Mary Beth Doyle

Paraprofessional Support of Students with Disabilities: Literature from the past Decade

This article summarizes and analyzes a set of 43 pieces of professional literature pertaining to paraprofessional supports for students with disabilities published between 1991 and early 2000. Twenty-six nondatabased sources and 17 research studies were included. The findings identify topical gaps in the literature, review the major databased findings, and present implications for the field. The review concludes with suggestions for future research that emphasize the need for more student outcome data, conceptual alignment of roles, training, and supervision, and the exploration of alternatives to paraprofessional supports.

Constructively Responding to Requests for Paraprofessionals We Keep Asking the Wrong Questions

Paraprofessional utilization has steadily risen in an effort to meet the needs of students with disabilities in inclusion-oriented classrooms. To date, no widely accepted processes exist to assist schools in determining when the use of paraprofessional staff is warranted. Many schools have attempted to fill this void by developing local processes designed to justify paraprofessional assignment. This article describes how justification approaches to paraprofessional decision making operate from a reactive posture, include inherently problematic criteria, and perpetuate socially constructed myths that certain students need one-to-one paraprofessionals. An alternative framework for making decisions is offered through a series of school/district- and classroom/team-level concepts and corresponding actions that can be pursued in developing proactive processes and practices tailored to local contexts.

Inclusive Schooling in St. Cloud Perspectives on the Process and People

THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND HOW INCLUSIVE SCHOOLING FOR STUDENTS WITH MODERATE TO SEVERE DISABILITIES WAS INITIATED IN THE ST. CLOUD COMMUNITY SCHOOLS, MINNESOTA, SEVENTEEN INDIVIDUALS WERE INTERVIEWED. FINDINGS ALIGN WITH CURRENT SCHOOL RESTRUCTURING RESEARCH IN THAT (A) INDIVIDUAL PEOPLE WERE CENTRAL TO THE CHANGE PROCESS, (B) MEANING AND VALUES ARE OF GREATER IMPORTANCE THAN STRUCTURE, AND (C) ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE TEACHING EXTEND BEYOND COMPETENCIES AND BEHAVIORS TO PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND ATTRIBUTES. IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH, PRACTICE, AND PERSONNEL DEVELOPMENT ARE PROPOSED.

Making Presentation Software Accessible to High School Students with Intellectual Disabilities.

ate and severe intellectual disabilities from inclusive middle schools to high schools may present a challenge to general education teachers. How can teachers use the principles of universal design to facilitate the inclusion of these students in the instructional life of the general education classroom? In particular, what adaptations should teachers make when preparing software-based presentations? How can schools best organize team members to help general education teachers prepare necessary instructional materials and adaptations?

Italy Presses Forward in Educating Students with Learning Disabilities.

Italy has a long history of including students with disabilities in general education classes. Their efforts offer unique perspectives and practices from which other countries may benefit. The article highlights four notable attributes about the Italian approach and discusses implications for American schools.