Date of Award

1991

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Joseph C. Witt

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to obtain data on the intervention planning processes engaged in by prereferral intervention teams, primarily, through a focus on the verbal processes of teacher and committee team member interactions. Teacher and committee participation in the prereferral intervention planning process was operationalized in terms of the frequency of teacher and committee verbal interactions, in terms of numbers of questions, responses, and initiated comments made by each, as well as teacher and committee speaking time. Results of analysis of these data revealed that teachers asked few questions and initiated relatively few comments in comparison with their committee colleagues. Teachers also had a smaller share of the total meeting interaction time in comparison with their committee counterparts. Results of analyses of content and process data from the consultation analysis record (Bergan, 1977) indicated unequal distribution of teacher and committee information seeking and information giving behaviors parallel with other participation indices. Overall, meeting interactions focused on intervention relevant topics, rather than topics hypothesized to be irrelevant to the implementation of intervention plans (Gutkin & Curtis, 1980). The results of correlational analyses involving indices of active teacher involvement and measures of satisfaction with the process and outcomes of intervention planning meetings indicated little relationship between teacher satisfaction and active involvement in the planning process as operationalized in the present study. However, more specific features of teacher and committee verbal interaction during meetings did provide substantial information relevant to the perceptions teachers have of both the prereferral intervention meeting process and overall meeting results. As expected, teacher perceptions of intervention acceptability and teacher consumer satisfaction with the intervention planning process were related to amount of attention committee and teachers give to specific topic areas. However, some outcomes were counter to what was anticipated given previous research and the results are discussed in terms of their implications for the existing literature, given the limitations of the present study.

Pages

223

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_disstheses.5133

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