Autistic children are less likely to be jointly engaged with a play partner than nonautistic children, negatively impacting social communication development. Promoting joint engagement during play can be an important target for educators of autistic students, but educator perceptions of autistic students may affect their interactions with…

The purpose of this research study is to comprehend the perception and practices of New Jersey public school educators serving students in kindergarten through 12th-grade settings, regarding factors impacting placement in the least restrictive environment for special education students. This study explored how educators rate the implementation of…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how general education elementary teachers who teach special education students in their classrooms in California described their use of pedagogy, innate qualities, and classroom culture to develop creative teaching practices. This study was guided by Cremin's theory, the three…

This study compared simultaneous prompting with an error correction procedure for teaching three children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder expressive labels. Using a parallel treatment design nested within a multiple probe design, the researchers taught each participant how to expressively label pictures of sports teams or cartoon…

Within the education academic arena, there is almost no established research on the alternative Waldorf (or Steiner) education movement in the US or UK. This primary research investigates Rudolf Steiner's philosophy of early childhood Waldorf education, and its child-centered and inclusive core. Ten kindergarten teachers in the US and UK educating…

This study explored influences, views and practices associated with life skills education for children with autism within schools in two cities in England and in Turkey of similar socio-economic status and size. Data was collected via interviews with staff and observations in mainstream and special schools. Life skills were taught to children with…

Background: Staff members' views can have a significant impact on sexuality issues of people with intellectual disabilities. Research on the impact of sociocultural factors in this area in the Chinese context is sparse. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven professionals (social worker, nurse, life skills trainer and…

Mathematical problem solving has been identified as one foundational area of mathematics for all students but is an area of weakness for students with disabilities. This investigation sought to determine the effects of peer-delivered schema-based instruction on the mathematical problem solving of the change problem type with four middle school…

Although reading remains a priority in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the basis of the case law primarily is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) due in significant part to its open adjudicative avenue. The purpose of this article is to provide a synthesis of the judicial rulings under the IDEA specific to reading…

Peer support has demonstrated promise in promoting inclusive practices and initiating relationships between students with and without disabilities. This support has resulted in friendships, but also academic, social, vocational, and communicative growth by students with and without disabilities. Yet, little research has focused on how to teach…

This dissertation investigated the relationship between mindset and self-efficacy among special education teachers in Region 2 of Texas. While approximately 500,000 students are provided special education services in Texas public schools, special education students perform significantly lower on state assessments in reading and math than their…

This dissertation examines (1) the factors that mediate the ways in which preservice teachers perceive the relationship between the frameworks of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP) and (2) how experiences with observing and designing instructional activities aligned with UDL and CRP principles influence…

Stigmatization of students with disabilities relates to adverse long-term effects. Research provides evidence that the majority of students maintain negative cognitive and affective attitudes toward peers with disabilities. As these attitudes begin to develop in childhood and directly affect students in the educational context, schools are…

Instructional technology is growing at rapid rates. In the field of mathematics, virtual manipulatives are a research-based tool that has shown to have a positive impact on students' mathematic achievement, as well as student engagement in learning. In an effort to extend the research, this study investigated the impact of virtual manipulatives,…

Few studies have considered academic vocabulary interventions for students who have learning disabilities (LD) and also are English Learners (EL). This research explored the effects of the third year of the CHAAOS (Creating Habits that Accelerate the Academic Language of Students) vocabulary intervention for eighth grade students who received…