Cultural Beliefs and Attitudes about Disability in East Africa

This interpretive literature review of cultural beliefs and attitudes about disability in East Africa identified themes in four categories including (a) the causes of disability, (b) attitudes towards disability, (c) treatment of people with disabilities, and (d) language about disability. Referencing the medical, social, and pluralistic frameworks for conceptualizing disability, the authors sought to compare and contrast East Africa with perspectives about disability common in the developed world. Implications for policy and practice are discussed

Being There as a Support, a Guide, and to Intervene When You Have To: Mentors Reflect on Working with Teacher Candidates

This paper presents a study that investigated how mentors perceived their long-term relationships with teacher candidates in a secondary teacher preparation program. The study describes the process by which the teacher candidates and the mentors select each other and how the relationship develops, with findings that suggest that the length of time teacher candidates and mentor teachers work together as essential to building trust. Mentors identify themselves as quasi teacher educators who serve as an extension to the university preparation process. Findings explore the benefits of mentoring for the prospective and practicing teachers as well as to teacher preparation in general. To optimize the value of field experience, it is important to understand this relationship and its outcomes

Progress Monitoring in Inclusive Preschools: Using Children's School Success+ Curriculum Framework

Progress monitoring in inclusive preschool classrooms should describe all children's progress towards general curriculum outcomes and individual children's unique outcomes or IEP goals. This research study used the Children's School Success+ Curriculum Framework (CSS+ Curriculum Framework) and progress monitoring process to assess the outcomes of 73 children on these dimensions. Children's progress monitoring data were analyzed within groupings based on instructional need level (i.e., low, medium, or high) in academic content and social domains. Progress monitoring findings for both the academic and social support level of need groups showed significant progress pre- to posttest on most academic outcomes, but some variation with less consistent gains within the social emotional domain. Goal attainment scaling data demonstrated children's gains toward achieving their social goals (individualized education program [IEP] or specific learning goals) were at the expected level between 50% and 71% of the time. Academic-focused goal attainment was at or above the expected level of between 54% and 76% of the time, based on the learning grouping. Teacher implementation of CSS+ Curriculum Framework appeared to impact change in classroom and instructional practices pre-post intervention

Examining different forms of implementation and in early childhood curriculum research

The purpose of this study was to examine different approaches to assessing implementation in an early childhood curriculum research study. Early childhood teachers in 51 preschool classes located at nationally dispersed sites implemented the Children's School Success curriculum for a school year. Structural (proportion of curriculum delivered) and process (quality of delivery of curriculum) measures of implementation were collected for the literacy, math, and social components of the curriculum. Also, a multiplicative composite score incorporating information from the structural and process measures was calculated. Site differences occurred for the process measure, but not the structural and composite measures. Analysis of the process implementation measures collected across time revealed primarily stable trends across sites. Significant associations were found between measures of implementation and some of the child outcome variables, with the different forms of implementatio

"Let's Read this Book Again": Using Repeated Reading to Support Literal and Inferential Language Skills in Inclusive Preschool Classrooms

In their development as readers, children begin to acquire critical precursory skills long before they enter school. Young children’s language development is particularly enhanced by their opportunities to actively engage in meaningful language interactions with those around them. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that early childhood classrooms provide all children with quality, accessible experiences that promote language development. This paper provides early childhood practitioners with a repeated book reading model which teachers can use to promote essential language skills. In particular, the repeated book reading model presented includes strategies to develop children’s inferential language skills which may be critical to support reading comprehension. An opening and closing vignette is provided to illustrate the use of this framework in an inclusive early childhood classroom

“We Are Here for the Kidsâ€: A Case Study About Including Children with Disabilities in Head Start

A substantial number of children with disabilities are enrolled in Head Start and it is therefore important to understand how they are included in this context. The inclusion of children with disabilities in eight classrooms across one Midwestern Head Start program is examined in this exploratory case study. How Head Start teachers plan and adapt activities with the needs of all children in mind, how they collaborate with others on behalf of children, and how children with disabilities participate in inclusive classrooms is described. Findings were presented in four cross-case themes: 1) Planning for Children, 2) Adapting Activities for Children with Disabilities, 3) Including All by Facilitating Peer Interactions, and 4) Connecting in a Community. Implications for practice are presente

Including everyone from the start: lessons learned from Head Start

This research to practice article summarizes the findings from a case study focused on examining how children with disabilities were included in eight Head Start classrooms in one Midwestern Head Start program. Lessons learned from this study provide important implications for practice. Specifically: 1) Teachers must be provided with support to recognize and address the individual needs of children with disabilities in their classroom; 2) Teacher need to intentionally facilitate peer interactions between children with and without disabilities; 3) Key stakeholders involved in serving children with disabilities should prioritize developing effective partnership; 4) Efforts are necessary to reduce the negative impacts of external factors influencing the quality of inclusive classroom environments

Building Meaningful Partnerships with Families to Promote Early Literacy Development: Implications for Practitioners

This research to practice paper summarizes the findings of a study that sought to understand Head Start families’ existing beliefs and practices about early literacy. Guided by the “funds of knowledge†perspective (Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez, 1992), this approach views families as resourceful, competent, and essential partners in their child’s learning. Families were asked to complete The Family Literacy Survey, which included Likert scale-items and open-ended questions. The findings found that while families’ valued early literacy learning, they reported few home activities related to children’s specific early literacy skills (i.e., writing the child’s name, learning letter sounds), instead relying on the Head Start program to address the development of these skills. Practical implications are detailed including supporting families’ knowledge of early literacy and building on their existing literacy practices

Özel eğitim öğretmenlerinin aile-profesyonel işbirliğine hazırlanması : Engelli çocukları olan ailelerin görüşleri

Understanding the family perspective on partnering with teachers is critical for restructuring practices in preparing teachers to partner with families. In this study, the context of a course which was designed to prepare special education teachers for family-professional partnerships is used to examine how families of students with special needs view their role in school-family relationships, what they think about teachers partnering with families, and how teacher preparation programs might respond to the challenges that arise from the family perspective. Data were collected through surveys, interviews and focus group discussions and were analyzed using mixed-methods. Families reported that direct experience with families was essential to prepare teachers to work with them. They also made it clear that there was a mismatch between families’ understanding of family-professional partnership and that of professionals. These findings have important implications for the design and content of teacher preparation programs.Ailelerin aile-profesyonel ilişkileri hakkındaki düşüncelerini/görüşlerini anlamak öğretmen yetiştirme programlarımızı yapılandırmak ve öğretmenleri aile işbirliği konusunda etkili bir şekilde hazırlamakta kritik bir öneme sahiptir. Bu araştırmada, özel eğitim öğretmenlerini aile işbirliği konusunda hazırlamak için dizayn edilmiş bir kurs ortamını kullanarak engelli çocuklara sahip ailelerin öğretmenlerle işbirliği hakkındaki düşüncelerini inceleme yoluna gittik ve öğretmen yetiştirme programlarının aile yaklaşımlarından doğabilecek zorluklara nasıl cevap verebileceğini tayin etmeye çalıştık. Anket, görüşme ve küçük gurup toplantıları veri toplama yöntemleri olarak kullanılmıştır. Aile bireyleri öğretmenlerin ailelerle işbirliği için hazırlanmalarında ailelerle birebir görüşmelerin ve bu alanda stajların önemini vurguladılar. Buna ilaveten aileler, kendi profesyonel-aile işbirliği anlayışları ile profesyonellerin anlayışları arasında bir uyuşmazlık olduğunu dile getirdiler. Bu bulgular öğretmen yetiştirme programlarını dizayn etmede ve içeriğini oluşturmada önemli etkilere sahip ipuçları sağlamaktadır

Examining Families’ Early Literacy Beliefs and Practices Within a Head Start Program: Building Bridges

An important beginning in bridging early literacy learning between the home and preschool setting is to deepen the understanding of families’ literacy beliefs and practices. In this study, 213 families in a rural Midwestern Head Start program completed The Family Early Literacy Survey, which asked participants to share literacy beliefs and practices using both a Likert scale-items and open-ended questions. The findings document that families believed it was important for their child to develop early literacy and that they engaged in strategies such as reading a book with their child or helping them with their homework. However, they reported few home activities related to children’s specific early literacy skills (i.e., writing the child’s name, learning letter sounds), instead relying on the Head Start program to develop these skills. Implications of the findings for building bridges to between preschool programs and families to support children’s early literacy skills are discussed