UA News

Three UA College of Education faculty members have received two grants totaling nearly $1.5 million to improve teacher interactions with children who are visually impaired and who have emotional and behavioral challenges.

Four faculty members in The University of Arizona College of Education have received U.S. Department of Education grants collectively worth nearly $1.5 million to run two separate programs.

Jane Erin, a UA special education, rehabilitation and school psychology professor, received an $800,000 grant to prepare teachers in the Southwest to become teachers of students with visual impairments and orientation and mobility specialists.

Carl Liaupsin, a UA associate professor for special education, rehabilitation and school psychology, is the principal investigator of a grant for nearly $650,000 in funding.

Liaupsin will work with John Umbreit, a co-principal investigator and special education, rehabilitation and school psychology professor, and Jolenea Ferro, another co-principal investigator and adjunct associate professor in the same department.

Their program will train doctoral degree candidates to become new professors at other universities who will specialize in the area of emotional and behavioral disorders. Ultimately, the program's intention is to prepare new faculty who will conduct research and train educators who will then work with students who have emotional and behavioral disorders.

Both grants are being funded for four years through the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs.

Erin's training program will instruct 20 teachers in Tucson and 10 in Nevada through a program that will also prepare four out-of-state students to become mobility specialists.

"We have what is a nationally-known problem (at the UA)," Erin said, noting that about 80 percent of children who are visually impaired are served in public schools and often require additional support and services.

Such students may need to learn to read Braille or how to use adaptive material. They also may need additional support in developing social skills or in using different technologies.

The incentive behind the project is to "make sure the environment is optimal for learning and for the student," Erin said.

The program will include a summer course involving early childhood education teachers. That course will focus on improving the support of students through use of technology and will be held in collaboration with universities in New Mexico and California.

"In order to meet the needs of visually impaired students, teachers need a very specialized set of skills, including knowledge of Braille, classroom accommodations and specific learning strategies," said Linda R. Shaw, who heads the UA special education, rehabilitation and school psychology department.

"Orientation and mobility specialists teach specific strategies and support individuals who are visually impaired as they learn the skills needed to independently access their schools, workplaces and communities," Shaw said. "This grant will begin to help fill the current void by supporting students who are preparing to become teachers of visually impaired students, both in Arizona and Nevada."

Liaupsin and Umbreit's program will train four doctoral degree-seeking students in the area of special education. The incentive of the program is to help the graduate students to research, design and implement practices in special education while working with their students.

The program also will prepare pre-service and practicing educators to improve their support of students who may develop emotional and behavioral challenges.

Shaw said the training program will "transform what we know about what works" while helping future educators learn to apply evidence-based strategies in their classrooms.

"We are very pleased that our faculty members have been recognized as experts in their respective areas of study by having their proposals selected through a very competitive peer review process," Shaw said.

Shaw said Liaupsin and Umbreit's project is "unique" because little is being done to provide teachers with the practical skills to aid in the emotional and behavioral needs of students in the classroom.

The researchers also noted that there exists a "critical shortage of well-prepared, entry-level faculty to teach and conduct research on evidence-based practices with students who have emotional and behavioral disorders."

And Liaupsin noted that most people who earn doctoral degrees do not enter fields in higher education or go on to conduct research related to emotional and behavioral disorders.

The challenge, though, is that children with such disorders tend to perform at lower academic levels partially because they tend to receive less academic content and because their needs are not adequately met in classroom environments. Liaupsin pointed to research that indicates that more than 60 percent of students in this population drop out of school.

"We need to get our graduates up to speed and by the end of the program so that they are practicing here as they would when they get into faculty positions," Liaupsin said. "There is a real need to continue research in our area and to work with individuals and schools to reduce instances of behavioral problems and school violence."