<p> La investigaci&oacute;n actual surgi&oacute; con el prop&oacute;sito de auscultar la percepci&oacute;n de los maestros de educaci&oacute;n especial sobre si existe una correspondencia que implique una relaci&oacute;n entre las tareas administrativas inherentes a su profesi&oacute;n y el progreso educativo de los estudiantes que atienden. La muestra del estudio estuvo compuesta por 90 maestros de escuelas p&uacute;blicas del DEPR, de un distrito escolar del centro de la isla, con las siguientes caracter&iacute;sticas: estar activo como maestro de educaci&oacute;n especial, tener certificado de maestro de educaci&oacute;n especial y al menos un a&ntilde;o de experiencia magisterial. El estudio que se realiz&oacute; fue uno cuantitativo, no experimental, con un dise&ntilde;o descriptivo, con matiz correlacional. El objetivo fue explorar la percepci&oacute;n de los maestros sobre el trabajo administrativo y su impacto en su ejecutoria docente, determinar la forma en que las tareas administrativas afectan el progreso acad&eacute;mico de los estudiantes en diferentes niveles y alternativas de ubicaci&oacute;n, y conocer las sugerencias que ofrecen para reducir la carga de trabajo administrativo. Los resultados fueron analizados mediante el programa para estad&iacute;sticas SPSS y SmartPLS. Luego del proceso de an&aacute;lisis de datos, el investigador utiliz&oacute; la informaci&oacute;n recopilada para contestar las tres preguntas de investigaci&oacute;n. Los resultados de la investigaci&oacute;n reflejaron que los participantes de este estudio perciben que existe una correspondencia que implica una relaci&oacute;n entre las tareas administrativas y el progreso educativo, ya que las mismas afectan negativamente el aprovechamiento acad&eacute;mico de los estudiantes. Adem&aacute;s, los maestros piensan que asistir a reuniones de COMPU y realizar revisiones de PEI, afecta el tiempo lectivo y el proceso de individualizaci&oacute;n. Posteriormente, se presentan las recomendaciones para para el DEPR.</p><p>

<p> This study is a replication of Janet Jabs&rsquo; &ldquo;What&rsquo;s my job? Perspectives on Paraeducators Roles&rdquo; completed in 2000. This study focused on the perceived role of educational assistants held by teachers and educational assistants themselves. Participants included teachers and educational assistants employed by the Saskatoon Public School Board in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Each participant completed a 24-question survey. Overall results revealed that there were some discrepancies and agreements between teachers and EAs as to what tasks an EA is responsible for within the classroom. </p><p>

abstract: Children with cognitive disabilities are frequently included in general education classes to access grade level curriculum and socially interact with peers. To assist with the inclusion of students with disabilities, some schools assign instructional assistants to support general education teachers. However, there is often a lack of planning time or a planning protocol for the general education teachers, special education teachers, and instructional assistant to plan for the inclusion of students with cognitive disabilities. This action research project intended to increase the collaboration among instructional assistants, general education teachers, and special education teachers by developing a Community of Practice among the three groups of professionals. The action included a jointly attended professional development opportunity on strategies to include students with cognitive disabilities in the general education classroom, followed by monthly structured collaboration meetings in which the team jointly planned for the students with disabilities. Effectiveness of the project was judged using survey and interview questions derived from Theory of Planned Behavior and the self-efficacy construct from Social-Cognitive theory. The implementation of a team planning protocol increased the team’s collaboration by positively improving communication and connectivity among the team members. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2016

abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the perspectives of successful community college students classified as neurotypical (NT), learning disabled (LD), and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Using mixed methods, 45 successful students completed two surveys designed to assess their overall hope as well as specific academic skills and strategies used as part of their postsecondary educational experience. Interview questions were then generated based on the results of the quantitative analysis. Fifteen of the 45 participants were randomly selected to take part in a follow-up qualitative interview. Results indicated some commonality among the successful students with relation to overall attendance, use of email as a communication tool with professors, self-advocacy as it pertained to seeking support from professors and individualizing and personalizing the class/professor selection process. The findings suggested that there are specific strategies associated with student success at the post-secondary level and both K-12 schools and community colleges could incorporate skill building in these areas to improve retention and graduation rates. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Curriculum and Instruction 2017

<p> The purpose of this study was to determine what types of school placements are preferred by parents of students with high intensity education needs and what specific factors contribute to their placement decisions. Participants were recruited for interviews from several community organizations that serve families and children with disabilities. Two mothers responded and participated in interviews about choosing school settings for their children. The interview questions were designed to be open-ended and allowed for follow-up questions to gather more details. Each interview was transcribed and coded for themes in the data. With only two participants it was difficult to answer the question of what placements are preferred. There was some indication that these parents would both prefer inclusive settings. At the time, one student was attending inclusive classes and one was attending a special classroom. The families had used some similar decision-making strategies to reach these placements, with school climate, safety, and the availability of support services being important considerations for both.</p><p>

The purpose of this study was to understand the potential benefit of auditory and pictorial components of alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) systems in facilitating novel word learning for typically developing children. Thirteen typically developing children between the ages of 3 and 4 years (mean age 4.1 yrs) were taught novel words during a play-based exposure. A within-subject group design was implemented to compare childrenâs ability to learn novel words across four conditions: (1) spoken model only, (2) spoken model with AAC picture, (3) spoken model with AAC auditory output, and (4) spoken model with AAC picture and auditory output. There were no significant differences between conditions on expressive or receptive probes for word learning. Although on average children verbally used the novel words more frequently in conditions that had an AAC component compared to the condition without the AAC component, this difference was not significant. Future research should continue to explore the mechanism by which AAC devices assist children in word learning. Understanding how instruction incorporating AAC supports word learning may inform the design of effective interventions for children with significant language impairment.

Stay-play-talk (SPT) is a peer-mediated (PM) intervention that has been found to be effective for increasing the social and communicative behaviors of young children. Generalization and maintenance outcomes associated with SPT have generally been weak or have not been measured. There is limited evidence that researchers have specifically programmed for peer buddies and/or target children to generalize and maintain skills. The current study investigated the effectiveness of SPT for children who are socially isolate with a specific focus on promoting generalization and maintenance. Using a multiple probe design, procedures were implemented to increase peer buddiesâ SPT strategy use, target childrenâs play engagement, and target childrenâs initiations and responses across children and settings. All six peer buddy participants implemented the SPT strategies after training and adult use of the system-of-least prompts (SLP). In addition, the social engagement of all three target children increased following implementation of the SPT strategies by their peer buddies. Four of the six peer buddies maintained SPT strategy use, and three of the six peer buddies generalized SPT strategies to other settings. Although the generalization and maintenance of peer buddy strategy use was mixed, the play engagement of target children maintained and generalized at high levels. Teachers reported the SPT strategies were socially valid and produced socially significant increases in the social engagement of the target children.

Children at-risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) are likely to display problem behavior at higher frequencies than other children. Although early intervention may improve long term outcomes, children at-risk for EBD are less likely to access preventative services than children with identified developmental or physical disabilities. Preventative interventions to address problem behavior and classroom engagement for at-risk children are more likely to be implemented by general education staff who report an inability to identify appropriate interventions that are feasible in non-specialized settings. Antecedent interventions are often used as preventative interventions to address problem behavior and engagement, but few studies have evaluated their effectiveness with children at-risk for disability. The following study evaluated the effectiveness of two commonly recommended antecedent interventions that have limited empirical support for use with children at-risk for disability: social stories and visual supports. Two comparisons were conducted in the context of sequential alternating treatments designs: social stories comparison and visual supports comparison. Social stories were ineffective in improving childrenâs levels of engagement during targeted activities; visual supports resulted in increases in childrenâs engagement relative to baseline conditions. Future use of visual supports for children at-risk for EBD should include evaluations of the feasibility of implementation by teaching staff.

Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) are an important component of special education. During an annual IEP meeting, a team outlines academic and/or functional goals for the student with disabilities, as well as supports and services designed to help the student achieve these goals. Using a national, web-based survey, this study examined student attendance and participation during IEP meetings. Participants included 1,183 parents and/or legal guardians of school-aged students with disabilities. Results indicated that only one-third of students attended their IEP meeting, with students in older grades more likely to attend. Most students who did attend their meeting were not actively participating. Although historically student participation has been conceptualized as consisting of both administrative-type student IEP behaviors and students providing input about IEP content, a factor analysis revealed only a single, unified factor. Correlates of student attendance and participation included the strength of the parentâs partnership with their childâs teacher, as well as student characteristics such as grade level, time in the general education setting, anticipated high school diploma, and functional ability level.

<p> The primary purpose of this examination was to determine attitude s regarding homogeneously grouped students from a focus group of teachers. Do they think that students benefit sufficiently from a homogenously grouped educational setting? Homogeneous grouping assembles students with similar abilities together, wh ereas heterogeneous grouping assembles a mixture of student ability levels within the same classroom. Proponents of both grouping styles confirm the benefits of their preferred style; however each has its own limitations. Those in fa vor of homogeneous grou ping suggest it creates an atmosphere where students feel comfortable with like-minded students, allowing the teacher to reach the student better and students to achieve more success. Those who favor heterogeneous grouping suggest a mixed setting of studen ts creates an environment in which students are pushed to perform to the best of th eir capability. This study delve d into the experiences, opinions, and attitudes of teachers who instruct in homogeneous classrooms as well as examining the field research of other scholars, showing that homogeneous grouping s broken into smaller heterogeneous groups favor ed the most.</p><p>