This study examined the read-aloud accommodation benefits for students with disabilities (SWD) and students without disabilities (SWOD). In this study, researchers recommend ways in which to remove encumbrances faced by SWD in reading comprehension. In general, research has shown that both SWD and SWOD have met some degree of success from the…

Picture books are often underused tools in schools and communities. The purpose of this research was to investigate the affordances and constraints of using picture books as tools to deepen senses of identity and belonging. Two cycles of participatory action research were conducted: the first with educators and the second with adults who…

This study explored how teachers' feeling of self-efficacy in providing Social Emotional Learning (SEL) instruction helps students academic performance. Students' trauma, or adverse childhood experiences, can influence how academically successful they are (Brunzell et. al, 2018). One consequence of trauma in young children is emotional…

This qualitative study focuses on the importance of reading picture books aloud to improve students' social skills capacity by utilizing literacy and social skills in a rural setting. It is designed to address a problem of practice: the need for striving third, fourth, and fifth-grade students to gain and maintain motivation and positive attitudes…

The purpose of this study is to investigate if a mindfulness mandala coloring activity reduces a student's anxiety about reading. Reading is a fundamental skill for all other academic success, making proficient reading skills necessary. This study investigates if a reduction in a third grade student's reading anxiety results in changes to oral…

The present study aims to examine the effects of a combination of academic and behavioral supports on students with emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD) who are also struggling readers. A multiple baseline across participants single case design was used to measure the impact of an evidence-based systematic phonics program, in combination with…

Curriculum-based measurement is designed to predict students' future reading performance and identify children in need of early reading intervention. Although curriculum-based measures in reading are commonly implemented in schools throughout the United States, their use with children living overseas is restricted due to the disparity that exists…

Knowledge supports all aspects of reading including decoding, fluency, and comprehension (Cervetti & Hiebert, 2015; Cervetti & Wright, 2020; Duke & Cartwright, 2021; Kintsch, 1988, 1988; McNamara & Kintsch, 1996; Priebe et al., 2012). Early knowledge predicts reading growth, and science knowledge and reading have a mutually…

Curriculum-based measurements (CBM) are used in schools to screen students for academic difficulties. Oral reading fluency curriculum-based measures (CBM-R) are the most popular, yet several studies have identified predictive bias in CBM-Rs in relation to key variables (e.g., race, sex). Despite a massive increase in the use of these measures as…

With the increasing prevalence of autism diagnoses globally, the overall aim of this dissertation is to improve our understanding of the linguistic aptitude of autistic individuals. Given that the autism diagnosis is a spectrum, we rely on the Autism Quotient (AQ) test, which measures the quantity of autistic-like traits an individual possesses,…