Maureen E. Angell

Welcome to Our World Parent Perceptions of Interactions BetWeen Parents of Young Children With ASD and Education Professionals

The interaction betWeen parents of children With ASD and education professionals is a critical issue, due to increasing prevalence rates, increasing litigation, and legal mandates of the 1997 amendments to the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, Which require parental involvement in the education of children With disabilities. The purpose of this study Was to investigate the perceptions of parents of young children With autism spectrum disorder regarding their experiences, roles, and relationships With education professionals. Purposive sampling Was used to identify participants. Data Were collected through multiple intervieWs, observations, and documentation. A cross-case analysis method Was used to analyze the data. Findings Were confirmed using methods of triangulation, respondent validation, and member checking. The findings indicated that the interaction betWeen parents and education professionals is a dynamic and complex process. Three major themes emerged: (a) the important influences on parent perceptions, (b) common experiences that either reduced or enhanced parental trust, and (c) parental roles that Were exhibited during parent interaction With education professionals. This article specifically focuses on the first tWo themes because they are of prime importance to the development of parent-friendly strategies.

Experiences of siblings of individuals with autism spectrum disorders.

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of siblings of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and identify their self-reported support needs. We conducted in-person semi-structured interviews with 12 siblings aged 7 to 15 of children aged 6 to 15 with ASDs. Employing a qualitative collective case study research method, we conducted cross-case analyses to address our research questions. Three major themes emerged: (a) descriptions of the sibling subsystem (b) cohesion between and among the siblings, and (c) adaptability of the participant siblings to having family members with ASDs. Discussion of these findings and recommendations for future research contributes to the existing literature on siblings of children with disabilities.

School Principals' Influence on Trust: Perspectives of Mothers of Children with Disabilities.

ABSTRACT The authors employed a qualitative research design to explore issues of trust in family–professional relationships. They specifically focused on the nature of trust between mothers of children with disabilities and school principals. Analysis of the mothers’ responses to face-to-face interview questions yielded two primary categories related to their perspectives regarding principals: (a) personal and professional principal attributes and (b) principal actions within the education system, with students, and with students’ families. Subcategories were developed that further delineated the relationships participants had with the principals of their childrens educational programs. The authors address implications for school leadership and the establishment of trustworthy family-professional relationships, especially as they impact the lives of students and families in need of special education support.

Using a Multicomponent Adapted Power Card Strategy to Decrease Latency During Interactivity Transitions for Three Children With Developmental Disabilities

An adapted Power Card strategy was examined to determine effectiveness in decreasing latency in responding to teacher cues to initiate interactivity transitions in the classroom among three students, aged 10 to 11 years, with developmental disabilities (i.e., one with autism and two with intellectual disability). The Power Card strategy, a form of visually cued instruction, included scripts in which the students’ “heroes” or preferred fictional characters demonstrated targeted interactivity transition behaviors. The strategy decreased response latency for all three students as documented within a single-case withdrawal (A-B-A-B-A-B) design replicated across the three participants. Instructional staff implemented the intervention and, at the end of the study, all remarked about the dramatic effectiveness of the adapted Power Card strategy, said they would use this strategy in the future, and noted that overall classroom functioning had improved. Implications for classroom practice and recommendations for further research on the use of Power Card strategies are discussed.

Parent-Implemented Social-Pragmatic Communication Intervention: A Pilot Study.

This pilot study investigated the feasibility and effectiveness of a home-based parent training and coaching program on the use of naturalistic and visual teaching strategies by parents of children (aged 2–5 years) with Down syndrome to promote and enhance these children’s social-pragmatic communication skills. Five parent interventionist–child dyads participated. A single-case multiple-baseline design demonstrated the feasibility and effectiveness of the parent training and coaching program on parents’ correct use of naturalistic and visual teaching strategies. Findings suggest that parents and children benefited from the intervention. Parents learned the new teaching strategies, implemented them with high fidelity, and were satisfied with intervention procedures and outcomes. In addition, parents reported improvement in their children’s social-pragmatic communication skills. Implications for practice and future research are described.

Communication and Diversity: Innovations in Teacher Education.

Teacher education programs have increasingly come under fire for not providing pre-service teachers communication skills training. Given that such training is essential to address diversity in the classroom and to meet the day-to-day functioning of teachers, higher education must provide communication skills training for teacher certification. This essay describes the “Teaching Diverse Learners: Communicating Social Support” workshop designed to help new and pre-service K-12 teachers communicate more effectively with diverse student populations, and the results of pre/post test surveys of the participants.

Fathers of children with autism: perceived roles, responsibilities, and support needs

Emphasis on families’ involvement in the education of children with disabilities is evident in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and in published best practices. However, most of the research related to families of children with disabilities has focused on mothers’ experiences, involvement, and needs. There is limited information about the experiences and roles of fathers of children with disabilities. In this study, seven fathers of children with autism spectrum disorder were interviewed about their perceived roles, responsibilities, and support needs. The findings and the implications are discussed.

Teaching Conceptually Referenced Core Vocabulary for Initial Augmentative and Alternative Communication

Abstract Individuals with significant intellectual disabilities who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) often fail to acquire large vocabularies. To maximize the functionality of a small vocabulary, AAC users’ initial vocabulary typically consists of words that can be used frequently across contexts and functions (i.e., core vocabulary). For many AAC users, core vocabulary often references concepts rather than concrete items. For individuals with severe intellectual disabilities, however, initial AAC vocabulary often consists of concretely referenced words instead. There is little evidence that these individuals can learn to use conceptually referenced words in initial AAC. A variation of a single subject multiple baseline design across four stimuli was used to demonstrate that an individual with severe intellectual disabilities could learn to use conceptually referenced words as an initial AAC vocabulary. As a result of the intervention (a modified PECS procedure), a 9-year-old boy with multiple disabilities, including intellectual disability and deaf-blindness, learned to make appropriate use of three conceptually referenced tactile symbols for the concepts of more, done, and new as an initial communication vocabulary.

Advice from Adults with Physical Disabilities on Fostering Self-Determination during the School Years.

feelings of exhilaration and freedom you experienced when you actually jumped! You also know the great amount of courage you had to muster and the extent of preparation it took— by yourself and your support team—to make a successful dive happen. Larry, a 34-year-old man with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy who proudly declares himself a “risk taker,” aspired to skydive and made it happen with the help of his support team. He reached his goal with the help of his friends, by gathering information about skydiving on the Internet and by finding a skydiver willing to jump tandem with him. When asked for his definition of self-determination, Larry replied, “People say I can’t do something and I say, ‘Watch me’—and show them I can do it.” Veronica, a 36-year-old woman with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, told us another story about her attempts to get her learner’s permit to access behind-the-wheel driver’s education after she had passed the inclass portion of the program.