• Ski Report                  

     Department of Special Education San Diego State University

                                                  COURSE SYLLABUS

                                                 Special Education 450

                          Classroom Adaptations for Special Populations (2 units)

                                                         Fall  2006
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                                                               INSTRUCTOR: Howard Wiedre, Ph.D.

                                                                  OFFICE PHONE: (760) 761-3692

                                                           itsacademictutoring@yahoo.com

                           OFFICE & HOURS: By appointment (also 15 minutes before class)

       CLASS MEETINGS:  Section  7 Schedule 34823  Wednesday  4:00-6:40 p.m.,   SS 2500;

                                          Section  8 Schedule 34834 Wednesday  7:00-9:40 p.m.,  BA 258


                                                                OFFICE HOURS: Before and After Class

                                                   Website:   www.itsacademictutoring.com/SPED_450.htm

REQUIRED TEXT:  Lewis, R. B., & Doorlag, D. H. (2006). Teaching special students in general education classrooms

(7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.
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Education News  

NPR     BBC     The New York Times    US News and World Report   CNN

U.S. Department of Education   Education Week  TES   Los Angeles Times

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APA Links
Article: Handling Learning Disability Curve
Center for Academic Assistance and Training at SDSU
Centers for Teaching and Learning
Course Calendar
Course Description
Course Objectives
Course Requirements
Grading Criterion
Final Paper Assignment Guidelines
Final Paper Example
Final Paper Example Case Studies
Journal Assignment Requirements
Journal Paper Example
Journal Research Article Example
Journals of Special Education List
Lists of On-Line Teaching Journals and On-Line Newsletters
Quiz One 
Practice Quiz Questions
Students with Special Needs at SDSU
Web Assignment Guidelines
Writing Assignments Guidelines

                                    
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Course Description      Return to Top  

SPED 450 provides general education credential candidates with the basic knowledge, skills, and strategies for adapting curriculum, differentiating instruction, meeting social and behavioral needs, and modifying assessments for students with disabilities and/or gifted and talented students in general education classrooms. The course content meets Standard 14 requirements for preliminary multiple and single subject teaching credentials

This course is open to upper division or post-baccalaureate students who are fulfilling California Commission on Teacher Credentialing Standard 14 requirements for Level I multiple or single subject credential programs. It is also open to those students who are completing requirements for the BCLAD teaching credential.

The mission of the Department of Special Education is to develop the untapped potential of individuals with disabilities, talents, and diverse backgrounds and to make a significant positive impact on the learning and life environments of people with exceptionalities.

Special Education 450 is designed to prepare teachers to work effectively with special populations in the general education classroom. Students who satisfactorily complete this course will fulfill requirements of Standard 14.

Standard 14: Preparation to Teach Special Populations in the General Education Classroom In the professional teacher preparation program, each candidate develops the basic knowledge, skills and strategies for teaching special populations including students with disabilities, students on behavior plans, and gifted and talented students in the general education classroom. Each candidate learns about the role of the general education teacher in the special education process. Each candidate demonstrates basic skill in the use of differentiated instructional strategies that, to the degree possible, ensure that all students have access to the core curriculum. Each candidate demonstrates the ability to create a positive, inclusive climate of instruction for all special populations in the general classroom.

California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. (2001, September). Standards of quality and effectiveness for professional teacher preparation programs. Sacramento, CA: Author.
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Course Objectives         Return to Top

At the completion of this course, students will be able to:

1) Describe major categories of disabilities.

2) Discuss relevant state and federal laws pertaining to the education of exceptional populations, as well as the general education teacher’s role and responsibilities in the Individual Education Program (IEP) process, including: identification; referral; assessment; IEP planning and meeting; implementation; and evaluation.

3) Demonstrate a basic level of knowledge and skills in assessing the learning and language abilities of special population students in order to identify students for referral to special education programs and gifted and talented education programs or to monitor student progress in the core curriculum.

4) Select and use appropriate instructional materials and technologies, including assistive technologies, and differentiated teaching strategies to meet the needs of special populations in the general education classroom.

5) Demonstrate the skills to plan and deliver instruction to those identified as students with special needs and/or those who are gifted and talented that will provide these students access to the core curriculum.

6) Demonstrate skills to know when and how to address the issues of social integration for students with special needs who are included in the general education classroom.
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Course Requirements     Return to Top  

1. Readings. There will be required readings for most class periods. Students are expected to complete assigned readings before class and to be conversant with the material covered. You are responsible for reading one article (on the Articles 2006 web page) each weekday and being prepared to write a response to a general question at the beginning of each class.

2. Participation in Class Discussions and Activities. Students are expected to fully participate in class discussions and activities at each meeting, and should be prepared to engage in discussions and activities related to assigned readings.


3. In-class Quizzes (200 points). There will be a quiz during each class which will be based on the assigned chapters. Quizzes cannot be made-up.

4. Attendance is mandatory for all classes. For each absence over one, 20 points will be deducted.

5. Late written assignments will be penalized one grade per week.

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                                                                                    How the times have changed
                                                                Public school teachers rate the top disciplinary problems.

                                                                            1940                                                        2000
                                                                    Talking out of turn                                     Drug abuse
                                                                    Chewing gum                                            Alcohol abuse
                                                                    Making Noise                                             Pregnancy
                                                                    Running in the halls                                  Suicide
                                                                    Cutting in line                                             Rape
                                                                    Dress-code violations                               Robbery
                                                                    Littering                                                      Assault
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Thrown special challenges, athletes work hard to cope

By Nicole Vargas
STAFF WRITER/San Diego Union Tribune                               

February 1, 2005                        Return to Top

As a youngster growing up with dyslexia, Jake McLintock heard people around him say he couldn't make it to college, that his SAT scores were too low to earn a baseball scholarship.



                                                                               



McLintock, though, wouldn't be deterred. "I take everything as a challenge," said McLintock, now a senior at San Diego State. "I do everything the best I

can and keep on going." As an athlete at Bonita Vista High, McLintock learned early on the principles of teamwork that helped him on the field could help

him in the classroom, too.But as good as he was at baseball, McLintock recalls the challenges he faced as a high school student navigating his way

through the NCAA eligibility process.He remembers the frustration of taking the SAT and ACT over and over again, as many as six times apiece.

He recalls the relief of receiving his results, only to be disappointed that once again it was points away from a qualifying score.

As dozens of local high school athletes prepare to sign letters of intent tomorrow, McLintock hasn't forgotten how torturous it was waiting to learn

whether he'd be able to play baseball in college." I had the worst time getting in," McLintock said. "I took all the SAT classes to help me out and tried to get

all the extra help I could get."

In the end, San Diego State filed a waiver on his behalf with the NCAA Clearinghouse. Two weeks before the start of McLintock's freshman year, word
 

came that he would be eligible to enroll.

McLintock has learned to live with his reading impairment and continues to persevere on the baseball field and in the classroom at SDSU.

Allowances for college

High school athletes with learning disabilities must meet the same requirements as other students in order to play college sports. However, the NCAA

allows some accommodations:

Classes designed for students with learning disabilities can count toward requirements in core courses (English, math, science).

Taking core courses is allowed any time before enrollment in college, even during the summer after high school.

Taking a nonstandard SAT or ACT exam, which could include extended time, having the test read to the student or taking the test with only a monitor

present. Students who don't meet the requirements can have a waiver filed on their behalf by an NCAA-member university with the NCAA Clearinghouse.

Source: NCAA


Not only is the four-year starter on the verge of breaking a handful of Aztecs career records, he is three semesters away from graduating.

"I think my parents are more excited about me being here than I am," joked McLintock, who hopes to pursue a career as a firefighter or in real estate. "I just

use the resources (SDSU) provides, and it's helped me out a lot. I'm finally seeing a little light at the end of the tunnel. I can't wait."

When it comes to diversity among student athletics, race and gender are often where the conversation ends. However, the number of students with

learning disabilities or attention-deficit disorder has continued to grow in recent years.

In 1998, a national study reported that approximately 2.7 percent of student-athletes at the college level had some kind of learning disability.

The NCAA says it has no current data, but numerous references in NCAA documents mirror national statistics that say that as many as one in five in the

U.S. today have a learning disability.

The acknowledgment is at least in part attributable to NCAA policies designed to enable learning disabled student-athletes to have an equal opportunity

to achieve eligibility. The shift was a result of a 1998 agreement between the NCAA and the Justice Department resolving complaints that the

requirements annually prevented hundreds of students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities from playing college sports and getting scholarships.

"The NCAA is opening doors for hundreds of students each year who want to go to college and play sports," Bill Lann Lee, acting assistant attorney

general said at the time. "Many young Americans dream of getting a college education and playing college sports. But for hundreds of students, that

dream has not come true because they learn differently from their peers."

To be eligible to compete in NCAA-sanctioned sports, students starting with the class of 2005 must pass 14 core classes and achieve a SAT or ACT score

that corresponds to their core-course grade-point average on what is commonly referred to as a "sliding scale."

A student with a learning disability must meet the same requirements, but certain accommodations are allowed, such as an expanded time for taking the

SAT. To be classified as learning disabled, a student must be professionally diagnosed with a neurological impairment that significantly impacts the

learning process.

Despite the stigma sometimes associated with learning disabilities, studies show that learning-disabled students often have average or above-average
 

ntelligence. Those with learning disabilities process information differently.

Mira Mesa High senior Tyler Stewart is one of those students. Diagnosed as a middle-schooler with a learning disability, Stewart is currently balancing

the demands of qualifying academically with maintaining his grades and playing two sports.

"I just do what I have to do to get where I want to go," he said.

Stewart, a 6-foot-3 standout wide receiver for the Marauders, is being recruited by schools like Utah, Fresno State, Idaho State and Portland State for

football. He is also drawing the attention of Division II coaches interested in his basketball skills.

But Stewart knows he still has a major hurdle ahead of him – the SAT. Stewart says he still has to improve his score to qualify and will take the SAT and

ACT in the coming months. Waiting for the results is "nerve-wracking," he says, but it's all part of the process.

"I've got to be patient," he said, "and wait for things to come to me." Stewart says his goal of having a better life and someday pursuing a career as a

professional athlete keeps him motivated. "Sports keeps me going," he said. "I want to see how good I can become."

McLintock and Stewart share a similar support system of parents and coaches, something experts agree is important in helping a student overcome a

learning disability. They also share a similar motivation to continue at the next level. In fact, that is the piece of advice McLintock says has helped him

reach his goals. "Don't take 'no' for an answer," he said, "and keep working your butt.


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Web Assignment (50 Points)    Return to Top
Evaluation of web resources related to course content – Students will prepare three (3) evaluations of web sites related to

 teaching special populations in general education (3 to 5 pages for all three sites).

The web analysis should focus on:

1. Web Content-Who does it serve? What information is presented? Etc.
2. Format- Is it easy to read? Is it easy to find information? Etc.
3. Value- Is the information valuable? How would you use it? Etc.
4. Links-Does it provide alternative sources of information? How valuable are these sources? Etc.

Scoring Rubric for the Web Site Assignments

Identification of Information/Population served     2 3 4 5

Format Explanation                                               7 8 9 10

Explanation of the Site's Value/Use                     7 8 9 10

Evaluation of Links                                                7 8 9 10

Organization                                                         2 3 4 5

Grammar/Punctuation/Spelling                            7 8 9 10

                                                        Total Points _____50

Other Assignments--It is likely that other assignments will be announced in class as the semester progresses.
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Return to Top

Major Paper on Classroom Modifications (180 points).

The major written assignment for this course is a paper. Students will analyze the potential
classroom needs of individuals from special populations, identify assessment strategies, suggest strategies for adapting curriculum and modifying
instructional interventions, and develop a plan for evaluating effectiveness of modifications.


Final Paper Assignment Guidelines

The major written assignment for this course is a paper that responds to the needs of the special student described in your assigned case study. This
assignment is worth 180 points. DO NOT SELECT A STUDENT THAT IS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION OR THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN ASSESSED.

Identify at least two issues represented in the case that have the highest priority in terms their impact on the student’s education. You
must identify assessment strategies, suggest strategies for adapting curriculum and modifying instruction, plan social, behavioral, and/or
academic interventions, and develop a plan for evaluating the effectiveness of classroom modifications and academic, social, or behavioral interventions.

Be specific in your discussion of each component of the paper. It is not sufficient to make general statements such as “the student will be
assessed for reading ability”. You must specifically state the assessment method you would use to get the type of information you would need.

Be sure to explicitly state the social, academic, or behavior problem you are addressing relative to the type of assessments you choose,
the modifications or adaptations that you make, the intervention you plan, and the evaluation system you establish.

The paper should be 10 pages in length, typed and double spaced. Be sure to appropriately cite any references you use.

Your paper should align with the following format:

 Brief summary of the important facts of the case, including any specific details or information you have added that directly relate to your planning for this student.

 Your identification of the major issues (at least two). How you identified these issues, your justification for identifying these as important issues, and your general plan of action.

 Specific discussion of each step or component of your plan. Discuss how and in what order you will a) adapt instruction, b) modify curriculum, c) address behavioral issues and d) change the physical environment as necessary.

o What you will do first, why, who will be involved, what responsibilities will they have, the outcomes your expect, how you
will use the information gained from this step, how it relates to the overall problem, how it relates to/interacts with other phases/steps in your plan.

o What you will do second, next, etc.

 Evaluation of the interventions you have put into place.
o How will you evaluate the effectiveness of your intervention, instruction, modification, etc., what variables will you measure, how often, who will be involved, for how long will you continue to measure the variables, etc.

o What will be the appropriate “next steps” for this student if your interventions are successful? If they are not successful?


Scoring rubric for final paper

1. Identification of major issues.

a. Is there clear justification for choosing these issues? (Describe the impact of these issues on the student’s education)

b. Are issues/problems/needs prioritized according to the degree of educational impact?

2. Assessment.

a. Are the target behaviors, academic needs, social issues, or other issues clearly identified?

b. What information (type, source, and scope) is needed in order to plan effective interventions that address student’s needs?

c. How will information be obtained? (Describe assessment procedures)

3. Planning and implementing interventions.

a. Are interventions clearly and completely explained, and are all major issues addressed?

b. Are appropriate strategies for adapting curriculum and/or modifying instruction identified?

c. Are environmental factors considered?

d. Are interventions positive?

e. Are plans for fading of intervention, self-management, and generalization included (as appropriate)?

4. Evaluation and follow-up.

a. Is the evaluation plan appropriate for the major issues identified?

b. Are “next steps” identified?
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      Return to Top                           Final Paper Example






                                                                                                            Title Page




                                                                                                        A Study of Jordan

                                                                                                            Grade 8



                                                                                                         Your Name


                                                                                            Course SPED 450 Section

                                                                                                     May              2006

                                                                                                          Dr. Wiedre











                                                                            Scoring Rubric for Final Paper Assignment

                                                                            Identification of Major Issues                                 21 24 27 30

                                                                           Assessment                                                             36 39 42 45

                                                                          Planning and Implementing Interventions               36 39 42 45

                                                                         Evaluation and Follow-up                                         21 24 27 30

                                                                        Organization and clarity                                          6 9 12 15
                                                                        

                                                                        Grammar and Mechanics                                       6 9 12 15

                                                                        

                                                                                                                    TOTAL POINTS _____________/180





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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    1

THE CASE STUDY

Jordan is a thirteen-year-old in the eighth grade. He lives with a successful and supportive family. His father is a physician. His mother works as an office

assistant with Jordan’s dad. He has one older brother and one younger brother. Both brothers are average students and do well in school. Jordan plays the

piano and participates in several other extracurricular activities. Jordan’s teachers state that he has a good social vocabulary and demonstrates a broad

base of knowledge. He has always participated in class discussions. His parents indicated that he appears to have friends and enjoys socializing.


During the first month of school in grade eight, Jordan’s English teacher observed something that concerned her. Jordan did not complete assignments

and appeared unmotivated. Writing assignments were often unfinished and there were numerous careless errors. Also, Jordan stopped bringing his books

to class. But most shocking, was his behavior. He began shouting out in class and wandering around the room. At his desk, he distracted other students

and often tapped his pencil repeatedly. When directed to stop, he would apologize and stop the inappropriate behavior for the moment..


MAJOR ISSUES


Jordan appeared to know what behavior was accepted in the classroom. However, it seemed that his behavior was beyond his control. The teachers met

as a group with the parents. They explained that they had tried numerous modifications without success. Following the teacher-parent conference, a

student study team was held. At this meeting, everyone agreed that a full scale assessment would be the next step in order to better understand Jordan’s

school performance issues. The student study team recommended that Jordan be evaluated for attention deficit hyperactivity symptoms. The second area

of concern that was identified by the student study team was language arts.

ASSESSMENT TOOLS

The family physician was designated to evaluate the symptoms recorded by Jordan’s teachers. Teachers and parents were given behavior rating scales so

that the physician would have the data he would need to assist him with the evaluation. Meanwhile, other parts of the assessment were scheduled. The

school psychologist will give Jordan the WISC III which would determine an aspect of Jordan’s intellectual abilities. The resource teacher will test

academic abilities using the Woodcock Johnson Tests of Achievement III. His homeroom teachergathered work samples, homework, projects, quizzes and

tests.


ASSESSMENT DATA

After all the tests were completed, an IEP was held in the school’s conference room. The physician diagnosed Jordan as having both an attention

deficit and hyperactivity. The rating sheets illustrated that Jordan’s behavior was most affected at school. He recommended that Jordan take concerta

daily every morning before going to school. The parents and Jordan agreed to the physician’s recommendations. Jordan would return to his office in six

weeks for an examination. The teachers would continue to observe and record inappropriate behaviors.

The school psychologist reported that Jordan was of average intellect and also noted that his focus and attention were affected. The resource teacher

explained the results of the Woodcock Johnson. She tested reading comprehension, vocabulary, spelling, dictation, writing, math computation and

problem solving. A deficit was noted in written language.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        2

GOALS

Following this IEP, another was scheduled to write goals for Jordan in the areas or written expression and behavior. In the area of written expression the

following goals were established.


Writing

Jordan has been careless with using grammar, punctuation, capitalization and spelling. His work is always incomplete and sloppy.

Annual Goal : Jordan will use correct nouns, pronouns, capitalization and punctuation in a sentence.

Writing Goals (All monitored by the English teacher.)

1. Given a choice of two sentences, Jordan will choose the one with correct capitalization and punctuation with 80% accuracy.

2. Jordan will correct a sentence that is improperly written, with 80% accuracy.

3. Given a choice of four proper nouns, Jordan will choose the ones with the correct capitalization with 80% accuracy.

4. Given a choice of two or three pronouns, Jordan will choose the one that  could be substituted for underlined proper nouns in a sentence, with 50%

accuracy.

5. John will complete homework assignments in grammar weekly with 95% compliance.
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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            3
Spelling Goals (All monitored by the English teacher.)

1. When referencing a printed source for spelling, Jordan will visualize the entire word and copy it as a unit rather than as individual letters given 4 out of

6 opportunities.

2. Jordan will increase his repertoire of words he knows how to spell by 80%, through the use of such techniques as pairing the word with a picture, sign

or other symbol.

3. Jordan will utilize one of the following strategies to enable him to spell correctly in written assignments, given 4 out of 6 observed opportunities. (spell

checker spelling dictionary, accessing peer or teachers, etc.)

4. Jordan will attempt at least one strategy to correctly spell words before accessing a peer or teacher (such as: visualization, go-for-it sheet, word

dictionary, spell checker, etc.) given 4 out of 6 opportunities.

5. Jordan will show an improvement in using the correct conventional spelling of high frequency words in written work, as evidenced by pre/post samples

in his portfolio.

Behavior

Jordan has been blurting out, annoying other students, getting out of his seat and tapping his pencil. When angry or frustrated, he vocalizes very loudly

and doesn't seem to know the appropriate words/signs to use to express his feelings. He is compliant with signed prompts to stop the behavior, not always

needing direct comments.

Annual Goal: Jordan will exercise increased self-control, increasing appropriate verbal and physical behaviors with fading prompts/models.
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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           4

Short-Term Objectives:

1. Given a class situation when Jordan is evidencing inappropriate behavior, he will indicate, with modeling and/or prompts, his feelings (frustration,

discomfort, fear), and a more appropriate behavior and language (i.e. "help me" or tap a student to get his attention and sign "please move" or "it's my turn"

or indicate to teacher that he needs to regroup and organize himself), 80% of the time. Teacher monitored.

2. Given a class situation when Jordan is evidencing stress (before inappropriate behaviors begin), he will indicate, with modeling and/or prompts,

appropriate interactions (i.e. "help me" or "I need more room" or "I need to move/a break" 80% of the time. Teacher monitored.

3. Given a class situation, when Jordan is evidencing stress, he will initiate appropriate interactions, without modeling, but with a prompt (i.e. "Are you ok"

or "What's the matter?" or "Raise your hand if you need help.") 80% of the time. Teacher monitored.

4. Given a class situation, when Jordan is evidencing stress, he will initiate appropriate interactions, without modeling or prompts 60% of the time.

Teacher monitored.

5. Jordan will use a large motor activity prior to and during focused work 80% of the time. Teacher monitored.

6. Jordan will sit at an individual desk and work for 10 minutes 80% of the time. Teacher monitored.

7. Jordan will seek out his "chill out" space to regroup and organize himself with needed sensory input with modeling (i.e. "I need a break") 80% of the

time.Teacher monitored

8. Jordan will ask for his "chill out space" as needed with out modeling 80% of the time. Teacher monitored

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                5
MODIFICATIONS


The teacher can modify Jordan’s program in several ways. Assignments can be shortened. If the class is assigned a two page essay, Jordan can write one

page adhering to his IEP goals. Or, Jordan can be given more time to complete the full assignment. In order to motivate Jordan, he can use Alpha Smart.

This device allows the student to type instead of writing. Work will be completed accurately and neatly. Jordan can use a graphic organizer which is easy

to read and understand. This may help organize his thoughts before the writing process begins. Lastly, the teacher can set aside a few minutes to give J

ordan personal attention. Together, they can discuss the assignment and review the goals. The behavior goals are explicit. Jordan will need prompting to

correct all behaviors. Allowing for breaks and a quiet place to regroup will diffuse situations and divert frustration and anxiety. Teaching Jordan how to

express his anxiousness and frustration will also be a source of release. The teacher should instruct the class on individual differences and model how to

address students who are hyperactive. Assigning a peer that could model appropriate behavior would, in most cases, be supportive for Jordan.

Furthermore, placing Jordan in an area of the classroom that has less distractions and noise would be most beneficial.
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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                6
INTERVENTIONS

There are other interventions that can be of use to Jordan when writing. Programs like Rewards and LIPS help improve writing skills. These programs

help with phoneme sequencing and assimilating passages. They explain what word goes first, second, and so forth. Also, they make learning fun. Most

students don’t realize that they are working on writing skills. Interventions like these can be carried out by a classroom aide, the classroom or resource

teachers. In managing Jordan’s behavior, other professionals may be part of the support system. The counselor could instruct Jordan on expressing

frustration and anxiety. The family may seek the assistance of an outside therapist. If the therapist happens to be a psychiatrist, Jordan would benefit from

both counseling and medication management. In school, peer tutoring, cooperative learning situations would benefit Jordan with both the writing process

and behavior management.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                7

EVALUATING EFFECTIVENESS


Jordan’s writing can be evaluated in several ways. The teacher can evaluate curriculum based writing assignments for sentence structure, capitalization

and punctuation, Spelling tests will be monitored and compared as the year progresses. The IEP team can apply the goals and measure their success

against Jordan’s work samples and tests. Behavior records were submitted prior to the assessment. They included statistics such as the amount of times

Jordan left his seat, blurted out, annoyed students and tapped his pencil. These records can be compared to current statistics in order to measure

improvement. The parents and teachers can be issued new rating scales to determine if there are improvements. Jordan may also state how he feels

using concerta, the new behavior approaches and writing program.
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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            8

FADING OR ALTERING INTERVENTIONS

Subsequent to evaluating rating scales, work samples and tests, decisions need to be made as to program modifications. The fading or altering of

interventions depend on whether Jordan has reached his yearly IEP goals. Some goals may be reached and others may not. If he has been successful,

then new goals will be written. In most cases, the goals will direct Jordan to produce more work with the same or greater accuracy. Goals that were not

reached will be subject to scrutiny and modification.
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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             9

The physician or psychiatrist will consult with Jordan, the parents and the school and decide what role medication will play in the future, Included in this

plan, will be the options to terminate, decrease or increase the medication. In many situations where the student is successful, medication will be kept at a

constant.




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                 Return to Top                                                                                                                                                                                                        10



                                                                              References

Bekerian, D. A. (1993) In search of the typical eyewitness. American

    Psychologist, 48, 574-576

Cone, J.D., & Foster, S. L. (1993) Dissertations and theses from start to

    finish. Psychology and related fields. Washington, DC: American

    Psychological Association.

Hammil, A.B. (1972). Children (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

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CONSULT THE APA MANUAL 5th Edition TO MAKE SURE THAT YOUR BOOK, JOURNAL, ARTICLE, ETC., IS IN THE CORRECT

FORMAT. Choose either link to view APA format.             Return to Top
 
 
 The Writing Center-University of Wisconsin  

Owl On-Line Writing Lab
 

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Syllabus Continued

WRITING ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES

All assignments for this course must be typewritten in APA format 5th Edition as described by the instructor. Assignments should be neat, clearly written, and free of misspellings and grammatical errors. Papers will be returned to students for correction at the discretion of the instructor. Careful attention should be given to attribution.

Late papers will be penalized 3 points each day late.
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Grading Criterion                         Return to Top

        

All class assignments will be assigned a point total. The student's final grade will be based upon the percentage of possible points attained.

Grades will be based upon the following factors:

Quizzes: 200 points

Major Paper 180 points

Journal Article Critiques (2) 80 points

Website Summaries 50 points

Class Notes  100   (Collected at last class)

In Class Written Responses to articles 200 points (20 points each session)

In-Class Participation: 0-30 points (Instructor's discretion)

Enrichment Assignment/Activity 20 points (Instructor's discretion)

Possible Total      points

Grading criteria are:

A 94.0 to 100%                 C+ 77.0 to 79.9%
A- 90.0 to 93.9%               C 74.0 to 76.9%
B+ 87.0 to 89.9%              C- 0.0 to 73.9%
B 84.0 to 86.9%                D 65.0 to 69.9%
B- 80.0 to 83.9%               F 64.9 and below

Percentage grade = 50 (Sum of Points Earned/Sum of Points Possible) + 45
****For each absence over ONE, 20 points will be deducted. Staying in class for only 20 minutes at the beginning or at the end of class constitutes an  ABSENCE.
****Late written assignments will be penalized one grade per CLASS SESSION.
****Quizzes CANNOT be made-up.
    FINAL GRADES CANNOT BE POSTED UNTIL THE SEMESTER ENDS.
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Students with Special Needs at SDSU      Return to Top

Students with disabilities who need accommodations for assignments or exams and F should meet with the instructor early in the semester.

 
  Disabled Student Services, Division of Student Affairs
 

5500 Campanile Dr.
San Diego State University
San Diego, CA 92182

619.594.6473
619.594.2929 (TDD/TTY)
619.594.4315 (FAX)

Disabled Student Services provides qualified students with disabilities equal access to higher education through academic support services, technology and advocacy in order to promote their retention and graduation.

DSS is the campus office responsible for determining and providing appropriate academic accommodations for students with disabilities. Support services are available to students with certified visual limitations, hearing and communication impairments, learning disabilities, mobility, and other functional limitations.

Disabled Student Services is located in the Student Services Building--West, 1661

Hours: Mon.-Fri., 8:00am-4:30pm
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Center for Academic Assistance and Training at SDSU

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Center for Academic Assistance and Training at SDSU

What do you get at CAAT?  Individual Tutoring (one-on-one appointments only) Group Tutoring (three or more students;
appointments only) Mathematics Labs (immediate assistance; walk-ins only) Writing Labs (immediate assistance; walk-ins only) Competency
Workshops Transfer Writing Assessment Transfer Math Assessment Entry Level Math Exam Upper Division Writing Test Grammar, Spelling,
Punctuation Test 7-Up!-EOP's Model for Developing College Competencies: Reading Writing Listening Speaking Critical Thinking
Use of Technology Habits of Mind Learning /Life Skills workshops Time Management Note-Taking Test-Taking How to Study Skills
Referrals as appropriate (e.g., Disabled Student Services, Rhetoric and Writing Studies, American Language Institute) What's even better?  
CAAT=Student Retention and Academic Success.

So, what is CAAT?  Since 1969, the Center for Academic Assistance and Training (CAAT) has been an integral part The Office of
Educational Opportunity Programs and Ethnic Affairs (EOP). CAAT's major purpose is to support EOP students' ability to persist and succeed at San Diego State University.  Who May Apply?  Only low-income and educationally disadvantaged undergraduate students who need assistance with the admission process and support services to succeed in college are admitted to EOP. They must demonstrate academic potential and motivation to succeed, be California residents, and meet the income criteria stated below. To become eligible, applicants should complete the EOP section on the admission application. In addition, they must complete and submit the forms included in the EOP information and supplementary application booklet. Dependant students must summit copies of the Federal Income Tax filed by their Parents/Legal Guardians in order to determine EOP eligibility. The EOP booklet is available at each CSU campus EOP office. Applicants interested in applying to EOP may
download the EOP application booklet.  EOP Income Criteria  EOP applicants must meet the low-income guidelines listed in the table below and demonstrate their family is unable to provide an annual contribution of more than $1,500 toward their college expenses. Applicants whose total family income exceeds the guidelines may be considered if their parents' contribution does not exceed $1,500. These guidelines are not intended to exclude disadvantaged students but to identify and give priority to the most financially needy applicants.   What's so special about CAAT?  It's Students Helping Students!!! Student Access:  Students are allowed two hours of tutoring every week for each class in which they are enrolled. Students can schedule standing appointments for the entire semester.  CAAT has a student-friendly, automated appointment system.  Tutors are well-trained and professional.  Tutor Access: Tutors can access their appointment schedules from any campus computer terminal. Tutors can, and are encouraged to, attend two class sessions with their tutee (with the instructors' approval).  CAAT trains and employs approximately thirty
(30) tutors each semester. Most tutors remain with the Center for 2-3 years. Tutors must be at least a junior with a 3.0 grade point average
and have received a grade of B or better in the subject(s) they wish to tutor. In 1994, EOP applied for and received certification for its tutoring
program from the College Reading and Learning Association's International Tutor Certification Program. Certification is granted based on the following:  Amount and Duration of Training Modes of Tutor Training Topics Covered in Tutor Training Required Tutoring Experience Tutor Selection Criteria Tutor Evaluation Criteria The goal of our training and development is to ensure that all tutors meet the professional and academic standards of the CAAT and SDSU.  How can you identify a CAAT tutor?  They:  are well-trained, highly qualified and certified; are competent and enthusiastic about subject matter; are culturally and ethnically diverse; teach and acknowledge personal learning styles; have high expectations; display respect and patience; take personal interest in their students; listen effectively and strive to develop cultural and global awareness; are nonjudgmental; are caring, knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and engaging. Did you know… ?


Free tutoring is available to all students who participate in the EOP program and the Disabled Student Services Program.  CAAT is the only
state-funded tutoring program on campus.  From Fall 2000 to Fall 2002 EOP students utilized over 10,000 hours of CAAT tutoring.  CAAT collaborates with faculty to ensure student success.  CAAT provides tutoring in most subjects taught at SDSU.  
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Student Conduct                  Return to Top

Students preparing to become educators are expected to conduct themselves in a highly ethical manner that is consistent with the Council for Exceptional Children Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Practice as well as with SDSU Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities.  In this course, each student is expected to contribute to a positive learning environment by being on time to class, not leaving class early, turning off cell phones and beepers, and, in all class-related interactions, treating others in a manner that is courteous and that promotes mutual respect and equality of others.  Further, students are expected to exhibit academic conduct that reflects the highest levels of honesty and integrity.  The Student Disciplinary Procedures for The California State University specifically prohibit cheating or plagiarism and provide that such acts may result in a student being expelled,  suspended, placed on probation, or given a lesser sanction. Students who disupt the class by continuous talking will be asked to leave class. Agreement must be reached with the instructor that this behavior will not be repeated.

   
Key Discussion Topics  
1.Diversity in the classroom:  Typical classroom needs of students with high incidence disabilities (e.g., learning disabilities, speech and language impairments, behavioral disorders), students with low incidence disabilities (e.g., mental retardation, autism, physical impairments), gifted and talented students, and culturally and linguistically diverse students who have a disability and/or special gifts and talents [15% of course]

2.Legal guidelines for the education of students in special populations e.g., federal laws such as IDEA 1997, ADA)  [5% of course]  

3.Roles and responsibilities of general educators, including participation in the educational planning process (i.e., development of the IEP or Individualized Education Program) with particular attention to the development of culturally and linguistically appropriate learning goals and benchmarks [5% of course]  

4.Enhancing the acceptance of students in special populations in general education classrooms  [5% of course]  

5.Identifying special learning and behavior needs, including gifted potential  [5% of course]  

6.Classroom assessment procedures
(e.g., curriculum-based assessment, curriculum-based measurement, functional behavioral assessment)  [5% of course]

7.Selecting and implementing validated instructional approaches, including approaches utilizing assistive technologies  [15% of course]

 
8.Differentiating instruction to meet diverse learning needs within the classroom  [10% of course]

9.Analyzing curricular standards and modifying curriculum, when appropriate  [10% of course]  

10.Using positive behavioral supports to improve classroom behavior  [10% of course]

11.Making assessment accommodations to allow students with disabilities to participate in classroom and high stakes testing  [5% of course]  

12.Monitoring student progress in the core curriculum  [5% of course]  

13.Establishing collaborative partnerships with families of students from special populations   [5% of course]                      
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                        Course Calendar

                                                                       FALL 2006

                                                                                            

If you would like your FINAL paper returned, please provide a self-addressed and stamped envelope. This syllabus and schedule represent a tentative plan that is subject to change in response to either the discretion of the instructor or the needs of the students.
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                                                                                           APPENDIX A

                                 JOURNAL RESEARCH ARTICLE EXAMPLE
                                                                            (This is what a research article looks like.)

The Influence of Sociodemographics and Gender on the Disproportionate Identification of Minority Students as Having Learning Disabilities MARTHA J. COUTINHO, DONALD P. OSWALD, AND AL M. BEST Remedial And Special Education, Vol. 23, Number 1, January/February 2002, Pages 49-59 A B S T R A C T The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent of gender and race/ethnicity disproportionality among students identified as having learning disabilities (LD) and to investigate relationships between disproportionality and sociodemographic factors. Using nationally representative data collected by the U.S. Office for Civil Rights, this study examined the effects of gender, ethnicity, and
sociodemographic factors on the proportion of students who are identified as having LD. Results indicated a clear association between ethnicity and gender and the odds of being identified as a student with LD. Sociodemographic factors for a school district were also found to be strongly associated with the proportion of students identified as having LD. A logistic regression model that included the nine sociodemographic variables, gender, and race, was significantly better at predicting LD identification than a model that included sociodemographic predictors alone. Adjusted odds ratios illustrated how the likelihood of identifying LD changes when sociodemographic influences are taken into account. Findings indicated that both individual student characteristics and district sociodemographic characteristics are important in determining the likelihood of

LD identification and that the impact of the sociodemographic characteristics is different for each of the gender-ethnicity groups. Introduction Concern about disproportionate representation of minority students in special education persists despite more than 30 years of litigation, debate, and initiatives (Artiles, Aguirre-Munoz, & Abedi, 1998; Dunn, 1968; Heller, Holtzman, & Messick, 1982; Larry P. v. Wilson Riles, 1972, 1979, 1984, 1986). Most often, the focus has been on students who are African American and/or those with high-incidence disabilities, although
recently some interest has been generated in examining the significance of disproportionality for other race/ethnicity groups and among students with severe disabilities (Oswald & Coutinho, 2001; US Department of Education, 2000). The largest proportion of students in special education continues to be those identified as having learning disabilities (LD); therefore, any overrepresentation among students with LD must be regarded as nationally significant (US Department of Education, 2000). From 1989 to 1999, the number of students placed in the LD category increased by 36.6%. This is the largest percentage change among the high-incidence disability conditions (i.e., mental retardation [MR], speech and language impairments, and serious emotional disturbance [SED]). During the 1998-1999 school year, approximately 2.8 million 6- to 21-year-old children were identified as having LD, representing slightly more than 50% of all students who were reported as having disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1990 (US Department of Education, 2000).Evidence for disproportionate representation of minority students among students with LD has been reported, although less often than for mental retardation and emotional disturbance (Anderson & Webb-Johnson, 1995; Coutinho, Oswald, Best, & Forness, in press; Gregory, Shanahan, & Walberg, 1986; Harry, 1992; Harry & Anderson, 1994; Lara, 1994; Ortiz & Yates, 1983; Robertson, Kushner, Starks, & Drescher, 1994). In 1994, Robertson et al. examined the percentage of students with LD, by ethnic category, in 15 cities and reported that compared to other ethnic groups, a higher percentage of African American students were identified as having LD in 10 of the 15 cities. Hispanic students were underrepresented among students with LD in 10 of the 15 cities. The percentage of American Indian students with LD was not reported because of the small number of American Indian students in the cities studied (see Note). Recently, an analysis of 1994 US Office for Civil Rights (OCR) data on students with LD found that African American and Hispanic students were identified at the same rate as White students, and American Indian students were 1.2 times as
likely as students in the other group to be identified. Descriptive analyses of the 14-year time period revealed a persistent pattern of overrepresentation for American Indian students with LD. During the same time period, American Indian children were similarly overrepresented among students with mental retardation and students with serious emotional disturbance (Oswald & Coutinho, 2001).The 1997 IDEA Amendments mandated that states collect special education "child count" data by race/ethnicity, beginning with the 1998-1999 school year. The US Department of Education (2000) reported special education identification rates by race/ethnicity and disability for children ages 6 through 21. According to this report, 4.27% of White children were identified as having LD; corresponding figures for other race/ethnicity groups were as follows: American Indian/Alaska native, 6.29%; Black, 5.67%; Hispanic, 4.97%; and Asian/Pacific Islander, 1.7%. These studies underscore the importance of disaggregating special education identification data by race/ethnicity as well as by disability. Specific geographic regions may exhibit patterns that are markedly distinct from the national profile (Oswald & Coutinho, 2001; Robertson et al., 1994). Nonetheless, the data raise
concern that race/ethnicity disproportionality among students with LD is on the rise. Understanding why disproportionate representation occurs and deciding how to respond appropriately require both a coherent conceptual framework and meticulous empirical investigation (Utley & Obiakor, 2001). Artiles, et al. (1998) described the persistence of disproportionality along a continuum ranging from discriminatory professional practices to innate deficits of minority children. They recognized that both problematic eligibility practices and sociopolitical factors, such as school violence and school disciplinary practices, may influence disproportionality. Artiles et al. (1998) investigated whether family variables and student perspectives (sociocultural factors) predicted placement patterns for Hispanic, White, and African American students. Discriminant function analyses identified some LD placement predictors that differed across ethnic groups and some predictors that were significant for all students. For example, Hispanic students with LD (as compared to Hispanic students without LD [NLD]) demonstrated lower math achievement, less family structure, and smaller families. Significant predictors of LD identification for African American students were smaller families, a higher perception of social status, and a lower level of family structure/rules. Among factors that did not predict placement within any ethnic group were student self-esteem, locus of control, behavioral history, perception of school risk and protective factors, and perception of parent expectations. Interestingly, "African-American and Anglo students with LD reported a higher perception of social status than their NLD peers" (Artiles et al., 1998, p. 555). Student perception of academic standing was a significant predictor of LD identification only for White students. Coutinho and Oswald (2000) offered two hypotheses regarding the causes of ethnic disproportionality in special education: the processes that measure and interpret the ability, achievement, and behavior of students (i.e., referral, assessment, eligibility) may work differently across ethnic groups, leading to disproportionality as an artifact of faulty assessment; and the underlying distribution of educational disability may vary
across ethnic groups as a result of social and demographic influences that represent risk factors for disabilities. The first hypothesis reflects concern that public education embodies cultural biases that incorrectly and disproportionately target minority students during the referral, assessment, and eligibility process. This hypothesis conceptualizes disproportionate representation as a sociopolitical, historical problem where teacher-student and home-school discontinuities and conflicts lead to the overrepresentation of minority students, particularly Black students, as having LD (Harry, Rueda, & Kalyanpur, 1999; Trent & Artiles, 1995; Utley & Obiakor, 2001). Variations among states in the definition
and implementation of LD and other disability conditions, for example, represents a potential source of bias during the referral and eligibility process. The second hypothesis is that minority groups may be differentially susceptible to educational disability. Social and demographic factors to consider include poverty, school and community fiscal factors, and access to appropriate general education options (Fujiura & Yamaki, 2000; Messick, 1984; US Department of Education, 1998; Utley & Obiakor, 2001). Oswald, Coutinho, Best, and Singh (1999) reported that a set of community- and school-related variables accounted for a significant portion of the variability in school districts' identification rates of African American students as having mental retardation or SED. More recently, Oswald, Coutinho, Best, and Nguyen (in press) reported further analyses of the 11994 OCR data for students with mental retardation. Table 1. Number of Students in Each of the Gender, Ethnicity, and Disability Categories Disability Category Gender, race/ethnicity None MR SED LD Total Blah, Blah, Blah Note. M Al = male American Indian; M AS - male Asian/Pacific Islander; M BL = male Black; M HI = male Hispanic; M WH = male White; F AI = female American Indian;
F AS = female Asian/Pacific Islander; F BL = female Black; F HI = female Hispanic; F WH = female White; MR = mental retardation; SED = serious emotional disturbance; LD = learning disability. PURPOSES OF THE STUDY The purpose of the present study was to improve understanding of the influence of individual student and district-level variables that influence special education identification rates for minority students. Earlier studies examined a variety of sociopolitical and sociodemographic predictors of LD but did not include results by ethnicity (Coutinho & Oswald, 1998; Lester & Kelman, 1997). The current study investigated the extent of disproportionality among students with LD and sought to describe the relationship between disproportionality and sociodemographic variables. Thus, we included sociodemographic predictors in a model constructed to describe the variability in LD prevalence among communities.


METHOD

Data Sources Approximately every 2 years, the US Department of Education OCR collects information on a nationally representative sample of school districts. This survey is the chief source of data on the status of civil rights in the nation's schools. Approximately one third of the nation's school districts are included in the stratified random sample (US Department of Education, 1998), and state and national figures may be projected from the survey data. For this study, we considered only the information on enrollment and disability categories from the school year1994-1995. District enrollment was broken down by ethnicity (five categories) and by gender (two categories). The number of students in three disability categories (MR, SED, and LD) was also broken down by ethnicity and by gender. The fourth disability category in this study, "None," included students with low-incidence disability conditions as well as all students who were not identified as having disabilities. This article focuses only on findings related to LD identification. Sample weights were used in all analyses to reflect the fact that all of the nation's large school districts are included in the data set but only a few small districts are included. The weighted number of students in each disability category is provided in Table 1. Districts that were "forced" into the sample-usually for monitoring reasons-carried weights of zero and were excluded from the analyses reported here. The original data file had 44,276 observations (i.e., schools) and 431 variables. We collapsed the data by accumulating the data for all the schools in a district because the predictor variables used in the study were available only at the district level. Included in the sample were 4,151 school districts that served more than 24 million students. The National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) Common Core of Data CD-ROM (NCES, 1993) includes information on 15,041 school districts in the 50 states and Washington,
DC. For this study, the NCES data set was merged with the OCR data so that only districts included in the 1994 OCR sample were retained. In the process of merging the two data sets, we discovered about 30 districts for which the ID numbers were inconsistent. Through a process of comparing the districts' names, cities, and states, we were able to correct all but two of these inconsistencies; the two mismatches were dropped from the sample. Nine sociodemographic variables were chosen from the NCES data set as predictor variables for this study: student teacher ratio (STR), per-pupil expenditure (PPE), percentage of children enrolled who were considered at risk (At Risk), percentage of enrolled students who were non-White (Non-white), percentage of enrolled students who were limited English proficient (LEP), median housing value for houses, in $10,000 units (Housing), median income for households with children, in 100,000 units (Income), percentage of children in households below poverty level (Poverty), and percentage of adults in the community who had education of 12th grade or less and no diploma (No Diploma). Additional variables were considered but excluded due to a substantial number of missing values (e.g., districts' dropout rates). In a few cases, a district's information was not available for the most recent school year, and a previous year's data was used to fill out the data set. As Table 2 shows, the variable with the most missing values, STR, was available for 95.2% of the districts and 94.5% of all students in the sample. The predictor variables included in the analyses were clearly not unrelated; Spearman rank-order correlation coefficients for predictor variables are provided in Table 3. Poverty and Income, for example, showed a predictable strong inverse relationship.

Table 2. Summary of Sociodemographic Predictors Predictor # of districts # of students M SD Minimum 10th %tile Median 90th %tile blah, blah, blah Note. STR = student-teacher ratio; PPE = per-pupil expenditure; At Risk = percentage of children enrolled who were considered at risk; Nonwhite = percentage of enrolled children who were nonwhite; LEP = percentage of children who were limited English proficient; Housing = median housing value for houses, in $10,000 units; Income = median income for households with children, in $ 100,000 units; Poverty = percentage of children in households that were below the poverty level; No Diploma = percentage of adults in the community who had education of 12th grade or less and no diploma. Table 3. Spearman Rank Correlations Between the Predictors Predictor PPE Housing Income Poverty At risk Nonwhite No diploma LEP Blah, Blah, Blah Note. STR = student-teacher ratio; PPE = per-pupil expenditure; Housing = median housing value for houses, in $10,000 units; Income median income for households with children, in $ 100,000 units; Poverty = percentage of children in households that were below the poverty level; At Risk percentage of children enrolled who were considered at risk; Nonwhite = percentage of enrolled children who were nonwhite; LEP = percentage of children who were limited English proficient; No Diploma = percentage of adults in the community who had education of 12th grade or less and no diploma.

Analysis Methods

We examined the effects of gender, ethnicity, and sociodemographic factors on the proportion of students in a school district identified as having LD. The models used the proportion of students in the LD category as the dependent variable and two sets of variables as predictors. The predictor variables were the district-level sociodemographic continuous variables and the child-level categorical variables of gender and ethnicity. Categorical responses (such as Learning Disability: Yes/No) can be modeled by using logistic regression (Hosmer & Lemeshow,
1989), and such models include the proportion in each disability category as the response variable. The logistic regression procedure reported in this article models the probability of a child being classified as having LD as a function of gender, ethnicity, and sociodemographic predictors. The model used in this study examined the probability of a child being in one of the four disability conditions; however, in the interest of clarity, we report only the LD findings in this article. All analyses were done with the districts weighted by the number of students (as well as by sample weight) so that the models simulate using the student rather than the district as the unit of analysis. The predictor variables are of two types.
The categorical predictor variables were gender (female, male) and ethnicity (American Indian, Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, Hispanic, and White). For the continuous sociodemographic covariates listed in Table 2, effects in the model included a linear and quadratic trend for each covariate, all possible two-way interactions for the linear and quadratic trends for each covariate, and gender, ethnicity, and Gender x Ethnicity interaction effects crossed with the linear and quadratic trends for each covariate. The net effect of this model is the possibility of a separate linear and quadratic trend for each gender and ethnicity combination. All continuous covariates were centered and scaled to avoid problems with ill conditioning and collinearity in analyses (Draper & Smith, 1998). Because of the large sample size and the complexity of the model, p < .0005 was used as the cut-off for significance. Table 4. Gender/ Ethnicity Identification Rates, Odds Ratios, and Adjusted Odds Ratios Gender/ Ethnicity n(a) Percentage Raw OR (b) Adj. OR (c) Blah, Blah, Blah Note. M Al = male American Indian; M AS = male Asian/Pacific Islander; M BL = male Black; M HI = male Hispanic; M WH = male White; F AI = female American Indian; F AS = female Asian/Pacific Islander; F BL = female Black; F HI = female Hispanic; F WH = female White. (a)Weighted N with no missing covariates = 41,819 19, 19 1. (b) Unadjusted odds ratio, based on survey data alone. (c)Adjusted odds ratio, based on predicted values at the population mean for all covariates.

Results

For the sample as a whole, 5.5% of all students were identified as having LD. This was comparable to the 1994-1995 LD identification rate of 5.7% of enrolled students, reported in the 1996 Annual Report to Congress (US Department of Education, 1996). Table 4 illustrates, however, that the LD identification rate for gender/ethnicity groups varied widely from a low of 1.2% for Asian/Pacific Islander females to a high of 9.2% for American Indian males, clearly demonstrating disproportionate identification across the groups. A simple chi-square analysis of the data in Table 1 shows a significant association between ethnicity and gender and the disabling conditions, X2(27, N = 41,819,191) = 628,912, p < .0001, verifying that the LD identification rates are not the same for all 10 gender/ethnicity groups. To clarify this finding, we constructed odds ratios for each of the gender/ethnicity groups, with White females as the comparison group. These odds ratios provide an estimate of the likelihood of being identified as having LD compared to the likelihood for White female students. Thus, the odds ratio for White female students is, by definition, 1.0. In this sample, White males were 2.3 times as likely as White females to be identified as having LD, and Black females were 0.9 times as likely (see Table 4). American Indian males display 'the largest disproportionality, with an odds ratio of 2.9.

A logistic regression analysis with LD identification as the response variable and only the nine sociodemographic variables as predictors (including linear, quadratic, and interaction effects) was significant, X 2(162, N = 41,819,191) = 345,130, p < .0001. Thus, the sociodemographic conditions of a school district are strongly associated with the proportion of students identified as having LD; some statistically significant portion of the variation in districts' LD identification rates can be explained by this combination of predictor variables. The bivariate correlation coefficients between identification rate for each gender/ethnicity group and the predictors are provided in Table 5. These descriptive statistics illustrate the general direction and strength of the relationship between each predictor variable and LD identification rates. Spearman rank correlations were used for this purpose because of the skewed distributions of the variables and the presence of marked outliers. These correlation coefficients should be interpreted with caution because the relationships between identification rates and predictors are not linear, as demonstrated by the significant quadratic and interaction effects in the logistic model. Further, because these are bivariate correlations, the relationships do not take into account the effects of other predictors in the model. The overall LD identification rate was positively associated most strongly with the variables non-White students and LEP, but even these relationships were relatively weak. Further, relationships between LD identification and predictor variables for individual gender/ethnicity groups were mixed in terms of strength and direction. Housing and Income, for example, were weakly to moderately positively associated with LD identification for all groups except American Indian students. Nonwhite and LEP were weakly to moderately positively associated with LD identification for all groups except White students. PPE was weakly positively associated, except with American Indian and Black students. No Diploma was weakly to moderately negatively associated for Asian/Pacific Islander and Hispanic students and White female students. Other variables were mixed in terms of significance and the direction of the relationships. Note. Values in bold are significant at p < .0005. M Al = male American Indian; M AS = male Asian/Pacific Islander; M BL = male Black; M HI = male Hispanic; M WH = male White; F AI = female American Indian; F AS = female Asian/Pacific Islander; F BL = female Black; F HI = female Hispanic; F WH = female White; STR = student-teacher ratio; PPE = per-pupil expenditure; Housing = median housing value for houses, in $ 10,000 units; Income = median income for households with children, in $ 100,000 units; Poverty = percentage of children in
households that were below the poverty level; At Risk = percentage of children enrolled who were considered at risk; Nonwhite = percentage of enrolled children who were nonwhite; No Diploma = percentage of adults in the community who had education of 12th grade or less and no diploma; LEP = percentage of children who were limited English proficient. Given that individual student characteristics (i.
e., gender and ethnicity) and sociodemographic variables were each separately associated with the identification of students with LD, we next sought to determine whether these two classes of variables contributed uniquely to the prediction of LD identification and whether the relationships between the predictor variables and LD identification rates were the same for each gender/ethnicity group. A logistic regression analysis including the nine sociodemographic variables (and their linear, quadratic, and interaction effects), gender, race, and all possible interactions of the covariates with gender and race was found to be significantly better than the model with only the sociodemographic predictors, X2(1,485, N = 41,819,191 ) = 667,570, p < .0001, and significantly better than the model with only the gender and ethnicity groups, X2(1,620, N = 41,819,191) = 383,788, p < .0001 . There was also a significant gender/ethnicity-by-sociodemographic interaction, X 2(1,458, N = 41,819,191 ) = 86,224, p < .0001, indicating that both individual student characteristics and district sociodemographic characteristics are important in determining the likelihood of LD identification and that the impact of the sociodemographic characteristics is different for each of the various gender/ethnicity combinations. To illustrate this finding, we plotted the predicted LD identification rate for each gender/ethnicity group across the range of poverty represented in the sample. For the purpose of this illustration, the effects of all other sociodemographic variables are held constant (i.e., set to the median value). Figure 1 shows that, for Black and Hispanic students, LD identification increases substantially as poverty increases, particularly for males. For American Indian and White students, identification tends to decrease with increasing poverty, again, particularly for males. Conversely, when plotted across the full range of non-White, Figure 2 shows that for most gender/ethnicity groups, LD identification tends to decline as the non-White percentage in the district increases, dramatically so for Hispanic and Black males. For American Indian students, however, LD identification tends to increase slightly as the non-White percentage increases. To clarify how the odds ratios for the gender/ethnicity groups change when sociodemographic influences are taken into account, we calculated adjusted odds ratios, by calculating the odds ratio for each gender/ethnicity group at the median value of each of the predictors. This odds ratio is actually a predicted value based on all the effects included in the logistic regression model. As shown in Table 4, the odds ratios change, but not necessarily in the expected direction. The adjusted odds ratios for Black and Hispanic students and for White male students actually increase slightly at the median value of the sociodemographic variables. Overrepresentation of American Indian students is diminished slightly when all the predictor variables are taken into account. Finally, we examined how the odds ratios change across the distribution of each of the predictor variables. We computed the 10th percentile and the 90th percentile for each predictor and computed the odds ratio for each of the gender/ ethnicity groups at those points in the distribution, holding all the other predictors at the median value. The results are shown in Table 6. For example, as Housing goes from the 10th percentile ($42,733) to the 90th percentile ($192,027), predicted disproportionality for Black and Hispanic male students increases dramatically. Interestingly, as LEP goes from the 10th percentile (0.2%) to the 90th percentile (6.4%), disproportionality among Hispanic students declines such that, in districts with the highest LEP rates, Hispanic students are identified as having LD at about the same rate as White students. The data in Table 6 also illustrate how the predictors differentially affect the gender/ethnicity groups. The disproportionality of LD identification for Black male students, for example, increases substantially as Income goes from the 10th to the 90th percentile, whereas for American Indian male students, the pattern changes from marked overrepresentation to moderate underrepresentation. FIGURE 1. Learning disabilities and poverty. Note. M AI = male American Indian; M AS = male Asian/Pacific Islander; M BL = male Black; M HI = male Hispanic; M WH = male White; F AI female American Indian; F AS = female Asian/Pacific Islander; F BL = female Black; F HI = female Hispanic; F WH = female White. FIGURE 2. Learning disabilities and non-White enrollment. Note. M Al = male American Indian; M AS = male Asian/Pacific Islander; M BL = male Black; M HI = male Hispanic; M WH male White; F Al = female American Indian; F AS = female Asian/Pacific Islander; F BL = female Black; F HI = female Hispanic; F WH = female White.

Discussion

The data illustrate that the problem of disproportionality in special educationidentification is not limited to African American students nor to the categories of MR and SED. These findings highlight a relatively neglected instance of disproportionality: the overrepresentation of American Indian males among students with LD. The data also support the position that both individual student characteristics, such as gender and ethnicity, and communities' sociodemographic characteristics influence the likelihood that a child will be identified as having LD. These findings offer some clues to clarify the validity of alternative hypotheses regarding the causes of disproportionality. Increased poverty, for example, is associated with increased LD identification rates among Black, Hispanic, and male Asian students. This result provides additional supportive evidence for the well-established finding that poverty is associated with increased risk for a variety of disability conditions, including LD. Thus,
minority groups that experience more poverty than people categorized" as White might be expected to have more LD (i.e., minority children may be differentially susceptible to LD because of higher poverty rates). Somewhat inexplicably, however, the effect is reversed for White and American Indian students; among these groups, increased poverty is associated with lower LD identification rates. Thus, the evidence for differential susceptibility is mixed, at best. Note. M AI = male American Indian; M AS = male Asian/Pacific Islander; M BL = male Black; M HI = male Hispanic; M WH = male White; F AI = female American Indian; F AS = female Asian/Pacific Islander; F BL = female Black; F HI = female Hispanic; F WH = female White; At Risk = percentage of children enrolled who were considered at risk; Housing = median housing value for houses, in $10,000 units; Income median income for households with children, in $ 100,000 units; No Diploma = percentage of adults in the community who had education of 12th grade or less and no diploma; LEP = percentage of children who were limited English proficient; Nonwhite = percentage of enrolled children who were nonwhite; Poverty = percentage of children in households that were below the poverty level; PPE = per-pupil expenditure; STR = student-teacher ratio. On the other hand, LD identification rates for all gender/ ethnicity groups (except American Indian students) decline as the proportion of nonwhite students in the district increases, and there is no clear conceptual explanation for an association between LD identification and the nonwhite percentage. Further, the fact that the direction of the association is reversed for the American Indian group raises the concern that the ethnic makeup of the community is somehow differentially affecting LD identification for this group of students. Such a finding offers indirect support for the hypothesis that the processes for identification work differently for different
gender/ethnicity groups, suggesting the possibility of inadvertent or deliberate bias. Implications for Practice


These findings support a general conclusion that disproportionality is multiply determined and underscore the importance of understanding the causes in a specific school district before proceeding to an intervention. Disproportionality among minority students identified as having LD has not been studied as frequently as for other disability conditions, notably MR and SED. Attention is needed to ensure that an appropriate response is implemented for students with LD - the group that makes up more than 50% of all students with disabilities. LD is
often considered a less stigmatizing disability than other types of disabilities, and issues surrounding the appropriate identification and educational needs of students with LD could easily be overlooked or addressed inappropriately through the implementation of procedures that were developed with other disability conditions in mind (Kavale & Forness, 1995; Ortiz & Maldonado-Colon, 1986). Similarly, the findings reported here underscore the importance of advocacy and continued research focused on American Indian students, with particular attention to why the effects of some of the sociodemographic predictors for them are reversed. Bias may be introduced at different points in the special
education identification process. Teachers may incorrectly refer minority students who are not disabled but who behave, attend, or learn somewhat differently than White, middle class students. In these cases, differences in behavior or learning needs may be interpreted as disability rather than acknowledged as cultural difference. Bias may also occur in the application of the exclusionary provision of
the LD definition. According to this provision students whose learning or behavioral problems are due primarily to environmental causes (e.g., poverty or poor teaching) are not to be identified as LD. The results of the present study, however, indicate that Black and Hispanic students and male Asian students are more likely to be identified as having LD as poverty increases, raising the question of whether the exclusionary provision is being consistently applied. Educational assessment may not pinpoint the cause of LD, particularly in settings where a narrow application of the discrepancy model is employed. Alternatively, the exclusionary provision may be set aside deliberately if special education is
perceived as the only way to help a student; nonetheless, such a failure to apply the provision may result in a biased eligibility process. Because more Black and Hispanic children than White children live in poverty, ignoring the provision results in a disproportionally large number of these children being identified as having LD. Alternatively, the increased LD identification rates for Black and Hispanic students may reflect differential susceptibility to disability, in which case the exclusionary provision of the LD definition is either unworkable in practice or is untenable. If poverty and other social ills are in fact important factors in the etiology of LD, the provision may unfairly exclude children with genuine disability,
and that unfair exclusion may be more common among non-White children than among White children. Tension and uncertainty surround the contribution of poverty to disability, including LD, as is now apparent in the amended formula for federal funding of IDEA (1997 amendments to IDEA). That is, if identification rates rise above specified levels, federal monies are distributed disproportionately. At that point, funding is based on rates of poverty rather than only a flat per-child amount. Thus, there is some inconsistency in the federal code regarding the
implied relationship between poverty and disability. Appropriate responses to disproportionate representation at the community level involve several steps. First, objective and accurate data must be collected to determine the extent of disproportionality by ethnicity and gender. Odds ratios can be calculated for individual districts to get a snapshot of the extent of disproportionality; when viewed in conjunction with changes in identification rates over time, such odds ratios effectively characterize changes in disproportionality across ethnic and gender groups. Second, preservice and inservice training and support must be provided to teachers and administrators to ensure culturally competent teacher-student and school-home relationships. Third, the referral, assessment, and eligibility process must be monitored systematically for any evidence of bias. Direct observation of student behavior, typically regarded as an objective measure, may ignore teacher behavior or classroom variables that reflect a cultural discontinuity between a teacher and a minority student. Careful attention must be given to the process implemented by schools with low minority enrollments to ensure appropriate, nondiscriminatory identification practices. Fourth, monitoring is needed with regard to the application of the exclusionary provision of the definition of LD by Individualized Education Program (IEP) teams. Objective, reliable procedures for the application of the provision must be developed and implemented systematically. In addition, any evidence that placement in special education is an effort to compensate for poor-quality general education services must be addressed at the child and system levels. Finally, in addition to modifications in educational practices, evidence of disproportionate representation in communities with high rates of poverty may indicate a need for advocacy efforts to promote social changes that address disadvantaged populations. Recommendations for Further Research

Further research is needed to determine how both individual student characteristics (e.g., gender, ethnicity, IQ, adaptive behavior) and community sociodemographic factors influence the likelihood that a minority student will be identified as having LD. Secondary analyses of national data provide the starting point for community-level follow-along studies to investigate both the possibility of bias and differential susceptibility to disability. Sites should be selected that are at risk on predictors such as poverty and minority percentage, which have been observed to be significantly related to disproportionality. Sites should also vary with respect to disproportional representation (i.e., some demonstrating high disproportionality and others with none or very low rates). Samples should include students who remain in or return to general education, those who are served through Chapter 1 programs, and those who are served through inclusive or pullout special education arrangements. Student and system information should be collected so that the special education eligibility process is examined
for bias and so that student characteristics, educational placements, and outcomes are documented to test the hypothesis of differential susceptibility. Appropriate responses to disproportionality, however, require consideration not only of the processes involved in special education identification but also consideration of information about education experiences and outcomes. For example, if the outcomes of minority students identified as having LD are positive (i.e., equal to or better than outcomes for other students with LD) and are better than outcomes for comparable minority students who are not identified, then even substantial disproportionality may be irrelevant because such outcomes demonstrate the effectiveness of special education interventions. If the outcomes for comparable identified and nonidentified minority students are both unsatisfactory, then the emphasis belongs not on disproportionality but on improving the educational experiences of all minority students, perhaps involving larger-scale social changes (Garcia & Malkin, 1993). If the outcomes for identified minority children are measurably inferior to the outcomes of similar, children who remain unidentified, the quality of the special education service is indicted, and
disproportionality in such a system may indeed be discriminatory. Finally, if minority and majority student outcomes are unequal, even if there is no disproportionality, attention should shift to the quality of special education services. The special education experience may be differentially ineffective for minority students; even if these students are appropriately identified, if their outcomes are measurably inferior to those of majority students, it cannot be said that these students are receiving free, appropriate education according to IDEA. The interpretation of student outcomes in all such studies must be referenced to professionally accepted standards and the national commitment to improve the educational experience of minority students. CONCLUSIONS Effective responses to disproportionate representation-that is, responses that lead to
improved educational experiences and outcomes for minority students-must be based on a clear understanding of how both bias and differential susceptibility to LD affect identification rates, educational experiences, and outcomes. Some of the predictor effects in the model support the hypothesis that disproportionality is, in part, a result of differential susceptibility. Environmental factors that influence disability prevalence are not uniformly distributed across ethnic groups, and a myopic determination to achieve equal identification may overlook the need
for large-scale social change. Nonwhite children are disproportionately exposed to potentially toxic environmental influences, and this fact represents a critical bias in US society that cannot be ignored. In addition, equality of opportunity and satisfactory outcomes for minority students require attention to equity (i.e., ensuring that services are both appropriate and sufficient; Epps, 2001). An education provided to Black, American Indian, or Hispanic students that is simply "equal" to that provided to White or Asian/Pacific Islander students is likely to be ineffective and inequitable if the former groups are differently susceptible to disability. Effective responses to disproportionate representation of minority
students in special education rely on educators demonstrating culturally competent and effective educational practices in general and special education classrooms, fully implementing the provisions of IDEA in a nonbiased manner during IEP team eligibility decisions, evaluating the out comes of minority students as served by both general and special education, and working at the community level with other agencies, parents, and business partners to respond to all the factors that affect the educational progress of minority children.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Journal Assignment Requirements for the RESEARCH Article Critiques

Students will become acquainted with current professional special education literature by responding in writing to selected journal articles. A list of journals follow the syllabus (below). Papers should be no more than 2-3 typed pages, double-spaced. Use a cover sheet exactly like below (in APA format 5th Edition), Journal 1 or 2 your name, the course and section, due date, my name. and a copy of the rubric below.   Submit a copy of the article with your paper. Papers must include the following parts. Please use the subheadings.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

      Return to Top                      JOURNAL PAPER EXAMPLE





                                                                                                Journal Article 1 or 2

                                                                                                        Your Name
                                                                                                 SPED 450 Section ?
                                                                                                         Due Date
                                                                                                        Dr. Wiedre





                                                                        Scoring Rubric for Journal Abstract Assignment Citation

                                                                            Format                                                                  0 1 2 3 4 5
                                                                            Research Question/Purpose identified             0 1 2 3 4 5
                                                                            Method described                                               0 1 2 3 4 5
                                                                            Results explained                                               0 1 2 3 4 5
                                                                            Evaluation stated                                                0 1 2 3 4 5
                                                                            Reaction stated                                                   0 1 2 3 4 5
                                                                            Organization and clarity                                     0 1 2 3 4 5
                                                                            Grammar and Mechanics                                   0 1 2 3 4 5

                                                                                                                TOTAL POINTS _____________/40
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        1
Research Question

Write a clear, complete, and precise statement of the problem, theory, or issue. What hypothesis was the author(s) trying to test, what problems were identified, or what questions were being answered?

Brief Example:

The purpose of this study was to determine if cross-age peer tutoring of fifth grades with learning disabilities and kindergarten students would have an effect on reading attitudes and reading achievement.

Method

A discussion of the procedures used or theories developed to address the stated problem or issue. What methods were used to test the hypothesis or answer the questions.

Brief Example:

A tutoring program was designed to meet the literacy needs of fifth grade special education students as well as provide enriching literacy experiences for kindergarten students. Both groups were given a survey on attitudes towards reading before and after the program was implemented. The fifth grades were given a pretest and post-test to test their reading achievement.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        2
Results


Description of the outcome, findings, conclusions, and/or recommendations. What results were obtained? How did the author(s) interpret and explain these results? Brief Example: Cross-age peers tutoring has positive benefits for both tutors and tutees. This study supports the extensive research on peers tutoring as a successful intervention for students at-risk for school failure. General and special education teachers can enhance student achievement by developing and implementing peer tutoring programs.

MY Evaluation of the Article

Your evaluation of the article, considering one or two of the following: Did the experimental approach adequately test the hypothesis? Did the results obtained support the interpretation and conclusions? Were appropriate controls used? Could bias have affected the results obtained? How? Were all relevant results or sources considered? What is the significance of the article? Where do you think this research will point us? What research should be conducted next?

Brief Example:

The methods the researchers applied to the study appeared to test the hypothesis. The results supported recent research about cross-age tutoring in a variety of educational settings. There were no control groups used in this study. Therefore, a future study using a control group would further enhance the results. Also, the school had technical difficulties which prohibited some of the tutees from participating in the Accelerated Reading Program. This limited the scope of the study. This article is significant because it provides the basis to do more research in this area. More research is needed to better serve students in both general and special education classrooms.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               3
My Reaction to the Article

Your personal reaction to the article. What particular value does this literature contribute to the field of special education? Are these findings consistent with current best practices in the field of special education? How will the information provided in the article influence your practice as a current or future professional?

Brief Example:

I plan on teaching Language Arts at the High School level. I expect to have students who require support in reading. Current research indicates that cross- age tutoring would be beneficial to the tutor and tutee. Therefore, I could utilize this research by having my students tutor children in the nearby elementary school. This would take planning and training. However, I believe that the results would be significant. Also.......................


____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            4

                                                                                                            References

Puckett, K. (Spring 2004) Project ACCESS: Field testing an assistive technology

    toolkit for students with mild disabilities. Journal of Special Education

    Technology, 19 (2), 56-59.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                                                                                    END SYLLABUS

LIST OF SPECIAL EDUCATION JOURNALS FOLLOW PRACTICE MIDTERM WITH ANSWERS FOLLOW    SAMPLE CASE STUDIES FOR THE

FINAL PAPER FOLLOW                       Return to Top
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

  JOURNALS OF SPECIAL EDUCATION LIST    

(some journals may be accessed on-line at the SDSU library periodicalssocial sciencespecial education)

Journals with an asterisk (*) are also abstracted and indexed for the ERIC database.

A

*Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc. PO Box
5076 Champaign, IL 61825-5076 800-747-4457

*American Annals of the Deaf Gallaudet University KDES, PAS-6 Fowler Hall 409
800 Florida Ave., NE Washington, DC 20002 202-651-5530

*American Journal of Audiology American Speech-Language Hearing
Association 10801 Rockville Pike Rockville, MD 20852-3279 888-498-6699

*American Journal of Occupational Therapy American Occupational Therapy
Association 4720 Montgomery La. Bethesda, MD 20814-3425 301-652-2682

*American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 10801 Rockville Pike
Rockville, MD 20852-3279 888-498-6699

*American Journal on Mental Retardation AAMR Subscription Center 49
Sheridan Ave. Albany, NY 12210 518-436-9689

*American Rehabilitation Superintendent of Documents U.S. Government
Printing Office Washington, DC 20402 202-512-1800

*Annals of Dyslexia The International Dyslexia Society 8600 LaSalle Rd. Chester
Building/Suite 382 Baltimore, MD 21204-6020 410-296-0232

*Asia Pacific Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Whurr Publishers Ltd,
19b Compton Terrace London, N1 2UN UK 020 7359 5979

*Assessment for Effective Intervention Council for Educational Diagnostic
Services Council for Exceptional Children 1110 North Glebe Rd. Arlington, VA
22201-5704 888-232-7733

*Attention CHADD 8181 Professional Pl., Suite 201 Landover, MD 20785 800-233-
4050

*Australian Journal of Learning Disabilities Australian Resource Education
Association 4 Canterbury Rd. Toorak, Victoria, Australia, 3142 03-9344-5361


*Autism : The International Journal of Research and Practice Sage Publications,
Inc. 2455 Teller Rd. Thousand Oaks, CA 91320 800-818-7243

B

*Behavior Modification Sage Publications, Inc. 2455 Teller Rd. Thousand Oaks,
CA 91320 800-818-7243

*Behavioral Disorders Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders Council for
Exceptional Children 1110 North Glebe Rd. Arlington, VA 22201-5704 888-232-
7733

*Beyond Behavior Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders Council for
Exceptional Children 1110 North Glebe Rd. Arlington, VA 22201-5704 888-232-
7733

*British Journal of Learning Disabilities Blackwell Publishing Ltd. PO Box 1354
9600 Garsington Rd. Oxford, OX4 2XG, UK 44 1865 778 315

*British Journal of Special Education Blackwell Publishers, Inc. 350 Main Street
Malden, MA 02148 800-835-6770

*British Journal of Visual Impairment VIEW Publication Trust 44 Southbank Rd.
Southport Merseyside, PR8 6QH, UK

C

*Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy Canadian Association of
Occupational Therapists Carleton College & Training Centre 1125 Colonel By Dr.,
Suite 3400 Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5R1 Canada 800-434-2268

*Career Development for Exceptional Individuals Division on Career
Development & Transition Council for Exceptional Children 1110 North Glebe Rd.
Arlington, VA 22201-5704 888-232-7733

*Child & Family Behavior Therapy Haworth Document Delivery Center The
Haworth Press, Inc. 10 Alice St. Binghamton, NY 13904-1580 800-429-6784

*Child & Youth Care Forum Kluwer Academic/Human Sciences Press 101 Philip
Drive, Assinippi Park Norwell, MA 02061 800-221-9369

*Child & Youth Services Haworth Document Delivery Center The Haworth Press,
Inc. 10 Alice St. Binghamton, NY 13904-1580 800-429-6784

*Child Abuse & Neglect: The International Journal Pergamon Press Elsevier
Science, Inc. 655 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10010-5107 800-437-
4636

*Child Development Blackwell Publishers, Inc. 350 Main St. Malden, MA 02148
800-835-6770

*Child Language Teaching and Therapy Edward Arnold Publishers 338 Euston
Rd. London, NW1 3BH, UK

*Child Maltreatment Sage Publications, Inc. 2455 Teller Rd. Thousand Oaks, CA
91320 800-818-7243

*Children and Youth Services Review Pergamon Press Elsevier Science, Inc. 655
Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10010-5107 888-437-4636

*Children's Health Care Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. 10 Industrial Ave.
Mahwah, NJ 07430 201-236-9500

*Clinical Neuropsychologist Swets & Zeitlinger Publishers PO Box 582
Downingtown, PA 19335-9998

*Communication Disorders Quarterly PRO-ED 8700 Shoal Creek Blvd. Austin, TX
78757-6897 800-897-3202

*Creativity Research Journal Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. 10 Industrial
Ave. Mahwah, NJ 07430-2262 800-926-6579

*Croatian Review of Rehabilitation Research (Hrvatska Revija za Rehabitacijska)
Faculty of Special Education & Rehabilitation Kuslanova 59A HR - 10000 Zagreb
Croatia 385 12338 022


D

Deafness & Education International Whurr Publishers Ltd, 19b Compton Terrace
London, N1 2UN, UK 913-843-1221

Developmental Disabilities Bulletin Developmental Disabilities Centre 6-102
Education North University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2G5 Canada 403-
492-4505

Disability & Society Carfax Publishing Taylor & Francis, Inc. 325 Chestnut St., 8th
Floor Philadelphia, PA 19106 800-354-1420

*Down Syndrome Research and Practice DownsEd Limited The Sarah Duffen
Centre Belmont St., Southsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire PO5 1NA, UK


E

Educating Children for Democracy International Step by Step Association 400
West 59th St. New York, NY 10019 212-547-6918


*Education and Training in Developmental Disabilities Division on Mental
Retardation & Developmental Disabilities Council for Exceptional Children 1110
North Glebe Rd. Arlington, VA 22201-5704 888-232-7733

*Education and Treatment of Children The Roscoe Ledger PO Box 536 Chester &
Latta Streets Roscoe, PA 15477 724-938-9495,

*Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties Sage Publications, Inc. PO Box 5096
Thousand Oaks, CA 91359 800-818-7243

European Journal of Special Needs Education Routledge Journals Taylor &
Francis, Inc. 325 Chestnut St., 8th Floor Philadelphia, PA 19106 800-354-1420

*Exceptional Children Council for Exceptional Children 1110 North Glebe Rd.
Arlington, VA 22201-5704 888-232-7733

Exceptional Parent Psy-Ed Corp. 555 Kinderkamack Rd. Oradell, NJ 07649 201-
634-6550

*Exceptionality Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. 10 Industrial Ave. Mahwah,
NJ 07430-2262 800-926-6579

*Exceptionality Education Canada Faculty of Education University of Prince
Edward Island 550 University Ave. Charlottetown, PE1 CIA 4P3, Canada 902-566-
0330

F

*Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities PRO-ED 8700 Shoal
Creek Blvd. Austin, TX 78757-6897 800-897-3202

*Focus on Exceptional Children Love Publishing Co. 9101 E. Kenyon Ave., Suite
2200 Denver, CO 80237 303-221-7333

G

Gifted & Talented National Association for Gifted Children Challenge House,
Suite 14 Sherwood Dr., Bletchley Milton Keynes, MK3 6DP, UK 0870 770 3217

Gifted and Talented International World Council for Gifted & Talented Children
WCGTC Publications Office, College of William and Mary PO Box 8795
Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795 757-221-2185

*Gifted Child Quarterly National Association of Gifted Children 1707 L St., NW,
Suite 550 Washington, DC 20036 202-785-4268

*Gifted Child Today Prufrock Press PO Box 8813 Waco, TX 76714-8813 800-998-
2208

*Gifted Education International AB Academic Publishers PO Box 42 Bicester
Oxon, OX26 6NW, UK

H

Healing Magazine Kids Peace 1650 Broadway Bethlehem, PA 18015-3998 800-257-
3223

Hearing Loss: The Journal of Self-Help for Hard of Hearing People Self Help for
Hard of Hearing People, Inc. (SHHH) 7910 Woodmont Ave., Suite 1200 Bethesda,
MD 20814 301-657-2248

High Ability Studies Carfax Publishing Taylor & Francis, Inc. 325 Chestnut St., 8th
Floor Philadelphia, PA 19106 800-354-1420

I

*Infants and Young Children Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc. PO Box 1610
16522 Hunters Green Parkway Hagerstown, MD 21740-2116 800-638-3030

*Interaction National Council on Intellectual Disability PO Box 771 Mawson, ACT
2607, Australia

*International Journal of Disability, Development, and Education Carfax
Publishing Taylor & Francis, Inc. 325 Chestnut St., 8th Floor Philadelphia, PA
19106 800-354-1420

*Intervention in School and Clinic PRO-ED 8700 Shoal Creek Blvd. Austin, TX
78757-6897 800-897-3202

J

*Journal for the Education of the Gifted Prufrock Press PO Box 8813 Waco, TX
76714-8813 800-998-2208

Journal of Abnormal Psychology American Psychological Association 750 First
St., NE Washington, DC 20002-4242 202-336-5600

Journal of Applied School Psychology Haworth Document Delivery Center The
Haworth Press, Inc. 10 Alice St. Binghamton, NY 13904-1580 800-429-6784

*Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders Kluwer Academic/Plenum
Publishers PO Box 358 Accord Station, Hingham, MA 02018-0358 866-269-9527

Journal of Child Sexual Abuse Haworth Document Delivery Center The Haworth
Press, Inc. 10 Alice St. Binghamton, NY 13904-1580 800-429-6784

Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates, Inc. 10 Industrial Ave. Mahwah, NJ 07430-2262 800-926-6579

*Journal of Communication Disorders Elsevier Science, Inc. 655 Avenue of the
Americas New York, NY 10010-5107 800-437-4636

*Journal of Creative Behavior Creative Education Foundation, Inc. 1050 Union
Rd., #4 Buffalo, NY 14224 800-447-2774

*Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education Oxford University Press 2001 Evans
Rd. Cary, NC 27513-2009 800-852-7323

Journal of Disability Policy Studies PRO-ED 8700 Shoal Creek Blvd. Austin, TX
78757-6897 800-897-3202

*Journal of Early Intervention Division of Early Childhood Council for Exceptional
Children 1110 North Glebe Rd. Arlington, VA 22201-5704 888-232-7733

Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk Lawrence Erlbaum Associates,
Inc. 10 Industrial Ave. Mahwah, NJ 07430-2262 800-926-6579

Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates, Inc. 10 Industrial Ave. Mahwah, NJ 07430-2262 800-926-6579

Journal of Educational Audiology Educational Audiology Association 4319
Ehrlich Rd. Tampa, FL 33624 800-460-7322

*Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders PRO-ED 8700 Shoal Creek Blvd.
Austin, TX 78757-6897 800-897-3202

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition American
Psychological Association 750 First St., NE Washington, DC 20002-4242 202-336-
5500

*Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability Carfax Publishing Taylor &
Francis, Inc. 325 Chestnut St., 8th Floor Philadelphia, PA 19106
800-354-1420

*Journal of Learning Disabilities (PRO-ED) PRO-ED 8700 Shoal Creek Blvd.
Austin, TX 78757-6897 800-897-3202

*Journal of Learning Disabilities (Sage) Sage Publications, Inc. PO Box 5096
Thousand Oaks, CA 91359 800-818-7243

Journal of Optometric Vision Development College of Optometrists in Vision
Development 243 N. Lindbergh, Suite 310 St. Louis, MO 63141 888-268-3770

Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions PRO-ED 8700 Shoal Creek Blvd.
Austin, TX 78757-6897 800-897-3202

Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability Association on Higher
Education and Disability (AHEAD) Univ. of Massachusetts-Boston 100 Morrissey
Blvd. Boston, MA 02125 617-287-3880

*Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs Blackwell Publishing 350
Main St. Boston, MA 02148 800-835-6770

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities Science Education for
Students with Disabilities C/O The Universal American School PO Box 17035
Khaldiya 72451, Kuwait 011-965-562-7229

*Journal of Secondary Gifted Education Prufrock Press PO Box 8813 Waco, TX
76714-8813 800-998-2208 Journal of Social Work in Disability & Rehabilitation
Haworth Document Delivery Center The Haworth Press, Inc. 10 Alice St.
Binghamton, NY 13904-1580 800-429-6784

*Journal of Special Education PRO-ED 8700 Shoal Creek Blvd. Austin, TX 78757-
6897 800-897-3202

*Journal of Special Education Leadership Council of Administrators of Special
Education Council for Exceptional Children / CASE Office 615 16th St., NW
Albuquerque, NM 87104

*Journal of Special Education Technology University of Nevada-Las Vegas Dept.
of Special Education 4505 Maryland Parkway, Box 453014 Las Vegas, NV 89154-
3014 702-895-2464

*Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research American Speech-
Language-Hearing Association 10801 Rockville Pike Rockville, MD 20852-3279
888-498-6699

Journal of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Canadian Association of
Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (CASLPA) 200 Elgin St., Suite
401 Ottawa, Ontario K2P 1L5, Canada 800-259-8519

Journal of the Academy of Rehabilitative Audiology PO Box 26532 Minneapolis,
MN 55426 952-920-0484

Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps (JASH) See
Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities

*Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness American Foundation for the Blind
11 Penn Plaza, Suite 300 New York, NY 10001 888-522-0220

Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation IOS Press BV Van Diemenstraat 94 1013 CN
Amsterdam Netherlands

L

*Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools American Speech-
Language-Hearing Association 10801 Rockville Pike Rockville, MD 20852-3279
888-498-6699 *

Learning Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal Learning Disabilities
Association 4156 Library Rd. Pittsburgh, PA 15234 412-341-1515

*Learning Disabilities: Research & Practice Blackwell Publishers, Inc. 350 Main St
Malden, MA 02148 800-835-6770

Learning Disabilities: A Contemporary Journal Learning Disabilities Association
of Massachusetts (LDAM) PO Box 142 Weston, MA 02493 781-891-5009

*Learning Disability Quarterly Council for Learning Disabilities PO Box 4014
Leesburg, VA 20177 571-258-1010

M

Mental Health Aspects of Developmental Disabilities Psych-Media, Inc. PO Box 57
Bear Creek, NC 27207 336-581-3700

*Mental Retardation American Association on Mental Retardation AAMR
Subscription Center 49 Sheridan Ave. Albany, NY 12210 518-436-9686

N

National Forum of Special Education Journal PO Box 7400 Lake Charles, LA
70605-7400 337-477-0008

O

Occupational Therapy in Health Care Haworth Document Delivery Center The
Haworth Press, Inc. 10 Alice St. Binghamton, NY 13904-1580 800-429-6784

Occupational Therapy in Mental Health Haworth Document Delivery Center The
Haworth Press, Inc. 10 Alice St. Binghamton, NY 13904-1580 800-429-6784

Odyssey Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center Gallaudet University,
KDES PAS 6 800 Florida Ave., NE Washington, DC 20078-0603 800-526-9105

P

Palaestra Challenge Publications PO Box 508 Macomb, IL 61455 309-833-1902

Parenting for High Potential National Assn. For Gifted Children 1707 L St., NW,
Suite 550 Washington, DC 20036 202-785-4268

Physical and Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics Haworth Document Delivery
Center The Haworth Press, Inc. 10 Alice St. Binghamton, NY 13904-1580 800-429-
6784

Physical Disabilities: Education and Related Services Boyd Printing Company,
Inc. 49 Sheridan Ave. Albany, NY 12210 800-877-2693

Physical Therapy American Physical Therapy Association 1111 N. Fairfax St.
Alexandria, VA 22314-1488 703-684-2782, ext 3124

*Preventing School Failure Heldref Publications 1319 Eighteenth St., NW
Washington, DC 20036-1802 800-365-9753

Psychology in the Schools John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 605 Third Ave. New York, NY
10158-0012 800-225-5945 ext 6347

R

*RE:view Heldref Publications 1319 Eighteenth St., NW Washington, DC 20036-
1802 800-365-9753

*Remedial and Special Education PRO-ED 8700 Shoal Creek Blvd. Austin, TX
78757-6897 800-897-3202

Report on Emotional & Behavioral Disorders in Youth Civic Research Institute
Inc. 4490 U.S. Route 27 PO Box 585 Kingston, NJ 08528 609-683-4450

*Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities The Association for
Persons with Severe Handicaps 29 W. Susquehanna Ave., Suite 210 Baltimore,
MD 21204 410-828-8274

*Research in Developmental Disabilities Pergamon Press Elsevier Science, Inc.
655 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10010-5107 888-4ES-INFO

Residential Treatment for Children and Youth Haworth Document Delivery Center
The Haworth Press, Inc. 10 Alice St. Binghamton, NY 13904-1580 800-429-6784

*Roeper Review PO Box 329 Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303 248-203-7321

S

Social Work in Mental Health Haworth Document Delivery Center The Haworth
Press, Inc. 10 Alice St. Binghamton, NY 13904-1580 800-429-6784

Special Education Technology Practice Knowledge by Design, Inc. 5907 N. Kent
Ave. Whitefish Bay, WI 53217 414-962-0120

Special Services in the Schools (see Journal of Applied School Psychology)
Support for Learning Blackwell Publishers, Inc. 350 Main St. Malden, MA 02148
800-835-6770

T

*Teacher Education and Special Education Boyd Printing Company, Inc. 49
Sheridan Ave. Albany, NY 12210

*TEACHING Exceptional Children Council for Exceptional Children 1110 North
Glebe Rd. Arlington, VA 22201-5704 888-232-7733

Technology and Disability IOS Press, Inc. 5795-G Burke Centre Parkway Burke,
VA 22015

The Journal of International Special Needs Education Division of International
Special Education and Services (DISES) Council for Exceptional Children 1110
North Glebe Rd. Arlington, VA 22201-5704 888-232-7733

*Topics in Early Childhood Special Education PRO-ED 8700 Shoal Creek Blvd.
Austin, TX 78757-6897 800-897-3202

*Topics in Language Disorders Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc. PO Box 1610
16522 Hunters Green Parkway Hagerstown, MD 21740-2116 800-638-3030

U

*Understanding Our Gifted Open Space Communications, Inc. 1900 Folsom, Suite
108 Boulder, CO 80302 800-494-6178

V

*Volta Review Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf 3417 Volta Pl., NW
Washington, DC 20007-2778 202-337-5220

Volta Voices Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf 3417 Volta Pl., NW
Washington, DC 20007-2778 202-337-5220

Y Young Children National Association for Education of Young Children
(NAEYC) 1509 16th St., NW Washington, DC 20036-1426 800-424-2460

*Young Exceptional Children Division for Early Childhood Council for Exceptional
Children 1380 Lawrence St., Suite 650 Denver, CO 80204 303-556-3328

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PRACTICE QUIZ QUESTIONS    

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Chapter 1     Quiz 1   Answer the first 20 multiple choice questions and hand-in next week.

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8                                         Return to Top

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18
 

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FINAL PAPER CASE STUDY EXAMPLES

Melodie

Melodie, 6, moved into Metropolis Elementary from Los Angeles in January of her grade one year. Her mother, a homemaker who appeared somewhat exhausted from managing Melodie, met with Miss Fontaine, the Grade 1 teacher. She informed the teacher that Melodie had been on Ritalin since Kindergarten and would need some special attention. She and her husband, an engineer, were looking for any suggestions the school could provide in managing Melodie at home as well. Miss Fontaine indicated that she would review Melodie's file and asked Melodie's mother if she and her husband could come in to meet with her and the school based team next week to discuss Melodie's program. During the first week, Miss Fontaine made the following observations: • Melodie is cheerful and friendly. She seems keenly interested in pleasing the teacher and her classmates. • Melodie appears to have a strong understanding of verbally presented information, knows her colors and can count to 100. • Melodie's literacy skills are at the emergent stage - she cannot recall letter names and does not appear to have any sight vocabulary. • Maintaining one to one correspondence with objects while counting is difficult for Melodie. • Melodie completes 2 out of 20 questions when not medicated (she indicated that she forgot to take her pill on Thursday morning); she completes entire sheet of 20 questions when she has taken her medication • During both individual and group instruction, Melodie frequently interrupts to ask unrelated questions and change topics. • When interacting with peers, Melodie constantly changes topics and commonly leaves an activity or game while others continue to play.

Danny

Ms. Davies, Danny's grade three teacher, called Danny's foster parents, Mr. and Mrs. Farmer, and asked them to come in for a meeting. She was finding that Danny was increasingly difficult to manage both on the playground and in class. He has few friends and he has been differentially tolerated by those around him. At the meeting, Ms. Davies described her concerns about Danny's behavior in school. The Farmers stated that Danny, upon entering first grade, experienced trouble with reading and writing activities. He was quite active in the classroom, especially during periods devoted to academics. In second grade, he continued to have difficulty with reading, writing, spelling and math. His active classroom behaviors continued and their occurrence often led to aggressive incidents in the classroom and on the playground.

Robert

Robert is an 11 year old boy in Grade 5 who lives with his mom, dad, and younger brother. Dad has a history of AD/HD, inattentive type. Both parents are very supportive of the school; Robert's mom often volunteers at school functions. This is what the teacher observed: • Robert often appears unaware of what is happening in class. He becomes immobile, staring straight ahead and when asked what he was thinking replies, "I don't know". • Some days he can be very attentive and participate well in all areas. • Robert has completed only one written
assignment, a short paragraph describing his summer activities, during the first two weeks of school. Five assignments have been due: an essay describing a favorite summer activity, a letter to the principal describing the perfect school, a paragraph in social studies, response to an experiment in science and a list of how people use math in their lives. • Robert spends a great deal of time looking for pencils, pens, etc. - he rarely seems to know where he left his coat, gym shoes, etc. anxious when interacting with peers and does not have any close friends. He usually wanders around the playground on his own during recess and lunch breaks. • Robert has very strong computer skills which he has developed using the family computer at home. Robert can word process competently and has some experience using the internet.

Jordan

Jordan is a 13 year old grade 8 student. His father is a physician, his mother a nurse who works as a receptionist in his father's office. Jordan has two brothers, one 2 years younger, one 2 years older. Both brothers are strong, high achieving students. Their parents are caring and supportive of the school. The family has traveled extensively and Jordan has taken piano lessons and plays a number of extra curricular sports. Jordan's strengths include: • a well developed oral vocabulary, • ability to confidently share a broad base of knowledge with adults, ability to make valuable contributions to discussions in science and social studies, • grade appropriate skills in math and reading • some appropriate social skills (e.g. apologizes when corrected) • strong test taking skills During the first month of Grade 8, Jordan's English teacher, Ms Fast noted the following areas of concern: • seems unmotivated • rarely completes assignments • rarely polishes a final draft; work often difficult to read with many "careless" errors • rarely brings necessary materials to class • talks constantly, blurts out answers in class discussions, frequently interrupts teacher and peers • gets out of seat and wanders around inappropriately • distracts other students during work time, by humming, tapping his pencil, tapping his feet, etc. • feels badly when provided feedback on behavior (interrupting, disrupting) and progress (assignments not completed)

Bobby

Bobby is 12 and in his first year at secondary school. He has repeatedly been in trouble for misbehaviour in school. He has been suspended twice and has had a period of outreach support in a behaviour modification unit.In science one day Bobby is involved in an activity and is asked to sit down and do something else. He does not want to do this and ignores the teacher's request. Once more he is told to do this and he refuses.

At this point he is given a warning about behaviour and behaviour points marked against his name. Bobby objects to this. He starts to shout at the teacher who responds by shouting back, giving him more behaviour points and accompanying extra work for which blank paper is supplied. Bobby takes the paper, tears it into bits, write "F...... O....." on each bit and throws them at the teacher. He is eventually told to leave the room.

Alberto

Alberto is 9 and has difficulties in speech, both in expressing and understanding speech and his lack of ability in reading and writing. He liked to have the attention of others around them and did this by shouting and making strange noises which attracted the attention of other children who seemed to find behaviour funny. Alberto lives with foster parents and is reported to have been a very quiet child who spoke little in his early years and spent much time on his own.

In class, Alberto now has a tendency to shout out when he knows the answers, although his speech is still unclear. He is also very quick to point out the faults of other children. When the classroom assistant or other adult is in the class Alberto will come up repeatedly and say he can't do his work. When asked to read something he says, "I can't read." In writing, Alberto often can't recall frequency words.

Jasmine

Jasmine is a 17 year old grade 11 student. This is her second semester at a new school. She has two siblings; her older sister, 21, is entering medical school this year, while her younger brother, 13, is a grade 8 student usually on the honor role. Jasmine's parents own and operate a small business and work long hours. According to her mother, Jasmine was always "a little different", "off in her own world", similar to one of her aunts on her father's side. Jasmine's parents expect high academic standings for all their children and have been disappointed in Jasmine's school performance. They hoped that her poor grades and daydreaming personality were just a phase that she would outgrow. Jasmine's school records indicate that she received tutoring support throughout elementary school. Her academic achievement over the years has been consistently lower than average. Report card comments indicate that she has been a "loner", preferring to doodle quietly in the library rather than going to gym or cafeteria at lunch. She is currently achieving barely passing grades in most of her courses.

Josh

Josh is a 13 year old student who is in 7th grade. He has a medical diagnosis of hypotonia and may be orthopedically impaired. The hypotonia primarily effects hand functions, making it difficult for Josh to write legibly even for short periods of time. Josh’s teachers believe that he has above average ability. Due to his medical condition, Josh fatigues easily which makes it difficult for him to keep up with the class as far as writing is concerned. His teachers report that Josh is able to produce 50% of the written work that the other students produce. The school
Josh attends is a two story building.

Rosa

Rosa enters every room with an artist’s flourish. For a 14-year-old, her sophistication and composure often startle adults. She participates on a local board which selects themes and artwork for displays in the State gallery. Her own pottery have been included regularly since she moved to the United States from Mexico. The state of Rosa’s locker and bedroom are a source of jokes among her peers. Her parents see no humor in it. Rosa’s reply is, “Ah, but a creative mess is much more fulfilling than idle tidiness.” She has a difficult time finding moments to housekeep between her commitments to a modern dance troupe, children’s arts workshop, a job tour four afternoons a week in a local photography studio, ballet lessons, early morning aerobics classes, the future problem-solving team and as arts representative on the student government board. Academically Rosa is a B student. She is equally comfortable expressing herself in either English or Spanish. She recently acquired English as her second language. Verbally, she appears to have difficulty expressing herself. Her organization skills are fragmented. Rosa has few friends and enjoys the company of adults.

Sally

Sally is an 8-year-old second grader. Her teacher, Ms. Aware, noticed that Sally’s speech is not fluent. She repeats and prolongs words, syllables or sounds. Other children have begun to ridicule her. Ms. Aware contacted Sally’s parents who stated that they have noticed Sally’s talking becoming more stressed. They also stated that she is refusing to talk, except to answer questions using one word. Sally’s teacher also noticed that her reading and spelling are not at grade level. Sally appears withdrawn and shows signs of depression.
 

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Centers for Teaching and Learning

United States  

Canada   

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Chapter 4 Notes


STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING STUDENTS WITH COMMUNICATION DISORDERS



Introduction

Communication Disorders involve a wide variety of problems in speech, language, and hearing.

For example, speech and language disorders include stuttering, aphasia, dysfluency, voice disorders

(hoarseness, breathiness, or sudden breaks in loudness or pitch), cleft lip and/or palate, articulation

problems, delays in speech and language, autism, and phonological disorders.

Speech and language impairments and disorders can be attributed to environmental factors, of which

the most commonly known are High Risk Register problems, which include drugs taken during pregnancy,

common STD's such as syphilis, and birthing trauma to name a few. Communication disorders can also stem

from other conditions such as learning disabilities, dyslexia, cerebral palsy, and mental retardation.

Individuals with communication disorders have considerable difficulty making themselves clearly understood

and may also have difficulty composing their thoughts and ideas or in understanding what is said by others.

These difficulties are generally due to neurological or mechanical disabilities involving the voice. A child

with a communication disorder may also present such characteristics as the inability to follow instructions

or slow incomprehensive speech. Please note that those communication disabilities due to hearing or

vision impairments are covered in the hearing or vision impairment sections of this document.

General Strategies

Accept the fact that a disability exists. Not acknowledging the fact is not acknowledging the person.
Develop a protocol for the student to tell you when he/she anticipates a need for assistance.
Speak directly to the student with a disability as you would any other student.
Students with communication disorders should be encouraged to discuss their functional difficulties and
needs in private during the first week of classes and to talk about ways to compensate.

When it appears that a student needs help, ask if you can help. Accept a "No Thank You" graciously.
Encourage classmates to accept the student with communication problems.
Be a good speech model. This will indicate to all that good communication is desirable.
An atmosphere conductive to easy and good interactive communication should be established and
maintained in the classroom.

Consult a Speech Language expert concerning each child with a communicative disorder in your class
and be sure to work with him/her.

Keep up-to-date with the child's accomplishments in therapy.
Teacher Presentation

Maintain contact with student.
Allow students to tape lectures.
Provide and interpreter (signed English or American Sign Language) to those who require another form
of communication.

Encourage and assist in facilitation of participation in activities and discussions.
Be patient.
Model an atmosphere of acceptance and understanding in the classroom.
Be a good listener.
Laboratory (active and passive)

Allow more time for the student to complete activities.
Place the student within reasonable distance from the instructor to meet their needs.
Anticipate areas of difficulty in access and involve the student in doing the same. Together, work out
alternate procedures

while trying not to disengage the student from the activity.

For students who cannot use the computer because of other physical limitations in their hands or arms, explore avenues
for obtaining adaptive access software, (including Unicorn keyboards), special switches, Power Pads, eye controlled input

systems, touch screens, footmice, and other special equipment.

Consider alternate activities/exercises that can be utilized with less difficulty for the student, but has the same or similar
learning objectives.

If appropriate, provide assistance, but also provide positive reinforcement when the student shows the ability to do
something unaided.

Use a peer-buddy system when appropriate.


Lastly, consider alternate activities/exercises that can be utilized with less difficulty for the student, but has the same or
similar learning objectives.

Group Interaction and Discussion

Encourage classmates to accept the student with communicative problems.
An atmosphere conductive to easy and good interactive communication should be established and maintained in the classroom.
Encourage and assist in facilitation of participation in activities and discussions.
Allow more time for the student to complete activities.
Research

Review and explain to the student the steps involved in a research activity. Think about which step(s) may be difficult for
the specific functional limitations of the student and jointly devise accommodations for that student.

Use appropriate lab and field strategies according to the nature of the research.
Allow more time for the student to complete activities.
With the student, work out alternate procedures which do not disengage the student from the activity.
Anticipate areas of difficulty in access and involve the student with a communication disability in doing the same.
Together, work out alternate procedures while trying to disengage the student from the activity.

If appropriate, provide assistance, but also provide positive reinforcement when the student shows the ability to do
something unaided.

Field Experiences (active and passive)

Discuss with the student any needs, problems or alternatives he/she anticipates in the field learning environment.
Consider alternate activities/exercises that can be utilized with less difficulty for the student, but has the same or
similar learning objectives.

Make special advance arrangements with curators during passive visiting field trips.
When information gathering involves a physical action that the impaired student cannot perform, try a different
experience yielding the same information.

In the field, provide assistance, but also provide positive reinforcement when the student shows the ability to do
something unaided.

Testing

Allow more time for the student with communication impairments to complete assignments and test in their
optimal mode of communication.

Design test that are appropriate for the child's disorder (written instead of oral or vice versa.)
Writers could be provided for test taking if the individual requires the assistance.
Check to be sure that test instructions are completely understood by the child and provide any additional assistance
that may be needed.


Five Strategies To Reduce Overrepresentation of Culturally

and Linguistically Diverse Students in Special Education.

Children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds comprise a large percentage of public school students.

Diversity is increasing, and one of the most troublesome issues associated with its growth is the overrepresentation of

minority children in special education--that is, more minority children are served in special education than we would

expect based on their percentage in the general school population. In the 1960s, at the height of the Civil Rights movement,

the issue of disproportionality of minority students in special education first received national attention. Since that time,

researchers and practitioners have studied the issue in an effort to understand and explain how the processes used to

identify, assess, and place students in special education programs may contribute to the overrepresentation of minority

students. In addition, they are identifying processes that successfully prevent inappropriate placement and ensure that the

opportunities for educational achievement offered to minority students equal those offered to the majority group.

To this end, researchers Beth Harry and Janette Klingner, with support from the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs

(OSEP), are investigating exemplary special education referral and decision making processes for culturally and

linguistically diverse students. Although Harry and Klingner are in the early stages of their work, they are finding that

professionals generally attribute overrepresentation to one of the following sources: family and community issues,

external pressures in schools (e.g., mandated curriculum, high stakes assessments), classroom instruction and management,

and teacher perceptions and attitudes. There is widespread recognition that supports provided to teachers and other

professionals by the school district are essential to building the capacity of district personnel to work with students of

different cultures and languages. This digest provides examples of strategies created by researchers and practitioners

to address some of these issues.

PROMOTE FAMILY INVOLVEMENT AND RESPECT DIVERSE BACKGROUNDS
Researchers continue to point to family involvement in the school and its operation as a major factor in improving student

achievement. However, researchers also show that for successful collaborations to occur, school personnel must respect

the cultural background of the family. Several years ago, the Highland Park School District in Michigan received support

from OSEP to develop a demonstration model to prevent emotional disturbance and treat children with emotional

disturbance in a culturally competent manner. Family involvement is a key component of the Highland Park approach.

Throughout all aspects of the program, families are essential team members. They are key in identifying supports and

designing implementation plans for the services they and their children receive. The success of the approach is based

on an underlying belief that families are not the source of their children's difficulty, but rather are partners in planning for their

children's needs. Program staff have learned much about being culturally sensitive when interacting with families.

LeVann Townsel, director of the program, offers the following recommendations:

* Take time to educate the family. Many families do not know what emotional disturbance means. They may not feel

comfortable asking questions or they may view the process negatively. It is important to view this situation from the

family's perspective.

* Go to the family. Whenever possible, meet with the family in the home.

* Arrange parent support groups. Help parents come together to support each other. Encourage them to

develop advocacy skills.

* Find out what the parents need. Often, parents need support or an extra boost. Find out what might help them

feel more confident.

* Push for parent membership on school and community teams and boards. Parents should be given opportunities

to contribute their expertise in ways that are not directly related to their own child.

* Encourage parents to talk about their dreams for the child. Don't tell parents what is wrong with their situation.

They already know.

* Know the difference between the culture of the family and the economic situation of the family. It is important to

understand how poverty affects families. For example, families may have experience working with welfare agencies

who do business differently than schools. It is important to understand behaviors from many contexts and to take an

integrated approach to understanding people.

* Learn as much about the family's culture as possible. Find out the values-how they view disabilities and mental health issues.


MAKE THE CURRICULUM RELEVANT
Children's learning is enhanced when they have opportunities to learn new skills in meaningful contexts. They

respond positively to curricula that draw upon their own experiences and celebrate their heritages and cultures.

When motivation is high, children tend to be more actively involved in learning.

With OSEP support, Susan Fowler, Dean at the University of Illinois, and her colleague, Beverly Lewman,

in the Department of Special Education, have developed and are assessing the impact of a culturally appropriate

preschool curriculum. SPARK, which stands for Skills Promoted through Arts, Reading, and Knowledge, is a

preschool creative arts curriculum for teachers of young children with developmental delays or at risk of

developing delays. SPARK is based on stories and resources from many cultural and ethnic traditions. It

provides opportunities for preschool children to achieve developmental and school readiness skills by actively

attending to stories and participating in activities based on music, art, and drama. Staff members report that the

curriculum helps students who speak English as a second language learn English faster than students who were

not exposed to the curriculum. Formal evaluations indicate that the curriculum helps children develop early learning skills,

particularly increased vocabulary, print awareness, ability to print, and counting.


BUILD ON STUDENTS' STRENGTHS
Building on students' strengths has long been a principle of special education, but is a particular challenge in teaching

students whose home language is not English. With OSEP support, Robert Jimenez has been studying the literacy

strengths and difficulties faced by language minority students with learning disabilities in grades 4 to 6. He has been

developing instructional interventions based on teaching the strategies of high-performers to low- performing students,

and these interventions have produced excellent results. Low performing readers often have naive conceptions about

the purpose of reading. For example, students from language-minority backgrounds often pursue finishing the task as

their primary objective and believe that reading is synonymous with decoding and pronunciation of isolated words.

Jimenez supports explicit instruction of strategic reading processes, including how to access what students know

in their primary language. Strategies that successful bilingual readers share with successful monolingual readers

include making inferences, drawing conclusions, integrating prior knowledge into ongoing meaning construction,

and asking questions when comprehension breaks down. In addition, Jimenez has identified some strategies that

he suspects may be indicative of a bilingual schema for reading. Jimenez provides the following example. Searching

for vocabulary is a reading strategy that draws on the native-language strength of Spanish-English bilingual students.

When students are confronted with unfamiliar vocabulary, they check to see whether they know a related word in

their own language. Related bilingual reading strategies include translating, transferring information across languages,

and reflecting on text either in Spanish or English. These are strategies that help low performing bilingual students

improve comprehension, but they also appear to be indicators of a fairly well developed Spanish- English bilingual

scheme for reading.


TAKE THE TEACHER PREPARATION PROGRAM TO THE COMMUNITY
There is no better way to develop understanding of a culture than to live within it. With OSEP support, the

University of Northern Arizona (NAU) is partnering with the Kayenta Unified School District to prepare teachers.

Referred to as RAISE (Reaching American Indian Special/Elementary Educators), the project prepares both

Navajo and non-Navajo university students to earn dual certification in special and elementary education.

Most of the Navajo students are currently working as paraprofessionals or general educators with the district.

Non-Navajo students live in Kayenta, which is a very remote community in the Navajo Nation. The district

provides the non-Navajo students housing at no cost, and in return the university students work in the schools daily

from 8:00 a.m. until noon. In addition, a NAU faculty member lives in Kayenta and teaches on site. According to

Greg Prater, Program Director, having a faculty member on site, working and interacting with the students and school

district community, provides university students with an increased opportunity to learn more about the culture

and the language.


PROVIDE DISTRICT SUPPORT TO BUILD THE CAPACITY OF PERSONNEL
With OSEP support, the Tucson Unified School District is designing and implementing a plan to reduce

disproportionality. According to Gail Bornfield, Director of Special Education for the district, the goal of this

plan is to bring supports to children and instructional staff prior to referral for special education evaluation.

The process allows instructional staff to look at children with high expectations and the belief that all children

can and do achieve.

The first and crucial step was to provide significant training in cultural awareness to instructional staff.

As they put their training into operation, the district provides several levels of support:

* Behavioral specialists observe children in the classroom, prepare functional behavioral assessments, and

work with the teacher to develop behavior management plans.

* Social workers work with families around problems that the child is experiencing at school, and in some cases,

develop behavioral plans for the home.

* Instructional specialists are assigned to the classroom and to individual children as needed. They are responsible

for carrying out the behavioral plan and monitoring interventions.

* A member from the child's cultural background on the IEP team provides essential information, especially when the

team is determining eligibility for services for emotional disturbance.

* Teacher tips are written by staff and are available on the web or in print form. The tips offer practical ways to integrate

positive strategies to address culture in the classroom and through instruction.

* Study area departments are established for each of the following cultural and linguistic groups: African American,

Hispanic, Native American, and Asian American. The department provides specialists and tutors.

These support systems provide additional perspectives and approaches to aid teachers and other district staff in developing

their ability to work with students of different cultures. Such knowledge is essential if we are to reduce disproportionate

representation and offer equal educational opportunity to all American students.

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