Preparing undergraduate students for careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields continues to be a national priority. This project analyzed the effects of virtual metacognitive academic coaching between graduate student coaches and undergraduate STEM majors with Executive Function disorders at a large, four-year university. The project team analyzed the persistence of the undergraduate students in their major, as well as the graduate students’ abilities to transfer the coaching experiences to K-12 settings. A mixed-methods design evaluated qualitative (i.e. student/coaches’ surveys and interviews) outcomes for undergraduate STEM majors and for graduate students. The goal of this project is to develop iteratively a model of scalable supports that can be utilized to support undergraduates with disabilities in STEM majors’ at large universities such as UCF. Graduate student coaches paired with undergraduate STEM majors with Executive Function disorders (n=26) worked collaboratively throughout one semester to developed strategies that supported the success of the undergraduate students’ coursework. Both coaches and students provided examples of positive effects of the academic coaching process that supported student course work and created experiences that the graduate students could use in a K-12 setting.

The intent of this thesis is to discover teaching strategies for students who have exceptionalities with a focus on students who have Autism, Down syndrome, or Visual Impairment and how these teaching strategies can be used to teach students in a mainstreamed secondary art classroom. Since the mainstreaming of the public school system has increased, students with exceptionalities have caused uncertainty among teachers about which teaching strategies to use in the classroom to meet all of their students needs. New teaching strategies need to be brought into the classroom to change the way students are learning. This thesis will include: the general facts, characteristics, accommodations, and modifications of Autism, Down syndrome, and Visual Impairment. An understanding of how students with Autism, Down syndrome, or Visual Impairment learn and what teaching strategies can be used in a secondary art classroom to provide the least restrictive learning environment to the students will be addressed. Suggested teaching strategies for students with Autism include the use of visualizations, change in pace, adaptive tools, and choosing materials wisely. For students with Down syndrome include simplification, repetition, breaking the lesson down into parts, and pacing. Students with Visual Impairment will need tactile materials, clear wording, descriptive visuals, and labeling, light, and intense color.

Historically, African American male students have been disproportionately overrepresented in special education under the eligibility categories emotional disturbance, and behavior disorders. Additionally, African American male students with disabilities have consistently underperformed academically. If a student does not perceive that the teacher cares for him, it may be more difficult for a teacher to be successful in engaging the student in the learning experience. The literature indicates that care is a basic need that is grounded in relationships. In schools, those relationships are based on the interaction between the student and teacher. There is a lack of data that specifically addresses the care of African American male students with special needs in nonpublic-school settings. This qualitative study utilized interviewing as a methodology to better understand how the care of a teacher supported the educational experience of African American males for the purpose of informing teachers and leaders in how to work with this specific population of students by addressing the following research questions: (a) How do African American male secondary school students with special needs define care? (b) To what extent do African American male secondary school students with special needs’ perceptions of teacher care affect their educational experiences? (c) Based on African American male secondary school students' with special needs perceptions of teacher care, how are the components of the ethic of care demonstrated in the classroom by the teacher? (d) How are the three suppositions of culturally relevant pedagogy demonstrated by the classroom teacher, according to the perceptions of African American male secondary school students with special needs?

For this phenomenological study, thirteen participants from two private universities, located in the western region of the United States shared their lived experiences of being a college student who does not request accommodations. The author used recursive analysis to analyze qualitative data from semistructured interviews. Initial codes were combined to create interconnected families of codes. A second level of analysis resulted in seven spaces in which participants described their lived experiences. Findings suggest participants experience various tensions, ranging from incompatible options to competing perspectives, as they negotiate their identify and environment. including the principle of opportunity cost. Recommendations for college administrators and faculty, including Universal Design in higher education are included.

This study focuses on the highly expressive comic drawings of Amy, a child with autism. This study connects larger fields of research: the study of how people with autism spectrum disorder [ASD] process faces and emotions; and, research about artists with ASD. Amy's understanding of emotion was analyzed by asking her to view and identify humans and cartoon characters expressing different emotions. Her ability to illustrate emotion is tested by asking her to respond to various drawing prompts. The study concluded that Amy has difficulty identifying the emotions of humans and cartoons, but she does have the ability to illustrate characters that express a range of emotions. This individual case study shows that students with autism were able to process visual expressions of emotion with a high degree of accuracy. The results provide art educators a model with which to investigate how their students with autism process emotional expression.

This survey-based, quantitative research investigated Early Intervention teachers' perception about Early Intervention services in Mecca Region in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This research focused on three dimensions of Early Intervention including attitude toward Early Intervention services, the cultural influences in the provision of services, and the recommended practices that were used by professionals. Two options were offered to subjects to complete the survey: 1) an online survey and 2) a hard copy of the survey which was distributed to teachers in Early Intervention Centers. The majority of the participants completed the online survey. Data was collected and analyzed. The results showed that the teachers in Mecca Region in Saudi Arabia did not follow recommended practices. However, they had positive attitudes about Early Intervention services and indicated that they considered the culture of the children and families when determining curriculum and services in their programs.

This study explored the level of involvement of school social workers in the 504-Plan process as it relates to the administrative culture of school administrators, collaboration with school personnel, training on the 504-Plan process, and finally knowledge of Section 504. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder affects over six-million children in the world today that may benefit from the use of a 504-Plan. A total of 147 school social workers participated in this study. A self-administered survey was used, and data analysis was conducted on two levels: descriptive which employed frequency and percent distributions of respondents and analytical procedures. The Kruskal-Wallis H test utilized for this study which indicated a statistically significant relationship which rejected the null hypotheses of all four research questions. A second test was then performed, Mann Whitney U test, to determine where the significance of the hypotheses lied. Findings revealed that overall there is a low level of involvement of school social workers in the 504-Plan process of 64.8%. Twenty-nine and a third percent reported a moderate level of involvement. There was a low to moderate level of administrative culture, moderate level of collaboration, training and knowledge among the school social workers.

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.

This is a discussion of panelists from different universities who learned to navigate their institutes of higher education to create quality online special education certification programs to reach teacher candidates in rural areas. Each panelist will detail her university’s technology, process for approval, and financial incentives to create online programs.

Students with significant disabilities are most at risk for exclusion from grade-aligned content due to the barriers imposed by traditional instruction. This presentation will provide special and general education teachers with effective, research-based strategies to increase comprehension in content areas, including math, science, ELA, and social studies. Learner outcomes: • Participants will learn about research-based strategies to increase comprehension in content areas, including math, science, ELA, and social studies; • Participants will learn about results from a recent review of the literature focused on comprehension strategies targeting Common Core content areas for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Intellectual Disability; and • Participants will be provided with specific comprehension strategies and ways to increase opportunities for comprehension in inclusive contexts for students across a variety of diverse backgrounds.