Special Education and Teaching Commons^™

Proposal For Recruiting Candidates To Join The Special Education And English As Second Language (Esl) Combined Program, Sungti Hsu, Dr. Lynn K. Wilder

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The key to a successful recruitment for this project is to identify individuals who are qualified, and the best way of distributing information about the Culturally Responsive Special Education and ESL Combined Program. According to the personnel preparation grant written by Drs. Prater, Marchant, and Wilder in the department of Counseling Psychology and Special Education, qualifying individuals must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents and be either ethnically diverse, bilingual (Spanish preferred), or have a disability. The grant was awarded by the U. S. Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services in 2004 for the length of …

Improving Conditions For Families With Children With Disabilities, Mallory Grover, Dr. Lynn K. Wilder

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Many families with a child with disabilities undergo much stress. Lack of communication and delayed development, along with other factors are causes of problem behavior among children with a disability. In order to prevent problem behaviors from elevating, support service intervention is key.

Spirituality And Eating Disorders, Bridger Jensen, Dr. Scott Richards

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Eating disorders are approaching epidemic proportions, being purported in more than 5% of adolescent girls and young women, and up to 20% of college women (Lelwica, 1999, p. 3-4). These numbers are shocking and demonstrate the prevalence of eating disorders. In many cases, eating disorders result in death. One of the most severe and life-threatening eating disorders, anorexia nervosa, is “an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a minimally accepted body weight, intense fear of weight gain, and distorted body image” (Dubé, 2004).

Instructional Effectiveness Of An Integrated Theater Arts Program For Children With Disabilities, Rachel Reynolds, Heidi Abraham

Journal of Undergraduate Research

My project was to see if students with or without disabilities could improve in their memorization skills and other skills needed for the learning process through practicing and performing a theatrical play. The purpose for this study is to see if theatre could be used like occupational therapy to help stimulate the students in many areas. I tested their improvements by doing some memorization exercises with the children at a daycare before working on a play with them to see where they stood as well as after to check their improvements.

Orca Final Report, Kimberly Peet

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The final report of my ORCA project is one of success! I was able to complete a thorough meta-analysis of 39 previous studies on the effectiveness of multicultural training on a therapist’s competence in dealing with ethnically diverse cliental.

Understanding The Support Needs Of People With Intellectual And Related Developmental Disabilities Through Cluster Analysis And Factor Analysis Of Statewide Data, Yuwadee Viriyangkura

Theses and Dissertations

Through a secondary analysis of statewide data from Colorado, people with intellectual and related developmental disabilities (ID/DD) were classified into five clusters based on their support needs characteristics using cluster analysis techniques. Prior latent factor models of support needs in the field of ID/DD were examined to investigate the factor structure of the support needs construct using confirmatory factor analytic procedures.

Schooltipline: Online Incident Reporting, Maren Dennis, Dr. Betty Ashbaker

Journal of Undergraduate Research

SchoolTipline.com is a website where students can report issues of school violence, drugs, or other problems to administrators. This service provides students, parents, and administrators with a two-way communication system that aids in reporting and dealing with school safety issues. Students can access School Tipline 24/7 and anonymously report any problems they see or experience at school directly to school administrators. After receiving the report, administrators can respond to student reports and take preventative action to effectively help students and create a safe school environment.

Meta-Analysis Of Client-Therapist Ethnic Matching: Client Outcomes, Serena Bohn, Dr. Timothy B. Smith

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of this research was to conduct a meta-analysis of past and current psychological studies in order to assess what trends have occurred within the field of multi-cultural psychology in regards to the effect on client outcomes through matching clients and therapists based on race or ethnicity. A meta-analysis is the study of the results of other studies. Articles and manuscripts are collected and the data from within is analyzed and converted to a standard statistic, allowing for an overall look at what the collection of data implies. Positive client outcomes were defined in this study as a decrease …

Multicultural Counseling Issues: Ethnic Groups’ Attitudes Towards Mental Illness, Rose Hirt, Dr. Timothy B. Smith

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In the world of counseling, there are many issues that arise due to differences between cultures. These differences are particularly apparent in how different cultural groups view mental illness. There have been studies done on this topic, but the literature must be compiled and compared in order for any overall effect to be measured. My research set out to begin compiling this literature.

Limited Interest In The Orca Grant And Their Causes, Jordan Dille, Dr. Betty Ashbaker

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The BYU Office of Research and Creative Activities (ORCA) provides BYU undergraduates with the unique opportunity to plan and conduct funded research in an area of interest or field of study. No other University provides this type of experience to its students; yet each year only a low percentage of students apply for an ORCA research grant. The aim of my research was to discern the reason for this. My goal was to discover how many students are aware of the ORCA opportunity, and then discern why they either did or did not apply. Through this research I hoped to …

Book In A Bag: An Integrated Approach To Social Skills Instruction, Jennae Thomas, Dr. Michelle Marchant

Journal of Undergraduate Research

There is a much needed improvement in American school children’s behavior skills. Evidence of this concern comes from the increase in disciplinary referrals, suspensions, and expulsions (Sugai, G., Horner, R., Dunlap, G., Hieneman, M., Lewis, T., Nelson, C., et al 2000). With more effort and time directed at implementing these disciplinary actions, teachers are required to spend less time fulfilling their lesson plans. However, by including social skills in the normal curriculum, teachers would be able to use a universal preventive measure of educating, thus lowering the need for disciplinary intervention later. The research supports this offensive measure or “front-loaded” …

Developing Their Refuge: A Study Of The Infrastructures Behind Programs For Children With Disabilities In Developing Nations, Ashley Dean, Barbara Smith

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Penilla can be found along a back road, half way up a steep hill on the outskirts the urban city Iași, Romania. From the outside, the building’s yellow panels look much newer than the blanket of cement that seems to cover every other structure within a 20-mile radius, which is intriguing itself; yet the building’s novelty goes far deeper.

Graduation Rates Of Latino Students: Contributing And Deterring Factors, Rebecca Richards, Dr. Betty Ashbaker

Journal of Undergraduate Research

A major concern among educators is the consistently high number of dropouts among Latino students. While the graduation rate has improved over the last decade, this improvement has been marginal. According to a study done in 2001, 43.4% of Hispanic students ages 16-24, born out of the country, were high school dropouts. Equally disturbing, a study performed by the Na-tional Center for Education Statistics confirmed that among Hispanic students, by their sopho-more year, 11.2% had already dropped out.

Characterization Of Autism Spectrum Disorders In Adolescent Novels, Katherine Way, Tina Dyches

Journal of Undergraduate Research

We examined ten juvenile books using a qualitative, descriptive design, to evaluate the characterization of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in adolescent novels (Dyches & Prater, 2005; Dyches et al., 2001). To be included in the study, the books were required to meet four criteria. They must have (a) included a main or supporting human character with an ASD; (b) been recognized as a novel written for teenagers or young adults, in story format, including biographies written in story format; (c) been published initially in English between 2007 and 2009; and (d) been published by a commercial publisher rather than through …

Book In A Bag: An Integrated Approach To Social Skills Instruction, Katrina Anderson, Michelle Marchant

Journal of Undergraduate Research

There is a much needed improvement in American school childrens’ behavior skills. Evidence of this concern comes from the increase in disciplinary referrals, suspensions, and expulsions (Sugai, G., Horner, R., Dunlap, G., Hieneman, M., Lewis, T., Nelson, C., et al 2000). With more effort and time directed at implementing these disciplinary actions, teachers are required to spend less time fulfilling their lesson plans. However, by including social skills in the normal curriculum, teachers would be able to use a universal preventive measure of educating, thus lowering the need for disciplinary intervention later. The research supports this offensive measure or “front-loaded” …

Meeting The Needs Of Gifted Students By Providing Year-Long Professional Development On Differentiated Instruction, Barbara M. Rollins

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study focused on how teachers' planning and teaching methods changed after they acquired more confidence in applying differentiated strategies in their instructional units. Teachers were given a questionnaire about their skills, qualifications and teaching beliefs comparing teaching general education students and gifted education students within the typical classroom setting. Then teachers received several professional development opportunities within the school year exposing them to different forms of differentiation. Time was given between trainings so that teachers would have ample time to integrate what they learned into their planning and instructional design. At the end of the study, teachers were given …

Predicting Performance On The Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment For Reading For Third Graders Using Reading Curriculum Based Measures, Robert S. Kirkham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite flexibility waivers granted to states by the United States Department of Education from some provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act, our nation’s public schools continue to struggle to improve reading proficiency as measured by high stakes assessments. To reach state targets for reading proficiency schools must use data at the earliest point possible to inform instructional strategies and identify students at risk of failure. The response to intervention model holds promise for improving reading outcomes particularly for early elementary students.

The effective use of reading curriculum based measures (R-CBM) to determine if instruction is adequate to produce …

Supplemental Algebra Vocabulary Instruction For Secondary Students With Learning Disabilities, Joanna Stegall

All Dissertations

Vocabulary is vital for success in secondary content area curricula and students with learning disabilities often have limited vocabulary knowledge which inhibits their success in secondary-level content area classes. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of an explicit algebra vocabulary intervention with graphic organizers on vocabulary knowledge and skills in algebra for students with learning disabilities in high school Algebra I. A single-case repeated acquisition design with pre- and posttest measures was used to determine the effects of the intervention for students with learning disabilities who received special education services. The study included 10 students …

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

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

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

Using A Mobile Device To Deliver Visual Schedules To Young Children With Autism, Leslie Nelson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently display an inability to self-regulate (use materials appropriately and refrain from self-stimulatory behavior) and self-monitor (complete each step in a task before continuing to the next step) their behavior and therefore experience a great deal of failure within their respective school and home environments and frequently end up receiving instruction in restrictive, self-contained classrooms. Visual schedules have been used to help students with ASD self-regulate their behaviors in academic and community settings (NPDC, 2010; NSR, 2009). The purpose of this study was to determine whether high-tech visual schedules increase the self-regulation and …

Trainee Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Students With Specific Learning Disabilities, Stuart Woodcock

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Policies on the inclusion of students with special educational needs in mainstream classrooms have focused attention on how general education teachers perceive these students. Furthermore with specific learning disabilities forming a large group of diverse students, and teachers’ attitudes often not changing over the career span, preparing teachers for inclusive education is vitally important. This study aimed to identify the attitudes of trainee¹ teachers towards students with specific learning disabilities and differentiation of the curriculum. Significant differences were found between the attitudes of primary and secondary school trainee teachers, and the influence of training. There were no differences in …

Postschool Engagement Of Youths With Disabilities In South Carolina: Analysis Of Employment And Postsecondary Education Outcomes Across Three Years, Angela Prince

All Dissertations

For decades, youths with disabilities have had consistently poor postschool engagement outcomes in terms of employment and postsecondary education and training. Student-, school-, and district-level factors have impacted these outcomes in varying degrees. Using three years of postschool outcome data from the South Carolina Department of Education Office of Exceptional Children, this study examines engagement outcome differences for youths with high incidence disabilities (emotional and behavioral disorders, intellectual disabilities, and learning disabilities) using a logistic regression model. Findings indicated the student-level factors of age, race, high incidence disability, and special education exit reason were significant in predicting the postschool outcomes …

Investigating The Effects Of A Sentence Writing Strategy And A Self-Monitoring Procedure On The Writing Performance Of Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder, David Rago

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Writing is a tool students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can use to communicate and interact with other people socially and professionally. Strong writing skills may lead to social and economic success, as well as a sense of self-empowerment. Unfortunately, there is very little research related to the use of sentence-writing strategies and self-monitoring procedures to improve the writing performance of adolescent students with ASD. Thus, this study was designed to examine the effects of a sentence-writing strategy and a self-monitoring procedure on the writing performance of adolescents with ASD.

The study included five participants. These participants attended the same …

Increasing Choice-Making And Choice Awareness For Students With Intellectual Disability, Shannon Lynn Sparks

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A number of studies have suggested that when children with disabilities are presented with choice-making opportunities, they can make choices (Bambara, 2004; Carlson, Luiselli, Slyman, & Markowski, 2008; Dibley & Lim, 1999; Manhertz, 2006). Teaching choice-making to students with intellectual disability is an important skill. Students with intellectual disability, when exposed to choice-making, tend to display these skills in future settings as they grow older (Lee, Palmer, Turnbull, & Wehmeyer, 2006). Choice-making research has been limited for high school students with mild to moderate intellectual disability (Dibley & Lim, 1999; Manhertz, 2006; Shevin & Klein, 2004).

The purpose of this …

Challenges Students Identified With A Learning Disability And As High-Achieving Experience When Using Diagrams As A Visualization Tool To Solve Mathematics Word Problems, Delinda Van Garderen, Amy Scheuermann, Apryl L. Poch

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

This article addresses a much understudied topic and concern regarding how students of varying ability levels employ visualization as a strategy in mathematics learning. The importance of this topic can be found in its connection to students’ ability to solve mathematical word problems. Many students, particularly students with learning disabilities, often struggle to use visualization as a strategy and this impacts their mathematics performance. The purpose of this article is to present findings from a study that examined the challenges that students—those identified as learning disabled and high-achieving—displayed when using one visualization form, a diagram, to solve mathematics problems. Overall, …

Special Education Teacher Candidates And Mentors: Case Studies Of Collaboration In Pre-Service Field Experiences, Rebecca Lynn Schulte

Dissertations and Theses

Collaboration between general and special education teachers is essential for students with disabilities to have access to general education curriculum and instruction, and improved outcomes in school. The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), and No Child Left Behind Legislation, include mandates that increase demands for collaboration. However, many general and special education teachers report not feeling prepared to step outside traditional roles to collaborate to meet the needs of this population. Collaboration is also a strong element of teaching and special education standards for teacher preparation. Yet, research shows many teacher education programs lack coursework and field experiences that focus …

Acceptance Of Disability In College Students, Brian Charles Carl

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents the findings of a study examining the following questions: How do students in a particular disability group differ from students in other disability groups in the degree to which they accept their disability? How are level of functional impairment and acceptance related? How are an individual's view of disability as a defining characteristic and acceptance related? How are functional impairment and the degree to which disability is seen as a defining characteristic related? Analysis using ANOVA indicated that there was not a significant difference in the level of acceptance between disability groups. Three Pearson's r correlation analyses …

Dose-Effect Vs. Good Enough Level: A Comparison Of Treatment Length And Maintenance Of Treatment Gains At Follow-Up Using The Outcome Questionnaire-45, John M. Suyama

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines psychotherapy response in connection to treatment duration and maintenance of treatment gains. The dose-effect perspective (Howard et al. 1986) first proposed applying medical terminology to investigate a level of exposure to a dose of psychotherapy (in number of sessions) where individuals can expect to receive sufficient benefit (i.e., 48 -- 58% of clients can be expected to sufficiently benefit from therapy by 8 sessions). The proponents of the Good Enough Level (Barkham et at. 2006) argued that mere exposure to therapy is not an effective measure for client benefit, but rather that client responses to therapy vary. …

The Use Of Virtual Reality For Teaching Social Skills To Middle School Students With Autism, Cathleen Fargo

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect on using virtual reality for middle school students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) for learning their social conversation skills. Six students participated in the study to learn social skills in a simulated learning environment through six lessons. A multiple-baseline design across students with AB phases was used. The frequency of their initiation, responses to questions, comments, maintaining and closing a conversation, as well as prompt rating scores were recorded to evaluate students' performance. Results showed that the students improved their social skills and liked to learn in such a learning …

Training Pre-Service Teachers In Response To Intervention: A Survey Of Teacher Candidates, Ann-Michelle Neal

Theses and Dissertations

Addressing training in Response to Intervention at the pre-service level has potential to reach educators during their formative years; preparing them to implement research-based practices upon entering the field and building the capacity to do so with more fidelity and less support. While the knowledge levels and perceptions of pre-service teachers are critical to the future success of RTI implementation, the level of training among pre-service educators is less understood relative to their colleagues in the field. This exploratory study was designed to examine pre-service general and special education teachers' perceptions of RTI, and self-efficacy in implementation. A survey, created …