Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Establishing Content And Face Validity Of An Assessment To Evaluate The Attitudes, Self-Efficacy, And Knowledge Of Pre-Professional Students Related To Assistive Technology For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder (Asd), Cynthia Amy Ruedinger

Theses and Dissertations

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of the study was to create an online assessment in order to better understand the knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy that pre-professional students have in the fields of assistive technology and ASD and establish content and face validity for this assessment.METHOD. 12 content experts, both professors and practitioners, within the fields of occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech language pathology, and special education, as well as experts in autism spectrum disorder and assistive technology, participated in the content validation process. A total of 16 students within these disciplines completed the assessment with pilot data gathered and provided feedback on …

Upper Extremity Kinematics And Pain Outcomes During Activities Of Daily Living In Pediatric Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Olivia Yanez Wilwert

Theses and Dissertations

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) is a group of heritable connective tissue disorders, consisting of thirteen different subtypes. Among the thirteen, Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) is the most common. Individuals with this condition present with frequent joint instability that results in ongoing subluxations and dislocations. Secondary diagnoses of this condition include chronic pain, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). The diagnostic process of hEDS is convoluted by the lack of a genetic identifier (Malfait et al., 2017). Individuals with hEDS are often not diagnosed until later in adulthood, leaving their adolescent life full …

Biomechanical Analysis Of Stroke Patterns And Functional Outcomes In Pediatric Manual Wheelchair Users, Paige Louise Aschenbrener

Theses and Dissertations

Approximately 88,0000 manual wheelchair (MWC) users are under the age of 21 in the United States (Kaye, LaPlante, & Kang, 2000). More than half of pediatric MWC users with spinal cord injury (SCI) report shoulder pain later in life and are at higher risk for developing upper extremity (UE) overuse injuries (Vogel & Zebracki, 2015). During MWC propulsion, a stroke pattern is the path the hand follows with respect to the pushrim (Boninger et al., 2002). Current clinical guidelines for adults recommend sole use of the semicircular stroke pattern as best practices because a MWC user is able to spend …

Comparing Sensory Accessibility Needs In Deaf And Low Vision Populations: An Explorative Study, Anna Bruckbauer

Theses and Dissertations

Objective. The objective of the study is to compare hypothesized similar sensory accessibility needs of Lighting, Acoustics, Openness, Color/Contrast, and Services/communication for the hard of hearing and low vision population. Background. The Americans with Disability Act – Architectural Barriers Act Design Guidelines (ADA-ABA, 2004, 2015) provides guidelines to increase accessibility of public buildings for individuals covered by the ADA (1990). However, these guidelines often fall short of providing functional and practical guidelines to be accessible for all. Extant building rating tools fail to attend to the overlap of functional needs for the hard of hearing and/or low vision populations. Thus, …

Dialect Use, Language Abilities, And Emergent Literacy Skills Of Prekindergarten Children Who Speak African American English, Erika Rose Baldwin

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the complex relationship between spoken language and emergent literacy skills for children who speak African American English (AAE). Therefore, this study examined children’s language proficiency, dialect use, and emergent literacy skills at the beginning of Head Start preschool and throughout the entire academic year.

Methods. This study analyzed scores from a database of 120 preschool children who spoke AAE. Data included narrative retells of the wordless picture book Frog Where Are You? that were transcribed utilizing Systematic Analysis of Language Transcript (SALT) Software. Narrative retells were then …

A Comparison Of Two Devices For Isometric Lingual Strengthening In Healthy Adults, Daniel Laurensio Gutierrez

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to compare tongue pressure measurements recorded by an established device, the Iowa Oral Performance Instrument (IOPI) and a new device, the TongueometerTM.

Eight healthy adults ages 18 to 59 were subjects. Independent variables included device type (IOPI & TongueometerTM) and bulb placement in oral cavity (anterior & posterior). The dependent variable was tongue pressure in kPa. Each subject attempted three trials of maximum tongue pressure at both the anterior and posterior bulb placement location for both devices. The order of device and bulb placement position was counterbalanced to reduce potential carryover effects. Subjects were …