Disabilities Education Research Articles

Design and validation of a programme to improve attitudes towards disability in early childhood education

ABSTRACT In order to achieve effective educational inclusion, positive attitudes towards disability among peers are essential. However, many studies have found a negative disposition towards this group (Álvarez 2020; Wang and Qi 2020; Werner, Peretz, and Roth 2015). Therefore, it is important to have specific programmes that help us to improve disability awareness. However, despite the relevance of the Early Childhood Education stage, no validated programmes with this objective have been found in Spain. For this reason, the PROCREADI programme has been designed. Programme for Growing up with Positive Attitudes towards Disability in Early Childhood Education [author(s)] has been designed and validated through a pilot study with a sample of 28 Infant Education students. The results show a notable improvement in attitudes and in the knowledge of the concept of disability in this experimental group. Therefore, it can be concluded that the proposed programme is a useful tool to promote greater knowledge and more positive attitudes towards people with disabilities among preschool students.

Toward Developing and Validating a Measure to Appraise Progress Monitoring Ability

The provision of progress monitoring within publicly funded early childhood classrooms is legally required, supported by empirical research, and recommended by early childhood professional organizations, for teachers providing Part B services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Despite the widespread recognition of progress monitoring as an essential tool to support child development in early childhood classrooms, clear guidance on what constitutes high-quality progress monitoring is unclear. Therefore, we sought to develop and validate a new teacher quality measure specific to progress monitoring. Such a measure may assist school districts and early childhood programs in understanding the ability of their teachers for engaging in progress monitoring and supporting children with or at risk for disability or delay. Rasch analyses suggest that additional items of greater difficulty are needed within the measure, prior to public release (osf.io/28bz6/).

Parents as Partners: Exploring the Experiences of Teachers of Students with Disabilities

Abstract The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990 (reauthorized in 2004 as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act) mandates that teachers include parents and guardians as partners in their child’s education. Although these partnerships have been shown to help parents and teachers alike, they can also be experienced negatively by both parties, resulting in diminished outcomes for students, stress and frustration for parents, and burnout for teachers. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences of teachers of students with disabilities when partnering with their students’ parents. After conducting 10 semistructured interviews and using thematic analysis to analyze the data, author identified the following four themes: (1) yearning to be trusted, (2) embracing the paradox (“you can't take it personally”), (3) striving to access empathy, and (4) lacking training and support (“desperate for help”). Findings from this study indicate that teachers desire connection and collaboration with their students’ parents but require more professional development and overall support to do so consistently and effectively. The article provides recommendations for specific areas where professional development may be particularly useful in repairing roadblocks to positive teacher and parent collaboration.

'Patient' or 'professional'? Negotiating accommodations and identity in fieldwork education.

Despite legislation mandating accommodation policies in postsecondary education, support for students with disabilities is often not implemented within health and human services (HHS) education programs, particularly in fieldwork settings. As part of a Canada-wide study exploring the experiences of disabled students in 10 HHS programs, we examined how HHS students described their experiences accessing accommodations in fieldwork to understand how conceptions of disability relate to students' fieldwork experiences. Using a critical disability studies framework, we explored how HHS fieldwork education understands disability, accommodations and professional competence and what those understandings reveal about the discrepancy between mandated accommodations and what happens in practice. Thirty-five students requiring accommodations in HHS fieldwork education participated in interviews. Through a critical interpretive analysis of interview data, we developed first-person composite narratives to show the richness and complexity of the students' diverse, yet similar, subjective experiences with fieldwork accommodations. Two composite narratives demonstrate how conceptions of disability incommensurate with professional competence expectations influenced student experiences with disclosing disability and obtaining accommodations in fieldwork. Fear of stigma and having one's competence questioned, or having accommodation requests denied for being misaligned with professional expectations, demonstrate how HHS fieldwork education and practice are upheld by ableist systemic structures. The dominant medical model of disability in HHS education creates institutional barriers that require students to constantly (re)construct their 'professional' identity in relation to their 'patient' identity. This patient-professional identity construction relates to HHS professional competency standards and assumptions about what makes a 'good' professional. Suggestions include reworking competency standards and implementing critical pedagogical approaches to teach future and current HHS professionals to question both personal and practice assumptions. With institutional backing, such changes may support diversity within HHS and a culture shift toward more equitable education and health care.

Challenges Posed During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Special Education Teachers

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the ways in which school districts provide educational services to all students, especially students with disabilities. Eligible U.S. students with disabilities have a right to a free, appropriate public education (FAPE) under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and students with disabilities who are not eligible under the IDEA may also have a right to receive a FAPE under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. School personnel need to attend to both of these important federal laws when providing educational services. Shortly after the pandemic began, the U.S. Department of Education, through the Office of Civil Rights and the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services, issued guidance to school districts making it clear that despite school closures, school district personnel had to continue providing FAPE under the IDEA and Section 504. Following the return to school, the Office of Civil Rights investigated the Los Angeles Unified School District in California and the Fairfax County Schools for discriminating against students with disabilities by failing to provide educational services during the pandemic. In this article, we briefly review the guidance from the U.S. Department of Education and discuss important implications for teachers of students with disabilities.

Student-Led Workshop on Disability Advocacy.

Medical students can be powerful advocates for and in partnership with the disability community, yet opportunities for targeted advocacy training are sparse. In February 2023, a medical student-led workshop on disability advocacy for trainees took place at the Association of Academic Physiatrists' Annual Conference. The aims of this session were for trainees to (1) identify existing gaps in disability education at their institution and in policy around disability-related issues; (2) improve perceived ability to engage in disability-related education and policy-based advocacy; and (3) apply an intersectional lens to identify opportunities for intersectionality in disability advocacy. Presession and postsession responses were anonymously submitted via Qualtrics. Of 31 presurvey respondents, 18 responded to the postsurvey, and 12 were identified as having matching unique identifiers. After the workshop, participants overall were more likely to report being very/somewhat confident about their ability to identify gaps in disability education at their institution (75.0% vs. 100.0%, P = 0.011), policy around disability-related issues (41.7% vs. 100.0%, P < 0.006), and opportunities for intersectionality in disability advocacy (33.3% vs. 91.7%, P < 0.015). Participants were more likely to report being very/somewhat confident in engaging in education-based advocacy (58.3% vs. 100.0%, P = 0.006), policy-based advocacy (16.7% vs. 91.7%, P < 0.002), and intersectional disability advocacy (41.7% vs. 91.7%, P < 0.006). All attendees strongly/somewhat agreed with the statements "I hope that this session will continue in future years" and "I think that other trainees would benefit from a similar course." This session was shown to effectively meet the intended goals of the program.

INTRODUCTION OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION AS A DEMAND OF THE TIMES

This article describes the ways, methods and organizational forms of organizing differential and integrated, inclusive education for preschool children withdevelopmental disabilities.

Attitude of Government School Teachers Towards Including Children with Disabilities in Mainstream Education: A Case Study of Larkana

This study aims to examine attitude of government school teachers towards integration of Children with Disabilities (CWD) in mainstream education. Their perception of the phenomenon, challenges and possible solutions in their views were covered. Qualitative method, particularly case study design, was used for data collection, and its interpretive approach was utilized in order to gain detailed data from the participants. In the case study, a school in Larkana was selected. Utilizing purposive sampling and criterion-based selection, ten teachers from the school were chosen as respondents to obtain data. Out of ten respondents, eight teachers eventually became part of the study, and the data was collected from them. The data collection tools were semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. The obtained data was subjected to content analysis during which different themes emerged: the establishment of an inclusive school, the role of teachers in mainstream schools to implement inclusive education in schools, and the role of the Education and Literacy Department in establishing inclusive schools. In case the mainstream school is converted into an inclusive school, the respondents were aware of the challenges that they might face and the role that they will have to play concerning differentiation, individualized type of support, and collaboration. Findings revealed that the respondents considered the school unfit for turning into an inclusive school due to missing men and material resources, overcrowded classrooms that will make it difficult to teach children with disabilities, and lack of support from local educational authorities. They recommended contextually responsive support for teachers along with their specialized training, keeping into account the real classroom environment, to successfully convert a mainstream school into an inclusive school. Reducing teacher student ratio and recruitment of teaching assistants were also recommended.

Lived Experiences of Faculty with Disabilities in Higher Education: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Method

The number of faculty members with disabilities has increased nowadays in the university because of the inclusive recruitment policy. The faculties with disabilities still struggle with the disable-unfriendly environments in universities, and they are excluded from the research fields in Nepal although there are some research done on school children with disabilities and people with disabilities in family and society. University faculty members with disabilities need to be studied in order to truly address the real-life problems. This study explores the lived experiences of faculty members with disabilities perceived at Tribhuvan University, Nepal. A hermeneutic phenomenological research method within qualitative approach was exploited. Purposive sampling technique was used to select five teachers with disabilities in the study. Disability studies theory was used as a theoretical tool. The major findings are that the disabled faculty encountered mainly infrastructure/physical structure barriers, university policy and practice barriers, the university executives’ (un)conscious/ (un)intentional ignorance and attitude barriers in the campuses. The teachers with vision impairment and motor impairment endured through difficulty of disable-unfriendly physical structures, university policy and practices. The findings mean the university environments were unfriendly, hostile and adverse to the disabled faculty. This study may motivate the executives to modify the policy, practices and attitudes to the disabled ones at the university which may impact the quality of the university.

성인 발달장애인의 평생교육 참여에 영향을 미치는 요인에 관한 분석

Purpose: This study utilized the raw data from the 2020 Disability Status Survey conducted by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs to analyze the factors affecting the participation of adults with developmental disabilities in lifelong education. Methods: These factors were categorized into demographic, health, psychological, and social activity aspects. A logistic regression analysis was conducted with lifelong education participation as a dependent variable and the influencing factors as independent variables. Results: The findings are as follows. First, in the health aspect, higher subjective health status and lower need for assistance in daily life were associated with increased participation in lifelong education. Second, in the social activity aspect, previous experience in lifelong education, leisure activities, and use of welfare centers were found to enhance participation. Third, psychological factors did not significantly influence the participation of adults with developmental disabilities in lifelong education. Conclusions: Based on these results this study proposes practical and policy measures to enhance lifelong education participation among adults with developmental disabilities. These include developing health-related programs, promoting autonomous living in daily life, encouraging participation in leisure activities rather than formal education, expanding lifelong education institutions beyond welfare centers, and creating more opportunities for participation in lifelong education.

More Than Fluency: Artificial Stuttering as a Therapy in Drama Education in Palestine

This article explores the use of artificial stuttering as a powerful practice and therapy in higher education in Palestine where the need for applied drama is increasing. It specifically focuses on the artistic and/or performative re-employment of Charles Dickens’s Nicholas Nickleby to enhance the academic achievement and social development of dysfluent students throughout and beyond their university education. By using extra-curricular, art-mediated training and in-class performance of chosen passages from Dickens’s narrative, students not only improve their linguistic and intellectual competencies but also develop dynamic confidence to articulate themselves in daily social contexts during self-presentation. This academic practice, which is part of a one-term educational disability programme, focuses on training a selected number of undergraduate students with a severe or mild stutter by relying on the technique of artificial impersonation of the stuttering of Smike, who is one of the most common Victorian dysfluent characters, in different melodramatic acts. In this experience, students show linguistic growth and social command of communication, and thus chart a new subjective identity.

Twelve tips for including disability education in undergraduate medical education

Disability is a large and growing minority population worldwide. People with disabilities continue to experience health and healthcare disparities. Despite multiple calls to action to provide disability education within undergraduate medical education as a strategy to mitigate ongoing inequities, robust disability education is not routinely provided across medical schools. This article provides twelve tips that any medical school faculty can utilize to integrate meaningful disability education within existing core medical education.

Innovative solutions to support individuals with disabilities accessing public transportation: A case study

ABSTRACT Individuals with cognitive disabilities have challenges with personal navigation and wayfinding, especially when traveling on public transportation. The purpose of this case study is to describe the structure and implementation of the Personal Navigation for Individuals with Disabilities (PNID) education and training program, which is based on a socio-technical architecture for individuals with cognitive disabilities within a fixed-route public bus system. A case study methodology was used to describe preliminary findings of the skills, attributes, and experiences of three individuals with cognitive disabilities as it relates to transportation on fixed-route bus systems in a midsized urban setting. The three individuals completed five training activities: safety, public bus, smartphone, WayFinder App, and fixed-route bus system. The case study provided a preliminary mixed-methods overview of training travelers with cognitive disabilities to use the WayFinder system while accessing fixed-route public bus system. The insights and strategies identified through the case study demonstrate the potential opportunities for development, implementation, and sustainability of the PNID program in other midsized urban settings. The PNID program (i.e. AT service delivery process), in combination with the WayFinder system (i.e. assistive technology), has the potential to meet the unique needs of individuals with cognitive disabilities when accessing public transportation.

Access to Part C, Early Intervention for children younger than 4 years evaluated for autism spectrum disorder.

Health disparities are defined as preventable differences in the opportunities to achieve optimal health outcomes experienced by marginalized and underrepresented communities. For families with autistic children, health disparities limit accessing early intervention services-which have been found to improve quality of life and other outcomes. One specific early intervention service in the United States is Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part C Early Intervention programs, which are federally funded interventions for children birth-to-three with developmental delays. This study adds to this topic by examining which factors impact accessing Part C, Early Intervention services for children who were evaluated for autism. Results showed that only half of the sample received these services despite there being concerns about development for all children. In addition, results showed that those who identified as Black had decreased odds of having accessed Part C, Early Intervention compared to those who identified as White. These results suggest that there are disparities when it comes to accessing important early intervention services that may be negatively impacting the Black autistic community.

The importance of neuropsychopedagogy in the teaching and learning process of students with disabilities in basic education

The objective of this study was to verify the importance of neuropsychopedagogy in the teaching and learning process of students with disabilities in basic education. This is a Literature Review, with consultation of articles, books and relevant legislation on the topic. The results showed significant advances in Brazilian legislation that enabled the inclusion of students with disabilities in the regular basic education class and that the importance of neuropsychopedagogy has become increasingly necessary to enable better pedagogical strategies aimed at the cognitive gains of special education students. Despite the challenges faced in public education, the efforts of the school, family and society in general can contribute to mediating or remedying the learning gap observed in basic education. Finally, the neuropsychopedagogue is supported for successful professional performance in the educational context, contributing greatly to the teaching and learning process of students with disabilities.

Retraction Note: Audio-Visual Automatic Speech Recognition Towards Education for Disabilities.

Retraction Note: Audio-Visual Automatic Speech Recognition Towards Education for Disabilities.

The Case for Early Transition-Planning for Students With Significant Support Needs: Implications for Policy and Practice

The period in which young adults transition from high school is accompanied with complexities they need to navigate, such as further education and training, independent living, developing their career, and achieving meaningful employment. All of these set the stage for a successful and independent life. The significance of this transition is paramount; however, in research and practice, we continue to see poor outcomes for students with disabilities, especially those with the most significant support needs. Transition planning, mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, must begin no later than a child turning 16. Some states mandate transition activities to start as early as 14, but should we consider an even earlier age? Within this paper, we discuss the need for changes within policy and practice to begin transition activities during children’s early education years.

OER Accessibility for Students with Visual Disabilities in Higher Education in the Era of Open Knowledge

Open knowledge has the potential to expand inclusive and equitable access to lifelong learning while supporting social inclusion. However, there is low public awareness on issues around inclusiveness, especially for students with visual disabilities who are unable to use the medium of the sighted owing to the consequences of their disabilities. This article discusses various issues around the accessibility of open educational resources (OERs) and the integration of inclusive institutional culture in the Nigerian university system. An interpretive approach was adopted for this study. Out of 22 universities offering enrolment to students with visual disabilities in Nigeria, seven universities were purposively selected based on the availability of OERs on their websites. The purposive sampling method was also used to choose 30 participants from four out of the seven universities who could serve as key informants for the study. Data were collected using in-depth interviews. Data from interviews was designed to achieve qualitative analyses and results were analysed thematically. The study revealed strategies university libraries could deploy to improve access to OERs for students with visual disabilities and provided insightful thoughts and direction on re-imagining the future of the open knowledge movement in Nigeria and the rest of Africa.

States’ Accountability for Facilitating Parent Involvement under IDEA

Since the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2004, state IDEA programs have been required to report annually on a set of performance indicators. Indicator 8 of the Part B State Performance Plan is the “percent of parents who report that schools facilitated parent involvement as a means of improving services and results for children with disabilities.” The purpose of this study was to investigate whether changes over time in national and state-level performance on Indicator 8 provide evidence in support of the effectiveness of the accountability requirement related to parent involvement. Data were extracted from states’ Annual Performance Reports and other publicly available documents. Findings indicated that national performance on Indicator 8 increased from 63% in 2006 to 76% in 2018. Within-state change in performance from 2014 to 2019 ranged from –13.47% to +42.50%, with several states indicating dramatic year-to-year changes in their reported performance. The findings raise important questions about the extent to which the indicator in its current form can support the dual purpose of holding states accountable for their facilitation of parents’ involvement and supporting improvement efforts. Implications for both federal policy and state-level action are discussed.

The Impact of Three Key Paradigm Shifts on Disability, Inclusion, and Autism in Higher Education in England: An Integrative Review

In the past two decades, students have been more willing to disclose their disability status when entering higher education (HE) in the United Kingdom (UK). Concurrently, higher education institutions (HEIs) have adopted disability policies and service teams for enhancing equality, diversity, and inclusion in the UK. The purpose of this integrative review is to understand the basis of these trends. The article suggests that there have been three major key paradigm shifts that underpin this cultural change. (1) There was a paradigm shift in terms of changing the dominant models for conceptualising disability from a medical model of disability to a social model of disability and to an affirmative model of disability, together with a debate and policy development demonstrating a concern for greater social inclusion and exclusion; (2) with a massive increase in students entering HE and the rising importance of league tables and ranking systems, universities experienced a paradigm shift from teacher-centred learning (TCL) to inclusive student-centred learning and teaching (SCLT); and (3) the increase in autism disclosure in HE signifies a shift in a conceptualisation of autism from a disorder to a disability and an example of neurodiversity.