Mindset of Paraprofessionals Serving Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

2017 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 206-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin D. Garwood ◽  
Christopher L. Van Loan ◽  
Margaret Gessler Werts
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Behavioral Disorders ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Emotional And Behavioral Disorders ◽  
The United States ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Emotional Wellbeing ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
Special Education Paraprofessionals

As schools across the United States move toward more inclusive models and as caseloads for special education teachers increase, special education paraprofessionals are being hired to fill service delivery gaps. Most often, paraprofessionals are asked to provide social and behavioral support to students with disabilities, and much of their time is spent in direct support of students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Special education teachers have reported that students with emotional and behavioral disorders are some of the hardest to serve, and those working in this field have the highest rate of burnout. Although there has been increased recognition of the importance of mental health and wellbeing for special education teachers, little attention has been paid to paraprofessionals’ needs. Based on recommendations for special education teachers in the extant literature, 12 survival mindsets to be adopted by paraprofessionals are proposed that may prevent burnout by promoting greater resiliency, emotional wellbeing, and self-awareness.

Asset Mapping in Urban Environments to Support Students With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

2021 ◽  
pp. 105345122110510
Author(s):  
Joseph John Morgan ◽  
Alain Bengochea ◽  
Johnny Reed
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Urban Communities ◽  
Behavioral Disorders ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Emotional And Behavioral Disorders ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
School Intervention ◽  
Asset Mapping ◽  
Mapping Process

Public schools located within urban environments are a critical component of a larger social network in their communities, with important reciprocal interactions occurring across settings. This is especially important for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), as integration and alignment of home, community, and school intervention programming is essential for their outcomes. However, teachers often have a deficit-perspective of urban communities and lack the skills to identify assets that may support generalization of interventions for students with EBD in a variety of settings. Asset mapping is one way to help special education teachers reframe this perspective. Definitions of assets and the asset mapping process, as well as practical recommendations for special education teachers to identify assets within their school community environment, are provided.

scholarly journals Meeting The Need For Special Education Teachers For Culturally Linguistically Diverse Students With Disabilities

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Peterson ◽  
Stephen Showalter
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Culturally Responsive ◽  
Linguistically Diverse ◽  
The United States ◽  
Culturally And Linguistically Diverse ◽  
Diverse Students ◽  
Linguistically Diverse Students ◽  
And Training

This paper describes why special education teachers are needed to meet the needs of the increasing number of culturally and linguistically diverse students with disabilities in the United States.  The paper presents innovative approaches to recruiting and training culturally responsive special education teachers.

edTPA: Assisting Rural Special Education Teacher Candidates to Incorporate Self-Regulation Skills in Planning and Instruction

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 167-175
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Rivera ◽  
Bethany McKissick ◽  
Madison Adams
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Evaluation Tool

Forty-one states and 928 teacher preparation programs across the United States are using the Teaching Performance Assessment (edTPA) as an evaluation tool to determine teacher readiness and/or meet licensure requirements. Nationwide, pre-service special education teachers struggle to demonstrate proficiency in specific areas of the edTPA (i.e., plan assessments to monitor and support student learning, analyze teaching effectiveness, and incorporate learner feedback into future learning goals). A commonality across these areas is the incorporation of self-determination skills (e.g., self-regulation) into student learning. Assisting pre-service special education teachers to help students become more self-determined may increase these lower scores on the edTPA. More importantly, increasing self-determination is particularly important for students with disabilities in rural areas who often face challenges related to poverty, decreased opportunities for post-school employment, and underemployment due to geographic location and isolation. This article provides a description of how a special education department sought to assist pre-service special educators in embedding self-regulatory behaviors within lesson plans to better promote self-determination for their students in rural communities across eastern North Carolina.

Teaching Transition Self-Determination Knowledge and Skills Using the ME! Bell Ringers

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 185-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mindy E. Lingo ◽  
Kendra L. Williams-Diehm ◽  
James E. Martin ◽  
Amber E. McConnell
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Education Program ◽  
Individualized Education Program ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Self Advocacy ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Disability Awareness

Special education teachers report lack of time and a shortage of appropriate curricula as reasons impeding implementation of transition education in their classrooms. However, research indicates school and postschool outcomes of students with disabilities improve significantly with transition instruction. The ME! Lessons for Teaching Self-Awareness and Self-Advocacy materials and activities were developed to teach students to understand their disability and abilities, rights and responsibilities, and self-advocacy skills, which are all critical self-determination components. This article details a time-efficient means to teach the essence of the ME! Lessons using ME! Bell Ringers, which include instruction in self-advocacy, student involvement in individualized education program (IEP), and disability awareness, using 10-min lessons that can be taught at the beginning of class in a daily or weekly format.

Preparing Special Education Preservice Teachers to Teach Computational Thinking and Computer Science in Mathematics

2021 ◽  
pp. 088840642199237
Author(s):  
Emily C. Bouck ◽  
Phil Sands ◽  
Holly Long ◽  
Aman Yadav
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
Lesson Plans ◽  
Methods Course ◽  
Mathematics Methods ◽  
K 12

Increasingly in K–12 schools, students are gaining access to computational thinking (CT) and computer science (CS). This access, however, is not always extended to students with disabilities. One way to increase CT and CS (CT/CS) exposure for students with disabilities is through preparing special education teachers to do so. In this study, researchers explore exposing special education preservice teachers to the ideas of CT/CS in the context of a mathematics methods course for students with disabilities or those at risk of disability. Through analyzing lesson plans and reflections from 31 preservice special education teachers, the researchers learned that overall emerging promise exists with regard to the limited exposure of preservice special education teachers to CT/CS in mathematics. Specifically, preservice teachers demonstrated the ability to include CT/CS in math lesson plans and showed understanding of how CT/CS might enhance instruction with students with disabilities via reflections on these lessons. The researchers, however, also found a need for increased experiences and opportunities for preservice special education teachers with CT/CS to more positively impact access for students with disabilities.

A Systematic Review of Meta-Analyses in Special Education: Exploring the Evidence Base for High-Leverage Practices

2021 ◽  
pp. 074193252110634
Author(s):  
Gena Nelson ◽  
Sara Cothren Cook ◽  
Kary Zarate ◽  
Sarah R. Powell ◽  
Daniel M. Maggin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Special Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Evidence Based Practices ◽  
Intensive Instruction ◽  
Disability Categories ◽  
Meta Analyses

It is crucial that special education teachers are equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to improve outcomes for students with disabilities. Despite federal legislation and efforts of the field to identify and disseminate evidence-based practices for students with disabilities, it is uncertain whether all special education teachers provide instruction based on the best available research. To better prepare special education teachers, McLeskey et al. proposed 22 high-leverage practices (HLPs). We conducted this systematic review of meta-analyses to provide an initial investigation of the experimental evidence reporting on the effectiveness of the HLPs for students with, or at risk for, a disability. Results indicated the largest amount of evidence from meta-analyses related to intensive instruction, explicit instruction, and social skills, with few meta-analyses reporting on collaboration and assessment. The results highlighted disproportional evidence according to disability categories. Implications for future research, practice, and teacher education are discussed.

Special Education Teachers’ Perceptions of Students’ With Disabilities Ability, Instructional Needs, and Difficulties Using Visual Representations to Solve Mathematics Problems

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-188
Author(s):  
Delinda van Garderen ◽  
Amy Scheuermann ◽  
Apryl L. Poch
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Mathematical Problem ◽  
Visual Representations ◽  
Training And Development ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Mathematics Problems ◽  
Perceptions Of Students ◽  
Instructional Needs

In this article, we present findings that examined special education teachers’ perception of students’ with disabilities ability, instructional needs, and difficulties for using visual representations (VRs) as a strategy to solve mathematics problems. In addition, whether these perceptions differed by instructional grade or setting currently teaching was examined. Survey data from 97 in-service teachers revealed, regardless of instructional setting or grade level taught, that they believe students with disabilities have the ability to learn about and use VRs and need to be taught to use VRs. Furthermore, the special education teachers perceived students with disabilities to have difficulty with all aspects related to using VRs in mathematical problem-solving. Implications for teacher training and development are provided.

From Caring to Cared For

2019 ◽  
pp. 102-117
Author(s):  
Lindsey A. Chapman ◽  
Chelsea T. Morris
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Teacher Retention ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Special Educators ◽  
Positive Outcomes ◽  
Marginalized Populations ◽  
Practical Application

Special educators dedicate their careers to caring for one of the most vulnerable and historically marginalized populations of students despite often working in environments that do little to reciprocate this care. Amidst an ever-changing education landscape, special education teachers are becoming increasingly stressed, experiencing burnout at alarming rates, and far too frequently leaving the field altogether. In this chapter, caring school leadership is examined in the context of special education. The authors seek to bridge a theoretical stance with practical application to the field. Three necessary conditions for caring are discussed and specific “transactions of care” are recommended. The chapter concludes by upholding the idea that ensuring special educators feel cared for by school leaders has the potential to mitigate issues of poor working conditions, teacher retention, and consequently, promote positive outcomes for students with disabilities.

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