<p> There is a distinct employment gap between disabled and non-disabled young adults with disabilities. Unemployment numbers are even higher for adults with autism. Recent statistics show Autism Spectrum Disorder is the fastest growing developmental disorder. The problem this dissertation addressed is the perceptions of employment experienced by young adults with autism and their parents. The literature review was perceived through the lens of a social justice view and disability theory. The review summarized overviews of special education policies, autism, and employment. </p><p> The purpose of this research was to give voice to the autism community through a qualitative single case study with multiple participants. Six high school graduates between the ages of 18-24 and their parents participated in individual semi-structured interviews. Questions were asked about participants' perceptions of the employment journey and perceptions of services received through the Individualized Transition Plan. Four participants made their Individualized Education Plans, Individualized Transition Plans, and psychological reports available.</p><p> Four themes emerged from the data collection: impact of autism on employment, social skills training, disclosure and self-advocacy, and expectations of students and parents about teachers. Data implied that a majority of young adult participants did not feel their disability would affect employment, whereas most parents believed autism would negatively impact future employment. Participants did not correlate social skills training to successful employment. No participants had a full understanding of the importance of self-disclosure or clear understanding of workplace accommodations. Half of parent participants were pleased with how their school districts serve students with disabilities, while the other half felt services should be continued, regardless of cost. The data led me to make several implications and recommendations.</p>

<p> According to critical disability studies scholars, disablism may be the fundamental system of unearned advantaging and disadvantaging upon which all other notions of difference-as-deviance are constructed. If so, a deeply critical and intersectional investigation of enabled privilege/disablism prepares a grounding from which seeds of novel and effective approaches to social and educational justice may be cultivated. Whether or not disablism holds this pivotal position, the costs to us all in terms of personal, ethical, professional, and financial losses are too steep, have always been too steep. In this disquisition I begin by arguing for the prioritizing and centering of a radical emancipatory discourse&mdash;across and within all education venues&mdash;regarding disability. In Chapter 2, I explore models of disability and notice where awareness of enabled privilege has been absent in my own experience as an educator and call for all educators to consider what might it mean if awareness of enabled privilege and the harms of disablism were at the center of our daily personal, social, and institutional lives. Chapter 3 investigates the perceptions of post-compulsory education professionals regarding what constitutes disability allyship and identifies three unique viewpoints. Chapter 4 blends conceptualizations of allyship developed within various social justice literatures with those identified viewpoints of disability allyship to yield a model professional development approach focused on an intersectional analysis for social justice through disability justice. The dissertation concludes in Chapter 5 with a discussion of core assertions and findings and points to future research priorities.</p>

<p>A Response-to-Intervention (RTI) model of educational service delivery is a multi-tiered, preventative approach designed to meet the educational and behavioral needs of all learners. While the New York State (NYS) Department of Education has mandated the use of this model in grades K&ndash;4, the extent to which RTI competencies are taught within teacher training programs is unclear. Therefore, examination of pre-service teachers' perceptions of RTI knowledge and skills, as well as their perceptions about the amount of focus on RTI skills within training programs was conducted. Participants were recruited from NYS-approved undergraduate teacher training programs leading to certification birth to grade six. Results indicated that pre-service teachers hold a positive view of the RTI model. More specifically, respondents reported high levels of self-confidence in consultation and collaboration skills, combined with moderate levels of self-confidence in teaching and intervention skills. Assessment and data-based decision making skills, including interpretation of universal screening and progress monitoring data, identification of reading skill deficits, and selection of interventions were rated the lowest. Respondents rated higher levels of self-confidence related to the use of general teaching principles compared to knowledge of reading development or the selection and implementation of interventions for at-risk learners. Additionally, participants from TEAC-accredited programs reported significantly higher perceptions about the RTI model than those from NCATE-accredited programs. Lastly, participants seeking a dual certification (i.e., general and special education) reported receiving significantly greater focus on RTI concepts within the training program than respondents enrolled in programs leading to only general or special education certification. Implications for research and practice are provided. </p>

<p> This qualitative descriptive study purposed to explore the perceptions of a purposive sample of20 Black Deaf male students and alumni in postsecondary in Washington, District of Columbia to determine if the self-fulfilling prophecy theory contributed to their pedagogy. A qualitative survey was administered and the data was analyzed with Excel. Fifteen self-fulfilling prophecy themes emerged from the analysis: (a) syllabic expectations, (b) self expectations, (c) no-low-high expectations, (d) eye contact-acknowledgement, (e) attitudinal indifference, (f) public praise-positive-negative comments, (g) personalized one-on-one attention, (h) pop quiz reminders, (i) office hours-after class counseling, (j) team assignments, (k) verbal-written-positive-negative feedback, (1) private-public-verbal-written reinforcements, (m) probing, (n) reminders, and (o) self-motivation. The results indicated that Black Deaf male students and alumni perception about their educational experience in the classroom were positive, Galatea effects.</p>

<p> The problem that this correlational quantitative survey research study sought to examine was whether perceived secondary school teacher self-efficacy, in terms of collaboration, was related to the level of implementation of inclusion practices within special education classrooms. The purpose of this study was to contribute to researchers' understanding of how collaboration takes place and whether shared leadership theory, as a means of measuring the amount of collaboration that takes place in an organizational environment, can help to explain these processes so that teacher education inclusion programs can be improved. The theoretical framework that guided this study was Bandura's (1977, 1994) self-efficacy theory. The study aimed to examine possible correlations between teachers' self-efficacy and the level of inclusion practices within teaching teams, perceptions of shared leadership in decision making, and perceptions of the level of stress these different teachers face in their jobs. A sample of 100 teachers were surveyed online using three pre-tested and validated quantitative instruments: the Inclusion Climate Scale, the Teacher Efficacy Scale, and the Collaborative Climate Scale. Regression analysis were used to determine if there was a correlation between the variables. Findings showed that there was no correlation between teachers' self-efficacy and the level of inclusion practices within teaching teams, no difference between general and special education teacher perceptions of shared leadership or decision making, no difference between teacher perceptions of positive inclusion practices, and no statistically significant difference between teacher perceptions of the level of stress they face in their job. Based on the findings from the study, it may be assumed that limitations on sample size and geographic scope of the present study were significant. Future research is needed in order to address these limitations and discover whether the results of the current study can be verified through an adaptation of the methodology or its scope. </p>

<p> This study was designed to investigate (a) the factors that influence the development of portfolios among students with learning disabilities, (b) the type of support, accommodations, and modifications students with learning disabilities receive while creating portfolios, and (c) the characteristics of portfolios developed by students with learning disabilities. Using a multiple case study approach, the researcher collected data through individual interviews with 14 general education and special education teachers regarding their use of portfolios with their students with learning disabilities. Additional data were obtained from document analysis of the students&rsquo; IEPs, completed portfolios, as well as archival data of grades students obtained on their portfolios. Analysis of the data showed that teachers used accommodations and modifications listed in Individual Education Plans (IEPs) to provide adequate support to their students with learning disabilities while creating portfolios. The teachers also used additional strategies and techniques to ensure that their students were successful in their portfolio projects. Analysis of the portfolios and grades revealed that these students produced portfolios that met their teachers&rsquo; expectations. The researcher recommended that, in order to meet the learning needs of the students with LD who are involved in portfolio development, teachers should not only use accommodations and modifications listed in the IEPs but also add more techniques found to be beneficial for their students with LD. However, those portfolios will not be effective if they do not meet their teachers&rsquo; expectations and meet established deadlines. The researcher also recommends replicating the study to include diverse settings.</p>

<p> In this qualitative study, comprised of interviews and observations, I explore how discourses of disability circulating within the epistemologies and practices of four general education teachers at two different public elementary schools. Utilizing a Foucauldian lens, I am particularly interested in how these teachers responded to the power/knowledge claims asserted through the dominant medicalized discourse of disability institutionally employed and deployed through special education and the public school system writ large. Moreover, I have looked for acts of resistance, or in the parlance of Foucault (1983), "modes of action," recognizing that the formation of resistance is both a precondition and consequence of the exercising of power, and that power is the medium through which social change occurs. </p><p> In one of the schools, Taft, I encountered a school culture in which the institutional and discursive authority of special education and a medicalized discourse appeared deeply entrenched in the school culture encasing teachers, administrators and children within a network of power relations. This network discursively produced children identified with disabilities as unable to learn in general education classrooms, and general education teachers as unable to teach all children. Within this environment, opportunities for interrogation and resistance were nullified. In the other school, Bedford, I encountered a school culture in which the institutional and discursive authority of special education and a medicalized discourse appeared diminished, absent the institutional authority of special education. In its stead, appeared an internal bureaucratic discourse of assessment and accountability, concerned primarily with issues of compliance. With instruction and classroom management discursively organized, teachers were produced as officers of compliance, mobilized as agents in the discursive production of docile and compliant children. </p><p> Yet, with a weak administration and in the absence of an institutionalized special education apparatus within the school, I posit that at Bedford a localized alternative discourse circulated within the school, and that opportunities for interrogation and resistance arose in particular classrooms, with particular teachers, and in particular moments of time. However, despite an apparent disassociation from a medicalized discourse at Bedford, escaping the underlying assumptions of the medicalized discourse proved unreachable, if not impossible, and it continued to shape classroom teachers, and their notions of disability and inclusion as well as their perceptions and interactions with special education.</p>

<p> Twenty five percent of individuals diagnosed with autism are nonverbal and need to learn to communicate using alternative means (National Research Council, 2001) in order to build functional spontaneous communication. Joint attention behaviors are critical for communication development (Mundy &amp; Newell, 2007). This study introduces a video calling intervention to target the joint attention behaviors, eye gaze, verbalization and gestures. The purpose of this study was to discover what relationship exists between video calling and joint attention in nonverbal children with autism and to explore the perspectives of parents and their communication interaction with the child. This case study of two children is a quantitative ABA withdrawal design and a qualitative narrative design. The ABA design uses seven-inch Prestige 7 Connect tablets and Skype, video calling software program to communicate during game, reading and discussion activities. Observing and recording procedures were used to collect the data and visual analysis was conducted using graphs, tables. The narrative design used parent interviews and questionnaires to build themes. The findings indicate that video calling had a positive impact on eye gaze and verbalization behaviors during discussion and game activities. From the narrative analysis emerged a theme of engagement and focus. The conclusions indicate that video calling has impact on some joint attention behaviors and increases engagement in nonverbal children with autism. Implications for this study include using video calling in the classroom for peer interactions and skill building. Further study is needed to increase the generalizability of these findings. </p><p> Keywords: joint attention, video calling, nonverbal, autism, engagement </p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, 1990. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-09, Section: B, page: 4638.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Auburn University, 2007. / Abstract. Includes survey instruments. Includes bibliographic references (ℓ.187-204)