The Power of Parent Education: Transition Planning for Students with Moderate to Severe Disabilities

Author(s):  
Lusa Lo
2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 202-219
Author(s):  
Olivia Winstead ◽  
Justin D. Lane ◽  
Amy D. Spriggs ◽  
R. Allan Allday

Small group instruction in classrooms provides children opportunities to collaborate on academic tasks, as well as opportunities for social interactions. Although such arrangements are common for children with typical development, children with moderate to severe disabilities (MSD) may receive few or no opportunities to participate meaningfully in small group instruction with same-age peers with typical development. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of a progressive time delay procedure for teaching children with MSD (autism spectrum disorder and/or intellectual disability) and those with typical social development, but at-risk for academic failure, to name sight words during small group instruction. In addition, children had multiple opportunities per session to provide tokens to peers, praise peers for correct responses, and initiate conversations and respond to a peer’s conversation initiations. Results indicated that children with and without disabilities can learn to name sight words, as well as learn to initiate conversation when tokens include pictures or photographs of each child’s preferred items or activities. Implications for teachers and future studies are provided.


2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 88-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony J. Plotner ◽  
Stacy K. Dymond

According to decades of research on secondary transition for individuals with disabilities, cross-agency collaboration with adult service providers is an integral element of positive post-school outcomes. While much has been written about the general functions of vocational rehabilitation (VR) professionals and their part in the transition planning process, limited research has explored the role these professionals play in curriculum decisions, particularly for students with the most significant disabilities. Through the use of semi-structured, face-to-face interviews, the authors explain the work of six transition specialists in a midwestern state who are jointly funded by VR and the respective local education agencies with which they work. Specifically, their influence on the development and implementation of transition-related curricula for students with severe disabilities is addressed. Participating VR transition specialists reported that they influence curricula through a collaborative approach, and focus on resource and knowledge sharing. These professionals also reported delivering several direct-service activities to students inside and outside of the school environment.


Inclusion ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bree A. Jimenez ◽  
Tammy Barron

Abstract In the current climate of universal accessibility, it is not surprising that more students with disabilities are being served in inclusive contexts. Although the reported increase in inclusion rates are promising, the rate of increase of students with moderate to severe disabilities is thought to be much lower and inclusion is still a struggle for the students with the highest needs. Questions emerge regarding the effectiveness of teaching practices in relation to progress towards specific curricular goals, at least in part because of concerns about dependence on sophisticated teacher skills for meaningful inclusion to occur. General consensus in the field is that professional development may provide support to teachers to adequately serve students with disabilities. We sought to implement a model of professional development which first explored the unique strengths and needs of an individual student or small group of students with a moderate or severe disability who were already being served in the general education classroom. We were able to tailor the learner-centered professional development package based on the needs of the team as they work directly with this population to implement embedded instruction and team collaboration to address the content areas.


2016 ◽  
pp. 2414-2429
Author(s):  
Ann C. Orr ◽  
John F. Conley

As the world falls in love with the iPad and other touch screen tablet technologies, no one is more excited by the possibilities than those of us who teach students with significant disabilities. The mobile tablet's intuitive interface, variety of accessibility options, and almost limitless possibilities for individualized intervention make this technology a true game-changer for children and adults with special needs. This chapter explores the landscape of tablet use to increase the education, communication, and independence of students with moderate to severe disabilities. Current research on effective teaching and learning practice that can best be employed through mobile touch screen technologies is presented.


2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Pennington ◽  
Lindsay Hugg Foreman ◽  
Beth Newberry Gurney

2000 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 129-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lewis Jackson ◽  
Diane Lea Ryndak ◽  
Felix Billingsley

We examined the opinions of experts in the field of moderate to severe disabilities on useful practices for inclusive education across nine categories of practices: Promoting inclusive values in the school; collaboration between general and special educators; collaboration between educators and related service providers; family involvement; choosing and planning what to teach; scheduling, coordinating, and delivering inclusive services within the school; assessing and reporting student progress on an ongoing basis; instructional strategies; and supporting students with challenging behavior. An examination of emergent themes within each category yielded a rich description of the depth and breadth of practices that are perceived by these experts as useful in promoting and sustaining successful school inclusion. Importantly, many of the identified practices require some level of educational service restructuring, including redefining the roles and functions of special education teachers, related services personnel, and classroom teachers. We also found that our sample of experts relied on sources of information other than empirical research in the development of their stores of wisdom on useful practices. Although preliminary in nature, our study contributes to the growing body of literature on inclusive education. It describes a range of practices perceived by a sample of experts to be associated with successful school inclusion. It also identifies a number of important themes that can inform future research in this area.


Author(s):  
Ann C. Orr ◽  
John F. Conley

As the world falls in love with the iPad and other touch screen tablet technologies, no one is more excited by the possibilities than those of us who teach students with significant disabilities. The mobile tablet’s intuitive interface, variety of accessibility options, and almost limitless possibilities for individualized intervention make this technology a true game-changer for children and adults with special needs. This chapter explores the landscape of tablet use to increase the education, communication, and independence of students with moderate to severe disabilities. Current research on effective teaching and learning practice that can best be employed through mobile touch screen technologies is presented.


2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Langone ◽  
Tom J. Clees ◽  
Lloyd Rieber ◽  
Michael Matzko

There are a number of community adjustment and transition models that indicate individuals with disabilities will require instruction across numerous domains that represent skills such as community literacy, mobility, purchasing, social interactions, and safety. To accomplish the instruction of such skills, community-based activities have been increasingly employed to teach these transition skills. However, the amount of time and the number of community-based learning trials needed for students with moderate to severe disabilities to acquire targeted skills can be in excess of the fiscal resources allotted. To overcome many of the logistical and fiscal problems associated with community-based instruction, educators have developed simulated activities that involve training in non-target environments with materials that simulate the targeted, or natural, settings. These simulated activities may or may not be successful depending on the attention given to strategies that promote generalization. These strategies are well known and have been extensively discussed in the literature. One method of instruction that can potentially expose learners to numerous stimuli designed to promote generalization of learned functional skills is computer-based multimedia. The purpose of this article is to identify and discuss the salient features of multimedia instructional tools that may be able to provide students with more effective and efficient simulated instructional activities in the area of transition skills. Also presented is information related to a federally funded project designed to develop a multimedia environment for providing this type of instruction as well as a vision for developing a research agenda designed to test the effectiveness of such instruction.


Author(s):  
Margaret Gessler Werts ◽  
Mark Wolery ◽  
Erin D. Snyder ◽  
Nicola K. Caldwell

Two mail surveys, one with a follow-up, were conducted to determine if consensus existed among general and special education teachers on (a) the conditions and supports that are critical to including children with substantial disabilities in general education classrooms and (b) problems faced in implementing inclusive education. The data were collected in three stages. The first stage was a questionnaire sent to teachers in Pennsylvania who had experience including children with moderate to severe disabilities in general education classrooms. Through two open-ended questions, they were asked to identify critical supports for inclusion and major problems they faced when including children with disabilities. For the second stage, the same respondents were asked to rate the importance of the categories of supports and to rate the significance of the problems they faced. The results indicated that training, support from a team of professionals, and having help in the classroom were mentioned by a large portion of the respondents. The third stage involved a national sample of elementary, general education teachers responding to the open-ended questions. The respondents in the national sample (teachers who may or may not have been involved in a supported program of inclusion) identified the same three supports more often than other supports.


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