Fingerspelling and its relationship with literacy skills among deaf and hard of hearing children who use American Sign Language is an increasingly popular research topic. However, there is limited research on whether reading interventions that systematically include fingerspelling are more effective for improving literacy skills than reading…

Based on a recent survey, this issue of "DataPoints" finds that work, expenses and family issues are the top three challenges to success cited by community college students. A breakdown of those categories shows the specific hurdles.

Deaf students often differ from their hearing peers in written language development. Providing developmentally appropriate instruction is ideal, yet current methods of writing assessment do not provide teachers with sufficient information regarding the written language (i.e., syntactic) development of deaf students. In this research, we use a…

Albuquerque Sign Language Academy (ASLA), a charter school in New Mexico, is a dual language English-American Sign Language (ASL) school, and half of the students at ASLA are deaf or hard of hearing, while the other half are hearing. Many students at the school also have disabilities other than or in addition to being deaf or hard of hearing, with…

A tenet of multitiered systems of support and response to intervention (MTSS/RTI) is that lack of response to instructional intervention is explained by classroom experiences and behaviors given opportunities to learn. We investigated the potential of filling this information gap in MTSS/RTI decision making using ecobehavioral observation to…

The Science Notebook in a Universal Design for Learning Environment (SNUDLE) is a digital notebook that uses the Universal Design for Learning framework to support active science learning among elementary school students, particularly those who struggle with reading and writing or are unmotivated to learn science. Preliminary findings from the…

Although peer-mediated interventions can provide effective pathways for enhancing the social outcomes of students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), their application within secondary schools has been fairly limited. In this exploratory study, we examined the implementation of peer support arrangements and peer networks for 102 adolescents with…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the use of a simplified version of the Good Behavior Game called the Teacher vs. Student Game, implemented as an interdependent group contingency, increased teachers' use of behavior-specific praise (BSP) statements. Two middle school resource teachers and their respective classes participated in…

This study investigated the differences in conceptions of variable among the groups of students identified as having a mathematics learning disability (MLD), other low mathematics achievement (LMA) students and typical mathematics achievement (TMA) students. This was done by analyzing the responses of these students on items involving the…

Our world is changing and also getting smaller. We now know what is happening outside our narrow confines -- this means that we must all be involved in solving educational, societal, community, and global problems in inclusive fashions. For example, in education, we must be collaborative, consultative, and cooperative in solving school problems…

Education has undergone profound transformations with the addition of digital learning and educational technologies. Technology reshapes how knowledge is delivered, accessed, and engaged with, breaking down traditional barriers of time, location, and resource limitations. Innovations like online learning platforms, immersive simulations,…

Many young women attending post-secondary education report high rates of sexual coercion and other forms of sexual violence on campus; however young women with disabilities may experience even higher rates of these behaviours. While researchers have investigated some types of violence, in particular intimate partner violence, little of this work…

This article examines two separate and distinct initiatives offered through the University Studies Program at Portland State University: (1) collaboration with an academic program for students with significant intellectual disabilities, and (2) senior-level Capstone courses that include students who are incarcerated. These initiatives are examined…

In this study, we developed a Reading for Meaning special education teacher observation rubric that details the elements of evidence-based comprehension instruction and tested its psychometric properties using many-faceted Rasch measurement (MFRM). Video observations of classroom instruction from 10 special education teachers across three states…

Graduation rates for high school students across the country have long been a focus for educators and policy makers. More specifically, graduating students with disabilities has consistently been a greater challenge for school districts. School leadership is complex and special education presents school leaders with an even greater challenge in an…