Education Commons^™

Assessing Generalization Of Behavioral Interventions In Teaching Independent Play Skills To Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review, David Anthony Defranco

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

A myriad of evidence-based practices has been effective in teaching independent play skills to individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). These interventions include video modeling, activity schedules, task correspondence training, task organization, individual work systems, and matrix training. This systematic review is aimed at examining the various behavioral interventions used to teach independent play skills to children and adolescents with ASD as the independent play literature will be evaluated to see if generalization was programmed for and assessed within the study. As one of the main dimensions of behavior analysis, generalization of skills, specifically independent play skills, is important to …

The Student’S Perspective Of Therapeutic Day Treatment, Krystal Vaughan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has continued to be diagnosed in school-aged children at a high rate. Students with this diagnosis often display negative behaviors and poor academic performance, leading to the need for school-based interventions. Although the use of school-based interventions has shown to be moderately effective, the need to identify the student’s perspective is warranted. The purpose of this general qualitative study was to explore the effectiveness of therapeutic day treatment from the student’s perspective. While parents and teachers have found therapeutic day treatment useful, research to date from the student’s perspective is lacking. Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive …

The Student’S Perspective Of Therapeutic Day Treatment, Krystal Vaughan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has continued to be diagnosed in school-aged children at a high rate. Students with this diagnosis often display negative behaviors and poor academic performance, leading to the need for school-based interventions. Although the use of school-based interventions has shown to be moderately effective, the need to identify the student’s perspective is warranted. The purpose of this general qualitative study was to explore the effectiveness of therapeutic day treatment from the student’s perspective. While parents and teachers have found therapeutic day treatment useful, research to date from the student’s perspective is lacking. Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive …

Tier Ii Behavioral Intervention: A Direct Comparison Of Two Versions Of Class Pass, Madeline Cordle

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Disruptive behaviors are some of the most difficult behaviors for teachers to address in schools. They can take multiple forms in the classroom, and can impact the student displaying them, as well the rest of the learning environment in terms of academic engagement. Disruptive behaviors are believed to be displayed by students for the purpose of attaining social positive and social negative reinforcement. These behaviors also tend to fall into a higher level of need based on MTSS/PBIS tiered support models. Typically, disruptive behaviors fall within Tier II level of need, where universal supports are not enough, but intensive, individualized …

Effects Of Recess On Educational Outcomes In Elementary School Children, Katelyn Whitham

Health, Human Performance and Recreation Undergraduate Honors Theses

Introduction: Because physical activity is beneficial for physical and mental health, the declining opportunities to implement adequate recesses in schools are devastating for children. If educational outcomes are positively affected by increased recess time or quality, schools are more likely to receive funding for programs and resources that support this renovation to recesses, providing research in lacking topics. Purpose: The purpose of this systematic review is to find related, academic articles for cross examination of data collected on the effects that recess has on educational outcomes so that schools may use this as a resource to receive funding to increase …

Investigating The Effectiveness Of The Positive Reinforcement Components Of Tootling, Kennedi J. Alstead

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Disruptive behavior in the classroom can have a negative impact on students’ academic and social outcomes. Additionally, teachers have expressed difficulty with implementing class-wide behavioral interventions that address this problem. Tootling is a class-wide, positive behavioral intervention that has been shown to increase prosocial behavior and academic engagement, as well as decreasing disruptive behavior in the classroom. Tootling is derived from another form of positive peer reporting and is considered the opposite of tattling. In tootling, students report on their peers’ prosocial behaviors. This intervention has multiple components that assist in its effectiveness. Specifically, there are three components with aspects …

The Effects Of Bibliotherapy On Students With Behavioral Problems: Combating Negative Behavior With Books, Alaina J. Peters

Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning

At the time of the study, the researcher was a graduate student serving in a yearlong clinical teacher placement. The researcher sought to find an intervention to behavioral problems taking place in a third grade classroom setting. The aim of the study was to diminish the negative behavior occurring in the classroom setting through the use of bibliotherapy. For this study, the researcher collected data through the use of surveys, document collections, interventions, and observation with the addition of field notes. Using the constant comparative method with the addition of descriptive statistics, the author found common themes amongst the data …

The Impact Of Explicit Teaching Of Emotions In A Second Grade Classroom, Shaina Pine

Education Masters Papers

How can the explicit teaching of emotions affect student behavior and emotional problem solving? This action research project investigated how lessons using the explicit teaching model affected the ability for students to identify their own emotions, problem solve emotional responses, and use the process of affect labeling, or naming an emotion, to help students regulate their emotions within the classroom environment and beyond. Twenty-six second-grade students participated in daily emotional check-ins, explicit teaching lessons about twenty-five different emotions, and journal writing to reinforce emotional identification and problem-solving skills. A pre and post interview was used to assess students’ ability to …

Structured Training Programs For Direct Support Professionals On Behavior Intervention Support Plans, Melody Lane Barnes-Meisenhelder

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Direct support professionals work with developmentally disabled individuals and are responsible for implementing behavior intervention support plans (BISPs). Little is known about the efficacy of supplemental BISP training in these professionals. The purpose of this quantitative experimental study was to investigate the efficacy of BISP training to improve knowledge and applied understanding of BISPs in direct support professionals. Social validation, treatment fidelity, and change theories served as the foundations of the study. Seventy-three newly hired direct support professionals were randomized into an experimental group with a 2-day workshop training or a standard training group. BISP knowledge was assessed before and …

Parental Stress Coping And Middle-School Students’ Grades And Behavioral Conduct, Stephanie Buckner

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractAccording to Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, factors such as parental stress influence family functioning and affect children’s adaptive development. This quantitative study was conducted to better understand the association of parental stress coping skills with two dependent measures: the grades and behavioral conduct of middle-school students. Sixty-six parent/guardians completed the Coping Skills Assessment 2nd Revision (COSA R2), an assessment of parental stress coping skills and a brief questionnaire to collect data on their middle-school-aged children’s grades and conduct, along with demographic variables of race/ethnicity, age, family income level, number of children in the household, and partner status. No significant difference …

Behavioral Effects Of Outdoor Learning On Primary Students, Makena Cameron, Samantha Mcgue

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

Children have an innate sense of curiosity about nature. “When children come in contact with nature, they reveal their strength” (Montessori, 1967, pg. 69) and therefore, outdoor education can be a useful learning tool for students. Whether being outdoors or bringing the nature-based activities inside, children have the opportunity to work with all of their senses. A growing number of schools around the United States have begun adding outdoor learning to their curriculum (Lieberman & Hoody, 1998) to bring a positive outcome to students’ behavior. Outdoor learning provides another environment that children can thrive in and hopefully benefit from. As …

High School Students' Perceptions Of Safety Concerns Predicts School Avoidance, Ann Marie Howard

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

School violence is a growing concern and an impending danger for American youth. Students' perceptions of violent school incidents may lead to fear and this fear may lead to school avoidance. Although researchers have found that teenage pregnancy and working to support family are two of the main reasons that students stay home from school, there has been no research conducted on whether students' perceptions of safety concerns, solely focusing on the presence of guns, gangs, student bullying, and fear of victimization, predict their decision to stay home from school. Therefore, based on social disorganization and resilience theories, the purpose …

Academically-Redshirted Males' Behavior And Academic Performance At The Middle School Level, Cassandra Ricciardi Capadona

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Male students appear not ready for middle school by exhibiting lower grades, learner disengagement, and/or behavior problems. The age in which male students initially enter school has not been fully investigated as a possible systemic issue of a lack of male student longitudinal success and learner engagement. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the differences between how academically redshirted male students performed academically and behaviorally compared to their non-academically redshirted grade mates at Grades 6-8. This study drew from the theories of early childhood constructivists: Piaget, Vygotsky, and Montessori. The research questions addressed the academic and behavioral …

Tootling With A Randomized Independent Group Contingency In A High School Setting, John Dylan Ken Lum

Dissertations

Tootling is a procedure where students report their classmates’ positive and prosocial behavior. The present study examined the effects of tootling on students’ disruptive and academically engaged behavior in three general education high school classrooms. An A-B-A-B withdrawal design was used to assess the effects of the intervention. Students wrote tootles anonymously on paper slips and placed them into a marked container. Unlike previous tootling studies, a randomized independent group contingency procedure was used to reward the students to reduce the number of steps required to implement the intervention. At the end of the class period, teachers randomly drew three …

Beliefs On Behavior: The Influence Of Constructed Beliefs Of Discipline On School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions And Supports (Pbis) Fidelity Of Implementation, Elizabeth Baynes Johnson

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation explores the association between teacher perceptions of behavior and teacher implementation of PBIS. Adding to previous research on various links between teacher demographics and behavior approaches, this research aims to provide an analysis of any such association to enlighten teacher knowledge and inform potential behavior change.

The quasi-experimental quantitative approach utilized in this study identifies any statistically significant correlations between approach to behavior and implementation fidelity. Quantitative data compiled via surveys and data collection analyzed by behavior approach are explained as well as analyzed in terms of predictability based on the independent variable of teacher behavior approach as …

Cognitive And Affective Aspects Of Personality And Academic Procrastination: The Role Of Personal Agency, Flow, And Executive Function, Marc Graff

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Academic procrastination is a prevalent issue that affects school-related and other experiences of many students, with some studies identifying as many as a third of college students sampled as‘severe’ procrastinators. This study investigated some of the factors previous studies have identified as potential contributors to procrastinating in the academic arena. In defining procrastination as a self-regulation issue, it is proposed that distinct executive function processes play a role in one’s efforts at academic task engagement and completion and resisting the tendency to procrastinate on these tasks. It is also proposed that the frequency with which one experiences ‘flow’, a state …

Roleplaying To Develop Self Regulation, Baylen N. Wagner

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

This action research study investigated the use of child-led play in an after school club as a means to reduce peer conflict and increase cooperation. Prior literature suggests that children behave differently during imaginative play and exhibit greater natural behavior regulation when adult involvement is limited or removed. A small group of child participants, aged 9-14 years, were given materials necessary for a roleplaying game where players take on imaginary characters and cooperatively complete dangerous quests. One child acted as game leader, designing the adventure’s challenges and providing rules adjudication. The children attended six game sessions and completed questionnaires after …

Person-Level Predictors Of Bullying And Bystander Behaviors Of Middle School Students, Todd Jason Dollar

Wayne State University Dissertations

This research examined the ways in which person-level factors (social goals, self-efficacy for defending, moral disengagement, and empathy) influence bullying and bystander experiences of middle school students. Participants (N = 207) in grades 6 to 8 (ages 11- to 15-years-old) who were enrolled in a suburban Public School Academy (i.e., charter school) middle school located in Southeastern Michigan completed a self-report questionnaire on one occasion. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed gender and grade differences in person-level factors. Gender differences were found for victimization. Females experienced significantly more social victimization than males. Multiple regression analyses revealed a synergistic effect for some, …

The Role Of Individual Character Strengths In Adolescent Academic Achievement And Risky School Behavior, Paul Deschamps

Wayne State University Dissertations

Adolescent achievement is a major developmental task in adolescence and reducing Risky School Behaviors is an important part of the process. Patterns of adolescent achievement and general development are the result of the cumulative process that includes a long history of experience and socialization in school, in the family, in the peer group, and in the community. This study is the first to expand understanding of these key interrelated but unique outcome variables of both Academic Achievement and risky School Behavior through examination of individual Character Strengths in the presence of other key intrapersonal and contextual variables from multiple systems …

Measuring The Self-Assessed Presence Of The Essential Features Of Pbis In West Virginia Schools, James Franklin Harris

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to explore the implementation of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) for the 19 schools participating in the West Virginia Department of Education’s (WVDE) PBIS Project. Specific attention was given to which critical elements are more or less likely to be put in place during the first year of implementation, and which variables related to the process and the schools seem to positively and negatively influence implementation. Schools showed a positive trend of implementation and based upon the literature this should have a positive impact on the students and staff at these schools. There …

The Effects Of Character Education On Social-Emotional Behavior, Diane M. Dodds

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

The addition of character education to school curricula has become an increasingly popular response to today’s heightened emphasis for students to succeed on academic high stake tests, leaving little regard for the development of social-emotional competencies. The purpose of this research was to study the effects of character education on the social-emotional behavior of elementary students in a private Montessori school. The study consisted of 18 students in a grade 1-4 classroom over a period of five weeks. Data was collected through daily tallying of negative behavior and through incident forms as well as student pre- and post-test evaluations regarding …

The Bonds That Break: Sibling Abuse Perpetration Behaviors As Correlates Of Peer Bullying Perpetration Behaviors: A Structural Equation Model, Curt Bachman

Dissertations

Problem

The literature suggests that the perpetration of sibling violence and peer bullying behaviors present multifaceted concerns for both families and society. Furthermore, there are differences in how the perpetration of peer bullying and sibling violence behaviors have been emphasized in the United States. However, research examining how these experiences may be related is limited.

Method

A survey was used to collect data on lifetime reports of sibling abuse and peer bullying perpetration behaviors from a sample of 252 adults. A total of six variables were measured using an altered version of the Conflict Tactics Scale.

Results

Using partial least …

Teacher Perceptions Of The Use Of School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions And Supports At Reducing The Presence Of Bullying In Middle Schools, Kristine Marie Harper

Dissertations

Each day students throughout the world are exposed to bullying in many different ways and on many different occasions. Bullying has received such a great amount of attention through the media, that it leaves parents and community members with the belief that bullying has become a bigger problem today than it ever has before Austin, Reynolds, & Barnes, 2012; Carrera, DePalma, & Lameiras, 2011; Packman et al., 2005; Rigby & Smith, 2011). Nearly every state in the nation has passed laws regarding bullying and increasing the responsibility of schools and districts to implement programs to prevent and/or address bullying on …

The Emotional Experience And Expression Of Anger: A Child's Perspective, Craig A. Oolup

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The purpose of this study was to explore and identify key themes related to a child’s experience of anger. The existing literature on children’s emotional experiences stems from adult perceptions and interpretations; this study was envisioned to investigate the experience of anger among children using their own words. Participants were male and female students, aged 8-9 and in a general grade three classroom within a community school. Through the use of semi-structured interview focus groups conducted over a span of 10 weeks, participants were invited to disclose their understandings of anger and how they experienced it. Results were analyzed via …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of The Good Behavior Game With General Education High School Students Utilizing A Changing Criterion Component, Rachel Ritter Mitchell

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the interdependent group contingency procedure known as the Good Behavior Game (GBG) with upper-level (i.e., 10th, 11th, and 12th grade) general education high school students utilizing a changing criterion design. The effectiveness of the GBG has been investigated with a variety of behaviors across many developmental levels; however, limited research has been done at the high school level. To date, only a few studies have examined the effectiveness of the GBG with a general education high school population, one with a single 9th grade classroom (Kleinman & Saigh, 2011) …

Using A State-Wide Survey To Determine The Impact Of Positive Behavior Interventions And Supports On Students' Self-Reported Perceptions, Feelings, And Behaviors, Rachel Youngblom

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This study examined student responses to the Minnesota Student Survey in 286 schools across the state of Minnesota. Of these schools, 143 of the schools had implemented PBIS and the other 143 schools had not. The study included elementary, middle, and high schools. The schools were coded as either small (under 150 students), medium (151-480 students), or large (over 480 students). For schools that had been trained to implement PBIS, fidelity of implementation was also considered and all schools were coded as having either high fidelity (80 or higher for SET; 70 or higher for BoQ) or low fidelity. The …

Evaluation Of Performance-Based And Pre-Set Conventional Criterion For Reinforcement In Check In-Check Out, Lauren Lestremau Harpole

Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of two methods of criterion-setting, performance-based or pre-set conventional, as evidenced by improvements in children’s behavior. Participant behavior was evaluated through teacher reports of appropriate behavior and observed academically engaged behavior as well as decreases in problem behavior and disruptive behavior. Eight elementary school students in a Southeastern town referred for exhibiting behavior problems served as participants in addition to their teachers. The effects of the different methods of criterion setting on the dependent variables were evaluated. Teacher ratings of appropriate behavior were assessed through evaluation of Daily Behavior …

The Relationship Between Academic Achievement And School-Based Mental Health Services For Middle School Students, Lisa Ogle Williams

Dissertations

Mental health issues among American adolescents and children can negatively impact their potential for school success. As many as 10% of students among the general education population suffer from psychiatric disorders, yet only between 1% and 5% of those students are being served. The effects of mental health difficulties are problematic for students because they negatively impact academic performance, behavior, attendance, and school violence (Whelley, Cash, & Bryson, 2003). There are often barriers to academic performance relative to psychiatric illness and problems that include inadequate health insurance coverage, lack of transportation, shortages of child mental health professionals, and stigmas associated …

A Case Study Evaluation Of Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support And Its Relationship To Student Well-Being From A Social Justice Perspective, Alissa Briggs

Dissertations

Schoolwide positive behavior support (SWPBS) is proactive, systemic, school-wide intervention aimed at preventing problem behavior and promoting prosocial behavior (Warren et al., 2003). Successful SWPBS implementation relates to reduced office discipline referrals and increased scores on tests of academic achievement (Lassen, Steele, & Sailor, 2006). However, it is not clear how SWPBS relates to other indicators of student well-being (e.g., school climate, safety, relationships, prosocial behavior, and engagement in school). In order to achieve social justice in schools, multiple components of children's well-being must be promoted through proactive interventions (Prilleltensky, 2005), such as SWPBS. Because well-being as a whole encompasses …

Mystery Motivator Calendar: An Interdependent Group Contingency, Variable Ratio, Classroom Intervention, Eva Aleksandra Kowalewicz

Dissertations

Classroom behavior management problems are often seen as one of the primary barriers to achieving an educational environment conducive for academic and social-emotional growth of students. The literature indicates there is a need for evidence-based, easy-to-implement classroom behavioral interventions that align with the positive behavioral support philosophy. This study examined the effectiveness of the Mystery Motivator Calendar, an interdependent group contingency, variable-ratio, classwide intervention as a tool for reducing disruptive classroom behavior in eight diverse, general-education elementary school classrooms across seven different schools. The study employed a single-case, ABAB (baseline, intervention, withdrawal, reinstatement and follow-up), changing criterion design. The effectiveness …