Current Projects

Below is information on active research projects.

Teaching Students with and without Disabilities to Use a Scientific Argumentative Writing Strategy in Inclusive Science Classes

Faculty: Joseph Boyle

Scholars: Latesha Watson, Hannah Robinson

Twenty Years of Educational Technology in Secondary Special Education Classrooms: A Systematic Review

Faculty: Joseph Boyle

Scholars: Latesha Watson, Danielle Waterfield, Suzanne Spicer, Hannah Robinson

We conducted a review for students with disabilities that followed systematic procedures (e.g., PRISMA procedures) for screening of abstracts and full-text articles. In the review, we examined major education databases using search terms that focused on educational technology and students with disabilities. Only studies that occurred in a school setting and took place in middle school and high school settings were included. In addition, the review only included studies that used either an experimental, quasi-experimental, pre-posttest, or single-subject design. From the initial search, over 2100 studies were initially identified for inclusion in our review. Once screened, the final results included a total of 290 studies that met the criteria. The findings will present trends in the use of educational technology for students with disabilities in secondary educational settings on student outcomes, content areas, settings, and effectiveness of technology.

Open-Access Publishing of Articles in Special Education Journals: A Systematic Review

Faculty: Bryan Cook

Scholars: Tess Fruchtman, Katie Kostin, Amy Wasersztein, Bruna Goncalves, Olivia Wallace, Suzanne Spicer, Danielle Waterfield

Although special education practitioners and policymakers are urged to inform practice and policy with research findings and research-based recommendations from the peer-reviewed literature, many peer-reviewed articles published in journals are behind paywalls and not freely available to individuals not affiliated with institutions (e.g., universities) paying for journal subscriptions. However, an increasing number of articles are being made freely available through different open access (OA) publishing options. The tertiary purpose of the review is to review the options and costs associated with accessing non-OA publications from special education journals.  

Systematic Review of Crisis Management Programs for Students with Disabilities

Faculty: Matt Tincani, Art Dowdy, Jason Travers, Bryan Cook

Scholars: Tess Fruchtman, Katie Kostin, Amy Wasersztein, Bruna Goncalves, Olivia Wallace

Crisis management programs are marketed to help special education professionals support students with disabilities (SWDs) who engage in challenging behavior (Couvillon et al., 2010; 2019). There is a critical need to appraise the evidence in support of these programs, particularly whether they benefit SWD and the staff who support them (Adamson et al., 2023). The purpose of this systematic review is to evaluate the research evidence in support of crisis management programs that target SWD who display challenging behavior in PK-12 educational settings. We will conduct database searches, ancestral searches, journal hand searches, and website searches of organizations that produce crisis management programs to identify published and unpublished studies that evaluated the programs. Following a screening and selection process, we will review the studies to determine the rigor of the evaluation strategies employed and how study results support effectiveness of the programs.

An Investigation of Open Science Practices in Applied Behavior Analysis

Faculty: Art Dowdy, Bryan Cook 

Scholars: Tess Fruchtman, Amy Wasersztein

Open science and its practices support the transparency, availability, and reproducibility of research (Cook et al., 2023). Open sciences practices, such as open analytic code, open materials, open data, open access, registered reports, open peer-review, funding statements, and conflict of interest statements may benefit both academics and clinicians in applied behavior analysis (ABA). Despite the potential benefits of open science practices, ABA research is behind in incorporating them and following the open science movement (Gilroy & Kaplan, 2019). Therefore, the purpose of this review is to evaluate the prevalence of open science practices in ABA research.

A 20-Year Multilevel Meta-Analysis of Behavioral Assessment-Informed Intervention of Challenging Behavior

Faculty: Art Dowdy

Scholars: Tess Fruchtman

Challenging behavior (e.g., aggression, property destruction, self-injury) can be debilitating and, without proper intervention, will often result in the need for (a) repeated hospitalization or imprisonment, (b) potentially traumatizing management strategies (restraint and seclusion), and (c) a cocktail of lifelong medications with a host of side-effects. Behavioral intervention is the first line of defense for addressing challenging behavior and those informed by pre-treatment assessments have been found to be the most efficacious. However, variability exists in behavioral assessment methods and there is, because of the reliance on single-subject design methodology, currently little evidence to support relative effectiveness or the impact of moderators (e.g., age, sex, diagnosis). We conducted this multilevel meta-analysis to compare common behavioral assessments based on subsequent treatment outcomes from over 1,500 cases spanning a 20-year period.