Suk-Hyang Lee

Impact of Curriculum Modifications on Access to the General Education Curriculum for Students with Disabilities

This study investigated whether curriculum modifications predicted student and teacher behaviors related to the general education curriculum and if there were differences in ecological, student, and teacher variables depending on the presence of such curriculum modifications. The study observed 45 high school students with disabilities during instruction in core content areas. Findings indicated that there were significant differences in student and teacher variables depending on the presence of curriculum modifications. When curriculum modifications were provided, students were engaged in more academic-related responses and fewer competing behaviors and teachers were engaged in fewer classroom management activities. Implications and recommendations from these findings are provided pertaining to the importance and implementation of curriculum modifications for students with disabilities in general education settings.

Self-Determination and Access to the General Education Curriculum

Addressing federal mandates regarding both the delivery of transition services and access to the general education curriculum has been a challenge for secondary special educators. A practice common to both initiatives, however, has been efforts to promote self-determination. This study examined the impact of promoting self-determination as an instructional strategy to examine (a) the relationship between self-determination and access to the general education curriculum and (b) the impact of promoting self-determination as a curriculum augmentation on access to the general education curriculum for high school students with disabilities. The study implemented a randomized trial control group design in which classroom observations were conducted to determine student access to the general education curriculum before and after the implementation of an instructional model to enable students to self-regulate learning. Analyses were conducted using multilevel model methods. The findings indicated the potential positive impact of promoting self-determination on access to the general education curriculum for students with disabilities as well as the degree to which curriculum modifications and other supports are needed to further access and student progress.

Student and Teacher Variables Contributing to Access to the General Education Curriculum for Students With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

The predictors of student and teacher variables on the access to the general education curriculum of 19 students with intellectual and developmental disabilities were examined based on the observation data collected for a total of 1,140 minutes. Multilevel regression analyses were employed to analyze the data. The findings indicated that both student and teacher variables are strong predictors of access to the general education curriculum. A complicated pattern of the relationship between student and teacher variables (e.g., suppression, correction of distortion) was found along with interaction between these variables and environmental factors. These findings also suggest future practices and research that can be considered to enhance access to the general education curriculum for students with disabilities.

Goal Setting and Self-Monitoring for Students With Disabilities Practical Tips and Ideas for Teachers

This article provides teachers with practical tips and ideas about how self-monitoring works in conjunction with goal-setting strategies to support students to set and achieve different types of academic goals. In addition, specific examples of academic goals and self-monitoring forms are provided to give teachers an example of such goals. To provide teachers with practitioner-oriented information about how to use these strategies, practical tips and ideas are addressed in the following sequence: (a) how to support students to set school-related goals, (b) how to support students to develop action plans for student-set target goals, (c) how to create a self-monitoring sheet that matches the self-set goals, and (d) how to evaluate the targeted goal.

Family Perspectives: Using a Cultural Prism to Understand Families from Asian Cultural Backgrounds.

Educators can better serve students who come from diverse cultural backgrounds by understanding the differing cultural values of these students and their families. This article explores different cultural perspectives using a cultural prism approach, focused most specifically on the Korean and Chinese cultures.

Cognitive Impairment and Intellectual Disability

Abstract Historically, the condition we now refer to as intellectual disability has been conceptualized using models that were extension of the medical model. Recent advances, however, have emphasized person-environment fit models of disability that view disability, intellectual, and other cognitive disabilities, as the lack of fit between a person’s capacities and the demands of the context. This chapter examines these shifts in conceptualization and the ways in which this changes how interventions are designed to provide support to enable people with intellectual disability to live, learn, work, and play in their communities. Such interventions and supports include issues pertaining to Universal Design for Learning, multi-tiered systems of supports, and the primacy of promoting the self-determination of people with disabilities. The importance of efforts to promote social inclusion is also discussed, as well as strategies to promote transition to adulthood. Authors from several countries provide examples of how these new intervention paradigms are being implemented across the world.

Effects of an Interview Article Writing Intervention Using Class-wide SNS on Writing Abilities and Self-Esteem of Students With Intellectual Disabilities and Peers’ Attitudes

This study was to investigate the effects of a process-based approach to writing interview articles using class-wide social network site (SNS) on the writing abilities and self-esteem of middle school students with intellectual disabilities. It also aimed at investigating these effects on attitudes of the students’ peers who were interviewed. A multiple probe baseline design across participants was employed to assess the writing abilities of three students with intellectual disabilities. A one-group pre- and posttest design was used to examine the changes in the attitudes of peers toward the students with intellectual disabilities. The intervention improved the writing abilities of the three participants along with increases of their self-esteem. The participants’ peers in the inclusive classrooms also showed positive changes in their attitudes toward the students with intellectual disabilities. This study has significance in that teaching interview article writing using class-wide SNS was effective not only in promoting the writing skills of students with intellectual disabilities but in improving their peers’ attitudes toward them. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.