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The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), implemented in 1997 and updated in 2004, requires all students, including students with disabilities, to participate in and make progress in the general education curriculum. Under IDEA, students with disabilities, including students with mathematics disability (MD), are entitled to be provided with adapted instruction using empirically validated instructional approaches to teaching mathematics, which can help them succeed in general education classrooms. However, there is limited knowledge about whether and in what ways instruction is adapted for students with MD and the degree to which students with MD have access to the standards-based mathematics general education curriculum adopted by today's mathematics education. Thus, the purpose of this case study was to examine (a) a fourth-grade teacher's instructional adaptations for 3 students with MD in a standards-based mathematics, general education classroom and (b) the mathematics learning of 6 fourth-grade students with differing levels of ability (3 students identified MD, 2 students struggling with mathematics, and 1 student without a disability) in a standards-based mathematics, general education classroom. An embedded, single case study design (Yin, 2003) was employed to provide exploratory and instrumental information about the research topics of this study. Data were collected through case study methods including direct observations, interviews, survey, and document reviews for 12 weeks, December 2005 through March 2006. Analyses of data involved a descriptive statistics as well as a qualitative case analysis using data display matrices to drive emergent themes (Miles & Huberman, 1994; Strauss & Corbin, 1997; Yin, 2003). Seven themes emerged from the findings of this study: Four on the fourthgrade teacher's instructional adaptations for her students with MD in the standardsbased mathematics, general education classroom and three on the learning of students with differing abilities in this environment. The findings of this study indicated that the teacher endeavored to adapt her mathematics instruction for 3 students with MD using diverse components of effective mathematics instruction in standards-based mathematics curriculum and instruction, but that her instructional adaptations were implemented very restrictively in terms of the number of students with MD whose difficulties were addressed and the types of difficulties addressed by the adaptations. Possible factors inhibiting the teacher's instructional adaptations included the number of students who were struggling with mathematics in her class, including 3 students with MD. On the other hand, the findings of this study indicated that the quality and the quantity of learning of mathematics knowledge and skills were different across students with differing ability in the standards-based mathematics, general education classroom in terms of prerequisite skills, problem-solving accuracy, concept or procedures for problem solutions, and transfer of knowledge and skills. All the students with differing ability benefited to some degree from standards-based mathematics instruction, but the benefits of students with MD from this instructional environment were marginal in comparison to the benefits of their peers without disabilities. Alternative instructional methods should continue to be explored to maximize the benefits of students with MD in standards-based mathematics, general education classrooms, including more frequent integration of varied types of components of effective mathematics instruction into standards-based mathematics instruction and considering the cognitive, behavioral characteristics of students with MD. Limitations of this study and implications of this study for practices and future research were discussed. / text

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of multimedia anchored instruction in language arts on the motivation to learn and academic achievement of students with and without learning disabilities (LD) enrolled in a seventh-grade general education classroom setting. Anchored instruction incorporated research-based instructional components including the multimedia video anchors, authentic tasks and learning activities, promoted discussion and communication when working as a group, integration of technology and effective learning strategies, and students' chances to control own learning activities. The study was conducted in seventh-grade inclusive classrooms. Two teachers and 80 randomly selected students including 28 students with LD participated in the study. A quasi-experimental comparison-group design was utilized, experimental classes received the anchored intervention, and comparison classes received non-anchored instruction. Measures included two self-report questionnaire scores as well as two academic achievement test scores. Results indicated that students in anchored instruction group made significant gains of peer learning, interestingness, and less work avoidance than non-anchored instruction group. In addition, the results of within-group analysis demonstrated that the anchored instruction students' scores of task value, peer learning, subjective competence, interestingness, and performance orientation changed significantly after completing the anchored instruction. Moreover, students with LD who received the anchored instruction improved their motivation to learn and academic achievement to a level similar to students without LD. The overall results of this study suggest that anchored instruction is an effective instructional approach that integrates technologies into the classroom learning as a medium for enhancing students' motivation to learn and academic achievement.

This thesis investigates coordination of the lower limb joints within the limb during walking. The researcher was motivated by her clinical experience as a paediatric physiotherapist. She observed that the pattern of lower limb coordination differed between normal children and those with cerebral palsy. Many of the currently used interventions did not appear to influence this patterning. As a precursor to evaluating the effectiveness of treatments in modifying coordination, a tool to measure coordination was required. The researcher initially investigated qualitative and then quantitative methods of measuring within limb coordination. A technique was developed that used relative angular velocity of two joints to determine when joints were in-phase, antiphasic or in stasis. The phasic parameters of hip/knee, knee/ankle and hip/ankle joints coordination were quantified. There were some significant differences between normal children and children with cerebral palsy. Asymmetry of these phasic parameters was identified, with children with cerebral palsy being more asymmetrical than normal children. The clinical utility of this technique was tested by comparing 2 groups of children before and after 2 surgical procedures. This showed some significant differences in phasic parameters between pre and post-operative data for one procedure. Low samples sizes mean that further work is required to confirm these findings. Data from this work has been used to calculate sample sizes to give an a priori power of 0.8 and further research is proposed and potential applications discussed. It is hoped that this technique will raise awareness of abnormal intra-limb coordination and allow therapists to identify key interactions between joints that need to be facilitated during walking training.

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Architecture

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Education / Master / Master of Science in Information Technology in Education

The information processing approach was used as a basis for studying some brief visual memory processes in reading disabled children. Three aspects of processing were examined, viz. (i) Duration of icon persistence; (ii) Performance under different backward masking conditions; and (iii) Processing of information into a more durable short-term visual memory store. It was found that there were no differences in the duration of icon persistence in reading disabled children, but that these children exhibited marked impairment in performance in the tasks used in the latter two experiments. The reasons for the reading disabled children's poorer performance in these tasks were not apparent. Speculations about the strategies used by these children in approaching the tasks are made. Possible implications and directions for future research are discussed. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1980.

This thesis examines how mothers of children labeled ‘learning disabled’ negotiate with educational professionals as advocates for their children. Previous scholarship has not adequately addressed the role that parents, particularly mothers of children labeled ‘learning disabled’ play in the education of their children. Through analyzing the ways in which these educational practices shape people’s experiences and identities, we can gain a deeper understanding of the ways in which labeling processes are experienced, managed, constructed, negotiated and/or resisted. This subject was explored through in-depth interviews with six mothers, using interviewing practices informed by standpoint methodology. My analysis follows two major themes. The first theme deals with the contradictory nature of psychoeducational assessments in the classrooms of the educational system. I demonstrate how psychoeducational assessments act as a set of rules, regulations and rights. I demonstrate how the mothers in my study used these as tools for empowerment and resistance to educational structures and discourses of normalcy. I also demonstrate the limitations of these texts to secure the educational interest and rights of children labeled ‘learning disabled’. The second theme deals with transformation processes. I ask, how do mothers of children labeled ‘learning disabled’ change as a result of negotiating their child or children’s ‘learning disability’. I demonstrate how being a parent of a child labeled ‘learning disabled’ is outside the sphere of ‘regular’ parenting and the sphere of the formal educational system and the economic, social and health-related consequences of such negotiations.

The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between increased physical fitness and learning disabled student's self-concept, anxiety level. and academic achievement. 34 learning disabled students in seventh arr. eighth grade (X age = 14 years, 7 months) were divided equally into comparison and treatment groups. For six weeks, the comparison and treatment groups maintained similiar class schedules with the exception that the treatment group was assigned to a physical education class where the students would partake in an aerobic exercise program (i.e. running and aerobics) and the comparison group remained in study hall. All 34 LD students were pretested and posttested using the 12 Minute Walk/Run Test. Piers-Harris Self- Concept Scale for_ Children, Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, and Wide Ranae Achievement Test-Revised.Four null hypotheses were tested using multivariate any, univariate analysis. The .05 level of significance was Mary Beth Hulecki Ed.D Ball State University, 1988 established as the critical probability level for the non acceptance of the statistical hypotheses.FindingsResults of multivariate analyses indicate: that no significant differences existed between the comparison and treatment groups on measures of IQ. self-concept. and anxiety. Results of multivariate analyses of pre-and posttest measures of the independent variable under study indicated that no significant differences existed between the comparison and treatment groups on measures of IQ. self-concept.and anxiety. Results of univariate analyses found no significant differences between the treatment and comparison groups after the physical fitness program on the independent measures of self-concept and anxiety level. Significant differences (p < .05) between the treatment and comparison groups were noted after intervention on measures of achievement and fitness. These results were observe: to be significant in the area of reading (p <.001).ConclusionsThe results of this study did not support theories that Suggested an increase in physical fitness Produced higher Self-concepts and decreased the anxiety level of learning disabled children. Although the LD students significantly raised their achievement scores, their anxiety level did not lessen and their self-concept scores were no higher after the running program. Several possible explanations are offered for consideration:1. Although achievement scores were higher after Intervention, they were still 2 or more standard deviations below the mean. These LD students were still functioning like mildly mentally handicapped students and were still far below the functioning level of their normal achieving peers. 2. As cited by other authors, LD students often try to portray themselves in a better light and do not accurately report their feelings.3. Underachievers were thought to respond unreliably on measures of self-concept. / Department of Special Education