Promising Research topics for Students With Learning Disabilities?

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Promising Research topics for Students With
Learning Disabilities?

• Sharon Vaughn
• Regents Professor
• Sharon Vaughn
• Regents Professor
• University of Texas
• With a little help from my friends
• Amory Cable
• Jack Fletcher
• Doug and Lynn Fuchs
• Russell Gersten

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History of Special Education

• For many students with disabilities, the initial
  goal of special education was to ensure that they
  were provided an opportunity to attend and profit
  from education (FAPE).
• The history of special education for students
  with LD focuses more on appropriate instruction.

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• Whereas many typically achieving students can
  make up for lost time, learn well independently,
  and make up for mistakes made by educators,
  special education students cannot. The influence
  of research and evidence on decision making has
  even greater value for those students with
  disabilities who most require precision in their
  instructional and behavioral plans. (Vaughn
  Dammann, 2001, p.27)

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Research Issue 10

• How do we adequately IDENTIFY and CLASSIFY
  students with Learning Disabilities?
• WHY do we care?

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Accuracy in Classification Essential

• Yields validity in the Construct
• Provides for improved treatment
• Issues of identification have long haunted the
  field of learning disabilities.

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What is a Learning Disability?
Is Charlie Brown LD?
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Hypothetical Classification of LD Marker
Variables involving

• 1. Word Recognition (Dyslexia)
• 2. Reading Fluency
• 3. Reading Comprehension
• 4. Math Computations (Dyscalculia)
• 5. Math Problem Solving
• 6. Written Expression (Handwriting, Spelling,
  Text Generation?)

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Low Achievement is Necessary but Not Sufficient

• Homogeneity is at the level of the academic skill
• Processing subtypes currently do not explain
  independent variability

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Research Issue 9 Should we understand
underlying processes in Learning Disabilities ?

• The initial work in learning disabilities
  attempted to better link the underlying processes
  that caused the learning disability with
  possible cures or remediation of those
  underlying process disabilities.
• Psychoeducational strengths and
  weaknesses
• Concerns with linking process disabilities
  to treatment lead to strange and unreliable
  interventions

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Does this mean all work on process deficits is
hopeless?

1. Knowledge about the neurological underpinnings of
   learning and LD are not adequately understood.
2. The measurement needed to identify specific
   process disorders in learning has not been
   precise.
3. Matching the subtype of a learning problem with
   appropriate treatments has not been successfully
   conducted.

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Do process oriented interventions live on?

• Modality-matched and multi-sensory approaches
  continue to be used as interventions for students
  with LD with no research to support their use.
• Finding from meta-analyses There is no
  empirical support for the use of modality-matched
  or multi-sensory approaches for students with LD

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Research Issue 8 How do we Improve the
Knowledge and Skills of Special Education Teachers

• Does Teacher Quality Matter?
• What are the Indicators of Teacher Quality?
• How do we Measure Teacher Quality?

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Student Outcomes.

• The ultimate goal of special education is to
  improve students social, behavioral, and academic
  outcomes
• These outcomes are influenced by teachers
  practice.
• Influencing teachers practice how to
  effectively accomplish this requires further
  study.

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Teacher practice
Student outcomes
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Research Issue 7 How do we Improve the Knowledge
Based on Transition to Work?

• We need to understand much more about effective
  practices for individuals with learning
  disabilities as they transition to work and
  postsecondary

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• Students with LD will need access to
  post-secondary options
• Investigations on how to effectively influence
  access and success in post-secondary settings are
  needed.
• Investigations that increase school retention.

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Research Issues 6 How do we provide effective
interventions in STEM?

• Students with Learning Disabilities will be
  required to meet the increasing demands of
• Science
• Technology
• Mathematics

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Increasing knowledge

• In Science, Technology, and Math will require
  knowledge of
• effective instructional practices for improving
  concept learning to mastery,
• effective instructional practices for accessing
  general education curriculum related to higher
  level thinking in ALGEBRA and SCIENCE

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Research Issue 5 What writing interventions are
effective?

• How to improve students written composition
  including knowledge of
• Effective practices for written expression across
  genres
• Effective practices for basic writing elements
  such as handwriting/keyboarding spelling

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• In particular,
• We need RIGOROUS, long term studies of effective
  practices in written composition and the elements
  of writing.
• Noteworthy is the need to look at effects over
  time and to examine transfer.

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Research Issue 4 What language interventions are
effective?

• What practices are associated with improved
  outcomes in expressive language development and
  listening comprehension for students with
  language/learning disabilities?

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What do we know?

• We know exceedingly little from rigorous studies
  of effective practices for improving expressive
  and receptive language outcomes for students with
  language/learning disabilities.

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More research is needed

• To identify effective language intervention
  practices for complex syntax, curriculum related
  vocabulary, receptive language and pragmatics
  (social communication)
• To identify effective service delivery models
• To examine optimal treatment dosage
• To assess generalization and maintenance effects
  in longitudinal studies

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Research Issue 3 How do we effectively deliver
instructional services?

• What practices are effective for teaching
  students who are learning disabled and English
  language learners?

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• Much of what we know about teaching students who
  are both learning disabled and English language
  learners has been adapted from the
  less-than-adequate research base on ELLs without
  disabilities.

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Instructional practices for ELLs
Instruction practices for students with LD
?
Instruction for English Language Learners with LD
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Research Issue 2 Models of Service?

• How Effective are various service delivery
  models for meeting the needs of students with
  Learning Disabilities including Resource Room
  models, Inclusion, and Response to Intervention?

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• Improving our understanding of practices
  associated with effective outcomes for students
  with learning disabilities based on the type of
  delivery service provided is required.

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Research Issue 1 What Practices Improve
Academic Outcomes for Students with LD ?

• When students fail to respond to traditionally
  effective instructional practices in reading,
  math, spelling, and writing --- what intensive
  interventions are associated with effective
  outcomes?

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What do we know?

• We have learned much in the last 2 decades about
  teaching students with learning difficulties.
• We know considerably less about teaching students
  whose response to typically effective practices
  is low/very low.

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What types of interventions hold promise for
students with LD?
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What types of interventions hold promise for
students with LD?
Academic Difficulty
Intervention
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We need studies to demonstrate support for

• Controlling task difficulty (e.g., sequencing
  examples and problems to maintain high levels of
  success and matching task difficulty with student
  abilities and emerging skills) is associated with
  improved academic outcomes.

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We need research that documents

• The effectiveness of various group sizes in
  teaching students with LD
• one on one
• very small group (n3)
• small group (n5)
• large group

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We need research that

• Better informs special education teachers on all
  practices related to effectively teaching
  students with learning disabilities
• And
• Preparing them for success post secondary
• AND
• Preparing them for academic and social success

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• Thank YOU!!!!