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The Impact Of Antecedent Physical Exercises On Increasing On-Task Behaviors And Decreasing Restricted And Repetitive Behaviors In Elementary Students With High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder In Saudi Arabia, Shadi Albadawi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Physical exercises (PEs) are one of the most used approaches by researchers to treat restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs) and enhance on-task behaviors in students with high-functioning Autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Although PEs is recognized as Evidence-based Practices (EBPs) for students with ASD in the United States of America (USA) that are based on moderate evidence, it is important to conduct more empirical studies to explore its effects on individuals with ASD from different populations in the KSA. The current study used a single-subject, multiple baseline design across subjects to examine the effect of antecedent structured physical exercises (teaching soccer …

Emotion Identification Ability And Perspective-Taking In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Ana Lucia Garrido Huerta

Theses and Dissertations

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by persistent deficits in social interaction. Perspective-taking and emotion identification are important skills to develop appropriate social interactions. Previous research has shown that children with ASD may lack the ability to relate emotionally to others. Research has also shown a deficit in perspective-taking skills in children with ASD. The selected studies reviewed in this thesis analyze seven articles that show research on children with ASD regarding their emotional identification and perspective-taking skills. Articles searched under the words “emotion identification,” “perspective-taking,” and “autism” obtained from the Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection using the EBSCO database …

Sleep Challenges And Temperament Among Infants At Elevated Likelihood Of Autism Spectrum Disorder, Miranda Hope Foster

Theses and Dissertations

The current study used parent report in a prospective longitudinal design to examine the relationship between early sleep difficulties and temperament among infants with an older sibling diagnosed with ASD (EL-ASIB, n = 32), those born pre-term (EL-PT, n = 24) and those with no familial history of ASD (LL, n = 28) across the first year of life. At 3, 4, 6 and 12 months, caregivers completed the Short Form of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R) (Putnam et al., 2014). To understand how sleep difficulties are related to temperament, a new scale of Sleep Challenges was created with items …

Do Adverse Childhood Experiences Mediate The Relationship Between Autistic Traits And Borderline Personality Traits?, Alyne Rodrigues

Dissertations - ALL

Background: Previous studies have found comorbid autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD) diagnoses in clinical samples, higher autistic traits in individuals with BPD compared to control groups, and co-occurrence of autistic traits and BPD traits in community samples. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are highly prevalent among autistic individuals and individuals diagnosed with BPD. However, to date, cumulative ACEs have been neglected as a potential mediator of the association between ASD and BPD. The present preliminary cross-sectional study examined whether retrospective self-reported ACEs, before 18 years of age, explained the relationship between current self-reported autistic traits and current …

Potential Causes Of Stigma Toward Autism Spectrum Disorder In The Hispanic/Latin Community, Jill Morales

Psychology and Counseling Theses

The goals of this study were to (a) examine if stigma against ASD is predicted by high levels of acculturation, low socioeconomic status, low levels of education, and the lack of intention to seek help from a mental health professional, and (b) examine potential differences between Hispanics and Non-Hispanics on these predictors. I predicted higher levels of acculturation and lower levels of education among Hispanic/Latin individuals than non- Hispanic/Latin individuals, and that mature Hispanic/Latin individuals will have higher levels of acculturation and lower levels of education compared to their younger counterparts.

The data were collected via a Qualtrics survey distributed …

Facilitating The Emergence Of Intraverbal-Tacts In Autistic Children Via Joint Control, Michael Aragon

Theses & Dissertations

Rodriguez et al. (2022) discovered that teaching four component skills was sufficient to facilitate the emergence of intraverbal-tacts across four applications with three participants. Our study evaluated an extension of this procedure aimed at facilitating intraverbal-tacts when a child learns the component skills but continues to fail to produce intraverbal-tacts. The extension consisted of procedures that attempted to enhance the divergent control exerted by the auditory stimulus (i.e., the question) and the discriminability of joint control. Intraverbal-tacts emerged for all three participants. These results are discussed in the context of Michael et al.’s (2011) conceptual analyses of intraverbal-tacts and the …

Increasing Young Children’S Honest Reports And Decreasing Their Transgressions, Robert K. Lehardy

Theses & Dissertations

Young children break rules (i.e., transgress) and then lie about those transgressions. By adolescence, lying is associated with decreased trust, communication, and quality of relationships, and befriending antisocial peers. To decrease lies, we replicated differentially reinforcing honest reports about transgressions for one 6-year-old neurotypical child and two 7-year-old children who were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. After all children learned to report honestly about transgressions, we extended on past research to decrease transgressions by differentially reinforcing play behaviors that children could engage in instead of transgressions. For all children, this resulted in increased levels of play, decreased transgressions, and continued …

The Effects Of Teaching Children To Tact Their Emotions On Problem Behavior, Haley Nicole Harber

Theses and Dissertations

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often struggle to understand and describe private events, such as emotions. When an individual cannot communicate appropriately, it can lead to various problem behaviors. Previous literature suggested that we teach children to tact their emotions (e.g., "I am sad," "I am angry") in an attempt to decrease their problem behavior. The primary purpose of the current study is to teach children with autism to tact their emotions. The secondary purpose is to evaluate the effects of empathy statements on problem behavior. Four children participated, three with problem behavior maintained by access to tangibles and …

Females With Autism Traits: A Retrospective Look At Developmental Trajectories, Greer Caroline Willman Finster

Theses and Dissertations

It is becoming more apparent in recent years that many females with autism spectrum disorder (autism) have not been identified, sometimes until adulthood. Most of what is known about early signs of autism is based on predominantly male symptomatic presentations or data gathered from females with autism who are severely affected by autism and co-morbid conditions such as intellectual developmental disorder. One of the issues contributing to the under diagnosis of females is that the presentation of symptoms or traits and developmental histories of females with autism may not be the same as those of males. There is a gap …

The Effects Of Parenting On The Behavior Of Children With Autism: A Meta-Analysis, Allison Martin

Honors Theses

Parenting impacts a child’s behavior, mental health, social relationships, cognitive development, and more. However, research has shown that parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) express more negative behaviors such as being overly controlling, hostile towards the child, and having poor communication with the child when compared to parents of typically developing children (Ku et al., 2019). The current study examines the effects of positive and negative parenting behaviors on the internalizing behaviors, externalizing behaviors, and social skills of children with ASD. A meta-analysis was done to analyze the effects of parenting behaviors on children with ASD. Twenty-one studies …

Diagnosed With Autism Spectrum Disorder In Adulthood: The Often Overlooked Subdivision Of Individuals In The Autism Community, Kayla L. Piacquadio

Honors Student Research

Awareness surrounding the increasing prevalence of autism spectrum disorder and Asperger syndrome has become much more widespread in recent times. Children are diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum more than ever. However, the key here is the word “children.” We focus on the behavior, development, and well-being of our children for good reason.

While the oversaturated focus on children is entirely justified, this focus overshadows a minority within the autism community that deserves the same attention and recognition. This minority group consists of the adults who have gone years without a formal diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder or Asperger …

Investigating The Self-Reported Availability And Effectiveness Of Parental Support For Parents Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder Immediately Post-Diagnosis, Maria Striebich

Senior Theses

Autism spectrum disorder, commonly known as ASD, is one of the most well-known and recognized neurodevelopmental disorders. Parenting a child with ASD is typically more stressful than caring for other children (Boyd, 2002). Because of this stress, these parents are likely to experience caregiver burnout, which is a condition that develops when someone is overwhelmed with taking care of another person without the proper support channels (Tkatch et al., 2017). It is beneficial to utilize support services in order to alleviate caregiver stress, and there are several different types of support services. However, minimal research has been done on the …

Trajectories And Psychiatric Consequences Of Inhibitory Control In Young Males With Fragile X Syndrome, Erin Hunt

Theses and Dissertations

Inhibitory control (IC), the ability to suppress inappropriate responses, emerges late in the first year of life and improves across typical development, concurrent with brain maturation. The development of IC is critical to various social-emotional and behavioral functions, with IC deficits being linked to numerous psychiatric conditions, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is a single-gene disorder characterized by IC deficits, and elevated rates of ADHD and ASD, making it a useful model for understanding the early development and consequences of IC. In this longitudinal study, we characterized IC trajectories across multiple time …

A Case Study In Applied Behavior Analysis: Increasing Color Receptive Identification Using Positional Prompts, Nicole Zamorano

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Color identification is an important skill because it fosters academic success (Akande, 2000). Positional prompts have been successfully used to teach receptive identification to children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; Leaf et al., 2014; 2016). The purpose of this case study was to increase accuracy of receptive identification of colors using positional prompting. The participant was a 7-year-old boy diagnosed with ASD who could accurately sort colors. The data from this case study indicate that positional prompts proved to be effective in teaching receptive color identification.

An Investigation Of How Previous Diagnoses Affect The Developmental Functioning Of Children At Risk For Autism Spectrum Disorder, Michaela Brown

LSU Master's Theses

Research has shown that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have co-occurring medical and/or psychiatric disorders. This current study aimed to investigate how previous diagnoses, which may become comorbidities of ASD if diagnosed, affect the developmental functioning of children presenting as at risk for ASD compared to those presenting with no risk. Developmental areas such as communication, motor, adaptive, cognitive and social, as well as overall developmental functioning, were considered in the analysis. 11,970 children under the age of three were studied. Results found that the presence of previous diagnoses significantly predicted developmental functioning, particularly in the motor functioning …

Developmental Functioning Of Infants And Toddlers With Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Megan Callahan

LSU Master's Theses

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), epilepsy, and cerebral palsy (CP) are some of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders among children with prevalence rates of 1.85% (Maenner et al., 2020), 1.2% (Zack & Kobau, 2017), and between 0.21 and 0.31% (Christensen et al., 2013), respectively. These neurodevelopmental disorders are highly comorbid with each other and with other disorders, such as intellectual disability (ID). While previous research has investigated developmental functioning in these neurodevelopmental disorders, it has primarily focused on only two at a time and in older children or adults. The current study aimed to investigate developmental functioning in these neurodevelopmental disorders …

Preschool Teachers’ Knowledge Of Autism Spectrum Disorder (Asd) As It Relates To Accuracy Of Symptom Identification, Jessica Prizer

Theses and Dissertations

Although most children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are not diagnosed until after four years of age, they can and should be identified much earlier. Given that preschool teachers repeatedly observe children in social contexts, they are in a unique position to aide in the early identification of ASD, which can prompt the initiation of intervention services that mitigate levels of disability. Few studies exist that examine preschool teachers’ knowledge of ASD in the United States and no study to date has researched the relationship between knowledge and accuracy of symptom identification in this population. The current study aimed to …

The Effects Of Preference Assessments On The Duration Of Independent Play For A Child With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Elise Amo, Robbie Hanson

Theses

Plays skills are important within typical development and independent play has shown to lead to the development of other skills, such as increased social interactions (Edwards et al., 2018). Previous research has demonstrated increases in independent play for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who display skill deficits in this area. However, research has been largely lacking for increasing independent play for individuals with ASD who simply display a preference for interacting with adults. The current study examined the effectiveness of incorporating a multiple-stimulus without replacement (MSWO) preference assessment to increase the duration of independent play for a child with …

Using Music Training To Increase Social Responsiveness And Happiness In Children With Autism, Meghan Talarico

MSU Graduate Theses

Social skills are imperative for individuals’ success in their daily lives because they are applied in areas such as shared interests and cooperative work and play. This study was a replication with extension of the study on a musical treatment of social skills by Finnigan and Starr (2010). The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of musical and non-musical interventions on the sharing and turn-taking behavior of five children with autism. The participants were four boys and one girl between the ages of 4- and 8-years-old who had a diagnosis of autism and were receiving ABA …

Maintenance Of Language And Learning Skills Using Peak Relational Training During Extended School Closure, Kayla Marie Welch

MSU Graduate Theses

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental and neurological disorder that affects how people communicate, interact with others, behave, and learn. Applied Behavior Analysis is a scientific approach to predicting and influencing behavior that has been applied successfully in supporting children with ASD. Due to communication and intellectual differences experienced by those diagnosed with ASD, it is important to identify therapies and interventions that focus on language development as well as maintenance of intervention gains during unexpected lapses in instruction. The PEAK Relational Training System (Dixon et al., 2017)is a treatment framework that exists within ABA to address language and …

Examining The Effects Of An Online Group Social Skills Program On Emotion Regulation Skills For Adolescents And Young Adults With An Autism Spectrum Disorder, Breanna Perron

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Difficulties with emotion regulation and social skills have been identified as core deficits for individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (Turcotte et al., 2016). These deficits have been shown to lead to a multitude of social consequences and difficulties across the lifespan when unaddressed (Shattuck et al., 2011). Therefore, it is vital to establish effective interventions to teach the skills necessary to combat those deficits. The present study uses a behavioral skills training model to teach emotion regulation online using video modeling. The results provide potential support for increasing emotion regulation through the teaching of social skills. There were also …

Fostering Verbal And Play Interactions In Heritage Language: A Naturalistic Intervention Mediated By Siblings For Autistic Children, Alanna Dantona

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Research on sibling-mediated interventions (SMIs) suggests that neurotypical siblings may help bolster language and play development in autistic children (Akers et al., 2018; Celiberti & Harris, 1993; Coe et al., 1991; Glugatch & Machalicek, 2021; Oppenheim-Leaf et al., 2012; Spector & Charlop, 2018), though consideration of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) populations is lacking. CALD autistic children often have a heritage language, or home language, other than English that is spoken at home with family members. Evidence suggests that bilingual exposure may be advantageous for language and play of autistic children (Dalmau et al., 2011; Lim & Charlop Seung et …