Education Commons^™

The Effects Of A Mindfulness-Based Intervention On Middle School Students With Special Needs, Michelle Castillo

Education | Master's Theses

Adolescence is a vulnerable period to a child’s emotional and social environment due to the puberty-related changes in hormones, which has an effect on their judgement, impulse control, and emotional regulation. Middle school students face several daily stressors at school, at home, and in their communities. Although adolescents face stressors in and out of school, a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) can be beneficial. This research focuses on the effects of a mindfulness-based intervention on middle school special education students in regards to their attention and behavior in general education classes as well as their self-perception. While prior studies address the benefits …

Effects Of Yoga On Student Attention In Pre-K, Amanda Paulson

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects Yoga Calm (Gillen & Gillen, 2009) had on student attention in Pre-Kindergarten students. Nine pre-kindergarten students receiving special education services at an elementary school participated in 5-10 minutes of yoga practice each day in a small group environment before returning to a large group setting for shared reading. The yoga time consisted of teaching of different sequences along with breathing techniques that could also be used independently. Observations were conducted on a weekly basis during shared reading. The observations focused on whole body listening (eyes, ears, mouth, hands, arms, legs, …

A Single-Subject Study On Listening To Student-Selected Music Through Headphones For Students With Adhd, Jennifer Renee Royster Ramey

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects that self-selected music have on the working memory of fifth grade students with an ADHD diagnosis. A single-subject ABACAC design was used, and a convenience sample of five fifth-grade students from a rural central Virginia middle school participated in the study. An on-line working memory N-back task (Cognitive Fun!, 2008) was used to measure the working memory of each participant under the conditions of no music, teacher-selected music listened to through headphones, and self-selected music listened to through headphones. The results of this study found that one participant experienced a …

Exploring The Utility Of Mindfulness In The Elementary School Classroom, Sarah M. Wells

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Current evidence supporting the efficacy of mindfulness training in the K-12 setting is quite limited. In addition there is a lack of theory that is committed explicitly to explaining how a direct mindfulness-achievement effect might appear. This study builds a promising foundation for helping address this gap in the existing literature. Framed within the context of a limited source model of self-regulation, academic achievement and perceptions of third, fourth, and, fifth graders participating in a 3-week mindfulness training program were examined across variables of executive control, and emotional regulation. Mindfulness training produced observed emotional and cognitive benefits, including increased executive …

Examining Relationships Between The Wakids Gold Social-Emotional And Cognitive Subtests Of Executive Function And Kindergarten Reading Readiness, Amy J. Wright

Education Dissertations

Executive function skills, which are defined as a person’s ability to regulate behaviors such as attention, working memory, and inhibitory control, play a role in a child’s successful transition from preschool to kindergarten. The purpose of this study was to review and analyze the relationship between executive function in early childhood, as measured by the WaKIDS GOLD^TM social-emotional and cognitive subtests, and early reading readiness. The research design was both correlational and predictive (Gall, Gall, & Borg, 2006). The target population is kindergarteners in a suburban Washington State school district. The study is based on data collected at the …

Neural Correlates Of Interval Timing Deficits In Schizophrenia, Ariel W. Snowden, Catalin V. Buhusi

Psychology Faculty Publications

Previous research has shown that schizophrenia (SZ) patients exhibit impairments in interval timing. The cause of timing impairments in SZ remains unknown but may be explained by a dysfunction in the fronto-striatal circuits. Although the current literature includes extensive behavioral data on timing impairments, there is limited focus on the neural correlates of timing in SZ. The neuroimaging literature included in the current review reports hypoactivation in the dorsal-lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), supplementary motor area (SMA) and the basal ganglia (BG). Timing deficits and deficits in attention and working memory (WM) in SZ are likely due to a dysfunction of …

Physical Activity In The Secondary Classroom, Rebecca Streit Nelson

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to review literature related to exercise breaks in the secondary classroom. There is a current nation-wide effort to increase active behavior in our youth. Secondary teachers and administrators are finding new methods to incorporate exercise in the classroom based on professional and personal interests and Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs. Research reviewed on exercise breaks includes cognitive and attentional benefits and variables to consider when planning exercise breaks. Most research identifies a positive correlation between exercise breaks in the secondary classroom and increases in cognitive or attentional benefits for students. No major negative impacts …

Mindfulness Training And Its Effects On Behavior And Achievement, Amber L. Woeltge

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mindfulness is a concept that has been around for hundreds of years dating back to 3000B.C. However, as of recent it has reached our youth and adolescents in education and elsewhere. Mindfulness–Based Training involving young children and adolescents has been a relatively new topic of research over the past ten years. The context of this research paper was to examine published, empirical, peer-reviewed studies that analyze the impact Mindfulness-Based Training programs have in regard to behavior and academic achievement on youth and adolescents. The focus on behavior is to determine if Mindfulness-Based Training can positively influence behavior concerns with regard …

Working Memory And Attention As Predictors Of Processing Speed In Elementary School Students: A Developmental Study, Monih Alshehri

Dissertations

Problem

Many studies suggest that Processing Speed (PS), Attention, and Working Memory (WM) are major cognitive functions that collaborate to achieve a coherent cognitive system. The aim of the current study was to improve the conception of how these cognitive functions interrelate. The study addressed two main questions: the first, whether PS can be predicted by WM (visual, verbal, and the central executive) and attention of elementary students in first and fifth grade; the second, whether there are gender differences in the rate of change in WM and PS from first to fifth grade.

Method

The participants were taken from …

Storytelling Study, Samantha Irene Pepe

Honors Theses and Capstones

Expressive prosody (i.e., a manner of communication that is characterized by lively rhythm and tempo) and inexpressive prosody (i.e., monotone speech) present different environments for listening to a story during a read-aloud session. This study aims to assess whether there are visual attention differences for preschoolers in these varied prosodic environments and how this affects comprehension.