Special Education Scholarly Works
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The Department of Special Education provides professional opportunities for students committed to the improvement of quality of life for children, youth, and adults with disabilities. The department is one of the most comprehensive in the country. Student programs draw on resources available within the department and through collaboration with other university and community units. Students in the department study with leaders in special education and participate with faculty as colleagues in research, demonstration projects, and service activities on a state, regional, and national level.
The department faculty average between 40-45 federally funded projects per year. Students have competed successfully for federal support of student research. Faculty are active scholars involved in state and national organizations and committed to public service on the local, state, national, and international levels.
The KU Department of Special Education has been ranked the number one special education graduate program in the country for more than 20 years. Moreover, the department has been identified as the top special education doctoral program nationally in every empirical study reported in the special education literature, including the first such study to be conducted (Smith, 1978) and subsequent ones published in the 1980s and 1990s. In the studies published in the 1980s, our number one ranking was based on having the most distinguished faculty (Sindelar & Schloss, 1986) and producing the best prepared doctoral students in the nation, including the country's most prolific special education researchers (Schloss & Sindelar, 1986; Sindelar & Schloss, 1986, 1987). In the most recent empirical study, our number one ranking was based on having the nation's most highly regarded faculty in terms of both scholarly reputation and actual research productivity (Cardinal & Drew, 1993).
The interdisciplinary nature of the program is maintained by collaboration with several inter- and intra-university units. This enables faculty and students to conduct research and to train in many areas related to special education. Opportunities for training, research, and student employment are provided through federally funded projects such as the Center for Research on Learning, Beach Center on Disability, and Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies.
Recent Submissions
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Supporting the inclusion and retention of autistic students: Exploring teachers' and paraeducators' use of evidence-based practices in public elementary schools
(Frontiers Media, 2022-12-06)Introduction: Educators in public schools are required to serve students in their least restrictive environment. While many evidence-based practices (EBPs), defined as practices and strategies shown by research to have ... -
The Future of Positive Psychology and Disability
(Frontiers Media, 2021-12-09)For much of the history of the application of psychology to disability, the research and clinical focus of the field was deficits-oriented: documenting what people with disability could not do, proposing theories of why ... -
Progress Monitoring in Inclusive Preschools: Using Children's School Success+ Curriculum Framework
(American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 2018-06-01)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 ... -
Implementation and Sustainability of Early Childhood Positive Behavior Support in Kansas: A Statewide Survey
(University of Kansas, 2019-12-31)The purpose of this study is to evaluate the current status of implementation and sustainability of positive behavior support (PBS) practices within community child care and Head Start/Early Head Start programs in the state ... -
EMPLOYER CONFIDENCE IN SELF-CAPACITY TO SUPPORT EMPLOYEES WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS: PARTNERSHIPS WITH COMMUNITY AGENCIES
(University of Kansas, 2019-12-31)Community employment prospects for people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have improved as a result of decades of federal legislation as well as a growing body of research and employment service delivery options. ... -
Effects of Video Modeling on Customer Service Skills of Young Adults with Autism in Community Employment Settings
(University of Kansas, 2019-08-31)Young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often experience barriers to competitive integrated employment. The complex problem of unemployment and lack of positive postsecondary employment experiences of individuals ... -
Decision-Making by Families and Home Visitors During Early Head Start Home Visits
(University of Kansas, 2019-08-31)Early Head Start policies describe parents as partners in decision-making and require families and home visitors to co-develop child and family goals. Home visitors face a range of challenges when facilitating decisions ... -
Girls of Color with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Reinventing Education Through an Intersectional Photographic Lens
(University of Kansas, 2019-08-31)Girls of color with intellectual and developmental disabilities (i.e., autism, cerebral palsy, deaf/blindness, intellectual disability, multiple disabilities) in middle school and high school in the United States are ... -
Effects of a Verbal Behavior Card Sort Implemented by Early Childhood Educators on the Verbal Behavior Skills of Children with Developmental Disabilities
(University of Kansas, 2019-08-31)Previous research has demonstrated the effectiveness of Verbal Behavior Intervention on the language development of children with developmental disabilities (DeSouza, Akers, & Fisher, 2017; Petursdottir & Devine, 2017). ... -
Foundations for Self-Determination in Early Childhood: Preliminary Preschool Study
(Springer, 2019-03-08)Foundations for self-determination begin in early childhood for children with disabilities with the onset of self-regulation and engagement in activities at home, school, and in the community. This article describes the ... -
Going beyond Environment to Context: Leveraging the Power of Context to Produce Change
(MDPI, 2020-03-13)This article discusses the processes and implications of going beyond environment to context. The article (a) provides an operational definition of context; (b) describes a multidimensional model of context that views ... -
An Exploratory Study Using Participation Plans for Inclusive Social Studies Instruction
(2020)Limited research exists on teaching social studies content, including intervention research, in inclusive settings for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The purpose of this exploratory project ... -
Parent Perspectives on Special Education Services: How Do Schools Implement Team Decisions?
(Academic Development Institute, 2019)The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine parents’ perspectives and experiences of special education, including the degree to which decisions about their child’s education were implemented as they had agreed ... -
Parent perspectives of their involvement in IEP development for children with autism
(SAGE Publications, 2017)The present study investigated parents’ experiences making educational decisions for their children with autism and their satisfaction with the outcomes of those decisions. Parents completed a survey describing their: ... -
A Description of Parent Input in IEP Development Through Analysis of IEP Documents
(American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 2019)Parent input in Individualized Education Program (IEP) development is the clear expectation in U.S. education law. Every IEP team must include parents, and their input must be equally considered when developing IEPs. The ... -
Parents’ experiences in education decision-making for children and youth with disabilities
(American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 2017)Families should be an active part of educational decision-making for their children and can be particularly influential in advocating for inclusion for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Yet, ... -
Considerations in Placement Decisions for Students with Extensive Support Needs: An Analysis of LRE Statements
(Sheridan Press, 2019)Special education consists of specially designed services available for students with disabilities, and should be available across placements. Students with the most significant disabilities continue to be taught in ... -
Types of Supplementary Aids and Services for Students with Significant Support Needs
(SAGE Publications, 2019)Supplementary aids and services have been a provision in special education law since PL 94- 142, however, almost no guidance has been provided to help teams make decisions about their appropriate selection and use. In ... -
Status of Inclusive Educational Placement for Students with Extensive and Pervasive Support Needs
(American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 2017)Reauthorization of IDEA in 2004 established procedural mandates and accountability requirements ensuring all students with disabilities participate and progress in general education curriculum. Broadly speaking, improvements ...