The impact of e -publishing assistive technology in an inclusive sixth grade social studies classroom on special needs, regular education, and gifted students' content learning, writing, spelling, and motivation: A descriptive comparison

Content literacy is eclectic in nature (Vacca & Vacca, 2005). Today, with a legal mandate, schools are serving more students in an inclusive environment (Swiderek, 1998; Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997). Research into assistive technological tools or programs that best secure learning is limited (Anderson-Inman, Knox-Quin, & Homey, 1996; Armstrong, 1994; Barrea, Rule, & Diemart, 2001; Goldman, Cole, & Syer, 1999; Leu, 2000; Male, 1994).;This study paired two "best instructional practices" of student authored books and the use of children's literature (Pierce & Terry, 2000; Sampson, Rasinski, & Sampson, 2003; Singleton, 1995; Smith & Ellis, 2003) with an assistive technology that pairs these two "best instructional practices" in a process created by Conden and McGuffee (2001), described as e-publishing, which also uses the assistive technologies of RealeWriter (Conden & McGuffee, 2004) and Word 2002. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to determine if e-publishing using assistive technology impacted content learning growth, writing growth, spelling growth, and motivation of sixth grade students in a social studies classroom.;A descriptive comparative design was utilized with 136 sixth grade students. The study progressed from pre, intervention of assistive technology and post phases. Results indicated that assistive technology used with e-publishing positively impacted content learning of all students, especially gifted and talented students. Descriptive statistics indicated positive writing growth for all students with special needs students benefiting the most from the assistive technology intervention. Special needs students had the greatest decrease in spelling errors when compared to gifted and talented and regular education students. Quantitative results did not reveal significant motivational impact, while descriptive statistics indicated motivational impact. Qualitative data indicated motivational influence due to the assistive technologies used in the study. Participants shared their perceptions of their experience while e-publishing that may serve as an addendum to quantitative results. Five themes emerged from qualitative data analysis with interviews of the six key informants and recorded observations in field notes.