ABSTRACT Students with and at-risk for emotional behavioral disorders (EBD) often exhibit comorbid academic and behavior deficits and benefit from strategies that address those needs. Writing can be significantly difficult for students with EBD due to the complex requirements when completing written activities. This paper highlights a strategic intervention for supporting the writing needs of students with and at risk for EBD. Utilizing a multiple probe across students with embedded reversal single case design, three students with and at-risk for EBD in 3rd, 5th, and 6th grade were recruited to receive SRSD POW+TREE with embedded function-based choice making in a residential education setting. Number of essay elements and a variety of writing quality indicators along with student motivation and active academic engagement were examined. Participants who completed the study demonstrated varied engagement and an increase in included essay elements along with overall essay quality and increased motivation to write persuasively. Implications for teachers, limitations, and future directions are presented.

ABSTRACT Over the last decade, technology has become a critical component of everyday life, in and out of the classroom. As such, digital learning serves as a vehicle for accessing the general education curriculum, and is imperative to higher education, workforce development, and economic security. The purpose of this systematic literature review is to investigate the current status of research on instructional and assistive technologies used to support students with high incidence disabilities in accessing the general education curriculum over the last decade (2010–2020). Among the results of the analysis of 67 studies, a majority involved White students with specific learning disabilities, with studies primarily focused on social/emotional/behavioral, reading, or mathematics outcomes. Independent variables spanned seven categories, largely involving computer-assisted instruction such as modules or virtual manipulatives, although applications via mobile devices were increasingly researched toward the middle to end of the decade. Additional results and implications for research and practice are shared.

ABSTRACT This article provides foundational information to stimulate and facilitate assessment of the distinctive role of law in this field. For example, has the balance of costs and benefits reached the point of over-legalization? Similarly, to what extent is legal literacy essential for special education teachers and related service personnel as compared to special education supervisors and administrators? For practitioners, professors, and policymakers to arrive at informed answers to such questions, this article successively provides (a) a description of the meaning of “law” in the context of special education in this country; (b) an overview of the level and sources of knowledge of special education law among school personnel, and (3) a sampling of lessons for special education stakeholders’ careful consideration.

ABSTRACT What we know about transition-age ELs with disabilities comes from a limited number of studies and reports. These students face multiple obstacles to achieving the benchmarks of post-school success, including coming from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds and having lower academic achievement than other students with disabilities. This study analyzed National Longitudinal Transition Study 2012 data to explore parents’ expectations for their child’s future goal aspirations, including postsecondary education, independent living, and financial independence for English learners (ELs) with disabilities and compared results with non-ELs with disabilities. Results showed parent expectations varied by disability category and post-school goals. Also, parents of ELs with disabilities, compared to non-ELs with disabilities, had higher expectations for their child to be financially independent by age 30. The analysis also identified several individual and family predictors of these post-school goals for both parent groups. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

ABSTRACT Special education teacher shortages result in unqualified teachers working with students who have disabilities. Past research has focused on national shortages and the number of special education teachers in schools, but fewer studies have examined the number of new special education program completers, an important aspect of the potential special educator pipeline. In this study, we used publicly available data to examine long- and short-term trends in the number of program completers, if these trends were related to the number of students with disabilities over time, and if trends varied by state. Using graphs and multilevel modeling, we found that trends in the special education teacher pipeline varied dramatically by state, that national averages might be substantially influenced by large states, and that trends in recent years suggest a decline in special education program completers. We discuss the implications of these findings for ensuring that all students with disabilities have access to teachers with special education training.

ABSTRACT Behavioral emotion regulation and resilience are crucial in daily life. This research aimed to investigate the impact of the Incredible Years (IY) parenting program on behavioral emotion regulation and resilience in mothers of deaf children. The present study was a quasi-randomized controlled trial design. Twenty mothers between the ages of 28 and 41 years of age who had deaf children were randomly selected from Baghcheban deaf school in Shahreza, Iran. They were randomly assigned to experimental (n = 10) or control (n = 10) groups. The experimental group participated in the 12-session IY parenting program, while the control group did not participate in this program. Both groups completed the Emotion Behavioral Regulation Questionnaire (EBRQ) and Resiliency Scale (RISC) at pre and post-intervention. The data were analyzed using the Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) test. The results showed that the intervention significantly and positively influenced behavioral emotion regulation and resilience in mothers of deaf children (p < .001). This study suggests that IY parenting program can promote behavioral emotion regulation and resilience in mothers of deaf children. Therefore, this program was feasible and acceptable to these mothers.

ABSTRACT This descriptive study examined the extratextual utterances of 10 special education teachers as they engaged in shared reading with groups of their students with extensive support needs (ESN) in special education classrooms. The independent variables were grade band (i.e., elementary, middle, high) and students’ expressive language (i.e., high versus low percentage of students who combine words, signs or symbols to communicate). The dependent variables included teachers’ book-related extratextual utterances and book-related extratextual questions coded in five mutually exclusive categories (i.e., explicit reference, background only, integrated references, integrated background, and print related). Approximately half of teachers’ extratextual utterances were book related, with explicit reference and background only questions composing 84.4% of all book-related questions. Cross-sectional comparisons of grade bands revealed no significant differences in the percentage of book-related, extratextual utterances or questions (p = .188, = .38; p = .099, = .48, respectively). Cross-sectional comparisons of groups with high and low percentages of students who use language expressively revealed no significant differences for book-related, extratextual utterances or questions (p = .202, g = .77; p = .160, g = .89, respectively). The implications for teacher practice in shared reading with students who have ESN are discussed.

ABSTRACT Through the design of a survey and measure validation using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), we aimed to identify and define constructs required for special education teacher leadership that may inform the focus of professional development opportunities. Results of the analysis indicate a four-factor model is best suited for measuring special education teacher leadership capacity at the individual level. The teacher leadership domains that were defined through the EFA were as follows: (a) pedagogical confidence, (b) ethical considerations, (c) collaboration, and (d) assessment practices. Additionally, we identify differences between general and special education teacher identification of leadership skills, which can assist in targeting professional development to the specific needs of special education teachers that differ from general educators. Implications for research and professional development are presented to improve our understanding of and preparation of special teacher leadership. Through this work, we present a teacher leadership framework for the professional development of special education teacher leadership.

ABSTRACT This exploratory study examined the nature of instruction provided in two reading intervention programs designed for elementary-grade students with dyslexia (The Multisensory Teaching Approach and Reading RULES!). In addition to documenting the proportion of time dedicated to particular content components (i.e., letter-name knowledge, phonological awareness, phonics/decoding, encoding, sight word recognition, passage reading/fluency, comprehension, vocabulary), the research team also documented the degree to which instruction (a) included teacher explanation/modeling, guided practice, group practice, and individual practice, (b) addressed particular types of decoding/encoding procedures, including multi-sensory (defined as tactile/kinesthetic) procedures and use of orthographic rules, and (c) made use of given instructional materials. The team conducted 12, ~45-minute observations. There were many similarities between the two programs (e.g., both were explicit, systematic, and sequential; both included curriculum-based measures of student learning that informed instruction; both dedicated approximately equal amounts of time to decoding and encoding instruction). However, our observations indicated a statistically significant difference between the programs (p < .002) in proportion of time dedicated to letter-name knowledge, text reading, and comprehension instruction. The programs also differed in their emphasis on articulating/applying orthographic rules and on particular procedures for decoding and encoding words.

ABSTRACT Recent advances in the science of learning and development suggest that education reform efforts will require approaches that attend to the needs of the whole student, to include intensive interventions for students who face barriers to learning, such as students with learning and attention disorders. Although the science of learning and development has been informed by research from multiple disciplines, special education teachers will be the primary drivers of this work. As such, they need a framework and tools to guide intervention that relies on the use of individualized, integrated, evidence-based strategies that support the varied self-regulatory challenges of students with learning and attention disorders. To address this need, we drew from both clinical practice and research, to develop a translational framework of self-regulated learning. We discuss how the five competencies of the framework can be used to design and deliver intervention to students with learning disabilities.