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Examining The Dimensionality And Contributors Of Kindergarten Composition, Molly K. Duncan

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

Despite increasing pressure for children to learn to write at younger ages, there are many unanswered questions about composition skills in early elementary school. The goals of this dissertation were to add to knowledge about the measurement of young children’s writing and its component skills. Both studies explore the composition skills of a sample of 282 kindergartners. In Study 1, confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a qualitative scoring system and a productivity scoring system capture distinct dimensions of kindergartners’ compositions. A scoring system for curriculum-based measurement could not attain acceptable fit, which may suggest that CBM is ill-suited for capturing …

Exploring Predictors Of Reading Comprehension For Struggling Adult Readers: A Quantile Regression Approach, Amani Talwar

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

There is a paucity of research examining the skills that contribute to reading comprehension for adults who struggle with reading, which includes one in six adults in the United States (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2013). The current studies addressed some of the gaps in this literature.

Study 1 explored the Simple View of Reading (SVR), which postulates that reading comprehension is predicted by two component skills: decoding and linguistic comprehension (Gough & Tunmer, 1986). Participants included 392 struggling adult readers who were native speakers of English. The dimensionality of the SVR components was examined using confirmatory factor analysis. …

I Am Not Your Student-Athlete: An Investigation Of Social Identity Complexity As A Stereotype Threat Mitigation Strategy And Individual Differences That May Moderate The Effect, Jacob Alan English

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

Collegiate athletes must contend with negative stereotypes during their academic career (Comeaux, 2012). Such stereotypes depict student-athletes as unintelligent (Yopyk & Prentice, 2005) and overlook the benefits and variability of the collegiate athletic experience. Student-athletes are multifaceted and more than their sport. Unfair depictions can influence student-athletes’ behavior, especially in the classroom. Research shows that student-athletes’ academic performance is affected by stereotype threat (Riciputi & Erdal, 2017); which is the apprehension of confirming a negative stereotype about one’s social group (Steele & Aronson, 1995). Currently, there is no published evidence-based research on stereotype threat mitigation strategies tailored to student-athletes. Expanding …

Parents' And Children's Oral Language Use During Three Play Contexts, Dariush Bakhtiari

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

Children learn much about language through interactions with their parents. Ample empirical evidence demonstrates important correlational and predictive relations between parents’ linguistic input and young children’s oral language development and achievement. Research suggests that various aspects of parents’ language differs by linguistic context. However, there is relatively little research on parent-child language interactions during one increasingly prevalent linguistic context: digital game play. The present study addressed this gap in the literature, investigating parent and child vocabulary during three different play contexts: free play with toys, a board game (card matching), and a digital game (puzzles on an iPad).

Forty-three parents …

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy In Teacher Education: Are We Adequately Preparing Pre-Service Teachers To Circumvent Cultural Marginality In The Classroom?, Chatee' Richardson

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

Research has shown that despite the growing population of diverse and ELL students in American schools, pre-service teachers are not adequately prepared to effectively deal with the current reality of a diverse classroom. The reason for this is twofold. First, the student population is becoming increasingly diverse when compared to the majority of teachers who are White, middle-class, monolingual English speaking females. Second, teacher preparation is lacking as it pertains to cultural competence.

The following mixed method study investigates two liberal arts based teacher education programs with a focus on culturally responsive teacher preparation. Through program analysis, faculty interviews, and …

Examining Trauma-Informed Care Knowledge, Skills, Dispositions, And Professional Development Needs Of Special Educators And Paraprofessionals In Therapeutic Alternative Schools: An Exploratory Survey Study, Mora D. Pressley

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

Examining the use of trauma-informed care (TIC) in schools is necessary to support the academic, behavior, and social-emotional development of students with and without disabilities who encounter trauma. In Chapter One, a systematic literature review was conducted to examine TIC interventions implemented in schools. Nineteen publications were included. Review results identified P-12 school-based TIC intervention characteristics, school-based facilitators, implementation strategies, and professional development (PD) components. Limitations and future directions are discussed. In Chapter Two, an online survey was administered to special educators and paraprofessionals to assess their knowledge, skills, dispositions and PD needs regarding TIC implementation for students with disabilities …

Combining Self-Determination And Check-In/Check-Out To Improve The On-Task Behavior Among African American Students With Challenging Behaviors, Weke T. Andrews

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

Students enrolled in alternative/therapeutic school settings generally have a history of academic failure and behavioral disruption that may impede their learning. These students tend to perform lower than their peers in academic areas and exhibit higher rates of disruptive, off-task behavior and course failure. One strategy that may address the challenging needs of these students is the Check-in/Check-out intervention embedded with self-determination instruction. Self-determination instruction and Check-in/Check-out combined, have the potential to enable students in alternative school settings to be more empowered in their own learning and increase the likelihood of academic and behavioral success. The purpose of this study …

A Pilot Study Of An Online Stress Intervention For P-12 Teachers, Brandis M. Ansley

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

Researchers (e.g., Greenberg, Brown, & Abenavoli, 2016) suggest that P-12 teachers are routinely exposed to high levels of stress and prone to burnout, which is characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a lack of personal accomplishment (Maslach, Leiter, & Johnson, 1996). Burnout has been associated with deleterious effects on teachers’: (a) health and wellbeing; (b) job performance; (c) job commitment; and (d) workplace relationships (Greenberg et al., 2016). Thus, burnout is a critical issue that must be addressed in order to maintain a solid workforce of engaged and effective teachers who influence positive student outcomes. According to the transactional model …

Reasons I Care: Exploring Relationships Among Social Identities, Cultural Values, And Black Adolescent Males’ Pro-Social Behaviors, Johari Harris

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

Black male students face a multitude of challenges that often lead to poor academic and social outcomes at school (Ferguson, 2001; Noguera, 2003). There is extensive research on the predictors of their problems, but far less on the factors that can lead to positive outcomes. Research has demonstrated Black males who are positive about their racial-ethnic identity have better academic and psychological outcomes than peers who have less positive feelings (Chavous et al., 2003). Less is known about how racial identity and other social-cognitive variables influence Black males’ pro-social behaviors, an important component of school success. To address this gap, …

Understanding Self-Regulated Learning, Dina M. Schwam

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

Over the past few decades, self-regulated learning (SRL) has been an area of research that continues to grow in importance due to its strong relationship with academic success (Zimmerman, Bandura, & Martinez-Pons, 1992; Zimmerman & Kitsantas, 1997). Its early development arose through the metacognitive and social-cognitive literature with research geared towards a better understanding of successful learning. Over the years, confusion has grown over the conceptual definition of SRL, leading to a vast array of literature researching many of its sub-components and processes of metacognition and motivation. Two researchers in the area of SRL, Pintrich (1999, 2000, 2004) and Zimmerman …

Student-Teacher Relationships And Students With Behavior Difficulties In Therapeutic Schools, Carrie A. Kane

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

In Chapter One, a systematic literature review was conducted to analyze intervention studies that measured student- teacher relationships (STR). STR are important for all students (Burchinal, Peisner-Feinberg, Pianta, & Howes, 2002; Hughes, Luo, Kwok, & Loyd, 2008; Pianta & Stuhlman, 2004). Students who have positive relationships that include high levels of closeness with their teachers have better academic, behavioral, and social emotional outcomes (Mihalas, Morse, Allsopp, & McHatton, 2009; Roorda, Koomen, Spilt & Oort, 2011). In addition, students who have relationships with their teacher that are high in conflict are more likely to demonstrate negative behavior, social skills and academic …

Math Interventions For Students With Mild Disabilities: A Meta-Analysis And Graphic Organizer Intervention Study, James R. Schwab

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

Students with emotional behavioral disorders (EBD) who have been removed from their regular schools into alternative educational settings (AES) have academic deficits that affect their success in school (Lehr, Tan, & Ysseldyke, 2009); however, few researchers have investigated what strategies work best for this population, especially in the area of math (Schwab, Johnson, Ansley, Houchins, & Varjas, 2016). Two important areas that students with EBD must master to graduate high school are fractions and algebra (Templeton, Neel, & Blood, 2008). Since the research on math interventions for students with EBD in these areas is limited, researchers have suggested examining the …

Practice-Based Professional Development For Self-Regulated Strategy Development: Teaching Students With Learning Disabilities And Other Struggling Writers To Pen Informational Essays Citing Text-Based Evidence In An Inclusive Setting, Erin R. Fitzpatrick

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

The complex task of reading, understanding, analyzing, synthesizing, and subsequently writing in response to a prompt about multiple texts required by the Common Core writing standards is difficult for many students, especially struggling writers and students with learning disabilities. The majority of elementary teachers report having less than adequate preparation in writing pedagogy and identify writing as the area they feel least prepared to teach. In this multiple probe across participants study, two teachers, a special education teacher and a cooperating general education teacher in whose classroom he worked, served as teacher participants. The special education teacher implemented Self-regulated Strategy …

Language Assessment In African American English-Speaking Children: A Review Of The Literature Since 1983 And Grammaticality Judgments Of Low-Income, African American English-Speaking Children: The Role Of Language Ability And Dialect Density, Ryan Lee

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

The overarching purpose of both dissertation studies is to contribute to the extant literature base on language assessment in the context of poverty and African American English (AAE) dialect. Language assessment with culturally and linguistically diverse populations, in particular children who speak AAE, has been a longstanding challenge for professionals in the field of speech-language pathology despite the preponderance of scholarly attention this topic has received. The purpose of the first study is to conduct a systematic review of the literature to synthesize the existing literature on AAE from the past approximately three and a half decades, to identify aspects …

Exploring The Influence Of Parents' Beliefs And Behaviors On Children's Developing Executive Function, Ellen Litkowski

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

Executive function (EF) is a multi-component construct responsible for higher-order thinking abilities such as problem solving, goal-setting, and attentional flexibility (Jurado & Rosselli, 2007). Executive functions are associated with the prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain that undergoes substantial growth and modification from birth to age five. For young children, EF supports behavioral and social adjustment and is predictive of future academic achievement (Brock, Rimm-Kaufman, Nathanson & Grimm, 2007). The neurobiological components of EF have been extensively researched, but only recently have socio-environmental influences come to light. This ecological perspective may be of particular importance for children growing up …

The Relationship Between Self-Determination Theory And Physical Activity Participation Variables To Exercise Self-Definition Among African American Retirees, George Shaw, Geroge Leonard Shaw Jr.

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

This manuscript style dissertation is composed of three chapters. Chapter 1 is an introduction of the research problem and introduces some of the main areas that can impede African Americans from regularly participating in physical activity such as cultural & regional issues, presence of chronic diseases, and other issues. Chapter Two is a literature review on how autonomy support can facilitate self-determined motivation within individuals. It introduces how an individual can receive autonomy support from one source, multiple sources, or from an environment. Chapter Three is an empirical study assessing the relationship between self-determination theory and physical activity participation variables …

Investigating Individual Differences In The Conceptual Change Of Biology Misconceptions Using Computer-Based Explanation Tasks, Merrin Oliver

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

The current study examined the effects of computer-based self-explanations (i.e., generated by the learner) and instructional explanations (i.e., provided to the learner) on undergraduate biology students’ revision of photosynthesis and respiration misconceptions. Individual differences, particularly students’ prior knowledge, significantly impact the effectiveness of instructional tasks. Oftentimes, an instructional task is effective only for learners at a particular prior knowledge level. Cognitive Load Theory suggests that too much or too little instructional support can overwhelm a learner’s working memory. When used for building knowledge, self-explanations and instructional explanations, like those employed in the current study, both interact with prior knowledge. Prior …

Effects Of Errors Of Commission On Student Performance During Discrete Trial Tasks, Carina M. De Fazio

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

The extent to which interventions are implemented as intended is called treatment integrity (TI). Given that it is unreasonable to expect 100% TI in applied settings, a through understand of TI is essential to appropriately train teachers. This understanding must include the types of TI errors that may be committed and how these effect student learning. It is essential to study TI errors because of the real-world implications for students, including eligibility decisions for special education services, which are based upon students’ responses to inventions. It is not possible to make educational decisions on intervention effectiveness unless it is clear …

The Effect Of Repeated Reading With Audio-Recorded Modeling On The Reading Fluency And Reading Comprehension Of Adolescents With Ebd Or Ohi And Behavioral Difficulties, Katherine Cott

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

Adolescents with behavioral difficulties and emotional and behavior disorders (EBD) or other health impairment (OHI) have demonstrated deficits in reading, and these deficits appear to remain stable or worsen over time. Reading fluency is an essential skill for overall reading achievement, yet relatively few studies have addressed reading fluency intervention for adolescents, particularly adolescents with behavioral difficulties. This study used a multiple baseline across participants design to evaluate the effect of a repeated reading intervention on the reading fluency and comprehension skills of middle school students with reading difficulties and behavioral difficulties and EBD or OHI. The intervention involved repeated …

The Effectiveness Of A Social Thinking Curriculum In Facilitating Social Competence Of Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Brooks L. Peters Ph.D.

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

A lack of social competence is one of the primary characteristics of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This pervasive lack of social competence can cause individuals with ASD to struggle to develop meaningful social relationships with peers and adults across their lifetime. Thus, learning appropriate socialization skills is an essential component in the education of this population. The purpose of the current study was to provide an initial investigation into the effectiveness of a comprehensive social skills training intervention on the social competence of young children with ASD using direct recording methods. Eight students with ASD between the …

Effects Of Professional Development And Virtual Teacher Coaching With Videoconferencing On The Increase Of Teacher Given Opportunities To Respond And The On-Task Behavior Of Students With Emotional/Behavior Disorders, Millicent L. Carmouche

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

Coaching has been identified as a critical support for persistent use of newly adopted practices and skills (Joyce & Showers, 1982). A systematic review of the literature was conducted to examine the literature base on supervisory coaching, an approach in which an outside expert or supervisor gives specific, positive, and corrective coaching when needed and is offered to the teacher after the completion of the observed lesson in an effort to move the recipient toward a desired level of performance (Joyce & Showers, 1981; 1982; Maeda, 2001; Simonsen, Myers, & DeLuca, 2010). Sixteen quasi-experimental and single-subject studies were identified and …

Language Development In Preschoolers At Risk: Linguistic Input Among Head Start Parents And Oral Narrative Performance Of Deaf And Hard-Of-Hearing Children, Hanah Goldberg

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

The development of children’s language skills during the preschool years plays a crucial role in subsequent reading and school success. Some children may enter kindergarten with oral language skills that lag behind their peers’. Two such groups are children from low-socioeconomic status (SES) families and those who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH).

Study 1 considered parents’ linguistic input during interactions with their Head Start pre-kindergarten children in two conversational contexts. The first, shared storybook reading, has featured prominently in early language interventions but proven less efficacious among low-SES samples. The second, shared reminiscing, offers a theoretically promising setting …

High School Special Education Teachers' Use Of Positive Behavior Supports: Effects Of A Behavior Prompting Routine On Specific Praise Rates, Adrienne Stuckey

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

Teaching class-wide behavior expectations and using specific praise (SP) are common components of positive behavior supports and are considered light behavior management strategies that teachers are likely to find acceptable to implement because they require little time or materials (McNamara, 1984; Oswald, Safran, & Johanson, 2005). SP consists of approval statements that directly describe desirable behavior students have carried out (Brophy, 1981). This contrasts with non-specific, or general praise, which consists of approval statements that lack a specific description of student behavior (Sutherland, Wehby, & Copeland, 2000). A two-fold systematic review of the literature was conducted to locate all relevant …

Dialogic Reading: Language And Preliteracy Outcomes For Young Children With Disabilities, Jacqueline Towson

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

Dialogic reading is an evidence-based practice for preschool children who are typically developing or at-risk (WWC, 2007). However, there is limited research to evaluate if dialogic reading has similar positive effects on the language and preliteracy skills of preschool children with disabilities (WWC, 2010). This quasi-experimental study examined the effects of dialogic reading, with the incorporation of pause time, on the language and preliteracy skills of 42 preschool children with disabilities within 5 inclusive and 7 self-contained preschool classrooms. Following random assignment of students at the level of the classrooms, participants were equally distributed into an intervention (n=21) …

Effects Of Response Cards On Math Performance For Students With Moderate Intellectual Disability, Lauren J. Boden

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

Response cards (RC) are signs or cards that allow students to hold up their answer and simultaneously respond to teacher prompts. Researchers have examined the use of RC in a variety of different settings with students with and without disabilities and have found an array of positive effects on behavioral and academic outcomes; however, there is a paucity of research on the use of RC for students with moderate intellectual disability (MoID). This study directly examined the effects of RC with students with MoID on academic engagement, active student responding, task accuracy, and total instructional time while teaching students to …

Academic Procrastination: Prevalence Among High School And Undergraduate Students And Relationship To Academic Achievement, Jill Janssen

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

This dissertation presents a literature review on procrastination and more specifically research involving the domain of academic procrastination, characteristics/traits academic procrastinators exhibit, and two different types of academic procrastinators. Even though a comprehensive theory has not been established, social cognitive theory, attribution theory, and motivation theories contribute to our understanding of academic procrastination. Studies that investigate prevalence of high school and college students who procrastinate in international settings, and more specifically in the United States, are reviewed, along with the literature on the relationship between academic procrastination and achievement. Research has demonstrated with relative consistency that academic procrastination has significant …

Predicting Success In Preparing For High-Stakes Admissions Tests: A Moderated Mediation Analysis, Jed Appelrouth

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

Research on preparing for standardized college admissions tests such as the SAT has largely been limited to studies exploring the relative effect size of test preparation. In several analyses and meta-analyses, investigators have demonstrated a positive effect of test preparation (e.g., Briggs, 2005; Kulik, Bangert-Drowns & Kulik, 1984; Lilly & Montgomery, 2011; Powers & Rock, 1999). Moving beyond the fundamental question of whether SAT prep influences test scores, researchers have only recently begun to explore the individual factors that inform successful test preparation. In their regression analysis of the salient factors of successful SAT preparation, Appelrouth, Moore, & Zabrucky (2014) …

Effects Of Theory Of Mind Training On The False Belief Understanding Of Deaf And Hard Of Hearing Students In Prekindergarten And Kindergarten, Stacey L. Tucci

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

Data from a growing number of research studies indicate that children with hearing loss are delayed in Theory of Mind (ToM) development when compared to their typically developing, hearing peers. While other researchers have studied the developmental trajectories of ToM in school-age students who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH), a limited number have addressed the need for interventions for this population. The present study extends the current research on ToM interventions to the PreKindergarten and Kindergarten levels. This study used a single-case multiple-baseline multiple-probe across skills design with replications across classrooms to examine the effects of a ToM …

Critical Thinking In Public Health: An Exploration Of Skills Used By Public Health Practitioners And Taught By Instructors, Martha Elizabeth Alexander

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

Critical thinking is crucial in public health due to the increasingly complex challenges faced by this field, including disease prevention, illness management, economic forces, and changes in the health system. Although there is a lack of consensus about how practitioners and educators view critical thinking, such skills are essential to the functions of applying theories and scientific research to public health interventions (Rabinowitz, 2012). The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between critical thinking skills used by public health practitioners and critical thinking skills taught to graduate students in schools/programs of public health. Through interviews with public …

Idiom Comprehension Skills Of Adult Struggling Readers, Stephanie Ryan Hall

Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

Idioms such as break a leg and piece of cake make up a significant portion of spoken and written discourse. Like other linguistic expressions stemming from conceptual metaphor (e.g., metaphors, similes), idioms serve to provide understanding of one concept in relation to a different concept (e.g., love is a journey). The ability to comprehend figurative expressions has an extended developmental period that begins as young as 5 years and continues into adulthood. The Language Experience Hypothesis attributes figurative language competence to meaningful exposure to figurative expressions. The Global Elaboration Hypothesis, however, proposes that figurative language comprehension depends upon skills …