This project explores and justifies using the local environment as an effective educational strategy for teachers of special education students.

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Education facilitates community involvement, participation, and acceptance, but not for students with significant disabilities who are taught in separate settings. The policy of separate education derives from arcane beliefs, limited research, and misconceptions that result in people with disabilities having choices made for them not with them. The All IN Pix YPAR asked six high school students with significant disabilities to photo document a week in their high school yearbook class. Each day after school, the students discussed a single photo using a modified photovoice method in structured interviews using the SHOWeD questioning protocol. After data capture, during a Zoom focus group interview, participant photographers picked 10 pictures and identified themes. Study district schoolteachers opted into the ALL IN Pix Gallery Exhibit Survey and shared their reactions to the images and student comments. The teachers found the exhibit impactful in providing a view of the students’ world, giving voices to students, and teaching the teachers more about the people beyond their disabilities. Students felt empowered in classes where they had choice in their education. Student participants became advocates for change over the course of the study. Recommendations for practice include, adopting students’ requests for experiential and choice driven instruction, incorporation of photovoice into individualized education plan development, club involvement, and teacher development. The All IN Pix YPAR study empowered student participants through self-advocacy and personal autonomy, which align to the study theoretical frameworks of empowerment education theory, critical disability theory, and the social model of disability theory (Kunt, 2020).

Many students have to perform well on achievement tests in order to pass grade levels and matriculate into higher levels of education. Previous research suggests that the increased pressure on student performance on achievement tests could have serious implications on students’ anxiety levels and self-efficacy. Students with learning disabilities may have difficulty performing well on tests, but they still have to take achievement tests. Relaxation techniques could have a positive effect on student achievement and lower test anxiety in students with learning disabilities. Study participants included second- through fifth-grade students with learning disabilities and their teachers in a private school. Students in the experimental group learned relaxation techniques, and students in the control group listened to a book on tape. Both groups took achievement tests to determine if there were changes in the levels of test anxiety and achievement before and after the intervention. Students in the experimental and control groups gave their perceptions of what they learned after the intervention phase of the study. In addition, teachers completed a survey to determine whether they observed students in the control and experimental groups using the relaxation techniques in testing situations. Results of the study suggested there were no significant differences between students’ levels of test anxiety and achievement. However, the researcher provided several recommendations for future research studies in this subject area.

This applied dissertation was designed to analyze the effects of social networking for educational purposes on the academic achievement of regular and special education students in the secondary school setting. The effect of social networking on student learning has not been determined. There is a limited amount of research on how and to what extent teachers use social networking within the parameters of instruction. There is even less research distinguishing the effects of social networking on the academic achievement on regular and special education students. The student participants engaged in discussion forums as their primary social networking experience. Of the 155 participants, 94 were enrolled in a class that required participation in asynchronous discussion forum, and 61 were enrolled in a class with more traditional instruction devoid of social networking. The treatment consisted of 12 discussion prompts created by the teacher in the Blackboard course management system. The analysis of student test data showed no significant difference in mean scores attributable to social networking when educational status was ignored. When educational status was not ignored, however, the significant difference of mean scores between all regular education and all special education students was found to be highly unlikely to have been due to chance. This study also found that there was an interaction between educational status and social networking. The infusion of educational social networking helped narrow the achievement gap between regular and special education students.

Since the inception of special education laws in the 1970’s, special education teachers have been given the responsibility of educating children with exceptional needs. Those needs range from children with mild to moderate disabilities to children with moderate to severe disabilities. There are 13 categories that a child can qualify for special education services through an Individual Education Program (IEP). The majority of children with exceptional needs are educated on general education campuses. With high stakes testing and the push for academic excellence, one may wonder how a child with exceptional needs fits into a general education campus. The Education of Handicapped Act (EHA) was passed in 1970 and guaranteed that every child was entitled to a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) at any public-school facility. Since that time, more laws have been updated and renamed giving a child with a disability more access and rights to a FAPE. Special education can be very complex, and teachers must work with students who have a varying degree of disabilities. Special education teachers are responsible for creating lessons to address the academic and behavioral needs of each of their students on their caseloads. They must also collaborate with the general education teachers to make sure they are aware of the needs and goals of the students in their classes. They are responsible for writing the IEP for each student on their caseload. They must evaluate their students throughout the school year on their goals and update their progress. Another role that the special education teacher has is to train the instructional assistance to work with the students and their unique needs (Capper & Frattura, 2009; Prather-Jones, 2011). Research shows that the main reasons special education teachers gave for leaving was lack of administrative support, huge caseloads, the demands of the IEP (Individual Education Program) paperwork, followed by isolation, too much diversity of student needs and the lack of appreciation by co-workers and administrators for all their hard work (Billingsley & Cross, 1991, 2007; Crocket, 2007; Prather-Jones, 2011). This study looked at the role of the site administrator and why it is important to support their special education teachers. Seven site elementary principals were interviewed to see what their perception was in helping their special education teachers with the special needs’ students on their respective school campuses. After conducting two interviews with each participant for a total of 14 interviews these are the themes that emerged: communication, mental health issues, lack of support/or delay in receiving help, culture between special education and general education teachers, support for special education programs and teachers, curriculum, funding and on the job training. This study used the lens of transformational leadership to see how principals perceived their role in helping their special education teachers.

Catholic schools need to examine the barriers to, benefits of, and interventions needed when implementing inclusive practices into their institutions. Catholic schools are experiencing an increase in enrolled students identified with learning and behavioral needs; however, they frequently lack resources and expertise to provide the necessary support for these students and their families to succeed. Research studies identify teacher attitudes and perceptions regarding inclusive practices as vital factors to create successful culture change. A single group pretest-posttest design, incorporated into this action research study, measured the attitudes and stress of teachers before and after a 14-week long intervention for eight target students with ADHD. The Attitudes Toward Inclusive Education Scale (ATIES), adapted for this setting, was completed by 26 teachers. The Index of Teaching Stress (ITS) was completed by each teacher for each target student in their class for a total of 53 teacher-student dyads. Data analysis included two, one-tailed, paired-samples t-tests. A moderate effect (d= .471) that was statistically significant (p The implications of this study suggest the importance of providing appropriate interventions and accommodations to better support teacher-student relationships, and that a greater buy-in and understanding is needed by the teachers to change their overall attitudes toward inclusivity. Effective professional development is crucial for teachers and students alike to be better informed of the potential academic and social challenges of an ADHD diagnosis and how to best support these specific needs. Further, creating a more inclusive school environment requires stakeholders to develop clear mission statements, approve budgets that include wellness and resource programs, and design daily bell schedules that allocate time for support outside of the student’s normal classes. The limitations of this action research include generalization beyond a private high school setting, experimenter effect, teachers self-reporting, and not having a comparison or control group. Suggestions for further research include incorporating a qualitative component to better understand the effectiveness of an intervention, and running interventions for female groups, middle-school-aged students, and other specific diagnoses for comparative results.

The purpose of this study was to investigate and determine the effectiveness of teaching an English Language Learner (ELL) teacher to use a task analysis comprising story-based lessons with cultural contextual literature to promote emergent literacy skills for a middle school-aged Hispanic ELL student with an intellectual disability (ID). Using a single-case multiple probes across skill sets design, one student with an ID and an ELL teacher participated in this study. The student was taught by the ELL teacher using story-based lessons with cultural contextual literature to promote emergent literacy skills. Results indicated a functional relation between story-based lessons with cultural contextual literature and emergent literacy skills. Future research needs to be carried out across multiple participants in varying age groups. Implications for practice and limitations will also be highlighted.

Although all organizations and institutions should consider accessibility when developing online content, inaccessibility is a recurring issue in recent literature pertaining to online learning environments (OLEs) and faculty accessibility awareness. The goal was to describe how online faculty gain knowledge regarding accessibility, to explore the lived experiences of online faculty who have worked with students who have disabilities, and to gain a better understanding of how faculty experience the process of accessibility implementation. The following research questions guided this study: How do faculty in OLEs experience encounters regarding accessibility for students who have print related disabilities? How do faculty in OLEs experience the journey of developing the skills needed to provide accessibility for students with print related disabilities? What aspects of accessibility and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) do faculty members practice in OLEs and what meaning do they ascribe to the lived experience of providing these accommodations? An interview guide was used to address the research questions. Participants were recruited from the Online Learning Consortium and Assistive Technology Industry Association for participation in phenomenological interviews, which were recorded and then transcribed verbatim. The transcripts of these interviews were analyzed to determine eight super-ordinate themes: Accessibility and usability awareness of online faculty; interactions and relationships between faculty, students, various departments, and outside organizations relating to SWDs and accessibility; different perspectives and experiences of faculty who teach courses within programs that have an emphasis on accessibility, AT, or working with people with disabilities; faculty experiences and perspectives of working with SWDs and providing accessible materials in OLEs; faculty training and experience with accessibility and people with disabilities; faculty autonomy within OLEs as it relates to creating accessible content; accommodations and accessibility features used in OLEs; as well as LMS accessibility and usability. The results of this study led to several implications regarding training and support services for faculty, students, other staff, and administration within online programs, best practices for implementing accessibility, as well as recommendations for future studies.

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.