The least restrictive environment (LRE) mandate provides a preference for educating students with disabilities in general education classrooms while allowing separate class services as necessary to meet student needs. This study investigated changes in national LRE placement trends for students with disabilities from 1990-1991 through 2007-2008. Findings revealed a significant increase in placements in general education settings and a substantial decrease in more restrictive placements. Placement practices for students at the secondary level changed substantially more than placements for elementary students, although both groups moved toward significantly less restrictive placement practices. Students with learning disabilities accounted for much of the overall change in placement practices, whereas students with emotional or behavioral disorders and intellectual disabilities experienced smaller changes in less restrictive placements.
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is the fastest growing category served in special education, yet there is a serious shortage of personnel appropriately trained and highly qualified to meet the unique needs of children and adolescents with autism in the nation's schools. The need for specialized training and certification in the area of autism (above and beyond qualifications in special education generally) is only now being recognized by state licensure agencies and personnel preparation programs. West Virginia University, an early adopter of technology-mediated distance education, has developed post-baccalaureate certification and Masters degree program to prospective and practicing special education personnel to work with students with autism spectrum disorders in rural areas. This article presents a new graduate program to prepare special educators as autism specialists by 1) describing an innovative distance education model that uses desktop audio conferencing for live interactive classes with other online activities as well as online supervision of practicum experiences; and 2) discussing development and implementation of the program, including initial outcomes and planned changes.
The purpose of this study was to determine how the needs of students with disabilities are addressed by state coordinators of school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) during professional development activities on positive behavioral strategies, school-wide systems, and school-wide commitment to the PBIS approach. Particular attention was given to how the needs of students with severe disabilities were addressed throughout training opportunities. Although an overwhelming majority (93%) of the state coordinators believed that students with severe disabilities can participate at least partially in schoolwide PBIS programs, they indicated that this belief was not reflected in their state's PBIS initial professional development activities.DESCRIPTORS: severe disabilities, positive behavioral interventions and supports, professional developmentThe 1997 amendments to Individuals With Disabilities Education Act mandated that positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) and functional behavior assessments be used with students who have disabilities and whose behavior impedes either their learning or the learning of others. Bambara and Kern (2005) described PBIS as Ba problem-solving approach to understanding reasons for the problem behavior and designing comprehensive interventions that are matched to the hypothesis about why the problem behavior is occurring and to the individual's unique social, environmental, and cultural milieu [ (p. 3). In their research review of 107 studies published between 1985published between and 1996published between , Carr et al. (1999 found that PBIS consistently has been effective for individuals with severe intellectual disabilities and that it is widely applicable to individuals with Bserious disabilities who demonstrate serious behavior problems [ (p. 82). They also found that PBIS can be applied by typical individuals who associate everyday with the individual (i.e., teacher, parent, direct care provider) in typical situations, rather than requiring specialized experts in behavior disorders and separate contexts.
Teaching in a public school is a demanding job as the multiple dynamics of a classroom can be a challenge. In addition to addressing the challenging behaviors that many students without disabilities exhibit, more and more students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) are being included in the general education classroom. Effective instruction and the development of effective instructional environments have been demonstrated to decrease problem behaviors in students with histories of failure in school. Positive behavior support (PBS) provides a framework for considering development of instructional environments that increase the teacher's ability to deliver effective instruction to all students, thereby increasing success rates and reducing negative behavior across the school. The same PBS features: prediction, prevention, consistency, and evaluation apply in the classroom to decrease the number of problem behaviors and increase academic and social success. This paper presents a description of the key features of effective classroom PBS and demonstrates each via the use of case examples. The premise of PBS is that the more effectively the environment is designed, more effective it can be in facilitating classrooms that run smoothly and efficiently, allowing teachers to recognize, assess, and plan for students with special needs.
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