Organizations invest billions annually in the form of Tuition Assistance Programs (TAP) with little knowledge as to the reasons why employees choose to participate. The purpose of this multiple exploratory case study was to explore the perceptions of employees with access to a TAP of at least $5,250 per year. Interviews were conducted with 17…

In this dissertation, I explore, through qualitative means, the perceptions of parents related to discourse (what is said and not said) within formalized and required processes of special education. These processes are federal requirements that parents of children with disabilities or suspected disabilities encounter as their children progress…

The purpose of this qualitative case study based upon the theories of technology adoption and technology integration planning (TIP) with the focus on design and development was to understand design features that encourage effectiveness and efficiency for using online individual education plans (IEP) along with the online IEP lived experiences of…

By participating within the educational setting in making decisions about their lives that reach beyond choice-making, students with disabilities who acquire the skills of self-determination may express interests and goals through their own authentic voice. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to describe the experiences and…

Changes in policy and practice that originated with the 2004 Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ([IDEA], US Department of Education) created systems that exposed students to earlier and more consistent research-based intervention (Fuchs & Vaughn, 2012) thereby reducing the rate and increasing the mean age of…

The goal of this study was to examine the professional development experiences of two contrastive participants while they were creating standards-based individualized education plan (IEP) goals using a virtual world called TeacherSim. Two specific focuses of the study were on how special educators engaged with the task of creating standards-based…

Children with complex communication needs (CCN) face many challenges in their daily life. They can struggle academically and socially if their communicative needs are not supported consistently by those who provide care for them. They frequently use Augmentative or Alternative Communication (AAC) systems or devices to communicate. The purposes of…

Students identified as learners with specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) represent almost half of the total special education population. With the high numbers of students identified as SLD, there has also been the concern of over-identification of immigrant students called English language learners (ELLs), which leads to disproportionality in…

Parental involvement in their children's education programs is increasingly being encouraged and expected. Due to the flow of immigrants into U.S., the demographic nature of U.S. schools is changing with an increase in the number of children from diverse cultural groups served in special education. Among these cultural groups are immigrant…

This study examined the use of poetry as a multimodal communicative text to encourage reading engagement in selected African-American learners with mild intellectual disabilities. Framed by critical discourse theory, genre theory, and Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, this investigation presented poetry as an alternative text…

Family member-educator collaboration is envisioned as the "cornerstone" of the educational decision-making process for students with disabilities (e.g., Harry, 2008; Olivos, Friend & Cook, 2007, Gallagher & Aguilar, 2010). In the case of immigrant and refugee families, however, the ideal of coequal collaboration is often elusive…

Public schools in the United States have a legal mandate to provide families with an opportunity to be actively involved in the decision making process regarding the education of their children with disabilities. However the majority of parents remain passive participants in the special education process. Culturally and linguistically diverse…

In education today there is a heightened emphasis on teacher accountability for improving student outcomes. The law requires that in order for a student to qualify as a student with a disability, the child's IEP team must ensure that the child's problem is not due to poor instructional programming. Therefore, the general education teacher is…

Research has shown that inclusive practices have positive outcomes for students with and without IEPs. These practices and the inclusive stance that they require to be effectively implemented are in direct conflict with the dominant discourses of special education and audit culture. Thus, despite the research demonstrating positive outcomes of…

This qualitative Case Study explored the integrative process of pre-service teachers' disposition development for cultural reciprocity and responsiveness. Over the course of ten months, pre-service teachers completed two Early Childhood Special Education practica in diverse urban communities. The pre-service teachers were placed in public…