Browsing Special Education (Theses) by Title
Now showing items 1-20 of 62
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All singing from the same hymn sheet? An exploration of the lived experiences of joint work between Irish mainstream primary school teaching staff and NEPS psychologists to facilitate inclusion between 2015-2020.
(2023-10-02)Background. The role of the NEPS psychologist is said to have evolved in recent years in response to the global inclusion movement. In Ireland, the introduction of Circular 0013/2017 provided primary schools with greater ... -
An appreciative inquiry into coaches’ perspectives on the inclusion of young people with autism in sport clubs in Ireland
(2023-10-02)Background: Young people with autism spectrum difference (ASD) engage in fewer physical activities and participate less frequently in sport than their peers. To date, research has focused on the barriers to the participation ... -
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) in Irish mainstream primary schools: staff experiences and inclusive practices
(2025-03-19)Background: Inclusive education for students with additional needs has been denoted in Irish educational policies for three decades, as well as in international literature and human rights legislation with increasing ... -
Can verbal working memory and processing speed distinguish between children who have English as an additional language and children with developmental language disorder?
(2019-11-28)Background: Children with English as an Additional Language (EAL) often present with language difficulties and make errors that are similar to children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). Apparent language difficulties, ... -
Capturing the voices of parents: needs, experiences and perspectives of post-diagnostic parent training in an ASD assessment and intervention service
(2020-12-11)Aims: This research explores the needs, experiences and perspectives of parents who attended post-diagnostic parent training, following a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) for their child. The research sought to ... -
A case study of beginning teachers’ lived experiences of engagement with parents, particularly parents of children with special educational needs
(2023-09-19)The research study aimed to make a contribution to the knowledge-gap in the area of parent-teacher engagement. Specifically, it sought to explore the nature of eight beginning teachers’ lived experiences of engagement with ... -
“Dear mathematics – I’m not a therapist, solve your own problems!” – a mixed methods examination of the effect of a pilot cognitive behavioural therapy intervention on the mathematics anxiety and mathematics teaching efficacy beliefs of pre-service primary school teachers in Ireland
(2025-03-18)Background and Aims: Mathematics anxiety can have a debilitating effect on mathematics performance and is particularly high amongst pre-service teachers in comparison to other university students. Teachers’ mathematics ... -
Developing student mental toughness: the potential impact of autonomy support from teachers
(2020-12-16)Developing Student Mental Toughness: The Potential Impact of Autonomy Support from Teachers Harte, E., Brophy, T., & Perry, J. (2020) Background: Mental toughness (MT) is a personality trait which supports an individual ... -
Does the Weaving Well-being programme affect the academic achievement and engagement of Irish primary school students?
(2023-10-25)Background: In 2012, 1 in 3 Irish young people were found to experience mental ill-health (Dooley & Fitzgerald, 2012). In light of such data, the Department of Education (DES) has recommended use of universal evidence based ... -
The effectiveness of a school-based test anxiety intervention at primary-level
(2023-10-02)Background Test anxiety (TA) is characterised as an extreme fear of assessment which has a debilitating effect on performance. Despite growing concern over TA in primary-level education in Ireland, research on evidence-based ... -
The effectiveness of an online dialogic reading intervention for improving the oral language skills of children attending a DEIS school in Ireland
(2023-10-02)Background: Dialogic Reading (DR) is a well-established, evidence-based, interactive reading intervention. Research indicates that children from low-socioeconomic backgrounds benefit less well from this intervention than ... -
Evaluating the effectiveness of the Body Project as a whole-class, positive body image intervention in Irish post-primary schools
(2025-03-18)Background: The Body Project is a cognitive dissonance-based eating disorder prevention programme developed by Stice et al. (2006). Aims: The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Body ... -
An evaluation of the effectiveness of the zones of regulation cognitive behavioural intervention on emotional regulation outcomes for school aged children with autism spectrum disorders in Ireland.
(2020-12-10)Background and Aims: Emotional regulation is a transactional process between an individual, their environment and involves controlled or automatic strategies executed in response to stimuli which trigger emotions (Gross ... -
An evaluation of the school based wellbeing intervention welcome to wellbeing for young children
(2023-11-03)Background: Wellbeing has become a valued aspect of education in recent years. However, further exploration of wellbeing and wellbeing interventions with young children still needs to be completed. Additionally, there needs ... -
Evidence-based practice to develop social communication competency: listening to the voices of teachers of autistic children
(2023-10-24)In education research, there is a firm belief that reflecting on inclusive pedagogy is imperative for teachers, as effective inclusion means considering the child’s needs on all levels and adopting appropriate practices ... -
An examination of the career aspirations of Irish children within the framework of goal contents theory
(2020-02-07)Aims: This study explored the following questions: (a) what are students‟ career aspirations and goal contents? (b) are there predictive factors of students‟ career aspirations and goal contents? (c) how do students‟ career ... -
An examination of the effect of green exercise and nature connectedness on the psychological well-being and attentional capacity of primary school-aged children
(2019-12-18)Aim Research into the positive impact of green exercise on the psychological well-being and attention of adults has been largely confirmatory. Early exploration into the effects of green exercise on children has produced ... -
An examination of the special education teacher allocation model to support inclusion in Irish primary schools
(2021-11-18)The global movement towards inclusive education (Anderson et al. 2007; Garrote et al. 2017) sees a fundamental obligation on State to provide an effective model which supports and enables school staff to include and cater ... -
Examining educational psychologists' perspectives of their role in the Republic of Ireland: an exploratory study using activity theory
(2023-10-24)Background: With the 2015 change from masters to doctoral level for educational psychology training in Ireland and the 2016 change in Health Service Executive (HSE) eligibility criteria for the recruitment of psychologists ... -
The experience of Irish-medium and English-medium primary schools for children with down syndrome and their parents
(2023-10-24)Background Recent studies indicate that learners with Down syndrome can become competent bilinguals and biliterates. However, less is known about whether immersion education is a suitable and beneficial education setting ...