Abstraet--A model for computer assisted mediation and its application to the field of special education for blind children is presented. The model consists of five elements: the domain model, the student model, the pedagogical model, and the dynamic and static projection of learning. The system, based on stored expert knowledge, guides the child in what he or she is able to do and able to learn...

The first large-scale, nationwide academic achievement testing program using Stanford Achievement Test (Stanford) for deaf and hard-of-hearing children in the United States started in 1969. Over the past three decades, the Stanford has served as a benchmark in the field of deaf education for assessing student academic achievement. However, the validity and reliability of using the Stanford for ...

Teacher self-efficacy refers to the beliefs teachers hold regarding their capability to bring about desired instructional outcomes and may be helpful for understanding and addressing critical issues such as teacher attrition and teacher use of research-supported practices. Educating students with autism likely presents teachers with some of the most significant instructional challenges. The sel...

BACKGROUND Birth defects impose substantial costs on both families and society because of medical, developmental, and special education needs. Caring for children with birth defects also may influence caregiver time and impact the family. However, the economic cost of caregiver time and other impacts on the family has received far less attention than traditional healthcare costs. METHODS This...

Special education services in the country of Costa Rica have been affected by factors that most developing countries confront: shortages of trained personnel, geographic isolation of a large sector of the population, and severe economic limitations. Despite these challenges, services for students with learning disabilities in Costa Rica have rapidly expanded in the last 15 years through the dev...

One hanging question in child welfare policy and research is whether there is an artificial overrepresentation of the poor in child welfare caseloads or whether this reflects the co-occurrence of poverty and need. In order to address this question, this study uses data from child welfare (report, assessment, service and re-report), income maintenance, special education, hospitals, juvenile cour...

BACKGROUND Most information on the causes of blindness has come from examining children in special education. To obtain a more representative population-based sample of children, a novel method was developed for ascertaining severe visually impaired (SVI) or blind (BL) children by training local volunteers to act as key informants (KIs). OBJECTIVE To compare the demography and cause of blindn...

Research indicates that various program models, implemented both in special education and general education, can have moderately positive academic and social impacts for students with disabilities. However, no intervention has been designed that eliminates the impact of having a disability. With few exceptions, students with disabilities have not achieved commensurately with their nondisabled p...

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 allows schools to use a child's response to research-based intervention (RTI) as a part of procedures to identify students with learning disabilities. This paper considers whether RTI-based assessment models meet ethical and legal standards for acceptable assessment practices. Based on a review of available research, it was con...

A grounded theory study that examined how practitioners in a county alternative and correctional education setting identify youth with emotional and behavioral difficulties for special education services provides an exemplar for a constructivist approach to grounded theory methodology. Discussion focuses on how a constructivist orientation to grounded theory methodology informed research decisi...