Students with disabilities--Education

This study investigated the effects of an audiotaped self evaluation intervention on the instructional behavior of interns in classrooms for students with disabilities. Three interns teaching in elementary school settings in Southeast Florida participated in the study. The dependent variable was frequency of specific social praise statements. The independent variable was the self evaluation intervention which consisted of an individual training session that required each intern to listen to five minute audiotaped samples of their instruction and then graph the frequency of specific social praise. A multiple baseline design was used to measure the effects of the intervention. Generalization probes were administered to determine the effects of the intervention in other content areas and maintenance probes were evaluated to determine the effects of the intervention over time. A qualitative design employing an open ended interview was used to enhance and amplify the quantitative portion of the study and to find out what value the interns placed on the intervention. Results indicated that the intervention had a positive effect on all three interns' use of specific social praise. Generalization probes indicated that two of the three interns increased their use of specific social praise during non-targeted content areas. The maintenance probes indicated that all three interns' average use of specific social praise was well above their baseline averages, although two of the three interns had a decreasing trend. The findings from the qualitative data supported the results from the quantitative analyses and revealed that interns valued the self evaluation intervention because it allowed them to reflect, evaluate, and then change their behavior. Recommendations for future research were made.

Since the passage of Public Law 94-142 (The Education of All Handicapped Children Act) which is currently called the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), there has been a movement to service students with disabilities in more inclusive environments. The Broward County School District had been involved in the State of Florida's effort to reform the special education funding model and the delivery of services to students in more inclusive environments since 1994. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of three delivery models, resource room, co-teaching, and support facilitation, on the reading and math achievement of students with mild to moderate disabilities. The subjects of this study consisted of 231 students with mild to moderate disabilities enrolled in 29 schools and serviced in one of these three delivery models. Their achievement was measured during the 1998--1999 school year based upon the results of a nationally normed achievement test. An Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) as well as an Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was performed using the spring of 1998 test scores as baseline data or covariates and the spring of 1999 scores as dependent or criterion variables. The independent variable was the type of delivery model. The results did not reveal any statistically significant differences in the achievement of the students in any of the three models thus indicating that in this study, the type of model did not have a significant impact on the achievement of these students. Implications based upon limitations as well as recommendations for further study are presented.