Felix F. Billingsley

Useful Practices in Inclusive Education: A Preliminary View of What Experts in Moderate to Severe Disabilities Are Saying.

We examined the opinions of experts in the field of moderate to severe disabilities on useful practices for inclusive education across nine categories of practices: Promoting inclusive values in the school; collaboration between general and special educators; collaboration between educators and related service providers; family involvement; choosing and planning what to teach; scheduling, coordinating, and delivering inclusive services within the school; assessing and reporting student progress on an ongoing basis; instructional strategies; and supporting students with challenging behavior. An examination of emergent themes within each category yielded a rich description of the depth and breadth of practices that are perceived by these experts as useful in promoting and sustaining successful school inclusion. Importantly, many of the identified practices require some level of educational service restructuring, including redefining the roles and functions of special education teachers, related services personnel, and classroom teachers. We also found that our sample of experts relied on sources of information other than empirical research in the development of their stores of wisdom on useful practices. Although preliminary in nature, our study contributes to the growing body of literature on inclusive education. It describes a range of practices perceived by a sample of experts to be associated with successful school inclusion. It also identifies a number of important themes that can inform future research in this area.

Defining School Inclusion for Students with Moderate to Severe Disabilities: What Do Experts Say?.

The term inclusion is new to special education and currently has many uses in the literature and in the field. The evolution of the term and its various uses frequently lead to confusion and miscommunication during discussions of school inclusion. This study examined how experts in the field of school inclusion for students with moderate to severe disabilities defined the term for that population at one point in time. As part of a larger study, authors of relevant literature were asked to submit their definition of school inclusion. The content of these definitions was analyzed using qualitative methodology, and 7 themes emerged: (a) placement in natural typical settings; (b) all students together for instruction and learning; (c) supports and modifications within general education to meet appropriate learner outcomes; (d) belongingness, equal membership, acceptance, and being valued; (e) collaborative integrated services by education teams; (f) systemic philosophy or belief system; and (g) meshing general and special education into one unified system. The overwhelming incorporation of the first five themes listed previously indicates that these themes cannot be viewed in isolation when defining school inclusion for students with moderate to severe disabilities. That is, unless services for students with moderate to severe disabilities reflect all of the first 5 themes, those services cannot be defined as reflecting school inclusion. Descriptive statements expanding each of the 7 themes were developed, and areas for future research and inquiry were offered related to the relation among these themes.

Response Prompting and the Transfer of Stimulus Control: Methods, Research, and a Conceptual Framework

Teachers of severely handicapped pupils frequently employ various types of assistance antecedent to pupil responses in order to increase the likelihood that behaviors will be performed. This assistance, which may be auditory, visual, or physical, has been referred to as response priming or prompting. When response prompts are provided, they represent an addition to the natural stimulus complex within which the pupil must eventually respond. Because they are additions, response prompts must be faded in a manner that ensures the desired behavior will come under the control of naturally occurring stimuli. Although several methods have evolved for fading response prompts, few investigations related to the relative efficacy of those methods, or of method variations, have appeared in the literature. This article discusses the nature of, and research related to, existing procedures and suggests a conceptual framework for future research.

Believability When N = 1

Despite an increasing interest in single-subject studies, stigmatic implications cloud the believability of ideographic (N=1) research. By comparing the assumptions of both nomothetic (large N) and ideographic research designs, a rationale for the acceptance of the results of single-subject research is proposed. The logic of experimentation, generation of the data, controls for internal and external validity, and the aspects of statistical manipulation are factors that affect all research. Believable answers to meaningful experimental questions may be generated when N=1, and it is the logic which underlies the experimental question which most clearly differentiates single-subject from group research.

An Examination of the Acceptability of Instructional Practices for Students with Severe Disabilities in General Education Settings.

This study investigated 51 instructional methods specifically targeted as best practices for the education of students with severe disabilities. A survey was mailed to 120 project directors, professors, administrators, and researchers who provided direct and/or indirect services to individuals with severe disabilities. A total of 53 surveys (44%) was returned and 51 were included in the final data analysis. Participants judged each method on familiarity, soundness, and appropriateness for implementation in general education settings. Findings indicated that all methods were judged both sound and appropriate by the majority of participants. Twelve methods, however, were considered inappropriate in academic settings by 20% or more of the respondents, whereas one method was considered inappropriate by at least 20% of participants in other regular education settings. Implications for practice, research, and preservice teacher preparation programs are discussed.

Where Are the Generalized Outcomes? (An Examination of Instructional Objectives).

It is argued that behavioral objectives will be most useful when they are not only technologically adequate and include functional target behaviors, but when generalization is explicitly specified as a desired educational outcome as well. This investigation was undertaken to determine whether IEP objectives for selected pupils in participating schools included generalization as an outcome of instruction. It was found that although a considerable number of objectives related to the development of potentially functional skills, very few suggested the desirability of generalized performance. Possible reasons for the omission of generalized outcomes are discussed and recommendations are provided for the construction of objectives.

Using Strategy Instruction and Self-Regulation To Improve Gifted Students' Creative Writing.

In an extension of a previous investigation, we examined the effects of an instructional package consisting of strategy instruction and self-regulation techniques on the story writing of two gifted, middle school students. Specifically, we used a multiple-baseline, time-series design across the two students to determine whether strategy instruction and self-regulation techniques would affect planning, text production, rates of writing (i.e., fluency), reviewing, and writing quality. Strategies for planning and reviewing involved the use of printed prompts that could be used by the participants. Self-regulation components included goal setting, charting, and monitoring the amount of time spent planning, number of words written, rate of words written per minute, and number of story elements. The findings indicated that, following application of the instructional package, both participants wrote longer stories, increased their writing fluency, and included more story elements. Conversely, we noted that the participants spent less time planning and reviewing and less time writing as the study progressed. Finally, independent raters judged stories the students wrote following intervention to be of higher overall quality than ones they had written earlier. We discuss limitations of the study and implications of the findings for practice and future research.

The effect of body position on the oxygen saturation of ventilated preterm infants

This study investigated the effects of supine, sidelying, and prone positioning on the oxygen saturation of ventilated preterm infants recovering from respiratory distress syndrome. An alternating-treatments, single-subject design was replicated on infants with gestational ages of 24–29 weeks and birth weights of 640–1360 g. The infants were placed in the three positions in a random sequence each day and oxygen saturations were measured. The median oxygen saturation data were displayed in line graphs by position across nine sessions. Visual analysis suggested that oxygen saturation was highest in prone positioning, with supine and sidelying lower. The results of this study suggest that prone positioning can be used with ventilated preterm infants for whom there is difficulty obtaining and/or maintaining optimal oxygen saturation.

Competing Behaviors and Their Effects on Skill Generalization and Maintenance.

Abstract The present study indicates the impact of undesirable competing behaviors on the maintenance and generalization of desirable behaviors by two children with severe developmental disabilities. A combination multiple probe and withdrawal design was employed in the study. It was found that behaviors which served a relatively obvious function, and which were desired by classroom teachers, were replaced by less desirable behaviors which served the same function within maintenance and/or generalization situations. It was further demonstrated that the desired behavior could be elicited in those situations by reducing the functionality of the less desirable response. Both general and specific implications for educational practice are discussed.

Assistive Technology Programming for a Young Child with Profound Disabilities: A Single-Subject Study

Background and Purpose: The purpose of this study was to use single-subject research methods, combined with social validation procedures, as part of an evaluation/intervention process exploring the effects of adapted switch-operated devices on self-initiated behaviors of a 6-year-old child with profound multiple disabilities. Method: A single-subject withdrawal design with multiple phases, including one alternating treatments phase, was used to investigate the participants ability to perform selective, voluntary motions as indicators of contingency awareness and preferences. Social validity also was assessed. Results: The child demonstrated the ability to use two switch sites to activate adapted switch-operated devices when a preferred stimulus was contingent on a specific motor action, and she demonstrated the ability to communicate preferences as indicated by more frequent switch activations for one consequence than for a second consequence. Social validity results indicated that both the parents and school personnel generally viewed the evaluation/intervention process as positive. Conclusions: Single-subject research methods, combined with social validation procedures, can be used effectively in the evaluation/intervention process for children with profound multiple disabilities.