Young children with severe and profound mental disabilities are entering the public school system as the result of Public Law 99-457. Potential social/communicative partners increase as children with severe or profound disabilities share common school times and settings with children having no disabilities. / This intervention attempted to affect change in social/communicative skills among children with severe or profound mental disabilities by affecting change in the nondisabled peers' use of techniques that facilitated social/communicative interactions during free play. A multiple baseline design across groups was used to assess the relationship between the intervention and the participants' behaviors. The dependent measures included: (a) peers' (with no disabilities) use of imitating, waiting, being animated, modeling, sharing, requesting shares, and play organizing when interacting with peers with severe or profound mental disabilities and (b) visual regard, toy or body use, proximity, initiations and responses for peers with severe or profound mental disabilities. / Peer interactions were observed and data collected by an observer using an interval recording system with auditory signals cueing times to observe and times to record. The observations were made during experimental free play times in the experimental playroom setting. / The results indicated that a functional relationship existed between the training and the minimal changes observed in the peers' (with no disabilities) use of social/facilitative strategies when interacting with peers having severe or profound mental disabilities. Training phases involving prompts resulted in greatest use of social/facilitative behaviors by the peers with no disabilities and social/communicative behaviors of the peers with severe or profound mental disabilities during free play. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-01, Section: A, page: 0081. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

The major focus of this qualitative study is the issue of confidentiality and the perspectives of individuals within several of the bureaucracies surrounding children who have been abused: their teachers, principal, caseworkers, district foster care personnel, and judicial workers. The entry challenges and the process employed to gain access to the children are outlined for future researchers. / The growing awareness that maltreatment adversely influences child development has led to increased efforts to explore this phenomenon. At present, many children who have been maltreated meet the eligibility criteria for children with emotional disturbances, mental handicaps, and/or learning disabilities. / This research attempted to document the lives and experiences of students who have been maltreated and are currently placed in special education programs for students with emotional disabilities. The issue of confidentiality required a methodological shift in focus with the major thrust of this research becoming a focus on the confidentiality issue and three of the bureaucracies of child abuse: the Educational System; the Foster Care System; and the Judicial System. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-07, Section: A, page: 2637. / Major Professor: Andrew Oseroff. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

Several research studies have shown that an increase (or no change) was found in the predicted (and positive) direction with participants with disabilities that exercised a choice (Dattilo and Rusch, 1985; Parsons, Reid, and Reynolds, 1990; Kogel, Dyer, and Bell, 1987; and Dyer, Dunlap, and Wintenberg, 1990). This study sought to extend the research in this area and determine if a functional relationship exists between independent variables (peer choice and the order selection of a computer spelling activity) and dependent variables (targeted social skill behaviors and spelling performance). A single subject alternating treatment design (ATD) (Barlow & Hayes, 1979) was employed in this study. This design is useful when comparing two or more treatments. In this study a baseline condition and three treatment conditions were employed. The results of this study do not substantiate a functional relationship between choice of peers and/or choice of activity order on selected targeted social behaviors on spelling performance for adolescents with severe behavior problems. Future research in this area should consider assessing the importance of certain choices to the students, and insuring that the student perceives the choices as meaningful choices. In addition, the role in which the developmental level of the student plays in making choices, wanting choices, and understanding choices warrants further study. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-08, Section: A, page: 3083. / Major Professor: Mary Frances Hanline. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

Self-concept is believed to play a significant role in the learning process. Since the learning process for children with learning disabilities is fraught with difficulty, there is concern that self-concept for these children is at risk. / This research makes a contribution to the larger body of literature dealing with the self-concept of male children with learning disabilities. There appears to be a substantial body of literature which suggests that self-concept can be explained and predicted by several variables, specifically, comparison group used when evaluating the self, perceived social support, intellectual level, amount of remedial services provided, perceived success in nonacademic and academic domains, and importance of those domains to the individual. Whereas others have looked at differences between learning disabled and normally achieving students, this study focuses within the learning disabled population. The three areas of perceived competence which were investigated were global self-worth, scholastic competence, and social acceptance. / In order to investigate the different factors involved in children's self-concept, several self-report measures were employed. These included a scale measuring perceived competence in the different domains (plus global self-concept), a scale reflecting the importance given to each of the domains, a scale tapping the extent to which children feel valued and supported by significant others, and an inventory which assessed the social group used when competence ratings were made. Additionally, time in special classroom placement and intellectual level was collected from student records. The sample was composed of 80 male students, aged eight to 12, drawn from the third through the fifth grades from a county school district. Stepwise Multiple Regressions were employed in order to determine the factors which were most predictive of the dependent variables. Several factors were found to significantly predict the global self-worth, scholastic competence, and social acceptance of these children with learning disabilities. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-08, Section: A, page: 3057. / Major Professor: F. Donald Kelly. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

Performance of Students with Visual Impairments on High-Stakes Tests| A Pennsylvania Report Card

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Lehigh University, 2009. / Adviser: Lee Kern.

The purpose of the study was to reveal the mechanisms by which a university supervisor leads five student-teachers to reflective professionalism in dialogue journals used during the final field experience of a two year graduate teacher preparation program for teachers of children who are Deaf and Hard-of Hearing. The participants in the study were four female and one male student-teacher in their final semester of preparation, and one female university supervisor. The data comprised of dialogue journals exchanged between the student-teachers and their supervisor during the nine-week field experience. The intention of the dialogue journal assignment was to develop a relationship which would facilitate educational dialogue and promote reflection. The supervisor intended that the student-teachers use the dialogue journals to examine problems of practice and professionalism and to integrate theory and practice. The results showed that the concerns of the student-teachers clustered into four themes, completion of requirements, competence in practice, caring in field experience relationships, and practical and ethical conflict resolution. In addition, the supervisor met her objectives of forming educational relationships and providing a model of teacher-like thinking and problem solving through use of a variety of strategies, both direct and indirect, within a collegial milieu. The essential effect of the supervisory strategy-use was to differentiate student-teacher perceptions of their experiences such that problem-solving was facilitated. In addition reflection was promoted. Three types of reflection were identified. Reflection-in-action resembled Donald Schon's category of that name. Reflection-on-belief produced ethical development, and reflection-on-context produced critique of the contexts of teaching. When overwhelmed, student-teachers ruminated rather than reflected. The supervisor responded by scaffolding a reflective pathway to empowered problem-solving. It seemed that the student-teachers were inducted through these means to the profession of teaching. The conclusions are that dialogue journals provide unparalleled opportunities for thoughtful reflective conversation, providing as they do, built in wait-time. In addition they provide teacher educators with opportunities to be directly involved in the education of children through problem-solving with the student-teachers, thus maintaining their credentials as authentically experienced teachers.

The purpose of the present study was to explore the broad query of prospective teachers' understandings about special education. The study, which employed qualitative methods, involved two undergraduate prospective teachers as participants. Both participants were engaged in an initial field experience as part of their elementary teacher preparation program. The study was designed to gain a sense of the ways in which the prospective teachers describe special education. Additionally, particular disability categories and inclusion were considered as part of the study. The participants both anticipate having students with special needs in their respective future classrooms. Several intriguing findings and implications resulted from addressing the two research questions, which examined the special education understandings of prospective teachers. The study was intended to contribute to the knowledge base of special education understandings and extend the existing valuable body of work in the area of teacher beliefs.

<p> The purpose of this qualitative research study was to better understand why students classified with emotional disturbance (ED) were able to graduate from high school and earn high school diplomas. Students classified as having emotional disturbance have a host of deficits in the areas of reading, writing, math, and social and emotional skills. Despite these stumbling blocks, some students who had these deficiencies were resilient and able to graduate from high school, even in an era of school reform and heightened accountability. Using an extensive literature review, this phenomenological study explored reasons why this targeted population remained in school. Graduates were interviewed to determine the motivational factors that influenced and enhanced their decision to stay in an urban alternative high school. The subjects were classified with emotional disturbance over the age of 18 who were well past the age when they could legally withdraw from school and had graduated from a special education alternative high school in an urban setting. A cadre of administrators and teachers who supervised and taught this population during their 11^th and 12^th grades were interviewed for comparison to determine what kept these students in school. The theoretical framework of Alderfer&rsquo;s Existence, Relatedness, and Growth (ERG) theory was used; findings showed that the growth aspect was key in both the teachers&rsquo; beliefs as well as the students&rsquo; responses.</p>

The current study sought to discover the impact of uncontracted braille in early stages of learning compared to contracted braille. Eight students who began learning uncontracted braille participated, and an informal reading inventory test was administered to determine their reading level, word recognition skill, and reading comprehension. Two pages of braille writing samples generated by the students were collected to find out types and frequencies of braille errors. Eight students who began learning contracted braille were matched with those who began learning uncontracted braille on four variables: school setting, gender, current levels of reading on students' Individual Education Programs (IEPs), and chronological ages. In addition, five students who began learning uncontracted braille and five teachers with experience teaching uncontracted braille from the beginning were interviewed by telephone. Using an independent group t test, it was found that the students performed equally well in reading speed, types and frequencies of braille errors, and word recognition skill whether they began with uncontracted or contracted braille. In addition, it was demonstrated that the students who began learning uncontracted braille exhibited better comprehension skill than those who began learning contracted braille Five students interviewed for the current study indicated that they began learning braille before they entered elementary school. They reported that transition from uncontracted to contracted braille took different lengths of time. Uncontracted braille was a motivational factor for family members to acquire braille skills. On the other hand, five teachers who were interviewed reported that professional journals and contact with professionals were the sources supporting teaching in uncontracted braille. Teachers were motivated to teach uncontracted braille because they believed it would be helpful for students with visual impairments who had additional disabilities to acquire braille skills for greater consistency. Two braille teachers reported that the use of uncontracted braille was helpful in collaboration with the classroom teachers because the students could receive prompt feedback from the classroom teachers. Overall, the use of uncontracted braille from the beginning of braille instruction did not present statistical differences among variables. It was found that interviewed individuals had positive experiences regarding the use of uncontracted braille.