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We trained six special education staff members in groups of three to conduct differential reinforcement of alternative and differential reinforcement of other behavior procedures using a self-instructional package. Our self-instructional packages were written instructions and PowerPoint[TM] presentations that incorporated embedded text, video modeling, and voiceover instruction. After training, we evaluated each staff member's implementation of the reinforcement strategies with a simulated student who engaged in problem behavior. After multiple exposures to the self-instructional package in a group training format, two participants mastered both procedures, two participants mastered one procedure, and two participants did not master either procedure. We discuss the clinical implications of the findings and utility of self-instructional packages in a school-consulting role., Author(s): Odessa Luna [sup.1] , Nadratu N. Nuhu [sup.1] , Jessica Palmier [sup.1] , Elizabeth Brestan-Knight [sup.1] , John T. Rapp [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (Aff1) 0000 0001 2297 8753, grid.252546.2, [...]

The purpose of the present study was to examine the impact of training plus coaching on special education preservice teachers' use of embedded instruction learning trials (EILTs) within ongoing activities of inclusive preschool classrooms. A multiple baseline across participants design was used to investigate the relationships between coaching and preservice teachers' implementation of EILTs across settings and over time. Corollary relationships between preservice teachers' implementation and child learning outcomes were also examined. Results indicate training plus coaching is an effective method for increasing preservice teachers' use of EILTs. Preservice teachers generalized their use of EILTs to another setting and maintained their use during follow-up sessions conducted I to 8 weeks after coaching ended. Moreover, as preservice teachers' accuracy of implementing EILTs increased, percentage of children's correct responding increased. Implications for future research and practice are discussed. Keywords special education, teacher education, international teacher education, embedded instruction, coaching, The practice of including young children with disabilities in early childhood settings has been in existence for more than three decades (Odom, 2000), and the numbers of young children with [...]

The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy and efficiency of a training package to teach public school special educators to conduct functional analyses of challenging behavior. Six public school educators were divided into two cohorts of three and were taught two models of functional analysis of challenging behavior: traditional and trial-based functional analysis. The effect of the training package on functional analysis implementation was evaluated using multiple-baseline designs across participants for each functional analysis model. The sequence of functional analysis models taught was counterbalanced across cohorts. Following the training package, all participants reached 100 % implementation fidelity during role-plays and classroom sessions with students, and maintained high fidelity at follow-up role-play sessions. Data on training duration, trials to criterion, and social validity revealed that trial-based functional analysis training had a shorter duration and was rated as the more favorable functional analysis model., Author(s): Mandy Rispoli[sup.1] , Leslie Neely[sup.2] , Olive Healy[sup.3] , Emily Gregori[sup.4] Author Affiliations: (1) Department of Educational Studies, Purdue University, 100 N University Street, 47907, West Lafayette, INUSA (2) [...]

Improving education equity and quality is a major focus of global developmental movements. Within that overarching goal, educators and advocates around the world are working to ensure children with special [...]

Abstract. This study examined the impact of contextual and individual factors on the implementation of professional development (PD) content in the area of word study and fluency by three upper-elementary [...]

Special education teacher preparation has evolved over the past 150 years, since special education teachers were first prepared in residential settings. Shifting perspectives on disabilities, effective practice, and providing services [...], The authors trace changes in conceptions of special education teacher quality and preparation in response to developments in special education research, policy, and practice. This developmental arc is a backdrop for understanding contemporary special education practice and charting future directions f Or preparing special education teachers. Federal policy, and recent research on teaching and learning, and the response-to-intervention (RTI) movement require a shift in thinking about how to prepare quality special education teachers and the expertise they need to be effective. To function effectively in RTI and fulfill federal highly qualified teacher requirements, special education teachers must master an increasingly complex knowledge base and sophisticated repertoire of instructional practices. The authors contend that preservice preparation is inadequate for this purpose and that preparation for special education teaching should build upon an existing knowledge base and demonstrated competence in classroom practice.

AFTER AN EXTENSIVE REVIEW of relevant literature, the investigators developed a questionnaire on teacher characteristics and behaviors in relation to master teachers and distributed it electronically to deaf education professionals. The questionnaire recipients represented administrators, experienced teachers (e.g., those with 3 or more years' experience), and college and university faculty responsible for preparing teachers of the deaf. Follow-up interactive interviews were conducted with representatives of each constituency. Considerable similarities were noted in the priorities assigned across the three different constituencies, including a value placed on strong communication skills, having a passion about teaching, being collaborative, remaining current in the field, helping students become independent learners, and employing cognitive strategies. Analyses of responses by constituency are provided, along with recommendations for action, particularly for teacher education programs that are intent on graduating more teachers with master teacher potential.

The purpose of this study was to further evaluate the outcomes of a model program that was designed to train current teachers of children with autism. Nine certified special education teachers participating in an intensive 5-day summer training program were taught a relatively large number of specific skills in two areas (preference assessment and direct teaching). The teachers met the mastery criteria for all of the skills during the summer training. Follow-up observations up to 6 months after training suggested that the skills generalized to their classrooms and were maintained for most teachers with brief feedback only. DESCRIPTORS: autism, direct teaching, generalization, preference assessment, teacher training

FOR MORE THAN A CENTURY, educators have recognized the low academic achievement of deaf children in America. Teacher training programs in deaf education historically have emphasized medical-pathological views of deaf people and deaf education rather than appropriate pedagogies that draw upon and build on deaf students' linguistic and cultural knowledge. A recent and growing interest in educating deaf children bilingually acknowledges the value of American Sign Language and English in the classroom. The authors address the dire need for prospective teachers and teacher educators to rethink their views of deaf people and, in doing so, rethink the teaching methodologies in deaf education.

This study examined the extent to which treatment integrity of 4 special education teachers was affected by goal setting, performance feedback regarding student or teacher performance, and a meeting cancellation contingency. Teachers were trained to implement function-based treatment packages to address student problem behavior. In one condition, teachers set a goal for student behavior and received daily written feedback about student performance. In a second condition, teachers received daily written feedback about student performance as well as their own accuracy in implementing the intervention and would be able to avoid meeting with a consultant to practice missed steps by implementing the intervention with 100% integrity. This latter package increased treatment integrity the most above baseline levels. Higher levels of treatment integrity were significantly correlated with lower levels of student problem behavior for 3 of the 4 teacher-student dyads. Three of the 4 teachers also rated both feedback procedures as highly acceptable. Implications for increasing and maintaining treatment integrity by teachers via a consultation model are discussed. DESCRIPTORS: avoidance contingency, directed rehearsal, feedback, functional behavior assessment, treatment integrity, special education

THE STUDY was designed to identify specific components of teacher excellence, focusing initially on the characteristics of the small number of teachers of the deaf who are certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), then comparing those with the characteristics of other teachers identified as master teachers by university faculty in teacher preparation in deafness. Classroom observation, written lesson plans, teacher questionnaires on beliefs, and content analysis of interactive electronic focus groups were used to compare the two groups of teachers. Results indicated similarities between Board-certified and non-Board-certified toaster teachers in regard to teacher behaviors and commitment to well-founded pedagogical principles. Differences were found in classroom priorities and in the greater level of interconnectivity expressed by Board-certified teachers as the result of becoming Board certified. Recommendations are made for preparing teachers of deaf students.

NOTING THAT there are no standardized manual communication curricula or proficiency assessments available to teacher preparation programs, the author used a case study to describe how preservice teachers of the deaf are taught to incorporate American Sign Language and various forms of signed English as effective communication tools for students who are deaf and hard of hearing. An accredited undergraduate teacher preparation program located in a rural area was selected for the study. Eight curricular components were examined, and data were triangulated from observations, interviews, and document analyses. The author found (a) that manual communication was taught in three required courses making up 6.57% of the overall curriculum, (b) direct application to the classroom was limited, and (c) there was minor misalignment across the eight curricular components examined. The program did not require an exit-level proficiency exam.

The shortage of special education teachers, always an issue of concern, has become a major problem affecting the integrity of the field. Boe, Cook, Bobbitt, and Terhanian (1998) investigated the [...], Twenty traditionally licensed first-year teachers and 20 first-year teachers with emergency provisional licensure were observed and evaluated by an experienced supervisor, unaware of licensure status, using a teacher rating scale with three subscales, based on a framework for teaching developed by Danielson (1996). The subscales included planning and preparation, classroom environment, and instruction. Teachers also completed self-ratings on a similar scale. Across all measures, traditionally licensed teachers were rated statistically significantly higher than were teachers holding emergency provisional licensure. Differences between the two groups were substantial, with effect sizes exceeding 1.5 standard deviation units. In sharp contrast, the two teacher groups did not rate themselves significantly different in teaching competence.

Abstract Teaching and learning on-line are becoming more prevalent in teacher education programs. In order to provide teachers with experience with technology, the author created one on-line lesson for preservice [...]

Abstract The student who is gifted and has a learning disability (GILD) presents unique characteristics of high intellectual functioning and serious learning difficulties. Helping preservice special education teachers to recognize [...]

Identifying intellectual giftedness by reliance on norm-referenced measures may underestimate young children who have not yet experienced formal academic teaching or who are variable in the testing situation. Teachers can detect potential giftedness by observation, especially in an environment that invites children to display their advanced abilities. Such an environment, in which the curricular dimensions of content, process, product, and learning environment were modified, was offered to 11 three-and four-year-olds who had been nominated by their parents as possibly gifted. Anecdotal records revealed a variety of behavioural indicators of potential giftedness and a diversity of individual profiles of development. Norm-referenced measures of ability and achievement generally reinforced the observations. Teachers need training in the behavioural indicators of potential giftedness and in the provision of a sufficiently challenging curriculum if the educational needs of the young gifted child are to be detected and met., Like any child whose needs are not easily met by the regular curriculum, intellectually gifted children are children at risk. They risk not realising their potential, becoming underachievers in the [...]

Abstract. The restructured teacher education program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is described specifically with regard to its commitment to prepare general educators to work effectively and responsibly with students [...]

Abstract. We investigated what had transpired in two elementary schools four years after we first began supporting one of the schools' efforts to restructure its special education program and three [...]

With the world increasingly dependent on mathematics and problem-solving skills, the poor mathematics performance of deaf and hard of hearing students is cause for concern. The present article focuses on the mathematics competency of teachers of deaf and hard of hearing students as a factor in this poor performance. As part of a larger study (Pagliaro, 1996, 1998a), deaf education teachers provided data on their postsecondary education and their professional development activities related to mathematics. Administrators were also questioned to investigate the schools' contribution to these activities. Results reveal an insufficient level of mathematics preparation among deaf education teachers, especially at the high school level. Few hold degrees in a mathematics-related field, and only a moderate number seek professional development in this discipline. Recommendations for improving the mathematics competencies of deaf education teachers are provided, with the objective of improving student performance.

Researchers have found that the availability and quality of early intervention services and supports are directly related to the knowledge and skills of the people providing the services (Klein & [...], This descriptive study examined the inservice training perceptions and suggestions of 242 early childhood service providers in Louisiana. These interventionists indicated that they had primarily or exclusively experienced more passive types of inservice training strategies than active kinds of strategies. Few participants report having experienced support following training. In general, these interventionists rated passive didactic training techniques, such as lectures, handouts, and lists of resources, as much less likely to result in actual practice changes than dynamic strategies that include observations of teacher modeling, small-group discussions, and opportunities to practice targeted skills.

The use of mediation and negotiation in special education disputes is briefly reviewed. Data revealing their effectiveness in resolving complaints filed with a state education agency and a nonprofit organization are presented. Implications of the data and future research needs in mediation and negotiation are presented. Ramifications for future as well as direction for teacher training is discussed., The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and its subsequent revisions and accompanying regulations place significant requirements on the public school. Specifically, schools are required to provide (1) a free [...]

Three training program directories are provided for special education for the deaf, targeting interpreters, teachers and professional specialists. The directories are organized alphabetically by location and the teachers' directory includes Canadian listings at the back. The university or college name is provided along with the department; address; various phone numbers; and program director, founding date and graduates.

A case study of the experiences of special education teachers revealed that beginners in the profession need to get support from school administrators, especially principals, to be successful in their careers. Principals should help teachers in curriculum planning and provide them with the necessary materials. They should also give the teachers enough time to get involved with collegial activities. Principals who are new to special education should train themselves for effective communication with teachers.

We evaluated the feasibility of local school personnel conducting functional analysis and reinforcement-based treatment procedures within actual classroom settings. Following an initial in-service workshop on functional assessment and differential reinforcement procedures, on-site technical assistance was provided two to four times per month to local school personnel working in trans-disciplinary teams. Overall results suggest that local school personnel were able to implement all procedures adequately with periodic technical assistance. In addition, functional analysis was effective in identifying individual maintaining contingencies, the derived treatments were effective, and the results were maintained throughout the approximate 18 months of this investigation.

This paper addresses a specific group of children: the gifted children with learning disabilities. The paper describes innovative strategies for identifying such children, instructional approaches to address their strengths and weaknesses, and theoretical implications., John W., a fifth grader in the learning support self contained class, sits in front of the room, his mind focusing on issues unrelated to the language arts lesson in [...]

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the concept of educability and its relationship to teacher education. Teachers and teacher training programs are being increasingly confronted with the complex issues related to students with severe mental retardation. A brief review of literature documenting contemporary best practices for such students presents a challenge for teacher educators., Children with severe mental retardation are becoming an integral part of public education, and spending increasing amounts of time in regular classrooms. Teachers and teacher educators are being confronted with [...]

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of a model for intensive training of consulting teachers, and to explore whether the consulting teachers who received intensive training [...]