Research projects

Open Science aims to increase the transparency of scientific working methods and the reliability of published research results. A central assumption is the following: If we integrate Open Science practices into our everyday research, then we will get closer to the truth faster than if we do not integrate them. Open science practices, such as preregistration, open data and preprints, are therefore intended to improve research practice and accelerate the progress of knowledge. Open Science is essentially about increasing the transparency of scientific work. This makes research work more open to criticism and errors can be corrected more quickly. The research area deals with the relevance of Open Science for special educational research. We also investigate how widespread open science practices are in the research landscape. We also see ourselves as contact persons for questions relating to Open Science in special needs education and support researchers in the implementation of Open Science practices.

Controlled single case studies (single case research designs) are an important tool for us to reflect on the teaching and support of children and young people with special learning challenges and to further develop them based on evidence. We therefore teach this method to our students, use it in our own research and as part of Master's theses and actively participate in the further development of research methods in this area. Together with our cooperation partners, we are researching how we can support teachers in interpreting learning progressions more accurately and reliably. We are dedicated to the question of how data from single case studies can best be visualized and processed in order to make informed support decisions.

Causes from a teacher's perspective

The term “learning difficulties” - sometimes also referred to as “learning disorders”, “learning impairments” or “learning disabilities” - covers various challenges in the learning process. These can occur in different areas and have a significant impact on the school and social environment. Of particular importance in this context is what teachers attribute the causes of learning difficulties to (causal attribution). If learning difficulties are primarily attributed to supposedly stable characteristics (e.g. lack of ability), this can lead to negative expectations and unfavorable teaching practices, as they are seen as unchangeable. A differentiated attribution of causes, on the other hand, opens up more possibilities for tailor-made support measures. We deal with these issues because they have great practical relevance for everyday teaching.

The assessment of adaptive skills is becoming increasingly important in diagnostics in the field of intellectual development in German-speaking countries. At the same time, there is a lack of standardized, valid test procedures that assess adaptive skills in students with intellectual disabilities. We are therefore addressing the following questions: How can adaptive skills be assessed reliably and meaningfully? How are they currently assessed in school practice? By evaluating existing procedures, specific school needs become visible, which serve as a basis for further projects and the development of adapted support diagnostic approaches.

This project investigates the reading acquisition of pupils with intellectual disabilities. We want to find out how effective different interventions are in promoting word reading skills. The interventions are phonics instruction and sight word instruction. We are also investigating the conditions under which the interventions are more or less effective. In other words, the question is: what works for whom and under what conditions? The findings should help teachers to select a suitable support strategy. To answer the research questions, we conduct meta-analyses of experimental individual case studies.

Young carers are children and adolescents who regularly take responsibility for 
the care and support of family members. In Germany, at least 5% of adolescents 
aged 12–17 are affected. Estimates suggest the actual number is significantly 
higher, as many young people do not consciously identify themselves as “young 
carers.”
The burdens associated with caregiving affect young carers not only 
psychologically but also academically: They often report concentration 
difficulties, experiences of bullying, and worries about their family members 
during lessons. Additionally, young carers frequently achieve lower educational 
outcomes compared to their non-caring peers.
Our aim is to integrate awareness of the young carer role—and this often-
invisible group—into special education discourse. Furthermore, we seek to 
develop approaches within schools to better support their educational 
participation and address their unique educational needs.

In this project, we are pursuing the goal of systematically preparing instruments for measuring attitudes towards inclusion (and closely related constructs) and making them available in a structured manner. In addition to general information, the target group, subscales, sample items and previous findings on psychometric quality are listed. This should provide researchers with an overview of existing instruments in this subject area and facilitate the selection of a suitable instrument for the respective research question. The database has already been published in full in German and English to ensure the greatest possible benefit for the scientific community. The information on the instruments is provided in tabular form, continuously updated and published in the Open Science Framework.

In this project, we are looking at the professionalization processes of teachers in the context of inclusive education. Since in-service and further training are the most widespread measures for the qualification of teachers, it is essential to systematically investigate their effectiveness. A sound understanding of the underlying learning and transfer processes is necessary in order to design in-service training courses as effectively as possible. This is the only way to specifically promote those factors that support the successful transfer of knowledge and the sustainable implementation of inclusive practices. We use meta-analyses to address key research questions on these topics.