions addressed caregivers' choices related to this program for their children, their experiences of their children's …

Effectively Preparing Special Education Teachers: Success In Urban Environments, Gabrielle Siegenthaler

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This literature review examines the level of preparedness of pre-service and novice special education teachers, specifically teachers pursuing education careers within urban school districts. Research studies were reviewed to indicate what teaching methods are regarded as effective in relation to behavior management. It was found that using culturally responsive teaching has been proven to be effective within urban settings. Studies were also examined to determine if first-year teachers were well prepared and what teacher preparation programs could possibly implement to ensure that future educators are well equipped to effectively teach and manage the growing special education population of students in …

Special Education Professional Standards: How Important Are They In The Context Of Teacher Performance Evaluation?, Sara B. Woolf

Publications and Research

Teacher performance evaluation represents a high stakes issue as evidenced by its pivotal emphasis in national and local education reform initiatives and federal policy levers. National, state, and local education leaders continue to experience unprecedented pressure to adopt standardized benchmarks to reflect and link student achievement data to formal teacher performance evaluations. No teacher performance evaluation measures have been developed for use with special education teachers or the settings in which they teach. Dedicated focus is needed to ensure that adopted evaluation measures are sensitive to the specific expertise reflected in the practices of specialty teachers and valid for use. …

Early Childhood Teacher Perspectives Of Developmentally Appropriate Use Of Computer Applications, Heather S. White

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is little evidence in the literature that early childhood (EC) teachers are using developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) in implementing computer applications in their classrooms. The purpose of this study was to identify EC teachers' perspectives about the use of developmentally appropriate computer applications and to identify their perspectives on strategies for implementing change toward greater use of developmentally appropriate computer applications. The study was based upon Joseph and Reigeluth's conceptual framework of systemic change processes, which provides educators with the foundation to achieve sustainable changes. The research questions that guided this qualitative case study were designed to obtain teachers' …

A Mixed-Methods Investigation Of Heterogeneously Grouped Inclusion Students At Southeast High School, James Paul Ferry

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Inclusion education led to academically-homogeneous grouping of students at southeast high school. Administratively, the decision was made to increase rigor, inclusion students would be grouped heterogeneously in senior economics classes. Guided by Dewey's pragmatic theory, the purpose of this sequential, explanatory, mixed method study was to investigate whether a significant difference exists in the course passing rates, end-of-course test (EOCT) scores, and graduation rates between inclusion students in heterogeneous classes and those in homogeneous classes and how participants perceived the grouping. Archival data (N = 42) on student instructional grouping, passing rates, EOCT scores, and graduation rates were analyzed using …

Understanding The Stressors Of Low Socioeconomic Rural Parents Of Autistic Children, Wendi Marissa Dunham

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit high parental stress which may be caused by parent-child behaviors, child behaviors, and parent distress. Awareness and understanding of ASD is critical for parents and educators to connect students with support services and resources. The purpose of this bounded, descriptive case study was to identify perceived parental stressors and to determine the primary stressors of parents with low socioeconomic status who are raising a child with ASD in a rural area. The foundation of family systems theory framed this study. Ten parents raising a child with ASD were purposefully selected …

Teacher's Attitudes Towards Instruction Of Students With Disabilities In An Inclusive Setting, Beverly Nunes

Master's Theses

According to some studies, there is a trend in inclusion of students with disabilities in general classroom. And the key element to deal with this special education issue is the general education teacher. The present research surveyed the variables that would predict teachers' attitudes towards inclusion of students with disabilities in inclusive settings. The variables include years of service, teachers' attendance to special education courses in their program preparation, differentiated instruction, and previous experience with inclusion. Eighty general education teachers from public schools in a very diverse area of Southwest Michigan, answered a survey with 31 questions involving the Scale …

Vocabulary Word Instruction For Students Who Read Braille, Mackenzie E. Savaiano, Donald L. Compton, Deborah D. Hatton, Blair P. Lloyd

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

The association made between the meaning, spelling, and pronunciation of a word has been shown to help children remember the meanings of words. The present study addressed whether the presence of a target word in braille during instruction facilitated vocabulary learning more efficiently than an auditory-only instructional condition. The authors used an adapted alternating treatments single-case experimental design with three students with visual impairments who read braille, collecting data on definition recall and spelling during each session. Data on definition recall were used to determine mastery. The results of this study are not consistent with previous findings with students who …

Tolerance Of The Vocalog Vocal Monitor By Healthy Persons And Individuals With Parkinson Disease, Jeff Searl, Angela M. Dietsch

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Objective: To assess subject tolerance of extended use of the VocaLog^TM vocal monitor (VM), a device marketed to log calibrated decibel sound pressure level.

Study Design: Prospective between-subjects design including two age- and sex-matched groups: individuals with Parkinson disease (IWPD) and healthy persons.

Methods: After an initial session to calibrate the device and demonstrate its use, participants wore the VM during waking hours for five consecutive days. At a second visit to return the VM, participants completed a survey and a short interview regarding their experience with and perceptions of the device.

Results: Those with …

Validation Of The Symptoms And Functioning Severity Scale In Residential Group Care, Matthew C. Lambert, Kristin Duppong-Hurley, Thomas J. Gross, Michael Epstein, Amy L. Stevens

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Tests that measure the emotional and behavioral problems of children and youth are typically not normed and standardized on youth diagnosed with disruptive behavior, particularly those youth in residential care. Yet professional standards mandate that before instruments are used with a specific population the psychometric properties need to be studied and re-established: specifically, psychometric properties, including validity, need to be evaluated (AERA, APA, & NCME, 1999). The purpose of the present study was to assess the validity characteristics of the Symptoms and Functioning Severity Scale (SFSS; Bickman, et al., 2010), a widely used test developed for use in outpatient clinics, …

Using Visual Scene Displays As Communication Support Options For People With Chronic, Severe Aphasia: A Summary Of Aac Research And Future Research Directions, David R. Beukelman, Karen Hux, Aimee R. Dietz, Miechelle L. Mckelvey, Kristy S.E. Weissling

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Research about the effectiveness of communicative supports and advances in photographic technology has prompted changes in the way speech-language pathologists design and implement interventions for people with aphasia. The purpose of this paper is to describe the use of photographic images as a basis for developing communication supports for people with chronic aphasia secondary to sudden-onset events due to cerebrovascular accidents (strokes). Topics include the evolution of AAC-based supports as they relate to people with aphasia, the development and key features of visual scene displays (VSDs), and future directions concerning the incorporation of photographs into communication supports for people with …

White Matter Differences Between Multiple System Atrophy (Parkinsonian Type) And Parkinson’S Disease: A Diffusion Tensor Image Study, L. Ji, Yingying Wang, Nanjing Medical University, J. Shi

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

The clinical differential diagnosis between the Parkinson variant of multiple system atrophy (MSA-P) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) is difficult in early stages. To identify objective markers for differential diagnosis, we combined the novel tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) and region of interest (ROI) analyses for the first time to investigate three groups (15 MSA-P, 20 PD patients and 20 controls) with diffusion tensor imaging data. By TBSS, we performed pairwise comparisons of fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity, radial diffusivity (RD) and axial diffusivity maps. The clusters with significant differences between MSA-P and PD were used as ROIs for further analyses. FA/RD …

Formative Assessment And Writing: A Meta-Analysis, Steve Graham, Michael Hebert, Karen R. Harris

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

To determine whether formative writing assessments that are directly tied to everyday classroom teaching and learn- ing enhance students’ writing performance, we conducted a meta-analysis of true and quasi-experiments conducted with students in grades 1 to 8. We found that feedback to students about writing from adults, peers, self, and com- puters statistically enhanced writing quality, yielding average weighted effect sizes of 0.87, 0.58, 0.62, and 0.38, respectively. We did not find, however, that teachers’ monitoring of students’ writing progress or implemen- tation of the 6 􏰑+ 1 Trait Writing model meaningfully enhanced students’ writing. The findings from this meta-analysis …

Childhood Hearing Loss And Its Stress On Hearing Families, Julie Macker

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Childhood disability increases parental stress. Research on the laterality of childhood hearing loss or presence of a cochlear implant(s) as it relates to stress in hearing parents was limited before this study. The purpose of this quantitative study was to identify relationships between the independent variables of laterality (unilateral and bilateral) of a childhood hearing loss or presence of a cochlear implant(s) and the dependent variable of stress in hearing parents. Family systems theory provided a framework for viewing each member of the family as a part of a whole, whose life events, feelings, and actions affect all of the …

Using Hand-Held Technologies To Support The Transition Of Youth With Intellectual Disabilities Into Adult Roles, Janet E. Green

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

People with intellectual disabilities (ID) struggle with social interactions that are vital to the development of a high quality of life. Although evidence exists to support the use of technology as cognitive aids for youth with ID, little exists on the use of common hand-held devices for social support. The use of such devices has the potential to level the playing field in adult social roles, helping people with ID make and keep relationships. It is unclear how applications like video chatting might be used to support transition-age youth with ID in adult social roles. Using a framework of modeling …

General Education And Special Education Teachers' Attitudes Toward Inclusion, Carmen Yvette Charley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Educational reformers have mandated inclusion of students with disabilities in the general education classroom. However, general education teachers often do not regularly receive training in inclusive practices, and this lack of training can affect teachers' attitudes and levels of self-efficacy, which may ultimately affect their ability to successfully teach students with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to examine the difference in general education and special education teachers' attitudes towards inclusion of students with disabilities and if levels of self-efficacy (overall and 3 subscales), gender, education level, teacher type, and grade level taught were predictors of Teachers' Attitudes Toward …

Impact Of Professional Learning Community On Coteaching, Lalita Karpen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A professional learning community (PLC) is designed to increase pedagogical knowledge and encourage collaboration amongst teachers. Many schools are using a variety of PLCs to increase collaboration and improve teaching and learning. The study school implemented a PLC, but collaboration and effective coteaching practice have not improved. Guided by social constructivism and social cognitive learning theories, the goal of this research was to explore coteachers' perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs about the overall effectiveness of the PLC coteaching model to improve instructional strategies. A qualitative case study with semistructured interviews to collect data and a narrative analysis for reporting was utilized. …

Examining The Social Interactions Of Young Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorders In A Virtual Environment, Jennifer Gallup

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological study examined the social interactions during online game play in a virtual environment for five young adults with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who attended a large metropolitan university, enrolled in the first 60 credits of a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) field of study. Given the evolution of technology and opportunities to socialize in virtual communities, it is becoming increasingly important to understand how young adults with ASD assimilate into new social opportunities that provide supports for extraneous variables such as face-to-face situations. As research begins to emerge on virtual environments there is little research addressed …

The Perceptions And Experiences Of General Education Teachers Toward Cotaught Inclusion Classes, Beth Milhoan Feustel

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This project study addressed the low rate of general education teachers volunteering to coteach inclusion classes at a large urban high school in southeastern Georgia. This low volunteer rate caused administrators at this school to assign general education teachers, who did not opt in, to coteach inclusion classes. Teachers' efficacy was negatively impacted when they were required to teach classes that they did not volunteer to teach. The model of cooperative teaching advanced by Bauwens, Hourcade, and Friend's work served as the conceptual framework for this intrinsic case study. The purpose of the study was to examine how general education …

Self-Perception As A Predictor Of Academic Performance In Adolescents With Learning Disabilities, Kirk Lamar Rhodes

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Adolescents often suffer with negative feelings and low self-esteem, leading to an overall negative self-perception. Prior researchers have linked adolescent self-perception, academic performance, and learning disabilities, but more research is required. This quantitative study examined relationships between self-perception of reading, writing, spelling, and mathematics competence. In addition, global self-worth was examined through the Harter-Renick Self-Perception Profile for Learning Disabled Students (HRSPP). Student academic performance as measured by Stanford Achievement Test-10 Total Reading (SATrd) and Total Math (SATmh) scores among adolescents with learning disabilities were also examined. Student records from the Green School were gathered (n = 128), with their perceived …

How Inclusion Is Defined And Implemented In Elementary Classrooms, Bailey Jo Wright

Honors Program Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the various interpretations of inclusion and how we can implement it to a greater and more successful degree in elementary schools. Individuals with disabilities are discriminated against in many education systems, where additionally the law is not being upheld. This thesis provides an accessible, coherent framework for practicing teachers and future educators to gain a better understanding of the definitions of inclusion, the barriers they may encounter, and the best practices to guide them towards inclusive success.

A Preliminary Investigation Of The Relationship Between Direct Behavior Rating And The Conners 3 Teacher Rating Scale - Short Form, Jessica Stodden Stumme

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

A growing body of evidence shows that Direct Behavior Rating (DBR) should continue to be examined as a method of behavior assessment to inform decisions about universal screening as well as progress monitoring for group or individual interventions. Researchers have looked toward DBR as a potential method to capture levels of problem behavior for use in tiered problem solving models. Most research on DBR has focused on comparing its ratings against systematic direct observation. The current study examined the correlation between DBR ratings of academic engagement and disruptive behavior with the Conners 3-Teacher Short (Conners 3-T(S)) form. This is important …

Classroom Management Practices For Male African American Students With Behavioral Disorders, Jamie Helton Hubbard

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Male African American students with disabilities in a South Carolina school district have received a greater proportion of discipline referrals and exclusionary consequences than have other demographic groups. The purpose of this sequential mixed methods study was to explore classroom management strategies that may reduce this disproportionality. The conceptual framework was Skinner's applied behavior theory, which states that to change behavior, the environment must be changed. The qualitative guiding question investigated teacher beliefs about best classroom management practices. The quantitative research questions were intended to provide a description of discipline preferences. Quantitative data were collected through the Behavior and Instructional …

An Adapted Shared Storybook Reading Program Implemented In Inclusive Preschool Classrooms: An Investigation Of Its Use And Effectiveness, Andrea Golloher

Faculty Publications

The Pathways to Literacy reading program (Lee, Mims, & Browder, 2011) has been demonstrated to be effective at increasing both engagement and comprehension during shared storybook reading for students with exceptional needs. To date, research on Pathways to Literacy has been limited to students in early elementary school rather than preschool, which is when shared reading is usually emphasized as part of the general education curriculum. In these investigations, the reading program has been administered in one-on-one instructional settings, often in special education classrooms. No existing research has examined the ability of participating students to generalize newly learned skills to …

Preparedness Of Pre-Service Teachers For Inclusive Education In The Solomon Islands, Umesh Sharma, Janine Simi, Chris Forlin

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Recent policy changes in the Pacific Islands have seen a strong emphasis on implementing inclusive education. Preparing teachers for this change in education will be essential if they are to have the knowledge, skills and understandings so that they can become inclusive practitioners. Pre-service teacher education will play a critical role in supporting this process. This paper considers the perceptions of pre-service teachers undertaking the first year of the Diploma of Teaching in the one university in the Solomon Islands. This is the only university that prepares teachers to work across the entire archipelago. Data are collected pre and post …

Finding Childcare For The Disabled Child: The Process And Decisions Through The Primary Caregiver’S Lens, Misty Dawn Torres

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

In this qualitative, Grounded Theory study, the researcher examined the process that primary caregivers go through when selecting a childcare placement for children who have special needs. Data were collected through participant interviews with primary caregivers (n=10) who responded to recruitment notices posted on (1) listservs by organizations directly affiliated with early intervention and child care services; (2) local Internet classified sites; and (3) through word of mouth. The research demonstrated that caregivers who learned of their child’s disability in a prenatal diagnosis or prior to an adoption identified with having a greater sense of choice and control over their …

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 …

Professional Counseling For Children With Sensory Processing Disorder, Emily Goodman-Scott, Simone F. Lambert

Counseling & Human Services Faculty Publications

Sensory processing disorder is a complex neurological disorder affecting approximately 5–17% of the population, yet professional counselors often misunderstand and misdiagnose this disorder. A child’s academic, emotional and social functioning can be substantially impacted by sensory processing disorder; early diagnosis and treatment is crucial. In this article, the authors describe the disorder, discuss its impact on children and their families, and provide recommendations and resources for both mental health counselors and school counselors to utilize when serving this unique population with special needs. A case study is included, in addition to suggestions for treatment collaboration and advocacy on behalf of …