Title: Promising Research topics for Students With Learning Disabilities?
1Promising 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
2History 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.
3 - 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)
4Research Issue 10
- How do we adequately IDENTIFY and CLASSIFY
students with Learning Disabilities? - WHY do we care?
5Accuracy in Classification Essential
- Yields validity in the Construct
- Provides for improved treatment
- Issues of identification have long haunted the
field of learning disabilities.
6What is a Learning Disability?
Is Charlie Brown LD?
7Hypothetical 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?) -
8Low Achievement is Necessary but Not Sufficient
- Homogeneity is at the level of the academic skill
- Processing subtypes currently do not explain
independent variability
9Research 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
10Does this mean all work on process deficits is
hopeless?
- Knowledge about the neurological underpinnings of
learning and LD are not adequately understood. - The measurement needed to identify specific
process disorders in learning has not been
precise. - Matching the subtype of a learning problem with
appropriate treatments has not been successfully
conducted.
11Do 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
12Research 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?
-
13Student 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.
14Teacher practice
Student outcomes
15Research 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 -
16- 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.
17Research 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
18Increasing 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
19Research 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
20- 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.
21Research 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?
22What 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.
23More 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
24Research Issue 3 How do we effectively deliver
instructional services?
- What practices are effective for teaching
students who are learning disabled and English
language learners?
25- 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.
26Instructional practices for ELLs
Instruction practices for students with LD
?
Instruction for English Language Learners with LD
27Research 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?
28- Improving our understanding of practices
associated with effective outcomes for students
with learning disabilities based on the type of
delivery service provided is required.
29Research 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?
30What 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.
31What types of interventions hold promise for
students with LD?
32What types of interventions hold promise for
students with LD?
Academic Difficulty
Intervention
33We 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.
34 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
35We 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
36