When the "least restrictive" educational environment is deemed unsuccessful for students labeled as having emotional disabilities (ED), they are often placed in either self-contained classrooms (when available) or alternative schools. Despite these schools' growing numbers, little is known about them and their students, who are…

Previous research on reading perceptions and strategy use involving narrative texts among students attending schools for the deaf provides some information on comprehension strategies used. None of these studies, however, involved students using speech to communicate or receiving instruction in the general education. This study extends that…

This study examined parental involvement as a mediator of the academic performance of middle school students with special needs. The study built on the different types of parental involvement theorized by Epstein and colleagues (2002) and studied empirically by Fan and Chen (2001). Using a specially developed questionnaire, a sample of 82 parents…

Seventy-five literacy activities of eight middle and high school students with severe disabilities were analyzed in terms of the literacy content, materials used, student engagement, and contexts, including location and instructional arrangement. Coded observations, review of teaching materials, and follow-up teacher interviews and questionnaires…

Mandates such as No Child Left Behind (2001) and Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) shifted the emphasis of instruction to include skills that access the general curriculum for students with moderate to severe intellectual disability. The purpose of this study was to describe changes in literacy instruction of teachers…

The purpose of this study was to determine preservice teachers' beliefs about the curriculum content and skills that should be available and taught during high school, and the contextual variables (experiences, locations, individuals) that promote access to the high school curriculum. Participants included 79 secondary and 21 special education…

This qualitative study was conducted to identify the potential of using iPad as a supplement to teach math to students with learning disabilities. Ten teacher candidates from a university in the south provided one-on-one math tutoring services to ten students in a self-contained classroom at a local high poverty elementary school. The students…

Students with challenging behavior severe enough to warrant placement in a self-contained special education classroom statistically have poor school and post-school outcomes compared to typical peers. Teachers in these classrooms often lack sufficient training to meet student needs. This pilot study investigated the use of a telehealth…

Two students with developmental disabilities were taught two daily living skills using video prompting with error correction presented on an iPod Touch, and two different fading procedures were implemented. In one fading procedure, individual video clips were merged into multiple larger clips following acquisition of the entire skill. In the…

In this column the author discusses several major works that came out in the 50-year period from the 1920s to the 1960s, as well as real-world examples that show that differentiated curriculum works and can make a difference in the lives of gifted learners. In the 1920s, Leta Hollingworth's work advocated a specialized curriculum for gifted…

The goal of this study was to examine the effect of physical modifications on the academic engagement and disruptive behavior of Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing students in self-contained classrooms. Three classrooms at a school for the Deaf were modified after consultation with the classroom teachers. The modifications of the classroom environment…

The authors report findings of a best-evidence synthesis of the effects of mathematics instruction on the mathematics skills of students with emotional and behavioral disorders. The goal of the synthesis was to extend previous research by (a) detailing independent variables, instructional components, and outcome measures for each study; (b)…

Three adolescents (ages 14-17) with emotional and behavioral disorders displayed chronic disruptive behavior in their self-contained classrooms at a self-contained alternative school. A descriptive functional behavioral assessment was conducted for each student. Data from file review, structured interviews, and direct observations were used to…

Learning to read with comprehension requires that students acquire and integrate an increasingly complex set of skills. Students with severe disabilities are often seen as incapable of mastering and integrating the skills required for reading with fluency and comprehension, a presumption that results in decreased access to comprehensive reading…

Students educated in self-contained special education classrooms and the teachers who serve them are in crisis. Self-contained classrooms are separate from general education classrooms and may be resource classrooms housed within general education schools or separate schools or districts serving primarily students with disabilities.…