Amy Accardo

• Doctor of Education in Special Education
• Rowan University

Autistic youth and youth with ADHD have heightened rates of bullying victimization, anxiety, and depression. The purpose of this research is to use nationally representative US data to 1) estimate the prevalence of anxiety and depression among bullied neurodivergent youth and 2) investigate whether the association between bullying victimization and...

Colleges and universities are broadening their social inclusion reach and increasingly recognizing the importance of valuing neurodivergent students, faculty, and staff. Holding the understanding that neurodiversity is valuable to society, we gathered perspectives around neurodiversity from students, faculty, and staff on our university and affilia...

Data from the National Survey of Children’s Health 2016–2020 was used to examine the association between physical activity and anxiety and depression among autistic youth, non-autistic youth with ADHD, and non-autistic non-ADHD youth. There was a significant negative association between physical activity and anxiety among all groups. Reduction in a...

Inclusive sports have emerged as a potential tool for building social inclusion within diverse populations. The Special Olympics Unified Sports programs are an example of inclusion initiatives specific to students with intellectual disability and sports that can be reevaluated with new understandings of inclusion. This systematic mixed studies revi...

Purpose of Review Modern communication requires written expression for work, academic, and personal purposes. Using meta-analysis, this study compares the written expression of individuals with autism with that of their non-diagnosed peers. Recent Findings In the last five years, there has been an increase in studies that examine holistic elements...

Data from the National Survey of Children’s Health 2016–2019 was used to examine the co-occurrence of autism and ADHD and the impact on anxiety and depression among adolescents age 12–17. Rates of anxiety and depression were up to ten-fold the prevalence of adolescents not diagnosed with autism or ADHD. Over half of autistic females (57%) and nearl...

Very little is known about the experiences of women who are both mothers of children with disability labels and special educators. Mothers who are not special educators often describe difficulties navigating special education systems and advocating for their children. Mother-special educators have unique insights and experiences that may benefit ot...

An increasing amount of evidence indicates that mental health conditions pose a significant challenge for post-secondary students on the autism spectrum. A review of the literature was conducted to bring greater awareness to the issue of mental health conditions of university students on the autism spectrum, to identify the impact of mental health...

Building on previous research in the area of written expression for individuals with ASD a research synthesis was conducted to identify (1) writing interventions that have been studied and their effect in improving writing skills of individuals with ASD, (2) intervention features that influence the writing skills of learners with ASD, and (3) the q...

Special education teacher collaboration with families is essential to supporting students with disabilities, yet such partnerships often fall short in practice, and teachers report they are not adequately prepared to work with families. In order to prepare competent teachers for working with families, a Family Collaboration Project was incorporated...

College may be considered a gateway to success, yet access to college is limited for young adults with autism. Given the research recommendations to elicit student experiences and to communicate among universities to improve college access, success, and equity, the present study examined the questions: What factors are perceived as pathways to succ...

Sign the petition: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JCFPZKZ The Autism Spectrum Disorder SIG will promote: PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH-Providing a forum for communication and collaboration among researchers, autistic self-advocates, agencies, family members, professionals, and community partners striving to impact practice and policy through academic...

Although studies exist measuring the effectiveness of writing interventions for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), research assessing the writing skills for this group is sparse. The present study identified differences in the written expression of individuals with ASD compared to typically developing (TD) peers, using variables selected...

This article reports the results of a systematic review of the emerging research on programs and services designed to meet the needs of students with ASD. For the purposes of this review, only articles that included data on program outcomes were included. A total of eight studies that met this criterion were identified. These studies included three...

This 2-year study investigated the accommodations and support services preferred by college students with autism spectrum disorder using sequential mixed methods non-experimental survey and semi-structured follow-up interviews. Students with autism spectrum disorder reported using both academic and non-academic supports with frequency (e.g. extende...

Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) display social communication differences that may affect reading comprehension. The enjoyment of storybooks is a natural part of childhood. Students with ASD experience difficulty with understanding the thoughts and feelings of others, which may impede their comprehension of character motive in narrative...

This cross-sectional descriptive study captured the perspectives of 14 college-bound students with ASD at the critical period of transition from high school using an open-ended prompt. The aim was to capture (1) student definitions of success as a college student, (2) the factors they identify as most influential leading to becoming a college stude...

Students with autism spectrum disorder have been found to experience difficulty with reading comprehension despite intact decoding and word recognition. This identified need for targeted reading comprehension remediation results in a need for teachers to utilize research-based practices and to individualize instruction for students with autism spec...

In teacher preparation programs, teacher candidates are expected to learn parental collaboration through their required college coursework and field experiences. Due to confidentiality requirements in field placements, however, teacher candidates are typically not provided an opportunity to attend IEP or 504 plan conferences. In this study, technol...

Abstract Initial data from a planned longitudinal study of predictors of success for college students with ASD will be presented. The study utilized existing student records, survey methodology, open-ended questions and follow-up student interviews with a purpose of gathering data to inform increased access and success for college students with ASD...

A yoga-based school-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS) may provide a foundation for teaching mindfulness and self-regulation in K-12 schools. Here, the use of yoga as a SWPBS was examined through a review of existing literature and interviews of yoga program facilitators. Yoga was reported to be effective as a pedagogical approach, and found to...

Learners with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit difficulty in the area of reading comprehension. Research connecting the learning needs of individuals with ASD, existing effective practices, teacher training, and teacher perceptions of their own ability to teach reading comprehension is scarce. Quantitative survey methodology and hierarc...

Multistep algebra problems and formative assessment are the focus of two middle level classrooms.

Globalization affects many aspects of our lives in the 21st century and requires us to adopt an international perspective. For this study, global content was integrated into one course of an undergraduate special education teacher education program. A total of 118 teacher candidates were enrolled in the course over two semesters. A pre–post test de...

Is teacher preparedness to use effective practices along with the job-related factors of teacher experience, administrator support, learner verbal language ability, and instructional setting: (1) predictive of teacher perceived self-efficacy in teaching comprehension to learners with ASD? (2) predictive of teacher outcome expectancy to improve the...

The incidences of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) continue to rise steadily increasing the need for research-based strategies to support this population in the core academic content area of reading comprehension. A research synthesis was conducted with the purpose of (1) reviewing existing research to determine effective practices for teaching readi...