Peer-mediated interventions (PMIs) are evidence-based practices that improve outcomes for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Determining whether peers also benefit substantively from their involvement in these widely used practices is key to establishing the reciprocity of PMIs. This study examined the breadth and…

Individuals with severe disabilities often face significant challenges after high school. During the last years of secondary school, transition teams develop plans for individuals who are receiving special education services. Little is known about the outcomes of those efforts. In this qualitative multiple case study, the researcher examined the…

Increasing numbers of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are being placed in the general classroom requiring educators to know how to use evidence-based strategies and interventions to address challenges related to their social skills and behaviors. The purpose of this case study was to understand rural school educators' perspectives…

Research supports the efficacy of intensive literacy instruction for children with moderate intellectual disabilities and Down syndrome (DS). However, much of the literature features measures closely aligned with evaluated interventions. Despite their increasing role in instruction, curriculum-based measures (CBM) are rarely featured in reading…

Since the early 2000s, federal, state, and local lawmakers and educators have worked to combat the "wait to fail" mentality and support higher student grade level academic achievements. Educators were tasked with finding teaching methods that better served academically struggling students, some of whom had specified learning…

Students with disabilities across the united states are not achieving at the same rate as their non-disabled peers. With their flexibility and capacity for innovation, charter schools offer an opportunity to improve these outcomes. However, data from the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), parent focus groups and surveys, and research on schools'…

Research focused on identifying effective interventions for individuals with Down syndrome is increasingly informed by the behavioral phenotype -- a profile of performance associated with a genetic abnormality. Recent studies substantiate the efficacy of phenotypically aligned instruction in improving basic reading skills for children with Down…

The purpose of this quantitative, non-experimental study was to explore a possible relationship between the number of students in grades 9-12 classified as chronically absent and the inclusion of the Chronically Out of School indicator in Tennessee's accountability model for schools and school districts. Using publicly available data from the…

The purpose of this study was to examine the changes in initial eligibilities of elementary students across Tennessee since the implementation response to intervention (RtI), as well as understand the perceptions of elementary school psychologists related to those changes in identification and eligibility. RtI is a Tennessee mandated initiative,…

Within special education policy and practice, parents are expected to advocate for their children to receive appropriate special education and related services. However, the majority of parents report feeling disempowered to advocate; families from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds may feel especially disempowered. Federally…

This study explored the impact of computer-assisted interventions on academic growth in reading comprehension. Participants in this study were middle school students in a West Tennessee charter school system. The investigation aimed to determine if students, both general and exceptional learners, would have a difference in academic growth scores…

College can be a challenging time for freshmen students; but for freshmen college students with disabilities, there are additional challenges to overcome. The purpose of this case study was to analyze freshmen students' perceptions of the various student support programs available for college students with mental or cognitive disabilities and the…

Children with or at risk of disabilities engage in fewer and less complex social interactions (SIs) than their typically developing peers. The playground is an ideal setting for teachers to promote SIs among children. However, few studies have examined practical and meaningful strategies for supporting teachers in effectively facilitating SIs.…

Students who display reading difficulties/disabilities at the end of third grade are less likely to succeed in content areas and graduate from high school than their reading-proficient peers. Literature suggests that students in rural school districts lag behind their suburban peers in terms of their reading levels and accessibility to resources.…

Response to Intervention and Instruction (RTI) is now the process for providing and monitoring reading interventions for students. In Tennessee, RTI is also used to identify students who may have a learning disability in the area of reading. For this reason, school districts are continuously evaluating the success of their RTI efforts in order to…