Trina D. Spencer

Trina D. Spencer
University of Kansas | KU · Applied Behavioral Sciences

PhD, BCBA-D

About

88
Publications
114,948
Reads
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2,011
Citations
Introduction
Trina D. Spencer currently works at the Rightpath Research & Innovation Center which is in the Department of Child and Family Studies at the University of South Florida. Her current project is 'The Development of a Dual Language Narrative Curriculum for Preschoolers Whose Home Language is Spanish'.

Publications

Publications (88)
Article
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Purpose Several studies have demonstrated that dynamic assessment can be a less biased, valid approach for the identification of language disorder among diverse school-age children. However, all prior studies have included a relatively small number of participants, which is generally not adequate for psychometric research. This is the first large-s...
Article
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The purpose of this three-arm randomized controlled trial was to explore the impact of multi-tiered explicit and systematic narrative language instruction on the language students are expected to understand and produce in the school setting (e.g., reading and writing). A sample of 210 kindergarten students were assigned to three conditions: treatme...
Article
Implementation considerations should be integrated into the iterative development of educational innovations. The purpose of this design-based implementation research (DBIR) was to identify intervention components worthy of revision, examine the feasibility of a video manual and document barriers to the implementation of a multi-tiered dual-languag...
Article
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Narratives skills are associated with long-term academic and social benefits. While students with disabilities often struggle to produce complete and complex narratives, it remains unclear which aspects of narrative language are most indicative of disability. In this study, we examined the association between a variety of narrative contents and for...
Article
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Purpose Phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge are fundamental building blocks for literacy development. We identified preschoolers with persistent delays in these skills and evaluated the efficacy of a supplemental curriculum to remediate deficits in early literacy skills. Method Using a cluster design, 21 classrooms were randomly assigned...
Article
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Purpose The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effect of vocabulary instruction embedded in the narrative intervention on the immediate and retained definitional knowledge of taught words for first graders at risk for language-related reading difficulties. Method We employed a repeated acquisition design with innovative quality fe...
Article
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Purpose Language sampling is a critical component of language assessments. However, there are many ways to elicit language samples that likely impact the results. The purpose of this study was to examine how different discourse types and elicitation tasks affect various language sampling outcomes. Method A diverse group of K–3 students (N = 1,037)...
Article
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There are several benefits for Dual Language Learners (DLLs) when their home language is integrated into classroom instruction. For example, instruction in students’ home language facilitates the learning of the new language more rapidly and supports bilingualism. One way to enhance young children’s language learning is to engage families in home l...
Article
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Is the reading crisis associated with an academic language crisis? Educators across the globe are trying to solve the reading crisis, as 4th-grade reading scores seem to change annually. Trina D. Spencer, PhD, BCBA-D, an Associate Professor at Rightpath Research & Innovation Center, University of South Florida noticed that reading improvements are...
Article
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Oral storytelling is important for reading, writing and social wellbeing If there was one skill that could positively impact many other areas, such as reading, writing, and social development, wouldn't you want to teach it? Could oral storytelling be the key? The link between oral language and later reading, writing, and even social-emotional healt...
Article
This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Preschool Language, Literacy, and Behavior Screener (PLLB-S). We examined and tested the factor structure of the PLLB-S using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. We further conducted internal consistency, concurrent validity, and predictive validity analyses and evaluated teacher...
Article
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Many students struggle to acquire adequate reading comprehension and writing skills. Although word recognition and spelling are needed to fully actualize these skills, the oral language aspects of reading and writing can be taught and practiced without text. Oral storytelling is good for all students, but it may be essential for students with code‐...
Article
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this study is the first to examine the extent to which science achievement is distinct from math and reading in kindergarten, first, and second grade; and the utility of kindergarten language proficiency and executive functioning (EF) for predicting science achievement among multilingual (n = 1022) and English monolingual (n = 12,343) children at e...
Article
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Purpose In communication sciences and disorders (CSD), clinical impact is paramount. Without clinical impact of research, evidence-based practice is not possible. Unfortunately, clinical impact of research is often overlooked or underappreciated. The purpose of this forum is to provide guidance to current and future CSD researchers about how to max...
Article
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The need to bring behavior analysis to scale is no more obvious or urgent than now. Collaboration between behavior analysts and healthcare workers, educators, policymakers, mental health clinicians, social workers, and so many other professionals is critical to reaching under-resourced and traditionally marginalized populations. First, however, int...
Preprint
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The need to bring behavior analysis to scale is no more obvious or urgent than now. Collaboration between behavior analysts and healthcare workers, educators, policy-makers, mental health clinicians, social workers, and so many other professionals is critical to reaching under-resourced and traditionally marginalized populations. First, however, in...
Article
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Purpose The extent to which research impacts clinical practice is directly related to the availability, accessibility, and relevance of clinical practice research (CPR). The purpose of this article is to describe some of the current barriers to CPR in communication sciences and disorders and review the resources available to support clinical practi...
Article
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Purpose The purpose of this randomized controlled trial was to examine the effects of a multitiered system of language support (MTSLS) on kindergarteners' narrative retelling, personal stories, writing, and expository language. Method Participants were 686 kindergarten students from four school districts in the United States. Twenty-eight classroo...
Article
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Although behavior analysts are trained in discrete trial instruction, other instructional approaches like Direct Instruction are underutilized in behavior analytic practice. Direct Instruction is a specialized technology that capitalizes on sophisticated instructional design and highly effective delivery strategies. What makes Direct Instruction so...
Article
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The Repeated Acquisition Design (RAD) is a type of single-case research design (SCRD) that involves repeated and rapid measurement of irreversible discrete skills or behaviors through pre-and postintervention probes across different sets of stimuli. Researchers interested in the study of learning in animals and humans have used the RAD because of i...
Article
Multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) is a model of preventative and differentiated instruction that is designed to meet the needs of all learners (Burns et al., 2016). However, early childhood education has remained in the periphery of many MTSS initiatives. Although there is much potential for MTSS in early childhood settings, it has yet to be r...
Article
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Writing is a critical literacy skill that emerges in kindergarten. The research literature has only addressed transcription skills of kindergarteners and has failed to address text generation. The purpose of this action-research study was to investigate the effect of oral language instruction that focused on narrative text structures on kindergarte...
Poster
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Repeated acquisition design (RAD) is a single-case experimental design (SCED) that organizes the rapid and repeated acquisition of non-reversable behaviors in relation to a sequentially implemented intervention. The basic RAD requires a) multiple sets of equivalent discrete skills or behaviors b) targeted for instruction at pre-planned and regular...
Article
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Purpose Narrative intervention has not been extensively investigated with children with hearing loss, but it has been shown to improve a broad range of language skills of children with a variety of disabilities and language needs. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of narrative language intervention on the narrative...
Article
Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who work in schools are responsible for delivering intervention that improves language abilities but has an impact on academic outcomes. To accomplish this, SLPs need feasible and effective strategies that can be readily incorporated into clinical practice. In this article, we describe two ways that SLPs can deli...
Article
This early-stage feasibility study investigated the effects of a multitiered oral narrative language intervention on oral language, reading comprehension, and writing. Twenty-eight second-grade students participated in this quasi-experimental control group study with assignment at the classroom level. The independent variable was large- and small-g...
Article
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Purpose The purpose of this pilot study was to determine whether parallel measures of narrative-based listening comprehension and reading comprehension reflected the same construct and yielded comparable scores from a diverse sample of second- and third-grade students. One hundred ten students participated in this study. Method Three listening and...
Article
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Purpose Narrative interventions are a class of language interventions that involve the use of telling or retelling stories. Narrative intervention can be an efficient and versatile means of promoting a large array of academically and socially important language targets that improve children's access to general education curriculum and enhance their...
Poster
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Researchers examined the extent to which Spanish Family Engagement Activities (FEA) had an additive effect on preschool dual-language learners’ narrative language and vocabulary skills. A pre/posttest randomized wait-list control group design was conducted to examine intervention effects on English and Spanish outcomes. A cost analysis was performe...
Article
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The purpose of this cluster randomized group study was to investigate the effect of multitiered, dual-language instruction on children’s oral language skills, including vocabulary, narrative retell, receptive and expressive language, and listening comprehension. The participants were 3- to 5-year-old children (n = 81) who were learning English and...
Article
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Purpose Educators often use results from static norm-referenced vocabulary assessments to aid in the diagnosis of school-age children with a language disorder. However, research has indicated that many of these vocabulary assessments yield inaccurate, biased results, especially with culturally and linguistically diverse children. This study examine...
Poster
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Learning to write is one of the essential literacy skills to academic success (Biancarosa & Snow, 2004; Graham & Perin, 2007). Early intervention to foster children’s early writing development can prevent a long-term adverse effect on students’ writing performance (Berninger, Nielsen, Abbott, Wijsman, Raskind, 2008). The writing standards indicated...
Conference Paper
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This study examined whether a multi-tiered system of support focused on oral narrative language would improve the oral and written academic language of kindergarten students. Over 650 students were randomly assigned to treatment or control conditions. Results indicated that the intervention significantly improved proximal (narrative retelling) and...
Conference Paper
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This study examined the extent to which oral language instruction using narratives can impact students’ writing skills. Following multiple baseline design conventions to demonstrate an experimental effect, three groups of first grade students experienced staggered baseline and intervention phases. During the intervention condition, groups received...
Article
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Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine how well a kindergarten dynamic assessment of decoding predicts future reading difficulty at 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade and to determine whether the dynamic assessment improves the predictive validity of traditional static kindergarten reading measures. Method With a small variation in sample size...
Article
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Purpose Despite literature showing a correlation between oral language and written language ability, there is little evidence documenting a causal connection between oral and written language skills. The current study examines the extent to which oral language instruction using narratives impacts students' writing skills. Method Following multiple...
Article
Standards of academic performance place a high demand on students’ English language. To help Spanish-speaking preschoolers who are developing English as a second language meet these demands, researchers recommend strengthening their first language to facilitate development of their second language. Head Start teachers and research assistants delive...
Article
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A review and comparative analysis of single-subject research to identify applied behavior analysis–based therapy components targeting language, communication, and social skills for school-age children (ages 6–17) diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) was conducted. The National Standards Project and the National Professional Development Cen...
Article
This implementation study examined the efficacy and feasibility of a multi-tiered narrative intervention when Head Start teachers and teaching assistants delivered all of the interventions and progress monitoring probes. In six Head Start classrooms, 105 children were assigned to receive the intervention or to receive their typical instruction. Chi...
Article
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Purpose This study investigated the classification accuracy of a concentrated English narrative dynamic assessment (DA) for identifying language impairment (LI). Method Forty-two Spanish–English bilingual kindergarten to third-grade children (10 LI and 32 with no LI) were administered two 25-min DA test–teach–test sessions. Pre- and posttest narra...
Article
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Despite research demonstrating the importance of language comprehension to later reading abilities, curriculum-based measures to assess language comprehension abilities in preschoolers remain lacking. The Assessment of Story Comprehension (ASC) features brief, child-relevant stories and a series of literal and inferential questions with a focus on...
Article
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Purpose We investigated a small-group intervention designed to teach vocabulary and comprehension skills to preschoolers who were at risk for language and reading disabilities. These language skills are important and reliable predictors of later academic achievement. Method Preschoolers heard prerecorded stories 3 times per week over the course of...
Article
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A disproportionate percentage of culturally and linguistically diverse students have difficulties with language-related skills that affect their academic success. Early and intensive language instruction may greatly improve these students' language skills, yet there is not sufficient research available to assist educators and school psychologists i...
Article
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Oral narratives are a commonly used, meaningful means of communication that reflects academic language. New state curriculum standards include narrative-related language expectations for young school-age children, including story grammar and complex language. This article provides a review of preschool narrative-based language intervention studies,...
Article
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This preliminary study investigated the effects of within-stimulus prompts in the form of visual goal markers on the oral reading rate of elementary school students at risk for reading failure. One hundred seven third-grade students who received regular progress monitoring of their oral reading rate participated in this research. Across 10 weeks, s...
Article
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Purpose The first purpose of this study was to explore the use of a whole class, test–teach–test, dynamic assessment of narratives for identifying participants. The second purpose was to examine the efficacy of a Tier 2 narrative language intervention for culturally and linguistically diverse preschoolers. Method A dynamic assessment was conducted...
Article
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This study investigated the extent to which results of English narrative intervention interacted cross-linguistically with Spanish for 73 bilingual children. We employed a quasi-experimental design, using matched-pairs random assignment for children with typically developing language and a nonrandom block design for children with language impairmen...
Article
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Purpose The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of a phonological awareness (PA) intervention, designed for Tier 2 instruction in a Response to Intervention (RTI) model, delivered to small groups of preschoolers. Method A multiple-baseline design across participants was used to evaluate the efficacy of the intervention on low...
Article
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Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to describe differences in the narratives produced by 3-, 4-, and 5- year old Spanish-speaking (SS) children. Narrative productions of 104 typically developing children were collected using a story-retelling task and coded using the Index of Narrative Complexity. The results of this study indicate th...
Article
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Narrative skills that are important for preschoolers include retelling stories, telling personal stories, and answering questions about stories. Narrative abilities form the foundation of reading comprehension. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of an individually delivered language intervention on the narrative skills of presc...
Article
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The purpose of this study was to examine and compare the classification accuracy of early static prereading measures and early dynamic assessment reading measures administered to 600 kindergarten students. At the beginning of kindergarten, all of the participants were administered two commonly used static prereading measures. The participants were...
Article
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This study investigated the effect of a large group narrative intervention on diverse preschoolers’ narrative language skills with aims to explore questions of treatment efficacy and differential response to intervention. A quasi-experimental, pretest/posttest comparison group research design was employed with 71 preschool children. Classrooms were...
Article
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Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a model of professional decision-making in which practitioners integrate the best available evidence with client values/context and clinical expertise in order to provide services for their clients. This framework provides behavior analysts with a structure for pervasive use of the best available evidence in the com...
Article
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The majority of children who are culturally and linguistically diverse in the United States read below grade level. This disproportionate prevalence of reading difficulty is likely due to language-related factors. Although most of these children do not have language impairment, they do need explicit instruction in the use and comprehension of compl...
Article
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Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of an individualized, systematic language intervention on the personal narratives of children with autism. Method A single-subject, multiple-baseline design across participants and behaviors was used to examine the effect of the intervention on language features of personal narratives...
Article
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This multiple baseline design study examined the effects of a Tier 3 early literacy intervention on low-income preschool children's phonological awareness (PA). Seven preschool children who did not make progress on identifying first sounds in words during a previous Tier 2 intervention participated in a more intensive Tier 3 intervention. Children...
Chapter
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Special educators make countless decisions regarding services for students with disabilities. The evidence-based practice movement in education encourages those decisions be informed by the best available evidence, professional judgment, and client values and context. In this chapter we argue that while evidence is the best basis for making decisio...
Article
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Children with autism often use newly acquired language in restricted contexts and with limited variability. Instructional tactics that embed generalization technology have shown promise for increasing spontaneity, response variation, and the generalized use of language across settings, people, and materials. In this study, we explored the integrati...
Presentation
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In this presentation, technical results of the Test of Narrative Retell in PreK and School age children are presented. Discussion follows regarding application of narrative retells within a Response to Intervention framework.
Article
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Sorry, this activity is no longer available for CEUs. Visit the SIG 1 page on the ASHA Store to see available CE activities. Use the CE questions PDF here as study questions to guide your Perspectives reading.
Article
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This authors of this article present a new language assessment, the Narrative Language Measures (NLM), designed for screening, progress monitoring, and intervention planning purposes. The authors examine NLM for its ability to satisfy the requirements of the assessment of language in a Response to Intervention (RTI) framework. Specifically, they de...
Article
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The research to practice gap in education has been a long-standing concern. The enactment of No Child Left Behind brought increased emphasis on the value of using scientifically based instructional practices to improve educational outcomes. It also brought education into the broader evidence-based practice movement that started in medicine and has...
Article
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Brief functional analysis (BFA) is an abbreviated assessment methodology derived from traditional extended functional analysis methods. BFAs are often conducted when time constraints in clinics, schools or homes are of concern. While BFAs have been used extensively to identify the function of problem behavior for children with disabilities, their u...
Article
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The best available evidence is one of the three critical features of evidence-based practice. Best available evidence is often considered to be synonymous with extremely high standards for research methodology. However, this notion may limit the scope and impact of evidence-based practice to those educational decisions on which high quality interve...
Article
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The best available evidence is one of the three basic inputs into evidence-based practice. This paper sets out a framework for evaluating the quality of systematic reviews that are intended to identify empirically supported interventions as a way of summarizing the best available evidence. The premise of this paper is that the process of reviewing...
Article
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This review provides a summary and appraisal commentary on the treatment review by Brunner, D. L., & Sueng, H. K. (2009). Evaluation of the efficacy of communication-based treatments for Autism Spectrum Disorders: A literature review. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 31, 14–41.Source of funding and disclosure of interest: No source of funding rep...
Article
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Narration, or storytelling, is an important aspect of language. Narrative skills have academic and social importance. This study evaluated the effects of a narrative intervention on story retelling and personal story generation skills of preschoolers with risk factors and narrative language delays. Narrative intervention was delivered in a small gr...
Article
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Purpose This study investigated the effect of a literate narrative intervention on the macrostructural and microstructural language features of the oral narratives of 3 children with neuromuscular impairment and co-morbid receptive and expressive language impairment. Method Three children, ages 6-8 years, participated in a multiple baseline across...
Article
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Narration, or storytelling, is an important aspect of language. Narrative skills have practical and social importance; for example, children who tell good stories receive attention and approval from their peers. When children accurately recount events surrounding an injury or dispute, vital information is passed to parents and teachers. Additionall...
Article
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Dictyostelium plasmids Dgp1 and Dfp1, two members of the Ddp2 plasmid family, are 86% identical in nucleotide sequence. These small (4481 and 5015 bp), high copy number, nuclear plasmids carry both a gene homologous to the Ddp2 rep gene and a long 0.47- to 0. 48-kb inverted repeat region. Their Rep proteins are 82.8% identical in amino acid sequenc...
Article
Thesis (M.S.)--Utah State University, Dept. of Psychology, 2001. Includes bibliographical references.
Article
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Evidence-based practice (EBP) refers to clinical decisions as a result of the careful integration of research evidence and student needs. Although required to employ evidence-based practices, teachers receive little training on how to identify what practices are determined to be evidence-based and which are most appropriate for individual students....

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