Charles University in Prague Faculty of Education Department of Special Pedagogy ASSISTING CHARLES UNIVERSITY STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS Aneta Marková Supervisor: Doc. PhDr. Iva Strnadová, PhD. Annotation The thesis aims at analyzing the service of Assisting Charles University Students with Special Needs from the point of view of all the parties concerned. It exploers both weaknesses and strenghts of the service by means of analyzing interviews with Charles University members of staff, who represent the service in the Office for Students with Special Needs, with users of the service, and particularly with its "providers" or assistants themselves. Proposals to solve possible problems are included. The thesis is based on the results of a questionaire and an analysis of interviews with 33 assistants and 10 users of the service. Key words: Student assistance, students with special needs, Charles University program Resume The thesis presents the results of a research into the service of Assisting Charles University Students with Special Needs from the point of view of all the parties concerned. It reconstructs an image of the functioning of the service as it is conceived by individuals by means of a questionare and an analysis of interviews with assistants as well as users of the service. The service is based...

This thesis aims at the problematics of personal growth of students with special needs in the field of art education. For example in ceramics they move from mechanical imitation of certain craftmanship to their own artistic self-realization. The goal of this thesis is to explore, dokument and describe in what ways can succes of a student be influenced. The claim will be verified, that though specifically chosen artistic tasks, that do not také place only in ceramics workshop, not only work related but also intelectuall skills that are connected with interiorization of the procedures can be developer. The subject of this research are the exspressions of verbal communicetion between students. The course of these interactions, their connection to the special needs of the students, and to the formationof their roles in the group, and what influence it has on these roles. This research is designed as a qualitative multiple case study according to theory of Strauss and Corbin. The main means of this research are transcription and analysis of data aquired from video recordings throughthe ATLAS.ti program and their interpretation. The output of this research could srve as a starting poind for creatings a more sffective methodology for teaching ceramics to students with special needs. The new educational...

Despite the rapid proliferation of assistive technology implementation, studies have revealed that a number of professionals that provide assistive technology services do not have adequate competencies to recommend and deliver assistive technologies in school settings. The purpose of the study was to examine the competencies of assistive technology specialists in Florida K-12 public schools, and identify training opportunities that may have helped them achieve professional competence in the evaluation and provision of assistive technology devices and services across AT service providers from different preparations. The study applied quantitative and qualitative methods to determine answers to the following six research questions: (1) to what extent does the perceived level of AT knowledge differ among AT specialists from different occupations in the Florida public school setting, (2) to what extent does the perceived level of AT skills differ among AT specialists from different occupations in the Florida public school setting, (3) what are the AT specialists’ perceptions about their AT knowledge and skill levels, (4) what common competency sets are needed for the AT specialist, regardless of their occupational role, (5) what are the training opportunities among AT specialists from different occupations in the Florida public schools setting, and (6) what type of training opportunities are essential among AT specialists from different occupations in the Florida school setting. In order to gather data of breadth and depth, the researcher disseminated an online survey, which 39 AT providers from the five Florida school regions completed. Interviews were conducted with seven of the survey respondents to triangulate interview data with the survey data. Results suggested that assistive technology specialists possess different levels of assistive technology knowledge and skills. Assistive technology specialists from different professional backgrounds and years of experience identified a lack of competence in several areas where they currently provide AT services. Assistive technology specialists should seek continuous in-service training to increase their assistive technology knowledge in the evaluation and recommendation of AT equipment and services for students with special needs in schools. This training is vital to meet their students’ assistive technology needs and legislation requirements for assistive technology services for students with disabilities. Recommendations for the improvement of assistive technology professional practice in schools are included in the study.