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Characteristics, Methods, & Assessment: Introduction to Struggling Learners & Student with High-Incidence
Disabilities
Evidence Based Practices
Reflection
Artifact #1 is the Evidence Based Practices assignment from class SPED730, Characteristics,
Methods, and Assessment Introduction to Struggling Learners & Students with High Incidence
Disabilities. It is being substituted in place of the requested Teacher Interview assignment. The
purpose of the Evidence Based Practices assignment was to select an article pertaining to an area
of interest that was based on an evidence based practice. I read and completed a written
summary of the article. Next, I created and presented a narrated presentation describing the
practice and its implications for the classroom. I selected Peer Mediated Intervention as my
evidence based practice. I used an article written by Robertson, Green, Alper, Schloss, & Kohler
In my narrative, I would revise by adding some content. I would like to cite some articles
that demonstrate the effectiveness and benefits of peer mediated interventions, specifically in the
directly applicable to my current setting. I learned how to specifically implement the practice
and why it is beneficial to use this practice. This assignment also helped me to explore the
concept of inclusion. The authors denote at the beginning of the article that inclusion is more
than students simply being in the same proximity of one another. For students with disabilities
to benefit from the influence of peers, conditions must be structured to elicit that outcome. Peer
mediated interventions provided those conditions to help students with disabilities gain the
greatest benefit from the inclusive setting. I have begun to integrate these strategies in my early
childhood special education classroom. I pair peer models with peers with disabilities during our
Amy D Diamond
Characteristics, Methods, & Assessment: Introduction to Struggling Learners & Student with High-Incidence
Disabilities
Evidence Based Practices
small groups and encourage them to demonstrate the expected behaviors at each center. Peers
also help students with disabilities follow our routines by modeling, helping students navigate
the environment and referring to visual schedules. I have witnessed first hand the effectiveness