The individualized education program (IEP) is a critical component of providing special education services to children with disabilities, outlining the services and modifications that will be provided to help them make progress towards the general curriculum. While simulations have been shown to be an effective means of teaching special education policies and procedures, this can be challenging when working with distance students. The purpose of this study was to identify and examine how virtual simulations function to train preservice teachers learning to conduct IEP team meetings. Seven preservice special education teachers enrolled in a mild/moderate distance degree and licensure program participated in this research. Through multiple case study analysis, this study examined the specific behaviors emitted by each participant throughout these simulated meetings, as well as the antecedent stimuli and consequences controlling these behaviors. Additionally, participants were each asked to construct rules, based on their own simulated experiences, to govern their future behaviors for in vivo individualized education program team meetings. Results indicate that virtual simulations served a variety of functions for training teachers to work on a collaborative team, including increased practice opportunities and self-efficacy to collaborate with parents in the future. Although teacher trainees had difficulty generating complete verbal statements to govern future behaviors, each was able to identify discrete antecedents, behaviors, and consequences responsible for controlling their actions throughout the simulations.

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It is estimated that autism affects 1% of the world’s population (Elsabbagh, 2012). Given the increased numbers of children being identified with the disorder, many believe that there is a global public health crisis looming. This is in part due to the need for expanded capacity in the area of professional development for teachers and improved educational service delivery systems in many parts of the world. The purpose of this paper will be to describe how to design effective educational interventions for children with autism with an emphasis on building capacity among professionals in underdeveloped regions of the world.

Based on recent literature reviews on the use of Visual Activity Schedules (VAS) for students with intellectual disability and autism, the strategy has been deemed an evidence based practice. Using the literature highlighted in the recent reviews, this article provides an overview of VAS and common skills VAS has been used to teach. Additionally, the authors provide guidelines on schedules variations, creating schedules, and implementing the schedules. Finally, several examples of VAS are included.

Education professionals are challenged with re-evaluating the learning capacity of students with developmental disabilities (e.g., intellectual disabilities, autism). Assistive technology (AT) provides both the means for delivery of instruction and the measure of outcomes. Students with developmental disabilities are learning to read and develop general education English Language Arts (ELA) skills across the grade span. This article summarizes ten selected research studies that demonstrate gains of students with developmental disabilities, including individuals who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), who have made measurable strides in literacy general education ELA skills. This selected research focused on literacy interventions specifically created for students with developmental disabilities which incorporated the use of AT, use systematic instruction and shared stories, and are commercially available. The research studies include a range of literacy instruction from picture books and early literacy skills to adapted contemporary fiction novels grade aligned to general education secondary level ELA. In these research protocols, AT facilitated both the delivery oof instruction and measure of outcomes.

近來教育的研究，特別是輕度智能障礙的研究有減少的趨勢。通常這一類的學生會合併其他高出現率的障別，而不同的研究認為這些障別會有不同的特質。本研究旨在著重中學階段輕度智能障礙學生尤其是個別化教育，因為學者專家共同指出這些學生需要個別化教育。台灣、荷蘭在中學階段與輕度智能障礙有關的政策也強調符合學生個別需求、興趣和能力，所以這兩個國家可以在個別化教育這一方面做比較。 本論文的目的將研究與比較以下兩方面： (1) 台灣與荷蘭在中學階段之個別輕度智能障礙學生有何全國教育政策；期許和需求與關於達成 (2) 兩國的學校與老師如何落實個別輕度智能障礙學生的教學。為達成此目的，研究者擬蒐集兩國相關教育政策資料，以及與學校主要成員進行深入的半結構訪談。在資料分析過程中，會著重在兩國的政策和個案學校特殊狀況。而後將相互比較兩國對輕度智能障礙學生之個別化教育政策與學校執行情況，能對兩國的輕度智能障礙學生的個別化教育有所了解。以增進兩國在此方面的相互學習與借鏡。 本研究指出在台灣和荷蘭個別化教育的歷程皆受到不同世界潮流的影響。最明顯的是現標準化本位改革在台灣已經成為一種趨勢，而學生導向的個別化教育計畫概念在荷蘭的學校個案是受到支持的。此外，在台灣教育政策和規範的訂定是由中央到地方，而在荷蘭教育方案的發展則由各校自行訂定。在個案學校的主要研究發現是，荷蘭個案在個別化教育歷程中被賦予比較多正式責任，而台灣個案相形之下較少。 此外，在台灣、荷蘭組成個別化教育的項目在個別的中學低年級和高年級相當不同，而兩國的中學個別化教育項目同時呈現相同與相異之處。該研究基於研究發現提出部分建議，並針對未來可能的研究提出建議。 / Research into education for, specifically, the mildly mentally impaired has in recent years decreased. Often this population of students is combined with other high incidence disabilities while significant differences in characteristics have been recognized. This research project, therefore, specifically focuses on the population of mildly mentally impaired students in secondary education and particularly individualized education, since there is a consensus among academics that this population of students has a need for a system that allows for individualized education. Policies regarding education for mildly mentally impaired in secondary education in both Taiwan and the Netherlands also stipulate a program tailored to a student’s individual needs, interests and abilities and, thus, a level of comparability between these two countries is assured. The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate and compare (1) the national policies for meeting the individual educational wishes and needs of mildly mentally impaired secondary education students in Taiwan and the Netherlands and (2) how these policies are implemented in high-quality school cases in both countries. To achieve this purpose, the researcher collected relevant policy documents and performed in-depth, semi-structured interviews with key staff members at the school cases. During the process of data analysis, due attention was given to the fact that both the countries’ policies, as well as the school cases, are embedded in their own unique contexts. Upon analyzing the gathered data, a comparison of both countries’ individualized education systems for mildly mentally impaired secondary education students was performed, highlighting similarities and differences. The findings of this research project indicate that the process of individualizing education has been shaped by national cultures as well as different worldwide trends in both Taiwan and the Netherlands. Most notably, there has been a drive for standards-based reform in Taiwan while in the Netherlands the concept of the student-led IEP has found an advocate in the school case researched. Furthermore, relevant educational policies and regulations are created and enforced in a top-down manner in Taiwan while the Netherlands shows elements of a bottom-up approach. Among the major findings from the school cases is that the Dutch case shows a student who is endowed with a greater degree of formal responsibility in the process of individualizing education than the Taiwanese counterparts at both the lower and upper level school cases. Furthermore, in both countries, individualized education at the lower and upper secondary education stages consists of different elements. The degree to which these elements are present in Taiwan and the Netherlands shows similarities and differences. This report concludes with recommendations based on the findings, and suggestions for possible future research are offered.

Since the passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975, a number of common problems have emerged. Primarily they involve the difficulties both experienced and created by public schools attempting to fulfill the federal mandate to provide students with disabilities an appropriate public education. The purpose of this study is to examine the process of inclusion as implemented by teachers of students with learning disabilities. This study is a qualitative research project. A grounded theory approach, used to derive constructs and laws directly from the immediate data collected, rather than from prior research and theory was utilized. Three regular classroom teachers were selected for detailed investigation. The investigation focused on the usability of the Individualized Education Plans (IEP) and how well the regular education teacher implemented the interventions and accommodations specified in the IEP for students with learning disabilities in their class. To enhance the validity and generalizability of the findings, several methods of data collection were used: researching student files, interviews and observations. Upon analysis of the data, various themes emerged. The themes were grouped into three areas of focus: general classroom teachers, the IEP, and administrative focus. The data obtained in this study are characteristic of previous research findings; teachers typically provide whole-class, undifferentiated instruction and offer minimal adaptations for students with learning disabilities, the IEPs consistently lack usability and the language used in the IEP is confusing. This study indicates that focusing on the IEP itself can make a significant impact. By specifically defining terms used in the IEP and by soliciting the input from previous teachers to document specific teaching strategies for a student with a learning disability the IEP will evolve into a tool to be used by subsequent teachers. It is not a sufficient strategy simply to return students with disabilities to unchanged mainstream programs. Teacher education programs need to focus on the increasing diversity of the student population and emphasize techniques in modifying and differentiating curriculum. The regular school programs need to be re-created so that they can meet more effectively the diverse and individual needs of all students. / Graduation date: 2002

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Speech Pathology and Audiology, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 39-45).

Across grade levels, students with learning disabilities (LD) experience challenges with aspects of their academic learning in terms of reading and writing. In many cases, these challenges can be addressed by utilizing assistive technology (AT) applications as a potential solution. According to the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 2004, AT should be "considered" in the development of the Individualized Education Program (IEP) to meet the requirement of providing a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) and to assist students in accessing the general education curriculum. The law requires IEP teams to consider AT to determine whether AT devices and services are necessary; therefore, IEP team members play an important role for considering AT and how AT should be specified in the IEP (Golden, 1998). The IEP team members include school administrators, teachers, and professionals who are responsible for developing, reviewing, and revising the IEP for students with disabilities. Thus, the IEP team members should have essential knowledge to inform AT decisionmaking (Bowser, 2003). The Technology and Media Division (TAM) of the Council of Exceptional Children (CEC) lists standards and teacher competencies regarding knowledge and skills of AT for practitioners and related professionals to follow. The standards include obtaining knowledge about AT legal foundations, students' characteristics, instructional content, technology applications, and related services for providing technology. In order to know whether IEP team members possess knowledge for considering AT for students with LD, the purpose of this study was to examine IEP team members' knowledge regarding characteristics of students with LD, AT legislation, AT devices, and AT services for considering assistive technology in the IEP development for 3rd grade to 5th grade students who have been identified as having learning disabilities in reading and writing. Participants (N=1050) including school administrators, general education teachers, special education teachers, diagnosticians, and speech/language pathologists from three school districts in a southern state were surveyed. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was used to analyze the data. The results showed that participants were somewhat knowledgeable about the characteristics of students with LD, AT legislation, AT devices, and AT services when considering AT in the IEP development. Training in terms of quality and quantity was suggested by researchers to provide IEP team members who are serving students with LD better preparing for considering AT in the IEP team meetings. Future research should focus on conducting a similar study with different IEP team members and with different disability groups rather than just learning disability.