Special Education Resource Research Articles

Are IQ scores valid for children who are poor readers?

Remedial services for children with reading problems are often allocated according to discrepancies between reading and IQ scores. Results of some recent research suggest, however, that IQ scores of poor readers do not covary with their levels of functioning in other cognitive domains. This study evaluated whether the external validity of IQ scores (from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Revised) was moderated by reading levels within 2 separate samples of referred children. We found that IQ scores had expected correlations with external measures of verbal, visual-spatial, short-term memory, and arithmetic ability, and that these relations were invariant across levels of reading skill. Many school-age children have reading difficulties, but only some may be classified as reading disabled, which indicates a discrepancy between specific reading proficiency and general cognitive ability. Children so classified may be eligible for general learning disability services or for more specialized programs for the reading disabled. Poor readers who do not meet ability-achievement discrepancy definitions of reading disability may receive other remedial services but, in some instances, may receive none at all. For example, poor readers with IQ scores in the borderline range (e.g., 70-79 on Wechsler scales) may be ineligible for special education services because they are considered to be "slow learners." Poor readers with even lower IQ scores (e.g., 60-69), however, may be eligible for placement in classrooms for the educable mentally impaired, where they may at least receive more individual attention than "slow learners" who remain in regular classrooms. Considering the implications for children's educational careers, it is crucial to demonstrate the validity of allocating special education resources on the basis of discrepancies between reading and general ability levels. There have been two types of criticisms about this method of allocation, however, the second of which provides the main focus of this study. First, as with the broader notion of learning disability, there are numerous conceptual and statistical problems with the operational definition of "significant" ability-reading discrepancies (e.g., see Kamphaus, Frick, & Lahey, 1991; Reynolds, 1984-1985). Second, there has been much debate about whether IQ tests provide valid estimates of general cognitive capacity for children with reading problems. For example, some researchers have argued that poor readers may obtain artificially low IQ scores because

Relative Contribution of Progress Monitoring Strategies, Student Characteristics, and Program Variables to Instructional Outcomes in Resource Programs

The purpose of this study was to identify variables, aside from curriculum and instruction, that make a contribution to the effectiveness of special education resource room instruction. Of particular interest was whether different approaches to teachers use of progress monitoring data related to differences in achievement. A total of 343 students identified as learning disabled by their schools from grades one through six within 35 schools in a large city school district participated. Results of descriptive and regression analyses revealed students with learning disabilities made progress in reading proficiency. The results of this investigation implied that one non-alterable variable—initial level of performance—and one alterable variable—instructional group size—were the two factors consistently related to student reading progress. Although no achievement differences were obtained related to the data utilization approach used, frequency of instructional changes was related to the approach for evaluating progress data. Implications for monitoring student progress in reference to alterable and unalterable elements of instruction are considered.

Adult adjustment among high school graduates with mild disabilities.

This study investigated the adult adjustment of a statewide random sample of 737 young adults with learning disabilities, 59 labeled behaviorally disordered, and 142 labeled mentally disabled, all graduates of special education resource teacher programs. Results are reported in terms of (a) general status information, such as marital status and living arrangements; (b) information about those competitively employed, such as wages, hours worked per week, and percentage of living expenses paid; and (c) comparison of competitively employed versus unemployed individuals, in terms of high school vocational training and work experiences. Information is also provided on postsecondary education and overall "successful" adult adjustment. Data are compared across disability groups and across gender, where relevant.

Kindergarten readiness after extreme prematurity.

To assess kindergarten readiness among survivors of extreme prematurity and to identify predictors of special education requirements. Historic cohort design. Regionalized tertiary pediatric center. One hundred forty-nine (97%) of 153 children who were alive at follow-up (mean +/- SD age, 52.7 +/- 9.9 months). Study cohort included infants (gestation, 23 to 28 weeks), born between 1983 and 1986 (N = 194), who were alive at follow-up (N = 153, 79% survival). None. Standardized neurodevelopmental and psychometric evaluations were administered by a multidisciplinary team that was blinded to the neonatal course. Thirty-one children (21%) had major neurodevelopmental impairments. By using the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities for children free of major impairments, 61 (63%) had one or more minor neurodevelopmental impairments noted. Half of the surviving children were thought to require special education resources at kindergarten entry. Multivariate logistic regression identified three significant predictors of special education: low socio-economic status, nonwhite race, and male gender. Social and demographic variables were associated with minor neurodevelopmental impairments and special education requirements among extremely premature children. Continued developmental follow-up and targeted interventions to reduce the risk of educational underachievement appear to be warranted.

Social skills interventions across school settings: Case study reviews of students with mild disabilities

This study investigates the efficacy of a social skills training program with seven mildly handicapped students across three school settings: regular classroom, special education resource room, and recess. It was found that social skills training generated improvement on both pre-post measures and behavior ratings. Improvements were maintained 2 weeks after treatment was discontinued for seven students. All students' performance generalized from resource room to regular classroom settings; only four students' performance generalized to the recess setting.

Validation of a Battery of Preschool Screening Tests for Predicting Special Education Placement

The accuracy and bias of a kindergarten screening battery for predicting educational placement was examined. The battery contained four well-validated commercial instruments. Subjects were 519 White and 183 American Indian children who had been tested prior to entering kindergarten. The children were monitored and 98 of the original 702 (14%) were eventually placed in special education resource classes. The battery predicted educational placement equally for both groups. However, the hit rate for both groups combined was only slightly over chance. While the battery had good accuracy for identifying normals (97%) it correctly identified only 39% of the special education students. A predictive value statistic was used to determine that the battery would have flagged 59 children as at-risk, 38 of which would have qualified for special education (or 64% of those identified). Inasmuch as the overall hit rate masks the low rate of identification of true positives, sensitivity and predictive value are argued as being more meaningful in evaluating the accuracy of a screening battery.

Specialized instruction within general education: a case study of one elementary school.

This study examined how classroom teachers in one elementary school approached the problem of designing specialized instruction for students with reading problems. We asked 12 teachers to rate their confidence in designing effective interventions and then to diagnose a student's reading problem, select an intervention, and implement it. Teachers were moderately confident about their ability to design effective interventions; but some teachers expressed doubts about how to proceed. Their approach to intervention differed somewhat from that of special education resource teachers. Some teachers experienced considerable difficulty in implementing the interventions they selected.

Risk factors for major neurodevelopmental impairments and need for special education resources in extremely premature infants

The purpose of this cohort study was to determine the incidence of and risk factors for major neurodevelopmental impairments among survivors of extreme prematurity. The study cohort comprised 100 infants born between 24 and 28 weeks of gestational age at one tertiary center from 1983 to 1984. Twenty-five infants (25%) died; 75 (75%) survived until follow-up (mean, 60 months). Standardized neurodevelopmental and psychometric assessments were performed in blind fashion on 68 of the 75 surviving children (91% follow-up). Informal assessments (parent, teacher, and physician reports) were obtained instead for seven (9%) children who had relocated outside of the area. Overall, 19 children (25%) had one or more major impairments: mental retardation, 9; cerebral palsy, 4; multiple impairments, 5; and blindness, 1. Despite a high prevalence of impairments, 95% of children (n = 71) were functionally independent [corrected]. Special educational resources were definitely necessary for seven (9%) and possibly needed for 36 (48%) additional children. Univariate analyses revealed four significant risk factors for cerebral palsy: hydrocephalus (relative risk = 12.2), grades III and IV intraventricular hemorrhage (relative risk = 5.8), 5-minute Apgar score lower than 7 (relative risk = 5.7), and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (relative risk = 5.5). Hydrocephalus was the only significant risk factor observed for mental retardation (relative risk = 5.4). Risk factors predicting a need for special education resources included sepsis (relative risk = 24.9), low socioeconomic status (relative risk = 16.3), and nonwhite race (relative risk = 3.0). Thus our data suggest that biomedical factors appear to confer the greatest risk of major impairments; sociodemographic factors appear to have a significant impact on educational risk in extremely premature infants who do not die. Continued follow-up with biomedical and developmental-social interventions appears warranted to decrease the risk of educational underachievement in this population.

INVESTIGATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF GRAPHIC ORGANIZER INSTRUCTION ON THE COMPREHENSION AND RECALL OF SCIENCE CONTENT BY STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES

This study examined the effect of graphic organizers on learning‐disabled students’ acquisition and recall of science content. Twenty‐eight fifth‐ and sixth‐grade students with identified learning disabilities from three special education resource classrooms were taught content on fossil fuels. Students were randomly assigned to either a graphic organizer condition (GO) or a no‐graphic organizer condition (NoGO) and taught identical content from the basal science text for a 4‐day period. Three measures were administered the day after treatment completion to assess the effects of graphic organizers on immediate recall and comprehension: (1) oral‐free retell, (2) production tasks, and (3) choice‐response tasks. Two weeks later, students were given production and choice‐response tasks only. Results of multivariate analyses of variance indicated no statistically significant differences between the mean performance of students in the GO and NoGO conditions on either the immediate posttests, F (4, 20) ‐.75, p .05, or delayed posttests, F (2,24) – .79, p .05. Implications for graphic organizer instruction are discussed.

Elementary Age Special Education Students Using Self-Directed or Tutor-Assisted Computer-Aided Instruction to Develop Keyboarding Skills

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two methods of keyboarding instruction: one in which students use keyboarding software without assistance, and the other in which students use the same software but have a tutor to guide them in its use. A total of thirty-two students, twenty-four boys and eight girls attending a special education resource program at a suburban elementary school participated in the study. Twenty-two of the participants had been classified as students with learning disabilities and ten as students with behavioral disorders. Half of the students (16) were randomly assigned to the self-directed group and half to the tutor-assisted group. Students in both groups received nine hours of instruction over a twenty-seven-day period with daily sessions thirty minutes in length. Two interim speed and accuracy tests were given approximately one week apart and then posttests measuring speed and accuracy as well as technique were administered on the last day of the study. Results showed that: a) students in both groups experienced a significant increase in keyboarding skills, b) tutors were beneficial in helping students establish proper hand position, body posture, and keystroking techniques, c) but tutors did not cause students to type with greater speed and accuracy.

Inservice education for special education resource teachers

Inservice education for special education resource teachers

A success story: A large urban district offers a working model for implementing multisensory teaching into the resource and regular classroom

A large urban school district contracted with a private nonprofit educational foundation to train 126 special education resource teachers in the last three years in an Orton-Gillingham-based program. These teachers are currently teaching learning-disabled students in groups of 8-10 at the elementary level and 10-13 students at the secondary level. Learning-disabled students who qualify for Special Education, either in reading or spelling, or both, are receiving the instruction.The teachers took a Basic Introductory Class (90 hours of Advanced Academic Credit offered by the Texas Education Agency, or six hours of graduate credit at a local university) in order to teach the program in the resource setting. A two year Advanced Training included annual on-site observations, two half-day workshops each fall and spring, and a two-day advanced workshop in the second summer.First grade teachers, one selected from each of the 164 campuses, supervisors, and principals attended a 25-hour course on "Recognizing Dyslexia: Using Multisensory Teaching and Discovery Techniques." The first grade teachers and special education resource teachers collaborated to provide inservice training for their colleagues.Research, conducted by the district's Research Department, reveals statistically significant gains in reading and spelling ability for the learning-disabled resource students as measured by the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test-Revised, and the Test of Written Spelling.

Inservice Education for Special Education Resource Teachers

The Professional Development for Special Educators program was first developed in 1986 as a response to a need within the Archdiocese of Canberra-Goulburn. At that time the Archdiocese employed approximately 40 full-time and/or parttime Special Education Resource Teachers to work in regular primary schools. In the preceding years the following had become apparent: •the nature of the role of the special educator in the regular school was changing;•the expectations of the special educator, held by classroom teachers and principals, were diverse and at times unclear;•the special educator was often unsure of his/her role and of how best to respond to the needs within the school;•the level of expertise and experience of the special educators varied greatly.

Epidemiologic Data on Seriously Emotionally Disturbed and Learning Disabled Adolescents: Reporting Extreme Depressive Symptomatology

This study examined the relationship between extreme levels of depressive symptomatology and age, gender, and placement label among 465 students served in special education resource programs for the seriously emotionally disturbed and learning disabled. According to cutoff points on the Beck Depressive Inventory-Short Form, students' scores were categorized into either high or low depressive symptomatology groups. Group contrasts on the three epidemiologic variables were made via a logistic regression backward elimination strategy. Hierarchical loglinear analysis with backward elimination was computed on these variables. Gender was the only significant predictor of severe depressive symptomatology, with females more frequently categorized as exhibiting severe depressive symptomatology. Results are discussed in terms of identification and treatment issues.

A Caseload Study of Educational Activities for Special Education Resource Teachers and Speech Pathologists

This study investigated caseloads and the time associated with assessing, planning, developing new IEPs, updating IEPs, and providing direct instruction and indirect instructional services for a cross section of special education resource-room teachers and speech pathologists serving the same elementary, middle/junior, and high schools in various Maryland School Districts. The sample consisted of 100 resource-room teachers and 80 speech pathologists who were randomly selected. A survey was used to collect the data. Analysis of the data showed that developing a new IEP requires significantly more time than updating one. Educational assessment requires more time than speech assessment. Speech pathologists have more instructional periods, but of shorter duration, than special education resource-room teachers. Special education resource-room teachers have more students per instructional period and more instructional groups within the class than speech pathologists. The finding suggests that special education resource-room teachers provide more indirect or consultant service for students than do speech pathologists.

Influence Of Trend Estimation And Subject Familiarity On Practitioners' Judgments Of Intervention Effectiveness

Twenty-seven special education resource teachers were taught to use a standard trend estimation procedure as an aid in the visual analysis of their students' charts. Interrater agreement with reliability judges increased from .56 without trend estimation to .78 after training, and teachers became more certain of their judgments. In addition, consistent differences in certainty between teachers familiar and unfamiliar with the pupil, as represented by the graphed data, suggest that prior knowledge of student performance does have an effect on visual inference. Training in the use of the trend estimation technique also resulted in a shift in the criteria used in making judgments about graphed data. The increased reliability associated with the introduction of trend estimation suggests that the use of a judgmental aid may be important to visual inferences made by practitioners.

Feasibility of the American Special Education Resource Room Model for Japanese Students with Learning and/or Behavior Problems

Services for children with physical handicaps and severe mental retardation in Japan are excellent. Services for emotionally disturbed children are non-existent in many parts of the country and, where they do exist, are considered inadequate by Japanese educators. This study, a 2 year co-operative effort by Baylor University and the Midway Independent School District in Waco, Texas and Seinan Gakuin University in Fukuoka, Japan, examines the feasibility of using the resource room model in Japanese schools to provide the missing services for mild to moderately disturbed children and to make possible early identification and remediation of emotional problems in the schools. Two hundred and fifty-seven teachers, parents, professors of education and education supervisors, and staff members of a center for the handicapped were shown a one-hour videotape depicting staffing patterns, organization, and a typical resource room. Demographic data, answers to objective questions, and answers to open-ended questions were obtained and analyzed. Response indicates that Japanese educators and parents do favor the adoption of the resource room concept with appropriate modifications for the Japanese culture.

Reducing the Disruptive Behavior of Junior High School Students: A Classroom Self-Management Procedure

The effectiveness of self-management procedures in reducing the disruptive and off-task behaviors of students in a special education resource classroom was assessed. Four junior high-aged students, three of whom were classified as behaviorally disordered and one as learning disabled, participated in the study. Results indicated that self-evaluation procedures implemented in the resource room reduced students' off-task and disruptive behaviors. Data collected concurrently in students' regular education classes showed little or no generalization of treatment gains from the resource room. Recommendations are offered for facilitating the generalization of the self-management skills.

The Effects of Microcomputers on the Secondary Special Education Classroom Ecology

This study was designed to investigate the impact of the microcomputer upon the curricular content, curricular format, student behavior, teacher behavior, and teacher focus employed in secondary special education resource room programs. These behaviors were compared in classes in which a microcomputer was used with classes in which no computer was used. Overall, the data suggested different effects associated with computer use The most important benefits appear to be increased active task engagement and increased individually focused instruction. In many key categories of teacher behavior, however, there were no significant differences between the computer-use and noncomputer-use classes. The data strongly suggest that teachers will need training and support if they are to integrate computers into their instructional programs.

Consistency of Performance Across Classrooms: Instructional Materials Versus Setting as Influencing Variables

This study explores the extent to which and the conditions under which five mildly handicappped students demonstrated consistency of academic performance in two school settings, a special education resource room and a regular education classroom. For each student, 9 to 15 specific arithmetic skills were tested using two types of accuracy measures: (a) criterion-referenced tests replicating the content and format of instructional materials used in the resource room and (b) curriculum probes simulating the task demands of the regular classroom curriculum. Comparison of student performance on criterion-referenced tests administered in the two settings is an indicator of the effect of setting changes alone on cross-classroom consistency of performance. Comparison of student performance on criterion-referenced tests and curriculum probes administered in the regular classroom is an indicator of the effect of different instructional materials on student performance in the same setting. Togegether, the tests indicate the relative contribution of setting changes and curriculum differences to the cross-classroom consistency of performance of mildly handicapped students mainstreamed into a regular classroom. Results of the study revealed that changing setting alone had no significant impact on student performance. The combined effect of changes in test materials and test administrator, however, resulted in performance which was more variable and less accurate, indicating that curriculum differences do affect the extent to which skills are transferred across settings. The results are discussed in terms of their relevance for interpreting handicapped students' performance in regular classes.