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Addressing Common Mental Health Issues Prevalent Among Honors College Students, Steven Pham
Addressing Common Mental Health Issues Prevalent Among Honors College Students, Steven Pham
Honors Theses
The prevalence and severity of mental health disorders on college campuses has been increasing nationwide. This review aims to address some of the prevalent mental health issues that continuously plague college students today. Recent trends in college student mental health are analyzed as well as literature regarding common disorders including depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder. A comparison of honors and non-honors students is provided to contribute to an otherwise lacking area of research surrounding honors student populations. Effective practices and policies for colleges and universities to incorporate into their counseling services are also considered, with viable goals centering on the …
Increasing Vocalization And Echoic Stimulus Control, Logan Wurster
Increasing Vocalization And Echoic Stimulus Control, Logan Wurster
Honors Theses
Deficits in verbal behavior can be harmful to children’s growth and development of other crucial skills and can also increase problem behavior (Eldevik, Eikeseth, Jahr, & Smith, 2006; Charman, Magiati, & Howlin, 2007; Cividini-Motta, 2014). Results from previous research show that vocal imitation training, stimulus-stimulus pairing, rapid motor imitation, and mand-model approaches have been successful in teaching echoic behavior. However, there is little evidence to show that these methods are successful for children who are making little to no verbal responses. (Carroll & Klatts, 2008; Bennett & Yoon, 2000; Greer & Ross, 2003; & Hawkins & Schuster, 2007). The purpose …
Teaching Imitation To Children With Autism Using Most-To-Least Prompt Fading In Front Of A Mirror, Giulia Avelar
Teaching Imitation To Children With Autism Using Most-To-Least Prompt Fading In Front Of A Mirror, Giulia Avelar
Honors Theses
Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder have difficulty acquiring imitative skills, which may serve as an important factor in developing social skills and language (Miller et al., 2015; Ledford & Wolery, 2010; Young et al., 1994). Research has shown that most-to-least prompting is most effective for children who do not learn quickly (Libby et al., 2008). The goal of this study was to discover whether the presence of a mirror affected the rate of acquisition of imitative behaviors compared to a no-mirror condition, using most-to-least within-session prompt fading. This study used a multiple baseline design across sets of behaviors. Sets …
Teaching Two Children Diagnosed With Autism To Tolerate Physical Contact, Kelsey Webster
Teaching Two Children Diagnosed With Autism To Tolerate Physical Contact, Kelsey Webster
Honors Theses
It was hypothesized that the fading in of a prompt hierarchy coinciding with the delivery of tangibles, edibles, and attention or praise reinforcers would decrease problem behavior and noncompliance in two male children with autism who displayed problem behavior and resistance while being physically prompted. A single-subject research design was used to present the prompt hierarchy across various conditions in a school setting. Both participants initially engaged in problem behavior on 100% of the trials but quickly reduced in intensity of problem behaviors by the end of the intervention. There is no current research conducted on how to decrease problem …
Toilet-Training A Child With Autism In A School Setting, Kristianna Ferrier
Toilet-Training A Child With Autism In A School Setting, Kristianna Ferrier
Honors Theses
Children with autism and developmental disabilities typically take longer to learn skills. Specific training that requires more repetition to obtain mastery should be used to teach specific tasks (MacDuff, Kratz, & McClannahan, 2001). Toilet training is no exception and must be directly taught to children with Autism. Toilet training is a fundamental skill for independent living and greatly reduces the work load of care givers (Chung, 2007). The child in this study was chosen based on a toilet training readiness checklist. The present study is a combination of the scheduled sitting protocol by Azrin and Foxx (1971) with the omission …
Using Video Modeling To Teach Functional Direction Following, Breanna Burns
Using Video Modeling To Teach Functional Direction Following, Breanna Burns
Honors Theses
Many children with developmental disabilities have a hard time learning skills, such as following directions, in a small group setting. Video modeling has been shown as an effective way to teach certain skills to children with autism and other developmental disabilities (Nikopoulos & Keenan, 2004; Wu, Cannella-malone, Wheaton et al, 2016). Little research has been done on using video modeling to teach functional directions. Generalizing direction following skills to appropriate contexts is important for children to be successful in the many environments they encounter in a typical school setting. The purpose of this project was to teach functional direction following …
Within-Session Progressive Gestural-Prompt Delay To Teach Receptive Identification, Breanne Stiemsma
Within-Session Progressive Gestural-Prompt Delay To Teach Receptive Identification, Breanne Stiemsma
Honors Theses
Receptive identification skills are important for any child to learn. Without these skills, various aspects of development can become impaired. There are many ways to teach receptive identification. This project pulled ideas from previous studies on within-session progressive gestural-prompt delays as well as the different methods of teaching receptive identification skills, simple-conditional method and the condition-only method. The student was not acquiring receptive identification skills with the traditional methods used in the classroom. Within-session progressive gestural-prompt delay was used in this project to teach receptive identification of objects. An AB single-subject design was used in this project. The student responded …
Explicit Programming For Icon Rings: Visual-Based Discrimination, Samantha Borowski
Explicit Programming For Icon Rings: Visual-Based Discrimination, Samantha Borowski
Honors Theses
Instructional icons are helpful as basic direction following is the basis for complex skills needed later in life. These instructions should have a good training so that children can get the basic skills and can move on to the complex skills. The goal of the project was to increase the correct responses to instructional icons. Visuals are a good tool for learning because it attaches a picture with the event that is happening or will happen. Children with autism sometimes struggle when they are introduced to a new environment so having a system in place to help make instruction following …
Increasing Shared Attention In Children With Developmental Delays, Shelby Esman
Increasing Shared Attention In Children With Developmental Delays, Shelby Esman
Honors Theses
Joint attention behaviors may be essential to the development of language and social interaction skills (Whalen and Schreibman, 2003). Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often lack these behaviors which may explain the difficulty many of them have communicating appropriately with others (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Previous research has shown that prompting procedures and social reinforcement have been successful in teaching children with ASD to shift their eye gaze between an adult and the object of interest when prompted to do so (Taylor and Hoch, 2008). This present study set out to create and test a procedure designed to teach …
The Effectiveness Of Music Therapy To Reduce Agitation Among Persons With Alzheimer’S Disease, Caroline Mazon
The Effectiveness Of Music Therapy To Reduce Agitation Among Persons With Alzheimer’S Disease, Caroline Mazon
Honors Theses
According to the Alzheimer’s Association (2016), Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is diagnosed every 66 seconds resulting in this disease being the 6th leading cause of death in the United States. Among other signs and symptoms, agitation is one of the most challenging symptoms that patients and caregivers must try to control using nonpharmacological therapies or prescribed pharmacological treatments. Among many professions, music therapy has been used to specifically lower the levels of agitation in AD patients. Live music, “sing a long’s”, using instruments, and listening to a song of the patients’ choice have all been shown to reduce agitation behaviors …
Teaching A Scanning Response To A Child With Autism, Katherine Burnham
Teaching A Scanning Response To A Child With Autism, Katherine Burnham
Honors Theses
Children with autism have been known to exhibit abnormal scanning responses, or lack them entirely, as shown by the results of various studies (Sasson et al., 2008; Landry & Bryson, 2004). Studies have indicated that scanning may be a behavioral cusp and the lack of a normal scanning response in children with autism may be inhibiting the acquisition of many other subsequent skills (Bosch & Fuqua, 2001). By implementing an intervention to teach the scanning response, it was hypothesized that our participants would develop the prerequisite scanning skill, and therefore performance on a matching-to-sample procedure would improve. Through a basic …
Culture Of Gentleness: A Behavioral Approach, Stevie Parcell
Culture Of Gentleness: A Behavioral Approach, Stevie Parcell
Honors Theses
The purpose of this paper is to explain the fundamentals of an ideological framework for caregivers providing services to people with disabilities called a Culture of Gentleness. The material is traditionally taught within the two-day Working with People training, and the efforts to spread this theory is headed by the Center for Positive Living Supports located in Clinton Township, Michigan. The material is then analyzed through a behavior analytic perspective. Each segment of the initial training will be discussed through both a Culture of Gentleness and behavioral perspective, rooted in Applied Behavior Analysis. Although established in the practice of Positive …
Self Management: Overcoming Barriers To Success, Jazmyn Souryamat
Self Management: Overcoming Barriers To Success, Jazmyn Souryamat
Honors Theses
Individuals with an autism spectrum diagnosis often have a social-skills deficit that may include the tendency to avoid eye contact. In addition, they may have sensory issues and become easily overwhelmed by excessive sensory stimuli. Self-management is a treatment that has been found to enhance the quality of life for individuals with or without an autism spectrum diagnosis. It has been helpful in treating procrastination, used to increase physical activity, lower caloric intake, and increase independence. In this study, self-management treatments were used to increase instances of appropriate social responding and to decrease behaviors that posed a barrier to personal, …