This dissertation examines the experiences of people with disabilities in academia. It is oriented autoethnographically by my own experiences, and those of other students and faculty, to make vivid the phenomenological realities of living on crip time, navigating independence, the cognitive load of disability, and disclosure management. I argue…

Data is everywhere, but not always accessible to everyone. Conventional data visualization tools and guidelines often assume a standard user, neglecting the neurodivergent needs of individuals with cognitive disabilities. These disabilities can create significant obstacles in data-driven reasoning, including difficulties in processing complex…

Adults with developmental disabilities and educational researchers have identified many holes in the practices currently used to educate non-speaking youth with developmental disabilities, especially those with extensive support needs (Kapp, 2020; Taub, et al., 2017). While technology cannot provide a magical, sweeping fix to barriers to…

Students who have problems comprehending textual material tend to experience failing grades, peer rejection, and even social isolation. Furthermore, students with poor reading comprehension demonstrate poor academic performance in all subjects, not due to difficulty in learning specific subject content (i.e., math, history, etc.), but rather their…

It has been widely recognized that a visual impairment can limit an individual's ability to learn through visual observations. This decreased limited visual access which could impact how the skills to access and recognize the world around them develop. However, when the visual impairment was brain-based, such as in Cortical/Cerebral Visual…

Reading comprehension is a critical academic skill that permeates all academic subjects. Students with autism spectrum disorder are more likely to struggle with reading comprehension, especially as they enter secondary education. Therefore, evidence-based interventions to support middle school students with autism in developing reading…

A pervasive and widespread shortage of early intervention (EI) teachers is preventing vital services from reaching infants and toddlers with disabilities during their most critical period of brain development. To better understand the EI teacher shortage, this qualitative study examined the career decision-making of 11 EI teachers from the…

Reading disabilities are the most common type of referral in schools. In non-RTI settings, evaluation of reading disabilities requires comprehensive individual evaluation of cognitive abilities and reading achievement (basic reading, reading fluency, and reading comprehension). The current study focuses on the measurement of reading comprehension…

Neurodiversity in learning is the understanding that the different neurological development of students impacts their learning. In adopting a neurodiverse approach to education, educators shift the paradigm from being focused on student deficits to highlighting students' strengths. Many K-8 independent schools do not have explicit programs or…

Many students with disabilities who are capable of learning math find limited success because the tools they are using to access mathematical content are not well aligned with their range of abilities. Process-Driven Math (PDM) is a learning support tool that was initially developed for one student who is blind and unable to write or type. PDM…

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) may result in a wide array of cognitive deficits, including executive functions. A proposal by Ferretti and colleagues (2011 & 2013) has suggested that executive dysfunction caused by traumatic brain injury (TBI) impact navigation and discourse abilities in similar ways, suggesting that these skills may share…

The genre of persuasive writing requires writers to independently probe their long-term memory to generate pertinent ideas that support their opinion on a given topic. However, many students with high-incidence disabilities struggle with the complex synergy of tasks involved in writing, and in particular generating ideas. A qualitatively dominant…

Nonverbal Learning Disability (NLD) has been the focus of four decades of neuropsychological research. However, it has yet to be included as a diagnostic category in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (i.e., currently in its fifth edition, DSM-5, American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Many of the characteristics associated…

Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students' performance on fraction story problems is a cause for concern given that knowledge of fractions in the elementary grades is essential for learning Algebra in secondary school and advanced mathematics in college. Using grounded theory, the current study investigated DHH college students' cognitive strategies…

Although scholars have suggested that cognitive errors may plague school psychologists' decisions, there is little research documenting these effects or the extent to which school psychologists are trained to spot these biases. I conducted a study using experimental vignette methodology (EVM) in conjunction with a survey of knowledge, attitudes,…