This study sought to validate a new measure, the Classroom Cohesion Survey (CCS), designed to examine the relationship between teachers and classroom assistants in autism support classrooms. Teachers, classroom assistants, and external observers showed good inter-rater agreement on the CCS and good internal consistency for all scales. Simple…

Despite legal mandates and evidence of predictors of success in transition, there continue to be poor outcomes for students with disabilities as compared to students without disabilities. This article describes the first steps of a quality improvement project, including a needs assessment and description of the current constraints of transition…

A new job position, "educare giver," which was created after kindergartens and preschools in Taiwan were integrated in 2012, has caused several problems such as ambiguity in the role of childcare givers and inequity in the division of labour. Studies have provided a limited scope and have not examined the identities and struggles of…

Supporting pupils with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in mainstream schools is a challenging task. This article proposes a professional development framework for educational psychologists (EPs) to consider when supporting the development of specialist ASD staff. The framework focuses on training content, educator characteristics and organisational…

REACH is a targeted reading support programme designed to improve reading accuracy and comprehension in pupils with reading difficulties in Years 7 and 8. It is based on research by the Centre for Reading and Language at York and is delivered by specially trained teaching assistants (TAs). This evaluation tested two REACH interventions, one based…

Success for All (SfA) is a whole-school approach to improving literacy in primary schools. Teachers receive training in areas including group learning strategies, phonics, and assessment, and are provided with structured daily lesson plans and teaching materials. There is also support for school leadership in areas such as data management, ability…

This study examines how an understanding of two NLP concepts, the meta-model of language and the implementation of reframing, could be used to help teaching assistants enhance class-based interactions with students with mild SEN. Participants (students) completed a pre-intervention and a post-intervention "Beliefs About my Learning…

This case study examines the implementation of "Foreign Language Activities" (English language education), which officially began in Japanese elementary schools in 2011. Subjects in this study included 37 Japanese classroom teachers (20 males and 17 females) in four elementary schools in Tokyo. The Teacher Foreign Language Anxiety Scale…

Catch Up® Literacy is a structured one-to-one literacy intervention for pupils between the ages of 6 and 14 who are struggling to learn to read. It teaches pupils to blend phonemes (combine letter sounds into words), segment phonemes (separate words into letter sounds), and memorise particular words so they can be understood without needing to use…

Millions of dollars are expended, in the USA and elsewhere, to provide paraprofessionals or "teaching assistants" for regular early childhood classrooms. However, little consistent information exists related to best practice in the use of paraprofessionals in these early childhood settings. This article describes a study employing the use of 159…

The role of paraprofessionals in schools has evolved from a primarily clerical function to their current status as instructional assistants. An assessment instrument (designed to determine functions, training needs, and effectiveness of instructional assistants) is included and discussed. (IAH)

Background: The outcomes of a pilot program of staff development in communication support in the context of observed changes in student behaviour states and interactive abilities are reported. Participant reports about the impact of the program on their professional practices are included. Method: Six teachers and six teacher aides in special…

To increase parent involvement and meet the need for adult help in classrooms, a preschool director implemented a practicum in a church-owned, nondenominational preschool serving 250 children from an upper-middle-class community in the Northeast. The intervention offered a wide range of parent involvement activities, including the formation of a…

This program is an effort of the David Douglas School District (Oregon) to provide specific training experiences for classified employees who assist with instruction. The program is intended to ease the training burden on teachers, provide district wide continuity of training experiences, and communicate the importance of the assistant's job…

A survey of 14 special education instructional assistants in rural Oregon showed they were generally mature in age and had lived in eastern Oregon for many years. Over half had some college training. Most were assigned to elementary resource rooms. Respondents rated "instructional methodology" as their strongest training preference. (KS)