The integration of technology has moved slowly into the schools and often is now a part of daily instruction. Because research has shown the positive impact technology can have on student learning, a number of the chapters included suggestions on effective ways to use technology and even identified specific software programs and websites that provide teachers with some additional ways to teach struggling students. Not only can these programs be used for supporting academic skills, but also specific software programs were listed to support students' reading, writing, and mathematics skills to infuse in the classroom across the content areas. Many students with disabilities spend the majority of their school day in a general education classroom setting. Thus, the general education teacher frequently finds himself teaching in an inclusive classroom setting. With the focus on statewide assessments and academic accountability, content area teachers often state that they do not have time to use strategies in their classroom.

Response interruption and redirection (RIRD) is an intervention that involves presenting demands or other types of distracters to interrupt an interfering behavior and redirect it to a more appropriate response. It targets the decrease of repetitive, stereotypic, and self-injurious behaviors. Research indicates that stereotypy is commonly maintained by automatic reinforcement (Rapp & Vollmer, 2005). Ahearn, Clark, MacDonald, and Chung (2007) were the first to evaluate the use of RIRD as a behavioral intervention for vocal stereotypy. Due to the success of RIRD as being the one behavioral intervention that not only decreases vocal stereotypy but may increases engagement in appropriate vocalizations the authors chose to examine additional studies that have used RIRD to address vocal stereotypy in children with autism in order to see if the replication and expansion of RIRD has continued to produce support for this intervention. Ten single-subject design studies were identified between 2000 and 2016. With such a limited number of studies, all showing positive results, future research should focus on replicating and expanding RIRD as a behavioral intervention to address vocal stereotypy in children with autism.

Autism is a developmental disability that has gained increasing attention during the past several decades in China. The two case studies presented in this article examined the perspectives of two school leaders on educating students with autism in China. Two school principals, one from a public school and one from a private school, were interviewed during this study using 10 open-ended questions. Responses generated the following areas of discussion: teacher recruitment and training, curriculum and teaching methodology, parental involvement, and factors that contribute to success and present challenges. This study provides the readers with an update from the perspectives of two school leaders on the school system in China for children with disabilities, particularly for students with autism. Implications of the study and further suggestions for future research are also discussed.

The present investigation replicates and extends an earlier study comparing 2 conditions, a dictionary approach versus a concept mapping model, on the learning of vocabulary words among 4 students with mild disabilities (i.e., emotional and/or behavioral disorders and other health impairments) attending a middle school. An A-B-A-B design was used to assess the efficacy of both instructional models (i.e., the dictionary approach and concept mapping model). During the dictionary instruction phases, each student looked up a vocabulary word in the dictionary, defined the word, and then wrote the word in a sentence on his or her notebook paper. In the concept mapping phases, the students completed a concept map (i.e., Frayer model) to display the definition of a word, wrote the word in a sentence, described what the word reminded them of based on their prior knowledge, and then drew a picture related to the vocabulary word. Results revealed marked improvements for all 4 of the students in their learning of the content area related vocabulary words associated with the use of the concept mapping model over the dictionary approach. Recommendations for classroom practice and future research directions are discussed.

The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive review of the published research-based strategies used in content area instruction for students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Twenty-eight (N = 28) studies published from 2000-2012 that met the criteria for inclusion were located, reviewed, and synthesized. Findings revealed the vast majority of research has been conducted at the elementary and mixed grade-levels, while only a few studies were found focusing on students in the secondary grade levels. In addition, we found most of the existing research to focus primarily on reading, writing, mathematics, and/or a combination of these areas; however, studies in social studies and science instruction were scant, with only three studies identified. Effective interventions that emerged from this review included such strategies as: (a) visual supports; (b) technology-based instruction; (c) concrete representation; (d) direct instruction; and (e) behavioral interventions. Implications for both general and special educators working with students with ASD, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

In an effort to expand existing research on the barriers of instructors experience in online learning environments (OLEs), a qualitative study was conducted at a large mid-Atlantic university. Six instructors teaching in different OLE formats (e.g., asynchronous, hybrid, and synchronous via videoconferencing) participated in two focus groups in order to explore their emotional experiences and ways to regulate the emotions when teaching in OLEs. The overarching themes included emotions of feeling (a) restricted, (b) stressed, (c) devalued, (d) validated, and (e) rejuvenated. The article also provides practical strategies on how participating instructors attempted to manage the challenging emotions. A consensus among all participants is that continuous dialog in a community of practice about strategies to enhance OLEs is imperative.

This article presents an update of the research on the use of peer tutoring and students with emotional and behavioural disorders (EBD). Nine studies from 2001 to 2007 were identified in which students with EBD served as tutors and/or tutees to teach their peers academic and social behaviours. Five of these studies included elementary students, two included middle school students, and two in-cluded high school students. Only one study (i.e., Tournaki & Criscitiello, 2003) was implemented in the general education classroom. Peer tutoring continues to be implemented across levels of schooling with the majority of research being conducted at the elementary level in reading with continued secondary interests on the effects of behavioural issues and social skills. Clearly, there is still a need for this intervention to be validated in the middle and secondary classrooms, but specifically, with students with EBD in the general education setting.

Having a special or highly focused area of interest is a characteristic that is commonly found in many children with autism. These interests include a wide range of fascinations and can be highly motivating for students with autism. Although recognized as an inherent characteristic of autism, special interests and their role in motivating children and youth to learn is an understudied issue. This study was designed to replicate a previous study (Keeling, Myles, Gagnon, & Simpson, 2003) that used the Power Card Strategy to teach sportsmanship skills to a 10-year old girl with autism. The strategy incorporates the special interests of children with autism to teach a variety of social, academic, and behavioral skills. Using the Power Card Strategy, a five year old boy with autism was taught to increase his time on the playground and his social interactions with a large number of 2nd grade students. Because of the success of the strategy, it will be generalized into the child’s home and will also be used for a variety of activities and settings.

Currently, schools are under pressure to reform their curriculum and instructional practices so that all students can perform successfully on high-stakes test. One essential requisite skill for success on all of these assessments is reading. Because the classroom is typically made up of students who exhibit a broad range of performance levels, it can be quite challenging for even the most experienced classroom teacher to successfully teach the content to all students. Research has revealed that when explicit, teacher-directed strategy instruction is used students make significant gains in their reading skills. This paper examines the challenges that content area teachers face in addressing the academic needs of all learners and provides some specific strategies that have been proven effective in the inclusive classroom.

The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of text mapping as a strategy for improving the reading comprehension skills, of four high school students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) in a self-contained freshman technical language arts classroom Using a multiple baseline design across participants, each student received individualized training In the purpose, use, and completion of both the teacher and student-generated text maps. During the first intervention phase, students read a passage and completed a teacher-generated text map, whereas in the second intervention phase, the students created their own text maps for the passages The study consisted of 20 text passages and was completed over a period of 28 days. Dependent measures included a 10- to 20-item production fill-in-the-blank comprehension test to assess the effectiveness of the intervention Results indicated that both the teacher and student-generated text maps were effective in improving comprehension scores for all four students with EBD Limitations of the study; implications for secondary classroom teachers, both general and special education, and future research questions are discussed

The purpose of this study was to present a descriptive, explanatory case study of an adolescent male survivor of a traumatic brain injury (TBI). The subject was a 17 year, 6 month old student enrolled in the twelfth grade at a highly selective science and technology governor’s high school in the suburbs of a major metropolitan area. This investigation explored how a recovery can be successfully accomplished after a moderate-tosevere TBI. A case study methodology was employed to conduct an empirical and contextual investigation using a multi-modal method of data collection. Data collection consisted of archival records, documents, interviews, participant-observation, and direct observation. Overall findings from this study revealed that support from his family, educational personnel, and medical professionals coalesced to aid his recovery. In addition, the data indicated that there were distinct, but overlapping phases through which this individual progressed to reach a point of successful functioning. Moreover, all research pointed to one event, a college deferment decision and its accompanying behavioral changes as evidence that a turning point in the recovery had occurred. Thus, the adolescent had entered into the acknowledgment and acceptance phase. His ultimate successes stemmed from this decision and from this point in time. Implications for future research are discussed.

There is a national movement underway to assist teachers in connecting the ideas and practices found in multicultural, general, and special education (Sobel & T aylor , 2006, p.29). In particular , educators are seeking innovative ways to implements general educa -tion practices with students with low incidence disabilities. This article describes the model used by one elementary school teacher to implement guided reading, a research-based practice in a LIFE skills classroom in order to increase the reading skills of stu -dents with autism. The teacher shares how each studentO s reading levels were identiÞed and describes the classroom management system that allowed for instruction based on student needs. The teacher Os knowledge of the guided reading principles allowed the stu -dents to take responsibility for their learning, providing them with challenging reading lessons that lead to growth in their own reading abilities. Each component of the program can be replicated within a general or special education classroom.