<p> The rate of the inclusion of students with high-incidence disabilities in general education classrooms are increasing across the nation. The perceptions of general education teachers on this inclusion have limited revelation within research. More specifically, the perceptions of urban elementary general education teachers on the inclusion of students with high- incidence disabilities is limited. Three significant problems contributed to the need of this dissertation research. The first problem is the limited research used to explore this concept. Most of the literature include methods that have been quantitative studies, which provides a range of responses with little depth to understand the perceptions of teachers. The second problem is the samples that are included in such studies. Samples often include teachers without differentiating between what kinds of teachers (high school, middle school, elementary school, etc.). These samples would provide little depth to understand the perceptions of how participants really feel about the inclusion of students with high-incidence disabilities in their classrooms. The third problem is the targeted population of teachers that are included in studies. Urban, rural and suburban school districts all have different needs and issues. There is limited research that differentiate between the areas of schools and its impact on the perceptions of teachers in these school districts. </p><p> The results of a basic qualitative study surrounding the perceptions of urban elementary general education teachers on the inclusion of students with high-incidence disabilities is presented. Twenty urban elementary general education teachers of students with high-incidence disabilities in the general education classroom setting from one school district in the mid-Atlantic region were interviewed to evaluate the perceptions of the inclusion of students with high-incidence disabilities in the general education classroom with their non-disabled peers. </p><p> The purposes of this study were to be able: 1) to investigate urban general education teachers&rsquo; perceptions and beliefs about the inclusion of students with high-incidence disabilities in their classrooms with their non-disabled peers; 2) to give these teachers an opportunity to share their perceptions on the supports received to meet the demands and challenges of their profession; and 3) to provide recommendations for policies and practices for the inclusion of students with high-incidence disabilities in general education classrooms that can contribute to the preparation and professional development for general education teachers. </p><p> The results of the interviews with study participants are outlined in this study. Themes answering three research questions were: described, defined, and supported using quotations from study participants to ensure that themes were grounded in the data. Eight themes emerged from the data that answered three research questions. These themes are: 1) &ldquo;It was a disservice;&rdquo; 2) being &ldquo;set up&rdquo; for failure both academically and socially; 3) impact of behavior; 4) issues of being stranded; 5) feeling inadequate; 6) reluctant acceptance; 7) flaws in identifying students who need help; and 8) issues of support. Two additional themes emerged from the data that did not answer a research question, but became salient across all participants. These theme addressed the issues and influence of race and socioeconomic status and its influence on perceptions. These two themes are 9) impact of socioeconomic status and privilege, and 10) impact of race. Findings are revealed and discussed. Recommendations for practice, policy, and future research are provided.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this study is to identify the complex features of writing intervention of Graduate Student Clinicians (GSCs) for children with Language and Learning Difficulties (LLD) upon the qualitative research paradigm. To do this, verbal and non-verbal interactions, a total of two hours 18 minutes and 44 four seconds and a total of 2,170 turns of the four writing sessions of the two dyads, were video-taped, transcribed, and encoded depending on the contexts, purposes, and strategies. </p><p> The complexity in the process of writing by the two dyads was revealed and compared in terms of the activities of turns exchanged and time allocated in the two GSCs&rsquo; strategies for writing intervention and the two children&rsquo;s responses throughout the writing sessions. The findings of this study indicate the two dyads demonstrated two distinct interactional features in verbal and non-verbal behaviors in terms of whether GSCs were concentrated on process or products, and they used different strategies for verbal and non-verbal intervention. The responses of children with LLD revealed in the overall dynamic features of writing sessions were greatly influenced by the GSCs&rsquo; verbal and non-verbal strategies. </p><p> The child in Dyad One in which GSC-One focused more on implicit and symmetric process-oriented mediations successfully engaged in various writing activities while the child in Dyad Two in which GSC-Two focused on explicit asymmetric product-oriented mediations tended to be confused while less effectively engaged in the verbal and non-verbal interactions. The conclusion was made to emphasize that the transferability of GSCs&rsquo; writing interventions strategies into the writing process of children with LLD, and the importance of training future Speech Language Pathologists by allowing them understand their roles in the process rather than the results of writing.</p><p>

This study was designed to examine a computerized voice recognition system and its effects on writing skills for community college students with learning disabilities. A repeated measures single case design across subjects was employed. Four community college students, previously identified as having learning disabilities, served as subjects. Three of the four students completed intervention. Students trained in computerized voice recognition system use and produced subsequent expository writings using the system. Two rating techniques, a global holistic rating and an analysis of text features were employed to assess changes in written language skill. Holistic rating employed a 6-point grading scale originally designed for use in grading General Education Development (GED) exams nationwide. The objective analysis of text features involved four indices, frequency, diversity of vocabulary, syntactic complexity, and spelling accuracy, used by researchers to evaluate written expression. Results indicate that dictation using computerized voice recognition for two of the three students produced written essays of better quality than essays written with a word processor when rated holistically by two independent raters. Essays rated greater holistically indicated positive change on one of the four text feature indices, spelling accuracy. These findings imply that computerized voice recognition can assist some students with learning disabilities to improve generally in written communication. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-08, Section: A, page: 3077. / Major Professor: Mark A. Koorland. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

This study examines the teacher visions, or idealized images of classroom practices, held by second-year alternatively certified special education teachers. In particular, it explores the range of visions maintained by New York City Teaching Fellows who begin teaching in "hard-to-staff" subjects and schools after minimal pre-service training, noting gaps which emerge between vision and practice. Given the brevity of the Fellows' preparation and the context of their schools, I sought to discover how Fellows navigated these gaps, and the role played by on-the-job learning in this process. / The study consisted of a larger cohort of 47 second-year special education Teaching Fellows and a smaller cohort of five. I distributed a questionnaire to the 47 Fellows, both to uncover the range of visions and gaps within that group, and to find five Fellows for a more in-depth study. The Fellows from the in-depth study, all of whom noted gaps between vision and practice, participated in three semi-structured one-hour interviews over the course of one school year. In addition, I conducted two classroom observations of each Fellow and analyzed classroom documents. / I found that none of the 47 Fellows mentioned special education when describing their teacher visions on the questionnaires. Following up with the smaller cohort, I discovered visions of special education which were blurry or inaccurate---leading to substantial gaps between vision and practice. These gaps, in turn, let to feelings of guilt and frustration. On-the-job learning was little help in navigating gaps, given the conditions of the participants' "hard-to-staff" schools. Fifty-four percent of the larger cohort said they were unlikely to continue teaching in New York in five years, while in the smaller cohort, two teachers had left their original placements within two years. Participants from the smaller cohort also discussed the difficulty of achieving their visions within special education as it was implemented at their schools. / This study concludes that the design of the New York City Teaching Fellows program practically ensures the presence of gaps between the vision and practice of special education, and at the same time does not do enough to help its teachers negotiate them.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2004. Graduate Programme in Education. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 268-279). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ99157

Exploring Interagency Collaboration in a Secondary Transition Community of Practice

Thesis (EdD)--Open University.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Lehigh University, 2009. / Adviser: Edward S. Shapiro.

<p> Response to intervention (RtI) has created a need to shift from the excluded special education model to a more inclusive model creating a need for increased communication and collaboration when students are exposed to instruction in multiple settings. The basic qualitative research design was used to explore the types and level of communication and collaboration that exists among educators who work with at-risk students through the RtI model in a single South Carolina school district. The study included six teachers and six interventionists, who participated in focus group discussions, classroom observations, and individual personal interviews, and four administrators who participated in individual interviews. The findings of this study indicated, for the most part, that educators held positive attitudes in their role within the organization and his or her ability to communicate and collaborate to effectively provide sound instruction for struggling learners. All participants were aware that the need for collaboration and the need to share information were everyone&rsquo;s responsibility and a necessary part of supporting each student. The findings suggest that administrators felt structures were in place for communication and collaboration to exist among educators, however no suggestion of a common planning time within the daily schedule nor examples from teachers or interventionists in true collaborative roles were evident. Moreover, interventionists were best able to describe examples of true collaborative efforts they had initiated with teachers to coordinate skills or concepts they were teaching in their classrooms. The findings show, the interventionists hope for a change in the current policy in most schools, which excludes the interventionists from data team meetings and RtI meetings where next steps in the child&rsquo;s education plan are formulated and decided.</p>

The purpose of the present study was to examine the variables associated with the sustainability of Person Centered Planning over time by Support Coordinators working in an agency that provided services to individuals with developmental disabilities. Identifying these factors that positively or negatively affect the implementation and longterm sustainability of Person Centered Planning was an important outcome of the current study. The study was designed to investigate the following areas: (a) the current level of use of Person Centered Planning by Support Coordinators in the agency; (b) the variables associated with the degree to which Person Centered Planning has been sustained; (c) strategies for ensuring sustainability of Person Centered Planning; and (d) the agency's demonstration that its values are consonant with the philosophy and goals of Person Centered Planning. The research in this study was qualitative in nature, utilizing questionnaires, interviews and document reviews. Fourteen Support coordinators and five administrators employed by the agency comprised the population in the present study. Support coordinators who participated in this study were asked to complete a questionnaire related to specific demographics, as well as a questionnaire that illustrated the individual's perception of his/her use of Person Centered Planning. Both the administrators and the support coordinators were interviewed. The interviews were semistructured, guided by a set of questions, which provided consistent parameters around the areas for discussion. The review of documents included a portion of the Individual Service Plans completed during the years 2000--2001, and a review of the agency's mission statement and other planning documents. From the review of the ISP, a paucity of documentation exists from which to corroborate the numbers of support coordinators that self-reported they are either using Person Centered Planning or completing ISPs, which are person-centered. The results of the study provided evidence that Person Centered Planning has not been sustained as an overall organizational change within the agency under study.