The primary purpose of this study was to determine if and how the perceptions of general education students toward their peers with severe disabilities changes when they participate in a peer tutoring program. The study was conducted in a suburban/rural district in Utah and included 102 participants in treatment and control groups over three junior high schools. The data found mixed results. One of the three schools had a significant difference in the attitudes of the treatment group after being part of a peer tutoring program. The study shows that being part of a peer tutoring program can have a positive impact on the attitudes and perceptions of students in general education.

“Linking Functional Skills to Educational Goals for Students with Significant Disabilities: A Professional Development Series” is an occupational therapist-developed multi-disciplinary professional development and mentorship series that helps special educators link educational standards to functional life skills to support improved post-school outcomes. The evidence-based and theoretically-grounded professional development series addresses the need for ongoing professional development for educators working with students with significant disabilities and in so doing also attempts to improve the long-standing poor post-school outcomes of this student population. A review of the literature indicated that overall, post-school outcomes continue to be poor for students with significant disabilities as they remain dependent upon their caregivers for daily living activities and are consistently under-employed, if employed at all. Content of the program will help educational staff integrate functional life skills into academic curriculum thereby supporting functional as well as academic outcomes using Alwell and Cobb’s (2009) five domains of life skills. Structure of the program will entail collaborative sessions using matrices that guide goal and curriculum development based on assessment protocols. Monthly job-embedded coaching and mentorship opportunities will align with recommendations in the literature. Local and national grant opportunities will fund the project and dissemination of program results will occur via local, state, and national conference opportunities. Such an occupation- and performance-based curriculum serves to develop young adults whose education truly results in participating and active members of their community, with decreased caregiver burden, as well as increased student self-concept and established and continuously emerging identities and roles.

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No description available.

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No description available.

For students with moderate to severe disabilities, their secondary education, specific to Grades 9 through 12, greatly impacts postsecondary outcomes. Key components of secondary education for this learner population include classroom structures and alternative curricula implementation. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine selected secondary programs to determine whether classroom structures and alternative curricula were meeting the postsecondary needs of students with moderate to severe disabilities. One school district was selected for participation in this study. One document, the selected district's special education operating procedures, was used in the document analysis portion of this study. Six parents of students with moderate to severe disabilities and six special education district-level administrators were selected as interview participants. Findings revealed that current secondary programs were not consistently meeting postsecondary needs for students with moderate to severe disabilities. Findings also showed inconsistences with classroom structures and alternative curriculum implementation that would facilitate postsecondary readiness. A need for additional staff training and parent preparation for the transition into postsecondary life with their adult child was discovered. A notable finding was that teacher characteristics played a role in promoting postsecondary success. In summary, all participants had pure intentions to produce desirable postsecondary outcomes for students with moderate to severe disabilities, but a gap was identified between intentions and implementation that impacted the likelihood of desirable postsecondary outcomes.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching a picture communication system to students with moderate to severe disabilities using the PECS Phase III application. A multiple probe across participants design was used to conduct the study and evaluate the effectiveness of the training on the PECS Phase III application. The results of the study demonstrated that teaching a picture communication system on an augmentative and alternative communication device is effective in the school setting with young adults with moderate and severe disabilities.

The purpose of this pilot investigation was to assess the inter-rater reliability of an expert-validated pediatric feeding assessment, designed for clinician use with children who have severe disabilities. The tool would ideally allow for standardization of the clinical mealtime assessment process. A comprehensive review of available feeding instruments revealed that there is a need for an assessment tool for children with motor and developmentally based feeding problems.In response to this need, a new clinician administered instrument called the Mealtime Assessment Tool for Children (MATCH) was developed in order to guide the assessment of a child during a clinical meal. The items on the MATCH were selected based on expert validation of normal and abnormal feeding patterns that remain constant across the feeding assessments found in the literature. The tool includes a rating scale that allows for gradation of the severity of the problem. Child participants were taped while eating, and clips were rated by four SLPs using the MATCH. The resulting data was analyzed quantitatively, and it was found that across items there was a strong percentage agreement.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of QR code (quick reference) linked video-based instruction (VBI) on daily vocational skills for students with moderate to severe disabilities (MSD). A multiple probe across participants was used to evaluate the effectiveness of VBI accessed through scanning a QR code. During technology training a system of least prompts was used to teach students to unlock the iPod, scan the QR code, press play, and press pause between each step of the task; after reaching mastery, students entered into the intervention condition (VBI). During VBI an immediate change in level was observed across three particpants. This study found a functional relationship between VBI and the completion of vocational tasks.