In view of current research in mental imagery and creativity, the researcher suggests that a program of art activities with clay media is advantageous for young blind children. The literature reviewed suggests the value of the young blind childs work in clay. This study discusses learning process of the blind, mental imagery and therapeutic art education. It attempts to answer three questions. The study asks how these children learn; what methods might be appropriate for art instruction, and looks for indications of the growth of imagery and creativity. The methods and activities designed and implemented are discussed in this study. Selected clay work by children are shown in photographs. The results seemed to indicate that the these activities were beneficial for young children with significant visual impairments. Recommendations are made for further study.

<p> A critical component of teaching social skills to people with autism is the generalization of behavior change across a variety of untrained situations during which social skills are appropriate. The script-fading procedure is an effective technology for teaching social skills to people with autism, but few researchers have established cues in the natural environment as the discriminative stimuli for social initiations. The purpose of this study was to use a script-fading procedure to teach young children with autism to initiate to one another across various activities in the school setting, and to program for generalization across untrained stimuli in the school setting and in the untrained home setting with a sibling. The three participants, ages 7 to 10 years, demonstrated deficits in social initiations with their peers. During the baseline condition, the participants did emit initiations to one another, although this behavior was variable and did not endure over time. With the introduction of the script-fading procedure, however, social initiations increased systematically for all participants. Moreover, the data demonstrated that the effects of the script-fading procedure generalized across untrained stimuli, responses, and to an untrained setting with an untrained conversation partner. Overall, this study demonstrated the effectiveness of the script-fading procedure in teaching children with autism to initiate to their peers. This study has expanded upon previous research by demonstrating generalization from school with peers to the home setting with siblings, and by providing social validity data obtained through outside observers that support the effectiveness of the script-fading procedure in producing an important behavior change.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between student performance on Reading Curriculum-based Measures (R-CBM) and student performance on the Alaska's standards based assessment (SBA) administered to students in Studied School District (SSD) Grade 3 through Grade 5 students in the Studied School District as required by Alaska's accountability system. The 2 research questions were: (a) To what extent, if at all, is there a relationship between student performance on the R-CBM tools administered in Grades 3, 4, and 5 in the fall, winter, and spring and student performance on the Alaska SBA administered in the spring of the same school year in the SSD? (b) To what extent, if at all, can cut scores be derived for each of the 3 R-CBM testing windows in the fall, winter, and spring that predict success on the Alaska SBA administered in the spring of the same school year in the SSD? The Study School District (SSD) served approximately 9,500 students, with 14% of students eligible for special education services. The enrollment was 81% Caucasian, 10% Alaska Native, 3% Hispanic, 3% multiethnic, and 4% as the total of American Indian, Asian, Black, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. The sample was 3rd (<i>n</i> = 472), 4th (<i>n</i> = 435), and 5th (<i>n</i> = 517) graders and consisted of all students with an Alaska SBA score and an R-CBM score for each of the 3 administrations of the R-CBM used in the 2009-2010 (FY10) and 2010-2011 (FY11) years. Pearson correlations were significant between R-CBM scores across 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades and the same grade Alaska SBA scores for FY10 data, <i>r</i> = .689 to <i>r</i> = .728, <i>p</i> &lt; .01. A test of the full model with R-CBM as predictor against a constant-only model was statistically reliable, <i>p</i> &lt; .001. The R-CBM reliably distinguished between passing and failing the Alaska SBA for students in Grades 3 through 5. Criterion validity of the cut scores was ascertained by applying scores to the FY11 data and yielded adequate levels of sensitivity from 49% to 88% while specificity levels ranged from 89% to 97%.</p>

<p> Who are talented and gifted (TAG) students and how do we meet their unique needs in the elementary school setting? The body of literature clearly articulates the unique intellectual, social and emotional needs and characteristics of TAG students. Additionally, the literature supports the implementation of differentiated teaching strategies and affective curriculum to help meet these unique needs. This descriptive phenomenological study allowed gifted children, in fifth grade from a Pacific Northwest suburban elementary school, to share their lived experiences through reflective narratives and art. The data collected generated a central theme of Friends and general themes of Awareness, Feelings, Learning, and TAG Programming. Experiences that included friends were, by far, the most commonly shared; however, the participants also shared stories of wanting to be challenged and how they appreciated teachers who were more creative in curriculum delivery. Delisle (2012), Jessiman (2001) and Bergmark (2008) assert that in order to make progress in school reform and/or improvement we need to listen to our consumers and by consumers they are referring to our students. This study captures the gifted child's experience in elementary school and allows their voice to be heard.</p>

<p> The No Child Left Behind Act requires all students be proficient in reading and mathematics by 2014, and students in subgroups to make Adequate Yearly Progress. One of these groups is students with disabilities, who continue to score well below their general education peers. This quantitative study identified scoring differences between disability groups on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) over a 6-year period. The percentages of students who scored at the proficient level in reading, mathematics, and writing in the fourth grade, and reading, mathematics, and science in the fifth grade were used to identify differences in 12 disability groups. All students with disabilities are combined into one category for reporting purposes and assigning school grades. Disaggregation of the special education categories revealed scoring differences between groups in all subjects and both grades. Students with speech impairments had the highest number of students scoring at the proficient level in all subjects, while students with intellectual disabilities had the fewest. The categorical rank order was identical for reading in both grades and similar in the other subjects. Students with specific learning disabilities, who constitute approximately 50% of all students with disabilities in these grades, were in the lowest five categories for both grades in reading and in fourth grade mathematics, and in the lower 50% in fifth grade mathematics and science. Recommendations included the need for alternate measures of student achievement; specifically, modified assessments, in addition to teacher evaluations and the impact on the Florida Flexibility Waiver's achievement goals.</p>

<p> With the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB, 2002) and the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004), the inclusion of students with disabilities (SWDs) in general education classrooms has become more prevalent within our public schools (DuFour &amp; Eaker, 1998; Mcleskey et al., 2010). Current research on inclusion focuses on student outcomes and procedural changes and not the contexts and capabilities of education leaders who are implementing it. Empirical research that examines how schools have built the capacity for sustaining these models, especially through the perspectives of those who implement it, is limited to date. </p><p> The purpose of the current study was to examine in depth one school's capacity development during their own inclusive education reform. Specifically, this study (1) explored how school leaders perceived their own capacity in initiating and implementing inclusion reform; (2) explored how leaders perceived the school's capacity to implement inclusion and (3) explored how their capacity to implement inclusion aligned with the school capacity literature. </p><p> Case study methodology was used to make meaning of the participants' individual perspectives and weave them into an integral whole. This case study sought to uncover the perspectives that school leaders (teacher leaders and administrative leaders) placed on their capacities to initiate and sustain an effective inclusive education model.</p>

<p> Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) commonly show deficits in social and communication skills, as well as in interpreting metaphorical meaning of language. These deficits often make reading comprehension more difficult for students with ASD. Past research has primarily focused on decoding rather than on comprehension skill interventions; only recently has there been an upswing in research to support reading comprehension skill deficits. The purpose of this study was to examine instructional strategies that are used for students with ASD, specifically students who exhibit Hyperlexia&mdash;a significant discrepancy in reading identified by high decoding skills and low comprehension abilities. Using the Special Educational Elementary Longitudinal Study database (SEELS), this study was able to analyze information on over 1,000 students with ASD. The study found that students with ASD are included in the language arts general education classroom 39.5% of the time, have goals that are working toward reading on grade level, and use instructional strategies such as peer tutoring, questioning strategies, classroom discussions and participation in presentations and projects on a regular basis. Looking further at this population, the study examined the relationship between reading comprehension and decoding skills according to their inclusion on the Simple View of Reading framework. Sixty-four students were identified as having Hyperlexia in the first wave of data collection gathered during the 2000-2001 school year, referred to as wave one. There were 92 students in wave three, gathered 3 years later during the 2003-2004 school year that were identified as having Hyperlexia. Through regression models and ANOVAs, the study concluded that three of the four instructional strategies (peer tutoring, presenting to the class, and questioning strategies) were not significant predictors of academic growth for students with ASD and with Hyperlexia. Only one instructional strategy (participation in class discussions) was found to have a significant impact on reading growth. This study does bring to light that there are large numbers of students with ASD who would benefit from more research on ways to teach reading comprehension.</p>

<p> As researchers learn more about the human mind, educators adapt their curriculum to accommodate those findings. As these changes take place, school districts are offering different types of classes to help more students find success in their classes. One of the ways that music educators can contribute to these changes is to offer music classes other than the traditional band, choir and orchestra class. By adding a guitar class to the music curriculum, music teachers are opening the doors for more students to be able to learn about music and learn to play an instrument. Particularly, a guitar class is an effective way to include students with special needs in a music program. </p><p> This thesis will investigate adaptations designed for three students with special needs in a high school guitar class. Student A has been diagnosed as Autistic, Student B has been diagnosed with Asperger's disorder and also has behavioral issues and Student C has been diagnosed with a specific learning disability as evidenced in the areas of auditory processing and expression. The case studies provide an example of how accommodations and adaptations can easily be implemented within a guitar class curriculum for students with these types of learning disabilities.</p>

<p> Online learning has become a prevalent method of instruction in higher education. There are many reasons for this change in pedagogy, including rapid developments in technology, as well as the logistic challenges of enrolling in college, such as commuting and coordinating work schedules. The quality of online instruction and its impact on teacher preparation, however, has yet to be fully investigated. The purpose of this study is to add to the existing literature regarding online learning and its use in teacher preparation. This study, more specifically, compared the effects of differentiated use of a specific online learning environment, the IRIS Center for Training Enhancements (http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/index.html), on knowledge of teacher candidates in two sections of a <i>Teaching Exceptional Learners</i> course for general education undergraduate and graduate teacher candidates. Pre- and post-instructional concept maps were used to measure growth in knowledge in this counterbalanced study. Results indicate both methods of instruction, in-class and at-home, with the IRIS modules are effective for increasing the knowledge base of general education teacher candidates. Analysis of the data showed no significant differences in learning between the two methods. While preference of methods differed, overall, participants felt the IRIS modules were beneficial and made an impact on their learning.</p>

<p> Research has identified language impairment as a pervasive disability (Bishop &amp; Edmundson, 1987; Greenhalgh &amp; Strong, 2001). Classroom communication behaviors have a role in the maintenance of special education eligibility and functional communication difficulties for young children with language impairment. This paper reviews the theoretical and experimental literature on narrative skills and language impairment as well as empirical support for understanding language delays as part of a group of risk factors that affect child development. The present study describes patterns in the communication skills of a small group of young children with a predetermined diagnosis of language impairment using a case and field mixed methods research design. The study contributes to our conceptual understanding of the pervasive nature of language impairment by focusing on patterns in oral narrative skills and their relationship to communication at school, at home, and in the community. Study results differentiate participants by the severity of utterance formulation difficulties as well as social communication differences and emotional health symptoms to identify patterns. </p><p> This study was unique in that information from classroom teachers and parents in addition to an analysis of multiple language samples created a thick description of patterns across participants. Discussion elaborates upon patterns in the data and implications for assessment and practice implications for school based services from a speech-language pathologist.</p>