Showing papers in "The Journal of The Association for Persons With Severe Handicaps in 2009"

Race, Culture, and Autism Spectrum Disorder: Understanding the Role of Diversity in Successful Educational Interventions.

Abstract: The reported prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has increased dramatically since the 1980s. In response, researchers, educators, and policy makers have sought to develop effective technol...

Cross-Cultural Issues in Parent-Professional Interactions: A Qualitative Study of Perceptions of Asian American Mothers of Children with Developmental Disabilities

Abstract: This study investigated the perspectives of 23 first-generation Asian American mothers of children with developmental disabilities. The intent was to explore the working relationships between the m...

Teaching Emergent Literacy Skills Using Cultural Contextual Story-Based Lessons

Abstract: Recent statistics suggest that the number of English-language learners has been growing at a rapid rate in the United States. The growth of this population will inevitably lead to a larger number o...

Chinese Families of Children with Severe Disabilities: Family Needs and Available Support.

Abstract: This descriptive study gathered quantitative and qualitative data about 368 families in the People's Republic of China who had children with severe disabilities to better understand (a) the perceiv...

Latina Mothers' Views of a Parent-to-Parent Support Group in the Special Education System.

Abstract: Parent–professional partnership literature continues to emphasize the importance of including the parent voice. Spanish-speaking families are often excluded from such studies because of the languag...

Evaluation of a multicomponent intervention package to increase summer work experiences for transition-age youth with severe disabilities

Abstract: Early work experiences have been advocated as an important avenue for equipping youth with disabilities with the skills, attitudes, opportunities, and aspirations needed to transition successfully ...

An Exploratory Study of Self-Directed Science Concept Learning by Students with Moderate Intellectual Disabilities:

Abstract: This investigation focused on the effects of a treatment package including multiple exemplar training, time delay, and a self-directed learning prompt (KWHL chart) on students' ability to complete an inquiry lesson independently and generalize to untrained materials. Three middle school students with moderate intellectual disabilities learned to self-direct themselves through a 15-step task analysis to complete inquiry lessons in chemistry and physical science. All three students achieved mastery across materials, science concepts, and instructional settings, but unanticipated generalization weakened the demonstration of experimental control. The results provide a potential method for students with moderate intellectual disabilities to learn science concepts.

Book Review: Seeing is Believing: Video Self-Modeling for People with Autism and other Developmental Disabilities

Abstract: Video self-modeling is a versatile intervention that capitalizes on the effectiveness of observational learning. Participants watch themselves in videos in which they accurately perform a targeted skill (Dowrick, 1999). Video modeling may be an effective intervention for children with autism because it reduces attentional and language demands, does not require social interaction with a teacher, and presents information in a visual format (e.g., watching a video), which may already be reinforcing to many children (Sherer et al., 2001). In the introduction to his discussion of video selfmodeling, Tom Buggey quotes the first part of Temple Grandin’s (1996) book Thinking in Pictures:

Supported Employment's Cost-Efficiency to Taxpayers: 2002 to 2007:

Abstract: This study explored the cost-efficiency of all 231,204 supported employees funded by vocational rehabilitation throughout the entire United States from 2002 to 2007. Results found that supported em...

Promoting Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Students with Significant Disabilities

Abstract: Providing comprehensive services to students with significant support needs is a complex and challenging endeavor because of the uniqueness of a wide range of conditions and variables that impact o...

Literacy for Children with Moderate to Severe Disabilities: Taking Account of Diversity

Abstract: The call for practice on the basis of evidence is slowly impacting the link between research and practice. Accompanying the call for evidence-based practice, concerns have been raised about constructing research questions that address the reality of applied settings, as well as arguments for including additional measures to ensure the internal and external validity of intervention studies. Because intervention research continues to evolve, now may be an appropriate time to begin posing questions about considerations of racial and ethnic diversity in this body of work. Validity is one of the most significant aspects of research and there seem to be few definitive notions about children with moderate to severe disabilities from diverse backgrounds. In an attempt to explore this issue, we chose a small part of the extant literature, specifically, the development of literacy, in an effort to examine how scholars report on diversity (e.g., race, ethnicity, culture). In this article we offer commentary on takin...

Reaching the Hard to Reach: A Review of an Initiative Aimed at Increasing Participation and Supports for People of Color with Disabilities and Their Families in Disability Organizations

Abstract: Individuals of color with disabilities and/or their family members need access to services and supports that will assist them with daily life and a way to advocate for these services. Disability organizations, whose core mission is advocacy, have had difficulty attracting and maintaining persons of color with disabilities or their family members to their membership and, consequently, to the services or supports they offer. Connections and stronger outreach is needed in communities of color by disability and civil rights organizations to enhance the quality of life and services and supports received by people of color with disabilities. In this article, an innovative initiative designed to help people of color with disabilities and/or their family members to develop advocacy skills and to obtain membership in disability organizations while building capacity of the disability and/or civil rights organization involved is discussed, followed by implications and suggestions for future engagement and research.

Diversity: What We Know, What We Need to Know, and What We Need to Do:

Abstract: It has been about 9 years since the last special issue on diversity in Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities (RPSD). The obvious question we ask: What progress has been made to awareness, respect, and inclusion of people from diverse backgrounds in our society? Specifically, has any progress been made for individuals with severe disabilities from diverse backgrounds? The answer to either question depends on the answer one seeks. Are we concerned with prejudice or, more specifically, a reduction in prejudice (think attitude)? Maybe, we are interested in the reduction or elimination of discrimination (think-active efforts to deny access and opportunity). In spite of what are seemingly similar goals, social justice for underrepresented and often excluded people, advocates of multicultural education (think diversity), and advocates of effective services and supports for children and adults with severe disabilities seem to be working on parallel nonconvergent paths. Perhaps this is attributable to a lack of broad organizational collaboration (see Lamar-Dukes, this issue, for efforts in this regard), or perhaps the issue reaches deeper and is a symptom of continued efforts to frame clear perspectives on both disability and diversity with the intent of addressing both. Essentially, both disability and diversity are seen as so salient to one’s values, actions, and potential outcomes that it is often difficult to see one as more salient than the other. In other words, disability in some cases may be seen as more significant than diversity, whereas in other cases, diversity may be seen as more significant than disability. In spite of the complexity of the relationship between diversity and disability, particularly severe disability, there is some evidence that both disability and diversity can be significant factors. An example of this can be seen in a study conducted by Dowrick, Anderson, Heyer, and Acosta (2005). These investigators conducted a series of focus groups with both small (n = 3) and large (n = 19) groups of college students with disabilities, including some students with developmental disabilities. The groups were convened across 10 states and represented a cross-section of racial and ethnic groups (e.g., African American, Asian, Latino). A series of questions were developed to capture the participants’ experiences in relation to obtaining supports within their postsecondary institution. One of the most interesting findings was related to natural supports. The participants were asked to discuss the significance of their families and peers in their postsecondary institution. Although all participants discussed the support offered by family and peers provided, the participants of color reported that racial/ethnic group identity was very important about particular supports (e.g., social outlets) and more important than their identification as a member of the group, students with disabilities. Certainly this investigation does not definitively prove that race or ethnicity was any more or less important than disability, but it did suggest the need to think about services and supports for adults and, perhaps, children in terms of disability as well as diversity. The progressive inclusion of more and more people into societal institutions (e.g., schools, corporations) has an appeal to most. More inclusion in contrast to systematic exclusion just seems to make sense. The moral appeal of increased inclusion is rarely questioned (for a dissenting view, see Lindsay, 2007), yet efforts to promote the moral ideal of an inclusive society, particularly in schools, have resulted in less than adequate outcomes. Seemingly, diversity has been characterized as a possible contributing factor to a host of outcomes, many negative (Yasui & Dishion, 2007); for example, lack of academic progress, disproportionate representation of particular groups in special education, and teacher predation, among others. There is no doubt that researchers, practitioners, and policy makers all wish to ensure the success for the greatest number, regardless of cultural background. But progressive inclusion, particularly in schools, just does not seem to be possible without efforts to address both disability and diversity. Whether one examines efforts to change teacher preparation (Moore, 2008) or teacher practice (Montgomery, 2001), design assessment or diagnostic procedures (Bronodolo, Gallo, & Myers, 2009; Mandell, Ittenbach, Levy, & Pinto-Martin, 2007; Marchant, 2006; Overton, Fielding, & Garcia de Alba, 2007), or develop interventions intended for behavior change (Michaels & Nahari, 2006; Salend & Taylor, 2002; Yasui & Dishion, 2007; Welterlin & LaRue, 2007), it is clear that a more diversified student population requires a fundamental change in the way services and supports are designed, implemented, and evaluated. Somemight argue that there is need for a directed and sustained focus on diversity (Bevan-Brown, 2001), whereas others might disagree and Address all correspondence and reprint requests to Charles Dukes, EdD, Department of Exceptional Education, Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton, FL 33431. E-mail: cdukes@fau.edu Research & Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities 2009, Vol. 34, No. 3Y4, 71–75 copyright 2010 by TASH

Book Review: Peer Support Strategies for Improving All Students' Social Lives and Learning

Abstract: In this resource for teachers, university instructors in teacher preparation, and other practitioners, Erik Carter, Lisa Cushing, and Craig Kennedy provide a readable, thorough, and practical guide for developing peer support networks and strategies in schools for all students, but especially for students with severe disabilities. In my experience, the guide is unique in that it takes the Btwo principle areas[ of emerging curriculum in our field, access to general education and social relationships, and binds them together within a framework of peer support processes in general education classrooms. Given that peer tutoring and related processes have developed a solid history of success across a variety of areas (Fuchs et al., 2001; McMaster, Kung, Han, & Cao, 2008; Stenhoff & Lignugaris/Kraft, 2007), this book makes a timely contribution towhatweknowabout implementing peer supports. The material is organized in a sequence that parallels the stages a reader might go through in creating a viable peer support process in a school. The book begins with a chapter proposing a rationale for peer supports on the basis of the needs of inclusive education. The book then moves into the promises and the benefits of peer supports, it shows how to create peer support plans, including the selection and preparation of peers, it describes steps and activities for implementing peer supports in the classroom, and lastly it delineates processes for evaluating peer support programs. A final chapter hints at what more the field needs to know to move forward in developing the next generation of peer supports. Each of the eight chapters is packed with researchreferenced practical information, each provides examples of how to develop and implement strategies, and there are photocopiable forms for analyzing peer support needs and activities within general education classrooms. Each chapter also includes what the authors call Behind the Strategies boxes, which provide brief accounts of the legislative background supporting the recommendations of the authors, and accounts of other aspects of the support process (e.g., collaboration) that practitioners need to be considering to assure that their use of peers will be effective. The book has a number of strengths that recommend it. First, as already mentioned, the book is practical, detailing in a useful sequence, and with examples, the state of the art in creating peer supports that are integrally linked to classroom tasks and routines. The presentation of material is comprehensive, and readers of this book who are committed to creating such a process will find it to be a useful guide. A second strength is that the book’s ideas and techniques are thoroughly referenced to the research literature. Equally important, inmymind, is that there is an underlying theory in which the work is grounded; yet the theory’s presentation in text does not overwhelm the reader. For example, in discussing why peer supports work, four reasons are stated: (1) it provides individualized assistance; (2) it gives the learner more opportunities to respond; (3) it ensures immediate feedback and reinforcement; and (4) it offers opportunities to be with one’s age or grade group. In particular, one sees especially in the first three of these assertions the way peer support practices are linked to applied behavior analysis. A result (and strength) of this implicit integration of theory with practice is that the reader is offered not a potpourri but rather a cohesive set of practices, which then work well together for realizing the goal of all students learning a common curriculum. But perhaps this book’s greatest strength is that its ideas are grounded in the values and practices of contemporary inclusive education. This is not a book oriented toward the Bsocial inclusion[ of a decade ago. This book never sells students short by depicting them as less than members of the class. Rather, it asserts in every chapter that peer support is about how the teacher can employ all students in a class for cooperative and oneway support processes that both assure access to the general curriculum and create a structure that is conducive to classand school-appropriate social interactions. An especially prominent example of how this work supports inclusive education is in how the authors first describe the way schools overrely on paraprofessionals when supporting students, then they show how peers can provide an appropriate and effective alternative to the over usage of adults. Carter and colleagues, very rightly, imply urgency in the need for educators to perceive peers as offering better support options in many situations. There are only a few areas in which I wish the authors had gone into greater depth. First, I would liked to have seen more discussion of the long-term implications of using peers as supports; for example, how such activities fit into the larger group structure of a class (Schmuck & Schmuck, 1988); how friendship potentialities are impacted, certainly in the positive sense but also with acknowledgement of some risks (Van der Klift & Kunc, 1994); and how to encourage long-term reciprocity in Research & Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities 2009, Vol. 34, No. 3Y4, 145–146 copyright 2010 by TASH

Book Review: Next Chapter Book Club: A Model Community Literacy Program for People with Intellectual Disabilities

Abstract: Autumn is such a beautiful time of year with its swiftly changing leaves and glorious chrysanthemums. We begin to see scarecrows and pumpkins and hay bales in front yards and people dressed in warmer clothing to protect against the chill in the air. Autumn brings to mind thoughts of hearth and home but also of community outings--from fall festivals to shopping for the holidays to getting out to vote in elections. For some people, however, there may be barriers to these types of outings, not to mention barriers within their own homes. This edition of CeDIR Citings takes a look at Community Inclusion for people with disabilities. Here you will find a book review, a list of web resources, and a list of books, videos, and kits that can be checked out from us at the Center for Disability Information and Referral. Book Review

Book Review: Great Ideas: Using Service Learning and Differentiated Instruction to Help Your Students Succeed

Abstract: In her new book, Great Ideas: Using Service Learning and Differentiated Instruction to Help Your Students Succeed, Pamela Dent describes many benefits of using service learning as a teaching tool for both students and the community. What readers will find most useful are her clear explanations of the process of implementing service learning and the descriptions of how teachers can execute service learning in their own inclusive classrooms. Although the title of the text does not explicitly refer to students with disabilities, Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities readers will be pleased to know that the strategies that Gent espouses are appropriate for all learners, and she provides teaching examples and vignettes throughout the book that include students with significant disabilities. This book would be great resource for both regular and special education teachers in inclusive schools who wish to implement service learning. However, the purpose of the book and the intended audience were unclear in the first three chapters. Gent’s initial definition of service learning did not directly connect to the delivery of instruction to students with differing needs, and the purpose of the text was lost among the many concepts introduced and quickly defined. This lack of focus in the first three chapters may dissuade readers from realizing the value of the step by step guide for implementing service learning provided in the following chapters. Gent defines service learning today as a teaching strategy that addresses a community need, curriculum standards, and classroom and student goals. She emphasizes that service learning is appropriate for inclusive classrooms where teachers use a standards-based curriculum and are interested in a community partnership and problem-based learning. Students involved in a servicelearning project should identify (or choose from teacher selected list of options) a real community need or problem and determine ways to approach the problem. However, the teacher is responsible for ensuring that the project is aligned with curriculum goals and that all students are meaningfully included in all stages of the process. Acknowledging John Dewey’s contributions to education today, Gent stresses the importance of student engagement in service-learning action, which should be student generated to the greatest extent appropriate (Dewey, 1990/1956). Gent provides a Bbrief history of service learning, standards based instruction, inclusion and differentiated instruction[ in chapter two (p. 15). This chapter provides brief summaries of important educational laws and trends. Unfortunately, Gent fails to make it clear that she examining the history of education through two lenses: one of service learning and one of special education, specifically inclusion.Without this distinction, the purpose of the chapter is lost among the many summaries. These two viewpoints are not reconciled until the following chapter where she provides the research that supports the use of service learning. The extant research literature regarding service learning is largely composed of program evaluations that demonstrate positive academic and social outcomes for students and improved school community relationships (Billig, 2000, 2002). Although some service-learning research addresses the benefits to student participants who are either at-risk for or have behavioral disorders (Nelson & Eckstein, 2008), people with significant disabilities are more commonly the focus of the service-learning projects rather than participants in service-learning project (e.g., providing service to individuals with disabilities is often part of preservice preparation; Smith, 2003).Of interest to Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities readers is Gent’s use of both the service-learning research with regard to student benefit and the research from the fieldof special education related to community referenced and community-based instruction. She highlights the research regarding functional skills, character education, engagement/investiture, social role valorization, vocational skills, community-based instruction, and generalization of skills to scaffold her arguments regarding the positive effects of service learning for all learners. It is at this point in the book that the connection between service learning and special education become clear. Gent’s book will be of particular interest to those teachers and transition coordinators who work to prepare students with disabilities for life after high school. Student preparedness is a mutual goal of schools and communities and requires a working relationship (Certo et al., 2003; Leuking, 2003). Service learning provides a unique opportunity to establish these relationships and align individual student goals with community needs. For students with significant disabilities, this is particularly important to address their challenges in finding and securing employment after high school (Leuking, 2003). Research suggests that employers are more likely to consider individuals with disabilities as employees if they have experience working with them (Olson, Cioffi, Research & Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities 2009, Vol. 34, No. 2, 64–65 copyright 2010 by TASH