Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Education (Ph.D)

Department

Education Specialties

First Advisor

Olivia G Stewart

Second Advisor

Eunhye Choi

Third Advisor

Mary Jean McCarthy

Abstract

Early childhood education is intrinsically multimodal, involving many different digital tools. With such a big shift towards technology, this study is focusing on teaching strategies with the integration of flexible digital tools. It also presents how specific technologies can support different teaching strategies in elementary special education. The participants in this study are elementary special education teachers, working as special education teachers in an elementary school on Long Island, NY. The essential features of the research methodology are a digital survey for special education teachers to fill out. The researcher also conducted post-survey interviews about the use of flexible digital tools in special education classrooms and how this aligns with the teacher’s pedagogical teaching beliefs. This study is significant because it investigates a powerful lens on hands-on learning, augmenting, expanding, and complicating special education through flexible digital tools. Digital flexible tools also challenge fundamental assumptions about teaching practices that special education teachers hold.

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