This study provides an in-depth examination of the understanding and implementation of cognitive–behavioural approaches (CBA) by Australian teachers of students with both autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability. Semistructured interviews were completed with 13 New South Wales teachers and several themes emerged. Interviewed teachers appeared to have limited knowledge about CBA; their description of the application of CBA and their reported practices included few features specific and unique to CBA. They primarily perceived CBA as a tool for behaviour management; addressing emotion was a theme but addressing cognition was not a salient feature of their practice. Most teachers seemed unaware of the potential of CBA in fostering generalisation or maintenance, and important student characteristics appeared to be seldom considered in teacher planning of their CBA programs. Directions for enhancing teacher knowledge and supporting their practice of CBA are suggested.

Extant research addressing implicit factors related to intervention decisions made by parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is limited and findings have been inconsistent. In the present study, 74 parents of preschoolers with ASD were surveyed regarding intervention use. The possible relationships between implicit parent factors (education level, age, causal beliefs about ASD, complementary and alternative medicine [CAM] use, and family income) and child factors (time since diagnosis, and perceived severity of ASD), and the number and type of interventions used were examined. Consistent with previous research, only a small number of significant relationships were found, including that family income, parent use of CAM, mother’s education, parent belief in an unknown aetiology of ASD, and time since child’s diagnosis were all related to the number of interventions used. Some specific findings of previous research were not replicated in the present study (e.g., neither beliefs in environmental aetiology of ASD nor parent education levels were related to the use of specific CAM interventions), indicating that factors affecting decision-making may not be consistent across samples. Nevertheless, future research including an expanded range of possible implicit factors with more diverse samples may provide a more accurate predictive model of parent decision-making.

This paper reports the results of part of a three stage examination of services to students with mild intellectual disability in two educational regions of New South Wales. The purpose of the study was to obtain a comprehensive picture of the educational services being provided to these students. The stages in the study included a questionnaire completed by 68 teachers, an interview administered to a sub-sample of 27 teachers, and observations in seven classrooms. The results of the study reported in this paper relate to characteristics of the teachers and school and classroom variables, the nature of integration occurring in these settings, and the resources accessed and needed by these teachers. The study found that the average class size was 13.3 children; boys out-numbered girls by 1.66:1; fewer than half of the children also participated in an integration program; about half of the teachers had been trained in special education; and most teachers would have preferred more support services than they were receiving.

This study was conducted to identify the strengths and needs of deaf adults as parents of 7–18 year old hearing children. A cross sectional, descriptive design was used to gather data from a convenience sample of nineteen pairs of deaf parents and their hearing children. The Parental Strengths and Needs Inventory was administered to children in written form and to their parents in sign language via videotape along with structured interviews. Contrary to anecdotal reports about his family constellation, total and subset scores for both groups revealed above average parental success. Comparison of parents’ and children’s scores on parallel forms of the instrument indicated no significant differences, this supporting validity of parents’ scores. Interview responses compared with the content of PSNI revealed that deaf parents share the concerns of normal hearing parents but had additional concerns specific to deafness not addressed by the instrument.

Programmes for teaching English as a second language (E.S.L.) to infant school aged migrant children in Australia have not been systematically evaluated. With the exception of the Tate “Oral English” Course, no other programmes have been specifically designed for this very young age group, and programmes designed for use with primary aged children and even adults have been adapted and used by E.S.L. teachers in Infants’ Schools. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate an E.S.L. programme currently operating in some Infants’ Schools as well as to implement and evaluate the use of the Distar Language 1 programme in an E.S.L. Kindergarten group, and to compare outcomes from this programme with those obtained by the currently operating programme.

Results indicate that the Distar Language 1 programme was more effective than the standard programme for all language structures other than vocabulary development and phonological discrimination. The superior outcome of the Distar programme may be due to either a programme effect, a behavioural teaching technology, or both.

Former students (34) of a residential school for students with emotional-behavioural difficulties, and their parents, were interviewed to determine their perceptions about the educational and social adjustment of the students. Following reintegration into mainstream schools, or work, the majority of the former students were reported as coping at least adequately with the social and academic demands of their lives. Both former students and their parents held positive perceptions regarding the students’ special school experience, and in general believed that the students’ attendance at the special school had facilitated their subsequent development and adjustment. The results are discussed in terms of the need for this first study in New Zealand to be supplemented by further research to validate the beliefs of former students and their parents, and some of the major attendant methodological problems which confront research in this area.

In this article, the authors argue the case for scientific evidenced‐based practice in education. They consider what differentiates science from pseudoscience and what sources of information teachers typically regard as reliable. The What Works Clearinghouse is discussed with reference to certain limitations of its current operation. Given the relative paucity of ‘gold standard’ research in education, an alternative model for assessing the efficacy of educational programs is proposed as a temporary solution.

A Deaf with disabilities (DWD) male professor, 2 hearing female teacher candidates, 11 parents (4 of whom were immigrants), and 6 DWD children sought to better understand the experiences of parents of DWD children by conducting an ethnographic study (Singer, Kamenakis, Shapiro, & Cacciato, in press). The research team recorded reflexive journals as a way to analyse their methodology. In this essay, we reflect on 3 themes developed from the reflexive journals: (a) researcher positionality, (b) negotiating power in research, and (c) language variation in practice. We discuss our experiences and contextualise these accounts within relevant scholarship, attempting to locate some amount of resolution to the very human experiences upon which we reflect. We provide key takeaways for doing research with and among people with disabilities in special educational settings, particularly focusing on people who communicate in nonnormative ways. We conclude with a culminating discussion of the significance of creating emancipatory special education research.

It is interesting to speculate on the concept of decision-making and change in education. A particularly appropriate trend in education which is worthy of careful scrutiny is the concept of ‘mainstreaming’ – a topic of current concern to educators and one which will be mentioned many times, no doubt, during this Conference. Of special concern in this paper is the question of the mainstreaming of hearing impaired children and the attitudes of the non-handicapped peers to the inclusion of deaf children in their class. As a brief preamble to the particular study under question, let us consider the multi-faceted nature of mainstreaming, together with some of the decisions which have to be made about this trend. Reynolds (1976) suggests that mainstreaming is ‘an enlargement of the stream of regular education … to accommodate children who present special needs.’ Clearly, mainstreaming is part of the wider trend of ‘normalization’. In his landmark book, The Futures of Children, Hobbs (1975) says that normalization implies that the handicapped person should be kept as close as possible to his natural setting and that the normal socializing agencies, the family, school and neighbourhood, should be used, rather than special agencies.

Having taken the opportunity to read several of the Des English lectures that have been published over the years, it appears that the tradition of this lecture is often to provide some commentary on changes that have occurred during the career of the person delivering the address, in relation to the field of special education. There is more than a little reminiscing and nostalgia in Des English lectures and a great many references to ‘journeys’ by various Des English presenters suggesting a sense of progress or at least progression over time.

Student problem behaviour in schools is an issue for teachers, schools, and education jurisdictions. Problem behaviour also has an effect on families, the individual student, and the community. It is one of the principal issues of discussion for teachers, preservice teachers, principals, and policymakers. The purpose of this study was to examine a model that supports schools in managing available resources to promote positive behaviour and address problem behaviour. Interviews were conducted with 12 primary and high school principals to investigate their experiences of working together in 6 local management groups (LMGs) for the management of student behaviour. The findings revealed that the LMG model supported effective collaborative leadership practices between the high school and primary school principals and encouraged collegial networks among primary and high school teachers through joint professional learning opportunities. The benefits of the LMG model highlighted some positive outcomes for principals, teachers, and students with problem behaviour within their local schools.

The Pyramid Model (PM) is an evidence-based, early educational framework designed to promote all young children’s social-emotional-behavioural (SEB) learning. The tiered PM early education practice framework, developed in North America, embeds strategies for children with exceptional needs naturally and coherently integrates apparently divergent approaches to promoting young children’s SEB skills. Responsive teaching, which is fundamental to early education practice, is shown to link with positive behaviour support practices by means of incidental and planned intentional teaching. These early education PM practices are intended to promote children’s SEB skills when used together purposefully, consistently, and intensively. The PM’s potential application in Australia was investigated with 4–5-year-olds in 4 Victorian preschools. Quantitative data from the study suggested that after training and subsequent coaching in the PM, there was significant change in intervention educators’ behaviour, which was independently observed and rated using the Teaching Pyramid Observation Tool. Concurrently, the SEB skills of the children in the intervention groups were shown to have developed at a significantly greater rate than the children in the contrast groups as assessed using the Social Skills Improvement System Rating Scales.

Following the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities, questions concerning the joint education of students with and without special educational needs remain to be answered. Currently, there is a need for knowledge about the necessary conditions for a successful implementation of inclusive education. Thus, the aim of the present study is to identify conditions for the implementation of inclusion that are seen as necessary by primary school principals. Therefore, 32 primary school principals were interviewed. The results of the interview study reveal that factors like personnel, financial and material resources as well as building infrastructure in primary schools are seen as important requirements for the successful realisation of inclusive education. Apart from that, the importance of attitudes towards inclusion and sociopolitical conditions for the realisation of inclusion became apparent. Further conditions, which are mentioned from the interviewed principals’ point of view, are related to teacher training, appropriate class sizes and, for example, opportunities for exchanging information. The results of the study indicate that there are essential obstacles as perceived by primary school principals that can impede the implementation of inclusion in primary schools.

Team participation in whole-school action research can assist the educational reform required for autistic students. Little is known about the experience of school community stakeholders engaged in the first stage of an implementation science process: evaluation of current practice. This study was designed to explore stakeholder experience and knowledge gained following a process of evaluation of whole-school practice related to the education of autistic students. A collective case study was employed across two Australian secondary schools, with team meetings designed to provide an opportunity for the self-evaluation process to take place and the data for the study to be generated. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the dialogue between participants during focus group discussions with each team. Findings are represented through six themes that provide insight for future practice. Both stakeholder teams reported that the evaluation process was a positive experience to engage in and resulted in a strengthening of knowledge about good practice for autistic students. Findings provide encouragement to other school teams engaging in a similar process; however, future teams may need to feel ready for this work and might benefit from the structure of a wider action-research cycle aligned to implementation science processes.

The purpose of this study was to systematically map and synthesise literature on interventions that promote the involvement of parents of school-aged children with disabilities in education. The study focused on peer-reviewed, primary intervention studies published in English between 2000 and 2021. Nine databases were searched, and 21 articles were identified and included in the review. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool was used to assess the quality of the included studies, and narrative analysis was used to synthesise the data. The duration of the interventions varied from 7 to 36 months. Most studies were conducted within the context of high-income countries and focused on parents of children with intellectual disabilities. Most studies reported positive effects on one or more groups: parents, children, schools, and communities. However, there was heterogeneity in the outcome measures used, which limits comparability across interventions. The quality assessment revealed high-/medium-bias risks in most articles. Future research should include higher quality studies driven by theoretical models. The results support the need for more research on parental involvement in the education of children with disabilities, especially intervention studies within the context of low- and medium-income countries.