High-incidence Disabilities Research Articles

Evidence-Based Learning Strategies: Preparing Students With High-Incidence Disabilities for College

An increasing number of students with disabilities now attend college, but many do not complete their college program due to poor grades. This may occur because students with high-incidence disabilities often struggle acquiring the academic skills essential to success in college. Teaching learning strategies to students with high-incidence disabilities in high school can help prepare them to be academically successful in college. Learning strategies are specific techniques used to help students approach and learn content material. This article presents five strategies for learning academic content that can be taught to students with high-incidence disabilities who aim to go to college. The learning strategies incorporate mnemonics and an evidence-based practice and are intended to improve students’ listening during class, effective note taking, reading content material, assignment completion, and test taking.

Improving Study Outcomes for College Students With Executive Functioning Challenges

Over the past decade, there has been an increase in postsecondary programs seeking to meet the needs of students with high incidence disabilities (e.g., learning disability, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD]). Many of these students experience difficulties with executive functioning, that is, effectively applying problem-based strategies to set and obtain goals. There is limited research to enhance academic performance and retain this population throughout their college experience. This study investigated the use of a task analysis and goal setting intervention for improving the study skills and overall task completion by three college students with executive functioning challenges. Results demonstrated a functional relation between the intervention and dependent variables. Suggestions for future research and implications for practice are discussed.

Self-Advocacy Instruction to Teach High School Seniors With Mild Disabilities to Access Accommodations in College

For students with high-incidence disabilities, the transition from secondary to postsecondary educational settings poses the additional challenge of acquiring accommodations. Self-advocacy interventions have been identified as important skills for students with disabilities in accessing accommodations. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Self-Advocacy and Conflict Resolution (SACR) instruction on the ability of four high school seniors with mild disabilities to request and negotiate academic accommodations. Results of this multiple probe across participant study indicated a functional relation between SACR instruction and students’ ability to request and negotiate academic accommodations in a role-play situation and in situ. Implications for practice and suggestions for future research are offered.

Suspension and students with high incidence disabilities: Implications of trends over time

Empirische Sonderpadagogik 10 (2018) 2, S. 121-133 Padagogische Teildisziplin: Schulpadagogik; Sonderpadagogik;

Accessing the General Education Math Curriculum for Secondary Students With High-Incidence Disabilities

Accessing the General Education Math Curriculum for Secondary Students With High-Incidence Disabilities

Equity for Students With High-Incidence Disabilities in Statewide Assessments: A Technology-Based Solution

Equity for Students With High-Incidence Disabilities in Statewide Assessments: A Technology-Based Solution

Accessing the General Education Math Curriculum for Secondary Students With High-Incidence Disabilities

Accessing the General Education Math Curriculum for Secondary Students With High-Incidence Disabilities

Equity for Students With High-Incidence Disabilities in Statewide Assessments: A Technology-Based Solution

Equity for Students With High-Incidence Disabilities in Statewide Assessments: A Technology-Based Solution

Curriculum-Based Measurement of Reading Growth: Weekly Versus Intermittent Progress Monitoring

We examined the idea that leaner schedules of progress monitoring (PM) can lighten assessment demands without undermining decision-making accuracy. Using curriculum-based measurement of reading, we compared effects on decision accuracy of 5 intermittent PM schedules relative to that of every-week PM. For participating students with high-incidence disabilities—all receiving special education reading instruction ( N = 56)—intermittent schedules of PM performed as well as every-week PM. These findings signal a need for research on the relative accuracy and timeliness of curriculum-based measurement decision making for intermittent and weekly PM.

“They are so much more capable than what we really allow”: Inclusive beliefs, practices, and textbook use

In this qualitative study I researched how five fifth-grade teachers’ beliefs in student capabilities influenced their curricular decision-making in daily activities with the History Alive! textbook. Students in the classrooms had reading levels 4–5 grades above and below grade level and included students with mild high-incidence disabilities. For four teachers, their strong beliefs determined what they did on a daily basis and matched the stated goals of the History Alive! textbook. For one teacher, the relationship was less clear. Three areas of beliefs emerged from observations and interviews, including: 1) beliefs about students’ capabilities in reading, 2) beliefs about students’ individual differences in learning, and 3) beliefs about students’ responsibility. Findings include when teachers believed and could articulate strong beliefs about the capability of students to read, write, and participate in collaborative activities, they designed classroom activities and assessments so that all students could learn from and participate in social studies activities. When teachers’ beliefs about student capabilities aligned with Teachers’ Curriculum Institute׳s principles for inclusive classrooms, classroom practices reflected those beliefs and textbooks supported their practices.

Using Lesson Study to Prepare Preservice Special Educators

Learning to teach students with disabilities is challenging. Preservice special educators must develop critical knowledge of content as well as skill for enacting evidence-based practices effectively. Preservice special educators need increased opportunities to learn core knowledge coupled with a mechanism to support them in situating their newly acquired knowledge and skills in classroom practice. This column describes lesson study (LS), a practice-based approach that can be integrated within a teacher preparation program preparing preservice special educators to teach students with high-incidence disabilities. The column includes (a) a description of steps that teacher educators can take to integrate the LS process into their teacher preparation program, (b) reproducible items needed to facilitate LS, and (c) recommendations for evaluating the effect of LS on preservice special educators’ knowledge and skills.

Functional Assessment–Based Interventions for Students With or At-Risk for High-Incidence Disabilities: Field Testing Single-Case Synthesis Methods

This systematic review investigated one systematic approach to designing, implementing, and evaluating functional assessment–based interventions (FABI) for use in supporting school-age students with or at-risk for high-incidence disabilities. We field tested several recently developed methods for single-case design syntheses. First, we appraised the quality of individual studies and the overall body of work using Council for Exceptional Children’s standards. Next, we calculated and meta-analyzed within-case and between-case effect sizes. Results indicated that studies were of high methodological quality, with nine studies identified as being methodologically sound and demonstrating positive outcomes across 14 participants. However, insufficient evidence was available to classify the evidence base for FABIs due to small number of participants within (fewer than recommended three) and across (fewer than recommended 20) studies. Nonetheless, average within-case effect sizes were equivalent to increases of 118% between baseline and intervention phases. Finally, potential moderating variables were examined. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

An Intervention to Promote Positive Teacher–Student Relationships and Self-Determination Among Adolescents With Emotional Disturbance

Positive teacher–student relationships provide adolescents with disabilities the confidence to explore new challenges in and out of the classroom. Goal-setting and self-determination skills have been consistently shown to promote healthy transition adjustment among students with disabilities. Despite the growing awareness of the importance of positive teacher–student relationships and self-determination, there is a paucity of specific strategies designed to improve teacher–student relationships while supporting self-determination for adolescents with high-incidence disabilities. This practitioner-focused article describes the Adolescent Goal-Setting Intervention (AGSI) and how it can be implemented in an educational context to promote teacher–student relationships and self-determination.

Including Students With Disabilities in Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports: Experiences and Perspectives of Special Educators

As interest in proactive and systematic approaches to supporting positive student behavior grows, important questions remain about the ways in which special education staff and their students participate in school-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). We report findings from a statewide study of 849 special educators addressing (a) their involvement in their school’s PBIS framework, (b) the ways their students with disabilities participate, (c) potential barriers to such participation, and (d) the topics and avenues through which they desire professional development. Special educators rarely participated in school-wide PBIS teams, reported variability in the extent to which their students with disabilities participated in aspects of the school’s framework, indicated that they implemented some features of the framework in their classroom more than others, and highlighted salient barriers to student involvement. The views and actions of special educators working primarily with students with low-incidence disabilities differed from those of teachers working with students with high-incidence disabilities. We discuss implications for research and practice aimed at enhancing the implementation and impact of school-wide PBIS on students with disabilities.

Creating Content Acquisition Podcasts (CAPs) for Vocabulary

Mastering content vocabulary is critical to the success of students with high-incidence disabilities in the general education curriculum. General education classrooms often do not offer the opportunities necessary for these students to master important vocabulary. Teachers often look to technology to help. Several studies have indicated that content acquisition podcasts (CAPs) may have an impact on the vocabulary learning of secondary students with high-incidence disabilities. In this study, 37 in-service teachers enrolled in a master’s program in special education were taught to create CAPs for vocabulary terms in a course focused on methods for secondary-level instruction. Teacher-created podcasts were assessed on the presence of Mayer’s instructional design principles as well as evidence-based practices for vocabulary instruction. Although teachers were able to include many instructional design principles related to technology in their CAPs, their use of instructional principles and evidence-based practices was inconsistent. Implications are discussed.

Parsing the Relations of Race and Socioeconomic Status in Special Education Disproportionality

This study investigated how student and school-level socioeconomic status (SES) measures predict students’ odds of being identified for special education, particularly high-incidence disabilities. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten cohort, hierarchical models were used to determine the relations of student and school SES to special education identification. Results indicated neither student-level SES variables for parent education, prestige, and income, nor school-level aggregates of SES measures, predicted overall special education placement, but higher parent education attainment was negatively related to high-incidence disability identification (adjusted odds ratio = 0.73). These findings suggest that racial disproportionality is not attributable to racial differences in income and indicate a need for further investigation of the mechanisms by which the longstanding racial disparities in special education emerge and are maintained. In particular, we discuss the implications of this study for further research into the relations of indicators of parent’s status on educational decisions within special education.

The Impact of Personal Factors on Self-Determination and Early Adulthood Outcome Constructs in Youth With Disabilities

Data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study–2 (NLTS2) were used to examine the impact of three personal factors—race/ethnicity, gender, and family income—on self-determination (i.e., autonomy, psychological empowerment, self-realization) and early adulthood outcome constructs. Findings suggest for those with high-incidence disabilities, family income predicts postsecondary education outcomes. And males with high-incidence disabilities have greater access to services and accommodations as adults, but lower use of financial supports (i.e., use of government support programs). African American youth across disability categories reported lower levels of financial independence. Females with intellectual disability reported greater social relationships but lower levels of financial support and employment. Implications for future research, policy, and practice are discussed.

Longitudinal Relations Between Peer Victimization, Emotion Dysregulation, and Internalizing Symptoms Among Early Adolescents

The current study examined longitudinal relations between overt and relational victimization, sadness and anger dysregulation, and depressive and anxiety symptoms across 6 months among an ethnically diverse sample of sixth graders ( N = 485; 48% male; 65% African American). No direct longitudinal relations were found between peer victimization and internalizing symptoms or between internalizing symptoms and peer victimization, and these findings were consistent across gender and disability status. The relation between overt victimization and subsequent increases in relational victimization was stronger for youth with versus without high incidence disabilities. Significant indirect effects were found for overt victimization on both depressive and anxiety symptoms via sadness dysregulation. The strength of the indirect effects did not differ by gender. Findings highlight the merits of school-based violence prevention programs that address emotional management and are embedded within multi-tiered school environment interventions.

Student Perspectives on Academic Accommodations

The active involvement of secondary school students with high-incidence disabilities (HI) in instructional accommodations is essential to both enacting the accommodations and to the accommodations effectiveness. Very little is known about students with HI’s knowledge about instructional accommodations, experiences with them, or opinions on effective practices. A focus group study was conducted with 10 high school students with HI. A content analysis (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2009) revealed they are unaware of how their accommodations are identified, and that they typically are not directly taught to use them. The students explained how accommodations are usually provided in the classroom, including the ways they signal need, and offered their suggestions for more effective practices, which included responding to fairness and potential embarrassment. Their comments also revealed their beliefs and practices for self-advocating for accommodations.

Causal Effects of Career-Technical Education on Postsecondary Work Outcomes of Individuals with High-Incidence Disabilities

ABSTRACTUsing data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2, a propensity score analysis revealed significant causal effects for a secondary career and technical education (CTE) concentration on the postsecondary work outcomes of adolescents with high-incidence disabilities. High school students identified as CTE concentrators (three or more high school credits in a single career pathway) were more likely to be employed full-time after high school completion than non-CTE concentrators earning fewer CTE credits. Results support and extend past descriptive and correlational studies by detecting a direct causal link between CTE and postsecondary work outcomes.