From the Editors
Dear Readers, Editorial Board Members, and Authors,
We hope that 2023 is wrapping up successfully for you, and that you are ready for the winter break.
We are happy to offer December 2023 issue of the Journal of Special Education Apprenticeship (JOSEA) to your attention.
Before we delve into our customary articles’ overview, there is an important journal update that we would like to share with you:
Anna Osipova’s and Jemma Kim’s JOSEA Co-Editorship is coming to its conclusion in Summer 2024.
We have served as the editors for three years. We are looking forward to passing over the baton of editorship to the new team.
We are planning to transition to a new editorial team in summer 2024. Jemma Kim will remain on board as the Publication Manager, since the journal was founded and is housed at CSU San Bernardino.
Karolyn Maurer, our Amazing Assistant Editor, will be stepping down with us, so it would be important for the applicants to have a plan for the larger support team.
If you are interested to come on board as an editor or as a team of co-editors, please send us the following: a) your letter of interest deliberating
how you will uphold the Journal’s Mission and Vision during your editorship; b) your CV, and c) a sample article review that you conducted for a publication other than JOSEA.
Please send your documents to JOSEA Editorial Team at thejoseasubmission@gmail.com. The editorial team will review the applications in April 2024.
We would like to use the months of May and June 2024 to transition to the new team. We would be happy for the new team to shadow our June 2024 issue production.
The current issue features four manuscripts. The articles in the current issue focus on three topics.
The last two manuscripts discuss Asian families’ experiences in special education, while the third and fourth focus on behavioral and academic interventions, respectively.
One theme that connects the first and third articles is the theme of early childhood special education.
The issue opens with an article by Kim and colleagues titled Navigating Home Language Practice for Children with Disabilities: Insights From Korean-American Mothers' Online Communications.
This qualitative study is an exploration of the home language practices of Korean-American mothers of children with developmental disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder.
Presenting its findings, the study underscores the importance of equity-based culturally responsive collaboration between educational system and culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) families.
The authors highlight the value of online communities for CLD parents as an invaluable source of accurate cultural and linguistic information about diverse children with disabilities.
Rios and Tu in their article Navigating IEP Meetings: Effective Approaches for Supporting Asian Families of Children With IDD in Special Education focus on Asian parents’ involvement in IEPs.
The authors remind the readers that parent involvement has been shown to have positive impact on students’ outcomes.
They then turn to discussion of systemic barriers that CLD families face in the IEP process.
The readers will find the study’s implications for educators working with CLD families in special education.
The third manuscript in the issue by Smith, MacNaul, and Kirkpatrick titled Using Behavior Skills Training and a Group Contingency to Promote Mask-Wearing in an Early Childhood Special Education Classroom
turn the readers’ attention to a promising behavioral-analytic approach in promoting positive behaviors in young children with disabilities.
The study used behavior skill training and group contingency to successfully teach 3 to 5-years-old children with developmental delays to properly put on and wear a mask.
The findings provide the audience with a model of an effective behavioral intervention.
The article A Group Reading Intervention With Individualized Error Correction for Middle School Students With Reading Difficulties by Wu, Stratton, and Gadke concludes this issue.
The authors present a multi-component small group reading intervention package designed to improve reading performance of middle school students with disabilities.
The intervention resulted in strong improvement of reading skills for each of the study’s participants.
We hope that you will find the articles in this issue engaging and useful. We thank the reviewers who helped us bring this research to you.
Looking forward to new submissions and wishing you a lovely winter break,
Anna Osipova and Jemma Kim, Co-Editors
Karolyn Maurer, Assistant Editor
Articles
Navigating Home Language Practice for Children With Disabilities: Insights From Korean-American Mothers' Online Communications
Jemma Kim1, Young Suk Hwang2, Yeon Kim3, and Sang Seok Nam1
1 Department of Special Education, Rehabilitation and Counseling
2 Department of Teacher Education and Foundation
3Department of Nursing
California State University, San Bernardino
Abstract: This study explores the home language practice (HLP) of Korean-American mothers with children who have developmental disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder.
Data was collected from an online forum where these mothers discussed their experiences and decision-making processes following their child's diagnosis.
Thematic analysis was conducted on the collected data to identify and develop themes related to their experiences.
The study's framework is based on family-centered practices, emphasizing the importance of equal partnerships, cultural responsiveness, and information sharing between families and early intervention and early childhood special education (EI/ECSE) professionals.
Factors that influence HLP decisions include mothers' perceptions of disabilities, professional advice, and children’s intervention progress.
The study highlights the vital role of EI/ECSE professionals in sharing current research findings, their experiences with culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) families, and the long-term outcomes of families that chose bilingual or single-language environments.
By offering this information, professionals can assist parents in making informed decisions about their child's HLP.
Furthermore, the study emphasizes the value of online communities for CLD parents and the need for professionals to engage with these communities to provide accurate information on bilingualism for children with disabilities.
Collaborating with ethnolinguistic communities and establishing parent support groups can create a nurturing environment for parents navigating EI/ECSE services for their children.
Keywords: family-centered services, home language practice, early intervention/early childhood special education, Korean-American mothers, perception of disabilities
Navigating IEP Meetings: Effective Approaches for Supporting Asian Families of Children With IDD in Special Education
Kristina Rios 1 and Wei-Mo Tu 2
1 Department of Literacy, Early, Bilingual and Special Education
2 Department of Counselor Education and Rehabilitation
California State University, Fresno
Abstract: Family involvement is an essential component of the special education process for youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).
In addition to the legal requirement that parents should be equal partners in the decision-making of the student’s IEP program (IDEA, 2004), a bulk of empirical research demonstrates the positive impact of parent involvement on student outcomes.
However, many families face barriers to participation in the special education process. Culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD), including Asian families, especially face systemic barriers when accessing services for their children with disabilities.
In order to better understand parents’ perceptions of stress in relation to individualized education program (IEP) meetings, special education knowledge, and family-professional collaborations, individual interviews were conducted with eight Asian families of children with IDD.
The input provided by Asian parents provides many critical implications for practice.
Keywords:Asian parents, children with IDD, parental stress, IEP meetings
Using Behavior Skills Training and a Group Contingency to Promote Mask-Wearing in an Early Childhood Special Education Classroom
Kaitlyn Smith 1,2, Hannah MacNaul1, and Marie Kirkpatrick1
1The University of Texas at San Antonio
2 Medina Valley Independent School District
Abstract: Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the resulting pandemic had widespread implications on the safety of the job tasks teachers are charged with each day.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC, 2020) recommends people age 2 years and older should wear masks in public settings; however, for children with disabilities, wearing a mask may be difficult and as such, is not required.
Special education teachers and students in particular are at high risk for exposure and contracting COVID-19. Therefore, behavior-analytic strategies that can teach and reinforce appropriate mask-wearing should be evaluated.
Given the environment of schools at the time of the study, mask-wearing was a critical skill that children had to learn, and quickly.
In this study, students ages 3 to 5-years-old with developmental delays were taught how to properly wear a mask using behavior skills training (BST) until all students were able to put on a mask, or ask for help in doing so, independently.
Then, a group contingency was utilized to reinforce the wearing of masks throughout the day in the classroom. Using a changing criterion design, BST and a group contingency was effective in increasing mask wearing for students in the classroom.
Keywords:group contingency, mask-wearing, school, early education
A Group Reading Intervention With Individualized Error Correction for Middle School Students With Reading Difficulties
Shengtian Wu1, Kasee K. Stratton 2, and Daniel L. Gadke 2
1 Department of Psychology, Illinois State University
2 Mississippi State University
Abstract: Reading difficulties are common among middle school students in the US, especially among those with disabilities. Unfortunately, there is a significant shortage of professionals (e.g., special educators) who can provide high-quality reading interventions.
Small group (SG) intervention is a group instruction that helps more students in need per intervention session and may mitigate the aforementioned shortage.
SG intervention packages often include various intervention components that address skill and performance difficulties.
However, SG reading intervention research has mostly focused on helping elementary school students without disabilities.
Also, many SG reading interventions used one-size-fits all approach which restricted individualization of error correction procedure.
The current study developed a multi-component SG reading intervention package that contained individualized error correction procedures to improve the reading skills of three middle school students with disabilities.
An ABAB single-subject design was employed to evaluate the effectiveness of the SG reading fluency intervention package.
Visual analysis and effect size measurements indicated a strong effect on the intervention package for each participant.
Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.
Keywords: reading fluency, small group, error correction, disabilities
