The purpose of the study was to determine if training in social skills in a classroom setting would lead to greater achievement in writing. Fifty-seven children in grades six through eight (ages 11-14) from a predominantly middle-class school in a largely urban school district in South Florida participated in this study. Participation in the study was limited to students who had been evaluated, met diagnostic criteria for learning disabilities and were placed in a learning disabilities language arts class. Seven dependent variables were measured to evaluate the effects of social skills training (independent variable) on the writing skills of children with learning disabilities. The four writing variables were thematic maturity, syntactic maturity, fluency, and quality of expression. Three social skills measures were parent rating, student rating, and teacher rating of social skills behavior in the classroom. Three tests designed to measure changes in written language development and social skills acquisition and performance were used for pre-testing and post-testing. To assess the writing skills, two assessment instruments were selected: Test of Written Language-2 (TOWL-2) (Hammill & Larsen, 1988) and the Woodcock Psychoeducational Battery Achievement and Supplemental Tests (Woodcock & Johnson, 1990). To assess social skills, Social Skills Rating System (Gresham & Elliott, 1990) was selected. Areas of significant improvement in the writing measures were syntactic maturity and quality of expression in the experimental group. In the control group, syntactic maturity improved significantly more than in the experimental group. When pre and post test differences were examined for both groups, only syntactic maturity was significant. However, the gain score was greater for the control group than for the experimental group. The students' home language had a significant effect on syntactic maturity but not on any other variable. Thematic maturity approached significance and should be considered when practical applications are discussed. Examination of the results of the social skills measures revealed that no significant differences were evident in any area. There were no significant effects on the parent, student or teacher rating measures either by the social skills training or the writing instruction. The home language of the students had no effect on the social skills measures.

There has been some speculation that abuse/neglect may lead to later antisocial behavior by the abused/neglected child. It was the vi purpose of this project to determine the frequency of abuse/neglect in the population at the State Industrial School and to compare the types of crimes committed by abused/neglected delinquents with those delinquents not abused/neglected. The subjects consisted of all the adolescents committed to the State Industrial School. During the research project, 159 adolescents were at the State Industrial School. Of those, 63 had data in their files indicating some form of abuse or neglect. The findings of the study showed that significantly more abused/neglected delinquents commit authority protest crimes than other categories of crimes. Also, significantly more abused/neglected adolescents are found at the State Industrial School than those not abused/ neglected.

Customized employment for individuals with significant disabilities is becoming a focus of job placement. Customized employment is defined in the Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act of 2014 as “Competitive integrated employment, for an individual with a significant disability, that is based on an individualized determination of the strengths, needs, and interests of the individual with a significant disability that is designed to meet the specific abilities of the individual with a significant disability and the business needs of the employer, and is carried out through flexible strategies.” Despite its status in federal legislation, no research exists on the employer’s perspective on customized employment. This study surveyed 53 employers and a focus group of 10 employers to identify perceived barriers and facilitators to customized employment. The researcher found that the highest-rated barriers employers identified with regards to customized employment were their lack of experience with customized employment, cost and responsibility of accommodations. The highest-rated facilitators included support was available from other agencies, financial incentives, and increased productivity. Limitations of this research and implications for further research are discussed.

The absence of information that identifies desirable learning outcomes for students who attend Australian special schools and the absence of data that demonstrate the levels of mastery students have attained during their scholastic years, leave special education service provision vulnerable. This study, the first of its kind in Australia, developed a four phased evaluation process designed to assist special schools to ascertain desirable learning outcomes for students of school leaving age and to measure those outcomes. The process incorporated principles of the Outcome- Based Education approach as well as current philosophical trends in the provision of special education. The process was applied in three special education settings in the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales. Despite acknowledged limitations, the study provided an informative insight into the learning abilities of students in three Australian special schools. Strategic practices for future application of the process are identified. / Doctor of Education (D. Ed.)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 230-247).

The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain an understanding of the experiences of parents as they transitioned their children from an early intervention program to an early childhood special education program. This study was conducted in a rural area of Virginia and participants included thirty parents from several school divisions. Four primary themes were derived through individual interviews and focus groups, and included: parents received information and services from programs; parents experienced barriers (lack of knowledge and experience with schools, differences in programs and services, communication issues among parties, dealing with own emotions, and fears for children); parents received benefits (emotional support from early intervention professionals, and developed rapport and new relationships with school personnel); and parents offered suggestions and advice for future transitions (improve communication and coordination, expand information and services for parents, advocate for “parent to parent’ networking, develop strength and coping skills, and consider options for preparing children for transitions).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Despite considerable efforts, the disproportionate representation of students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in special education programs remains among the most persistent problems in the field of education. Using data from Texas' public school districts, this study examined the relationships between a set of school districts' sociodemographic variables on the proportion of students identified with LEP and students identified as economically disadvantaged served in special education programs. Results indicate a strong association between the sociodemographic variables examined and the overrepresentation of these two student populations in special education programs. In addition, a logistic regression analysis revealed that including the statewide geographic region where a school district resides as a variable was a significantly better model than examining only sociodemographic characteristics. Findings indicate that knowing a school district's sociodemographic characteristics is important in determining the likelihood of students being identify as needing special education services but it is important to note that the impact of the sociodemographic characteristics differs by statewide geographic region. Recommendations for policy, practice, and research are discussed.

This was a case study of two brothers with autism. This study showed how one school and family worked together to create a positive assistive technology (AT) environment at school, which was transferred to the home environment. It highlighted the experiences of both family and staff members, and described how AT was integrated into the participants' program plans at the beginning of a school year. It also identified highlights and challenges the school team faced in implementing the AT process throughout the school year. Findings isolated key factors, including time for practice, the importance of maintaining a clear focus on objectives, the bond between the home and school, the transfer of strategies and devices between the home and school, and suggested that using AT enhanced learning for both participants.

The focus of this study was the testing of the Conceptual Level Matching Model with a population of learning disabled (LD) children. The students selected for use in this study consisted of an equal number of students in the high and low CL groups ranging between 13 and 15 years of age.The final sample included 35 males and five females whose IQ's ranged between 80 and 117. These students were attending public school special education LD resource rooms in Anderson, Indiana. The students, selected on the basis of their chronological age, were divided into two groups according to their score on the Paragraph Completion Test. Thus, comparisons were observed among and between the two experimental groups. A statistical analysis of those attributes on which the students were grouped revealed no significant differences between groups on measures of chronological age, full scale IQ and reading comprehension scores.The results were generated from the administration of the Paragraph Completion Test (PCT) and the Analytical Reading Inventory (ARI). The PCT was used to assign students to either the high or low group who were in turn randomly assigned to either the structured or unstructured group to form the final four experimental groups. All students were then administered three graded paragraphs from the ARI; intended to measure their level of reading comprehension. T-tests were initially used to test for significant differences between the two groups in terms of chronological age, IQ, and reading comprehension scores. A two-way factorial analysis of variance was used to test differences between means for the four experimental groups. The hypothesis predicting a significant difference between the two main groups on the ARI was supported by the data. It was concluded that LD students high in conceptual level (CL) can be expected to perform significantly better than low CL students on a reading comprehension task.A significant difference was also shown between the low CL group taught in a highly structured fashion and the low CL group taught in an unstructured fashion; with the structured group performing significantly better. However, the third hypothesis which predicted that the high CL group taught in an unstructured fashion would perform better than the high CL group taught in a structured fashion was not supported by the data. In fact the results showed a trend in the opposite direction, with the high CL group-structured performing better than the high CL group-unstructured.The data also supported the hypothesis that the high CL group would perform significantly better on the cause and effect, inferential, and conclusion reading comprehension questions on the ARI than the low CL group. However, these results should be interpreted with caution because of the high level of overall significance between the high and low CL groups. Therefore, these results may not be a reflection of the type of question asked but of the overall superiority of the high CL group.Recommended avenues of investigation for future research is cited as follows: (a) replication of the study with equal numbers of females to permit greater generalization of the results; (b) evaluation of the CL of LD teachers to see if they prefer to teach in a highly structured fashion which is consistent with the way low CL students prefer to learn; (c) structuring an LD student's learning environment on a long term basis; (d) study of the environment that would allow LD students low in CL to move to the next higher stage of development; and (e) development of an instrument that can be used to measure the CL of younger children.