The term "neurodivergence" refers to the variation in the human brain regarding socialization preferences, learning, attention, mood, and other mental skills that differ from the societal standards and norms. Every day, schools encounter students whose neurodivergent experiences shape how they communicate, engage, and learn. Sometimes,…

Many teachers are underprepared to meet the needs of students with disabilities. Most have insufficient training and field experiences from their preparation programs, and once they begin teaching, they often lack collaborative professional learning about supporting students with disabilities. This article describes s how a multidisciplinary team…

This article explores the use of visual tools--maps, diagrams, graphic organizers, and illustrations that link two or more ideas together in a conceptual manner--and how they are commonly used in deaf education. Visual tools improve the quantity and quality of learning in language, science, and mathematics across all ages and all groups of deaf…

In this article, I reflect on my lived experiences as a disabled graduate student navigating spaces of community literacy. This essay utilizes storytelling as an entry point for understanding the barriers graduate students oftentimes face while accessing community literacy projects. Extending Ada Hubrig's theorization of "disability justice…

Rater training is necessary to accurately evaluate fundamental motor skills among children with developmental disabilities (DD). The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the impact of an online rater training program for novice raters on scoring accuracy of the run and two-hand strike skills on the Test of Gross Motor Development-Third…

The focus of this pragmatic qualitative research study was to better understand the collaborative experiences and perceptions of secondary transition practitioners as they work on employment preparation for students with disabilities (SWD). Although there is a plethora of research around collaborative secondary transition efforts over the past few…

This review of research conducted between March 2020-April 2023 summarizes the impact of COVID-19 on the learning and school experiences of children and adolescents with special educational needs and dis/abilities (SENDs) including youth with neurodevelopmental disorders, learning differences, intellectual, developmental, and other disabilities.…

Inclusion is not merely a placement; it is a human right. This qualitative study examined the organizational structures and systems that support the development and sustained implementation of inclusive practices within a large urban school district that has prioritized the transformation from a siloed approach to educating students with…

The outcomes presented in this dissertation were motivated by a scarcity of research that explores self-determination practices explicitly within inclusive classrooms. Three overarching goals motivated my research. The first was to understand what inclusion teachers know and do in relation to self-determination (Chapter 2). The second was to…

The problem at a Southwestern private school is that secondary teachers have insufficient training to apply personalized instruction (PI) with fidelity to meet the needs of students with severe to moderate cognitive impairments. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore the secondary teachers' perceptions of the training they need…

This qualitative phenomenological research study used purposive sampling to explore the perceptions of general education teachers who teach children with autism in the general education setting. Furthermore, this research study analyzed the effectiveness of ongoing professional development that general educators that instruct children with autism…

School administrators are required to serve on Individualized Education Program (IEP) teams, yet many do not have the special education content knowledge and training to successfully participate in the special education process. With the accountability measures enacted by the Every Student Succeeds Act, a school administrator's performance is…

Researchers have shown that aesthetic design has a positive effect on viewers of web pages. The problem is that the aesthetic design of e-learning courses is understudied, especially concerning nondisabled students in accessibly designed online classes. Thus, administrators, course designers, instructional technologists, faculty, and students may…

The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was to understand elementary-level general education teachers' attitudes and efficacy regarding teaching students with disabilities in an inclusion classroom environment. Bandura's self-efficacy theory guided this study of teachers' relationships with their attitudes and…

This phenomenological qualitative study aimed to investigate the perceptions of elementary school general education teachers on the inclusion of students with autism in the general education classroom. The theoretical views of Lev Vygotsky's (1977) social constructivist theory served as the framework for the study. The phenomenon of inclusion is…