Jiyoon Park

The Concrete–Representational–Abstract Approach for Students With Learning Disabilities: An Evidence-Based Practice Synthesis:

As researchers and practitioners have increasingly become interested in what practices are evidence based and for whom in education, different sets of quality indicators and evidence-based practice standards have emerged in the field of special education. Practices are commonly suggested as evidence based, even without a best evidence synthesis on the existing research, such as the case with the concrete–representational–abstract (CRA) instructional framework to support students with disabilities in mathematics. This study sought to support the classification of the CRA instructional framework as an evidence-based approach for students with learning disabilities by applying quality indicators and standards of evidence-based practice by Cook et al. (2014). Based on the application of the indicators and standards, the CRA instructional framework was determined to be an evidence-based practice for students with learning disabilities who struggle in mathematics relative to computational problems, such as addition, subtraction, and multiplication, largely with regrouping.

Teaching Equivalent Fractions to Secondary Students with Disabilities via the Virtual-Representational-Abstract Instructional Sequence.

Fractions are an important mathematical concept; however, fractions are also a struggle for many students with disabilities. This study explored a new framework adapted from the evidence-based concrete–representational–abstract framework: the virtual–representational–abstract (VRA) framework. The VRA framework involves teaching students to solve mathematical problems with virtual manipulative, then representations or drawings, and finally abstractly. A multiple probe across-students single-case design was used to investigate the effectiveness of the VRA framework for finding equivalent fractions for three middle-school students with disabilities. A functional relation was found between the VRA framework and students’ ability to solve equivalent fractions. Implications related to the use of the VRA framework as a mathematics intervention for secondary students with disabilities as well as directions for future research are discussed.

Adding It Up: Comparing Concrete and App-Based Manipulatives to Support Students With Disabilities With Adding Fractions

Manipulatives are a common tool in mathematics teaching and learning, including for students with disabilities. The most common manipulatives are concrete manipulatives, yet app-based manipulatives are a viable age-appropriate option for secondary students with disabilities. Through an adapted alternating treatment design with three middle school students—two with mild intellectual disability and one with a learning disability, researchers explored the impact of virtual and concrete manipulatives on students’ accuracy, independence, and task completion time for solving addition of fractions with unlike denominators. Students were equally successful in terms of accuracy and differences with independence were minimal. When comparing the two manipulative types, the results were idiosyncratic; two students were more independent with the concrete manipulative and one with the app-based manipulative. Implications for research regarding mathematics instruction and use of concrete and app-based manipulatives are discussed.

Using the Virtual–Representational–Abstract Approach to Support Students With Intellectual Disability in Mathematics:

Mathematics education is an important but underexplored area of research for secondary students with mild intellectual disability. In this multiple probe across behaviors replicated across two participants study, the researchers explored the effectiveness of the virtual–representational–abstract (VRA) instructional sequence to support two students’ acquisition of three mathematical behaviors. Each student was able to acquire his or her three mathematical behaviors (i.e., place value, single-digit addition with regrouping, subtraction with regrouping, and single-digit multiplication) following instruction with the VRA sequence. However, each student struggled with maintenance with at least one behavior. Implications for practice relative to the VRA instructional sequence are discussed.

In-school service predictors of employment for individuals with intellectual disability

BACKGROUNDS/AIMS/METHODS Although there are many secondary data analyses of the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS-2) to investigate post-school outcome for students with disabilities, there has been a lack of research with in-school service predictors and post-school outcome for students with specific disability categories. METHODS/PROCEDURES This study was a secondary data analysis of NLTS-2 to investigate the relationship between current employment status and in-school services for individuals with intellectual disability. Statistical methods such as descriptive statistics and logistic regression were used to analyze NLTS-2 data set. RESULTS The main findings included that in-school services were correlated with current employment status, and that primary disability (i.e., mild intellectual disability and moderate/severe intellectual disability) was associated with current employment status. CONCLUSION/IMPLICATIONS In-school services are critical in predicting current employment for individuals with intellectual disability. Also, data suggest additional research is needed to investigate various in-school services and variables that could predict employment differences between individuals with mild and moderate/severe intellectual disability.

The Effect of Video Modeling and Video Prompting Interventions on Individuals With Intellectual Disability: A Systematic Literature Review

A popular technology-based intervention is video-based instruction (VBI). VBI is known to be effective in teaching various skills to individuals with intellectual disability. Although many researchers have taught this population various skills using video modeling and/or prompting, none have conducted a literature review for this population. The purpose of this review was to analyze different types of VBI (i.e., video modeling, video prompting) used in intervention research, the skills taught using these methods, and their effectiveness. The findings demonstrate both video modeling and video prompting were used to similar extents, daily/living skills were taught more often, and many studies combined video modeling or video prompting interventions with additional strategies (e.g., error correction, constant time delay).

Inclusion and Students with an Intellectual Disability

Abstract Students with an intellectual disability historically faced exclusion in both schools and in their communities. Through court cases, legislation, and parental advocacy, students with an intellectual disability were awarded the right to an education, and under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, an education in the least restrictive environment. This chapter explores the historical and current state of inclusion for students with an intellectual disability as well as the current and historical research base regarding inclusive educational placements for students with an intellectual disability. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the future of inclusive education for students with an intellectual disability.