Academic cheating frequency, motivating factors for cheating, and student reasons for cheating have been studied extensively for decades, but nearly all of the research has been conducted with typically-developing students. To date, only one published study has examined cheating among students with learning disabilites, despite over 2 million students in American schools having been diagnosed with a learning disability. Students who engage in academic cheating, as well as students who have learning disabilities, are more likely to have low levels of self-efficacy, hold more performance goal orientations, and have higher levels of impulsivity. Therefore, in the present study, individuals with a learning disability were expected to cite significantly more reasons for cheating related to those three variables, as well as to endorse cheating as being acceptable in more academic situations. Learning disability status, cheating tolerance, and reasons for cheating were measured in 77 Amazon Mechnical Turk adult participants through self-report surveys. Results revealed no difference in cheating tolerance between individuals with learning disabilities and their typically-developing peers. Individuals with a learning disability cited significantly more reasons for cheating related to low self-efficacy and performance goal orientations compared to their typically-developing peers, but not for reasons related to impulsivity. Strengths, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

The purpose of this project was to examine and explore negotiating strategies for parents with children with disabilities. The research showed there were insufficient materials for teaching negotiating strategies to parents to assist them in obtaining critical or basic services for their special needs children. Many families lack financial resources, have English-language barriers, and have educational challenges when facing school administrators that possess these vital resources. These circumstances mean that parents may feel intimidated and disempowered when meeting with school officials. By providing a simple and easy-to-use guide of Negotiating Strategies, parents can be empowered and encouraged to use their skills for negotiation, conflict management, power, networking and mediation during an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meeting. The guide will increase awareness and understanding for parents when participating with school administrators, allowing them to capitalize on their rights for seeking appropriate and needed services for their children with disabilities.

The Nigerian educational system is humanistic, nationally centered and open to all cultural, ethnic and tribal influences. The policy of Nigeria is to realize mass and practical education. However, the present system is highly selective and academically oriented. This study is done while education in Nigeria is in a period of revolution. Radical changes have been taken to keep up the national demand for progress and power. Dyslexia, one of the leading causes of reading difficulties, is a term still unknown to some educators in Nigerian schools. This stems mainly from the fact that Nigerian public schools lack sufficient personnels trained in the area of Special Education in general and Remedial Reading in particular.

The recent trend of refugee resettlement in the U.S. has presumably shifted to a new and more hopeful life for refugees. However, refugees experience another phase of challenges once they resettle in the U.S. Their transition from a life of statelessness to that of the citizen in a developed country is a painful experience, yet life has improved economically, especially after years of living in poverty in a refugee camp. The fact that Bhutanese refugee parents choose to resettle in the U.S. is primarily motivated by their hopes for a better education for their children. The following qualitative research study strives to understand both the opportunity gaps and the challenges that Bhutanese refugee students experience. This study also helps to shift the narrative from the student being the problem to the school systems in place that maintains or ameliorate the gaps in opportunities for refugee students in higher education.

Young adults with disabilities face barriers that affect their financial capability and financial inclusion in the marketplace. Barriers include a lack of autonomy, skills, and opportunities. This mixed method strengths and needs assessment aimed to explain and explore the financial skills and goals of young adults with disabilities. A standardized scale captured young adults with disabilities financial skills, photovoice participatory action research documented their valued financial skills and goals, and semi-structured interviews notated parents financial aspirations and goals for their daughters and sons. The mixed methods analysis suggested young adults with disabilities underlying financial skills fell 25 percent below the average score among U.S. adults; valued financial skills and goals included their hobbies, talents, and continued education to pursue a livelihood; and parents aspired that their daughter or son acquired meaningful employment, independence to include financial independence, and money management skills.

Historically, disabled people have not been viewed as innovators of humor because disability is associated with tragedy. My dissertation challenged the association of disability with tragedy by positioning disabled comedians as educators and ambassadors of disability rights. I reviewed the literature on disability and humor as well as disability oppression, which disability humor challenges. I used phenomenology as well as culturally responsive methodologies to examine what disabled comedians are achieving with their humor and what nondisabled audience members learned from attending their performances. Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of learning was used to examine learning outcomes for audience members. I examined historical and contemporary Black humor, which is much older than disability humor in order to investigate what may be the future of disability humor.

The purpose of this research project was to study the socio-economics of a controlled group of educable retardates who had completed their formal education. In 1965 the researcher investigated the mentally retarded students enrolled in the davenport, Iowa, Taylor and Marquette Schools and compared them to their parents and siblings. The pupil’s studies comprised three groups: (1_ a trainable group represented by pupils from 25 families; (2) a group of educable mentally handicapped students with known organic involvement represented by pupils from 165 families; and (3) a group of educable mentally handicapped pupils with no known organic involvement sufficient to account for retarded condition – commonly referred to as “familial retardation”. The results of the study supported the views that the background of the trainable and the educable children showing organic involvement was typical of that found in the general population of the United States and that the background of the familial, educable mentally retarded tended to correspond to that of lower class, underprivileged families. The data pertaining to socio-economic stats and the educational histories of the siblings supported these conclusions. For purposes of classification, the group studied in this project falls into the range Christine Ingram describes as “educationally mentally retarded” or “educationally mentally handicapped”. This researcher prefers the current term, “educationally mentally handicapped”, and refers to them as “EMH”. Their IQ range measured approximately 50-75, the lower 2 percent of the national school population in learning ability. The IQ score alone is insufficient for classification, however, suggesting that improvement can take place, accounted for by other factors. Many moderately retarded have few handicaps in addition to their mental deficiency. However, they are capable of expressing themselves adequately through language. Many, in fact, are capable of self-care and some of them are even capable of third grade level reading and mathematics skills. Hence, they find productive employment after completing their formal education. The EMH group selected for this project, Group 3 described on page 1 of this abstract, is within the range as defined above. The present study (1971-1972) investigated by longitudinal method the group numbered 3, the familial EMH. As the title indicates, the present study concentrated on the outcomes in the social and vocational areas for this group. The method used was questionnaire with door-to-door follow up to reach as many of the group as possible. The questionnaire was sent to 327 EMH within the age range of 16 to 24. A 30.5 percent feedback was received from 94 respondents.

Individuals with Intellectual Disability (ID) struggle to learn daily living skills (DLS) required for independent living. One specific skill set that is challenging for individuals with ID is grocery shopping. The current study is one of two investigations that have been undertaken entirely in the community and without the use of booster session simulations in a classroom. This study investigated the effects of using least-to-most prompting and mobile technology as a tool to assist 18 to 22-year-old adult students with ID to find six items from a grocery-shopping list. Dependent measures included the number of task steps completed correctly, selecting the correct items from the shopping list, and the duration of shopping. Sessions were conducted twice a week in a community grocery store. A single subject, multiple probe design across participants was employed. There were three phases in this study. The phases included: (a) teaching an initial grocery list, (b) teaching a re-sequenced grocery list, and (c) teaching a replacement grocery list. Overall, the participants demonstrated improvements in their ability to complete the task steps and locate grocery items during the intervention condition in phase one. Two of the three participants’ duration of shopping also improved over the course of the intervention in phase one. However, only one participant advanced to phases two and three of the study as the others did not meet the criterion of achieving 85% or better on the task analysis, which was needed to advance to the subsequent phases of the study. The results of this study suggest that the use of mobile devices used with least-to-most prompting can have a degree of positive effect on the acquisition of functional skills such as locating grocery items by 18 to 22-year-old students with ID. However, for some students either additional weekly sessions in the community setting or classroom simulations are needed. Alternatively, researchers and practitioners might consider pairing mobile technology with different prompting and prompt fading systems (e.g., most-to-least prompting) for students struggling to acquire this skill set in a community setting.

Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are enrolling in colleges and universities at an increasing rate. Although there is greater attendance in PSE settings, the graduation rate of this population is below the standard average. Improved services to help these students achieve their college and university goals are needed. Disability service professionals provide services to these students, yet oftentimes are not prepared to do so. In an effort to take a step toward addressing this concern, the current study began the exploratory process of identifying whether services provided by campus disability resources centers (DRC) align with the best practices that enhance the success of students with ASD. The current study began by asking an expert panel consisting of disability service professionals to develop and agreed upon a list of (a) barriers in providing academic accommodation (b) individual and systemic barriers faced by the student, and (c) supports that can help reduce these barriers. The final instrument identified 34 barriers to providing academic accommodation, 47 systemic barriers, and 37 individual barriers students with ASD experience in PSE settings. Additionally, DRC counselors identified 45 supports and services that would help address the identified barriers. Results of the study were discussed in the context of the literature related to identifiable barriers that prevent success in PSE settings as well as supports and services that can best benefit student with ASD. Additionally, implications, limitations, and recommendations for future research were discussed.

It is of utmost importance that students diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in the public school setting across the United States are receiving the best, most researched services and treatments. This study aimed to find out what services and treatments are most commonly being used for students with ASD in the public schools, to see whether or not those practices are supported by research, and to discover how involved parents and families are in the services being provided to their students. This study found that of the top 25 most commonly used practices, 17 of those were supported by and recommended by research, 3 are considered to have some research support, 1 was considered to not have research support, and 4 were undetermined to have research support. This study also found that overall, parents are aware of the services being provided to their students with ASD, but they do not feel like they are actively involved with majority of the services being provided.