Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Teachers' Perceptions Of Implementing Response To Intervention In Meeting Academic Needs Of At-Risk Students In Kindergarten Through Second Grade., Tammy Conchita Valentine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) increased educators' awareness of Response to Intervention (RTI) as a means of providing high-quality instruction and interventions matched to student needs. The challenges that came with RTI were meeting every student's need, implementing scientific research-based interventions, and expecting mastery of grade-level standards.

The purpose of this study was to create a foundation of knowledge through exploratory case study interviews in 4 rural school districts in East Tennessee. All participants were certified teachers of kindergarten, 1st grade, or 2nd grade students. The guided interview approach was used to identify teachers' …

Educational Interventions For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders: Perceptions Of Parents And Teachers In A Northeast Tennessee School System., Paula Anderson Nickels

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study investigated the perceptions of parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), special education teachers, and general education teachers in a Northeast Tennessee public school system regarding educational interventions for children with ASD including what interventions they have found effective, the barriers and challenges they have faced, and how they view their relationships with one another.

Data were collected through interviews with a purposeful sample of 7 parents of 6 children with autism spectrum disorders, 8 special education teachers, and 6 general education teachers and a review of documents. Parent and teacher participants represented children at …

Bullying Trends And Reporting Preferences Among An Urban, Suburban, And Rural School, Noemi E. Olsen

Theses and Dissertations

Every student has the right to a safe learning environment, yet so many students have been targets of or witnesses of bullying incidents. In spite of school administration efforts to create effective reporting systems and to implement anti-bullying programs, many students remain silent victims. The present study analyzes data collected from a School Safety Survey through SchoolTipline. This data was used to determine the bullying trends, reporting trends, and reporting preferences of 562 7th and 8th grade students at an urban, suburban, and rural school. The results of this study indicate that bullying continues to be a prevalent issue that …

Correspondence Of Job-Preference And Job-Matching Assessment With Job Performance And Satisfaction Among Youth With Developmental Disabilities, Julie Hall

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study investigated the effects of job preference and job match on job performance among four 19-to 20-year-old young adults with developmental disabilities placed in community-based job conditions. Prior studies have examined the effects of job preference on community-based job performance without the job-matching component. The researcher identified high-preference, high-match and low-preference, low-match job conditions and tasks using a video web-based assessment program. Each participant was subsequently placed in a randomized sequence of 30-min sessions on one high-preference, high-match job condition performing a preferred task and one low-preference, low-match job performing a non preferred task. Job coaches instructed and prompted …

Provide Visual Structure For Students With Asd, Tina Taylor

Faculty Publications

World renowned animal scientist and autism self-advocate Temple Grandin said, "People on the autism/Asperger spectrum have uneven skills. They are often good at one type of learning and bad at another. Educators need to work on building up the area of strength." She explains that three cognitive areas of strength are those who are visual thinkers, pattern thinkers, and word thinkers. Visual thinkers are more inclined to think in pictures rather than words. They may excel in graphic design, industrial design, animation, geometry, or trigonometry. Pattern thinkers have abstract visual thoughts where they can see patterns and relationships between numbers. …

Mother-Child Attachment And Preschool Behavior Problems In Children With Developmental Delays, Mary S. Lamont

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Secure mother-child attachment has been found to be an important factor in the healthy emotional development of children and has been shown to have effects on child, adolescent, and adult behavior. Previous research has primarily focused on attachment in children who are typically developing. However, little research has been conducted in populations of children with developmental delays. The research thus far has suggested that medical situations, child disabilities and maternal emotions may affect interaction patterns between the mother and the child which may in turn influence the security of the mother-child attachment in children with developmental delays. This study contributes …

The Effects Of Self-Monitoring On Homework Completion And Accuracy Rates Of Students With Disabilities In An Inclusive General Education Classroom, Carol Ann Falkenberg

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the effects of self-monitoring on the homework completion and accuracy rates of four, fourth-grade students with disabilities in an inclusive general education classroom. A multiple baseline across subjects design was utilized to examine four dependent variables: completion of spelling homework, accuracy of spelling homework, completion of math homework, accuracy of math homework. Data were collected and analyzed during baseline, three phases of intervention, and maintenance. Throughout baseline and all phases, participants followed typical classroom procedures, brought their homework to school each day and gave it to the general education teacher. During Phase I of the intervention, participants …

A Qualitative Study Of Coping In Mothers Of Children With An Autism Spectrum Disorder, Heather Miller Kuhaneck, Tajhma Burroughs, Jamie Wright, Theresa Lemanczyk, Amy Rowntree Darragh

Occupational Therapy Faculty Publications

A significant body of research exists that explores the stressors of raising a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There are fewer studies, however, that examine specific effective coping strategies of mothers of children with an ASD. This qualitative study explored mothers’ perceptions of effective coping strategies for their parenting stressors. In-depth interviews were conducted with 11 mothers to inquire about their personal coping methods. Interviews were coded and emergent themes identified which included coping strategies such as “me time,” “planning,” “knowledge is power,” “sharing the load,” “lifting the restraints of labels,” and “recognizing the joys.” The information from …

A Multi-Step Screening Strategy For Identifying Children With Autism Spectrum Conditions In The School Setting, Lee Wilkinson

Lee A Wilkinson, PhD

No abstract provided.

The Group Selection Questionnaire: Discriminant Outcomes And Effectiveness, Jeffrey Lee Elder

Theses and Dissertations

The Group Selection Questionnaire (GSQ; Cox et al., 2004) is a measure that has been developed to facilitate clinical decisions about a client's readiness for group psychotherapy. The GSQ has demonstrated an ability to predict which clients will experience a reduction in distress through the use of group psychotherapy. This dissertation examines the Group Selection Questionnaire's ability to measure client characteristics that predict the client's ability to benefit from receiving group psychotherapy compared to the ability to benefit from receiving another form of treatment, such as individual or a combination of individual and group psychotherapy, as measured by improved scores …

Effects Of Teaching Emotions To Students With High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders Through Picture Books, Jennifer M. Fletcher

Theses and Dissertations

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) struggle with identifying others' emotions, which impacts their ability to successfully interact in social situations. Because of the increasing number of children identified with ASD, effective techniques are needed to help children identify emotions in others. The use of technology is being researched as a way to help children with emotion identification. However, technology is not always available for teachers to use in classrooms, whereas picture books are much easier to access and have been successfully used to improve students' social skills. Picture books are naturally used in classroom, home, and therapy settings. This …

Difference In Scores Between Teacher Certification Program Students With And Without Paraprofessional Experience, Sarah Caroline Dunn

Theses and Dissertations

Demand for highly effective, qualified teachers grew as legislation such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) raised the requirements for teachers and paraprofessionals. One suggestion for meeting this demand for teachers who can bring about the required classroom outcomes is to encourage paraprofessionals to become certified teachers—with the expectation that paraprofessionals' prior experience in the school environment will make them likely to excel as teachers. This study examined whether Brigham Young University Special Education teacher candidates with paraprofessional experience differed from candidates without paraprofessional experience in terms of performance scores during a …

Social Relationships And Mortality Risk: A Meta-Analytic Review, Timothy B. Smith, Julianne Holt-Lunstad, J. Bradley Layton

Faculty Publications

Background: The quality and quantity of individuals' social relationships has been linked not only to mental health but also to both morbidity and mortality. Objectives: This meta-analytic review was conducted to determine the extent to which social relationships influence risk for mortality, which aspects of social relationships are most highly predictive, and which factors may moderate the risk. Data Extraction: Data were extracted on several participant characteristics, including cause of mortality, initial health status, and pre-existing health conditions, as well as on study characteristics, including length of follow-up and type of assessment of social relationships. Results: Across 148 studies (308,849 …

Change Trajectories And Early Warning System To Identify Youth At Risk For Negative Psychotherapy Outcome, Philip Legrand Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

The field of mental health treatment is making efforts to better serve all psychotherapy clients, but especially the 5–10% of clients who deteriorate in treatment (Lambert & Ogles, 2004) and the 30–60% who drop out prematurely (Pekarik & Stephenson, 1988). These efforts involve collaboration between research and practice. Both research and practice have been treatment focused for much of their history, primarily examining treatment efficacy or effectiveness, and never quite settling on the generalizability or applicability of specific treatments. The patient-focused research paradigm has shifted the focus from treatment outcomes on the group level to outcomes on the individual client …

Adolescents' Perceptions Of Bullying Involving Male Relational Aggression: Implications For Prevention And Intervention, Brian C. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Recent bullying research contradicts the stereotypes that only females use relational bullying and confirms that males use this type of bullying equally or more than females. No existing research could be found which examined differences in how each gender interprets relational bullying. Using a survey adapted from research on the rape myth and four video clips, researchers sought to examine gendered difference in the perception of relational bullying by males among adolescents. Two video clips depict scenes of cross-gender bullying and two clips depict scenes of male to male bullying. In total, 314 students in grades 8-12 participated in the …

Social Validity Of A Behavioral Support Model, Nancy Yanette Miramontes

Theses and Dissertations

As more schools turn to School-Wide Positive Behavior Supports (SWPBS) for help with academic and problem behaviors in their schools, the need to adequately evaluate these programs on a socially relevant level increases. The present study employs social validation measures to evaluate Utah's Academic, Behavioral & Coaching Initiative (ABC-UBI), a Positive Behavior Support (PBS) initiative, on socially relevant issues. Participants from across the state of Utah who were active consumers of ABC-UBI's program, were polled for their opinion on the acceptability of the treatment goals, procedures and outcomes of the program. The results outlined several areas of much needed improvement …

Kindergarten And First Grade Teachers' Perceptions Of Bystander Bullying: Resolution Strategies In Selected Picture Books, Mary Lane Newman

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research suggests that most incidents of bullying occur in school settings. However, teachers are not always aware of bullying incidences and often do not intervene. As bullying has negative long-term consequences for the bully, victim, and bystander, it is important to identify effective ways to reduce this problem. Responding to incidents of bullying at school, bibliotherapy is a cost effective way to support students and teach coping strategies. Numerous bully-themed books model a variety of strategies to deter bullying. Because of their busy schedule and limited opportunities to review books, teachers may need assistance in identifying books that promote …

Parent Perceptions Of The Effectiveness Of Interventions For Sleep Problems In Children With Autism, Sarah Lynn Lemmons

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to learn what interventions have been effective in alleviating sleep problems among children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) according to parent report. This study also investigated resources from which parents received information regarding possible interventions and to what degree these resources were helpful. The participants in this study were 48 parents and caregivers of children with ASD from both the United States and Canada. Background information was attained from participants regarding themselves and their child with ASD. Participants then answered likert-type and open-ended questions regarding their child's sleep problem(s) and the resources they have …

Gender Differences And Similarities In Perceptions And Experiences Of Secondary Public School Safety, Bryan K. Young

Theses and Dissertations

This study is a description of male and female secondary students' experiences of safety in public schools. Gender differences in reported victimization and perceptions of school safety have been noted. The National Center for Educational Statistics ([NCES], 2006) reported that boys were the victims of violent acts in the schools more often than girls. Many studies have reported different results relating to how safe students perceive their schools to be (Addington et al., 2002; Office of Educational Research and Improvement, 1997). This study considered gender differences and similarities in students' perceptions of school safety. The study utilized a qualitative research …

Parents' Perceptions Of Bullying Prevalence, Type, And Intervention Efforts In Utah Schools, Brittney Roberts Warburton

Theses and Dissertations

Bullying is a pervasive and disruptive issue in the schools (Stockdale, Hanguduambo, Duys, Larson, & Sarvela, 2002). It has been shown to have serious negative consequences for students who are frequently targeted, including lower academic achievement, lower self-esteem, and more interpersonal problems in adulthood compared to their non-targeted peers (Eisenberg & Aalsma, 2005; Olweus & Limber, 1999; Rigby, 2003; Smokowski & Kopasz, 2005; Yoneyama & Rigby, 2006). However, when parents are engaged as active members of the school community, significant benefits accrue for children, educators, and parents. Such benefits include improved grades and test scores for students, greater job satisfaction …

Praise Notes: A Gender Study, Jennifer Berger

Theses and Dissertations

Praise has been found to be an effective promoter of positive school and classroom environments and is used commonly by school adults to promote positive behavior among students. Praise can be given using many different methods; the method studied in this research project was praise notes. As part of a school-wide Positive Behavior Support program, faculty and staff from an elementary school were encouraged to write praise notes to students, identifying targeted positive behaviors. Over a 2-year time period, 2,839 notes were collected, examined for the content of the praise, and further examined according to recipient's gender. This study of …

The Effects Of Client Therapist Racial And Ethnic Matching: A Meta Analytic Review Of Empirical Research, Raquel Cabral Bowman

Theses and Dissertations

In a widely cited 2003 report, the U.S. Surgeon General criticized mental health and social services within the United States for failing to adequately serve the needs of clients of color. The report highlighted the fact that therapists often do not adequately account for cultural variables in their evaluations or interventions. Clients of color are rarely seen by therapists who adequately understand their cultural values and backgrounds. To address this discrepancy, researchers have explored a variety of therapy process and outcome variables across clients seen by therapists of their same race vs. another race (often called "ethnic matching"). Over 200 …

The Use Of Horticulture And Gardening As A Special Education Tool At The High School Level, Krysta Marie Johnson

Horticulture and Crop Science

THIS REPORT CONTAINS PLANNING METHODS AND INSTALLATION PROCEDURE FOR A RAISED VEGETABLE GARDEN FOR WILSONVILLE HIGH SCHOOL, IN WILSONVILLE, OREGON. THE PRIMARY PURPOSE OF THE GARDEN WAS TO USE IT AS A LEARNING TOOL FOR THE SPECIAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT AT WILSONVILLE HIGH SCHOOL. UPON DOING MORE RESEARCH IT BECAME EVIDENT THAT THE GARDEN CAN ALSO BE USED AS A HEALING TOOL FOR STUDENTS WHO SUFFER FROM ATTENTION DISORDERS AND WHO HAVE EMOTIONAL AND LEARNING DISABILITIES. THE STUDENTS HAVE BECOME INVESTED IN THE GARDEN PROJECT AND LOOK FORWARD TO DOING MORE PROJECTS WITH THEIR CLASS.

Teaching English To Children With Adhd, Natalia Turketi

Sandanona

How to teach English to highly distractable and hyperactive children? How does the process of the Second (Foreign) Language acquisition for such students look like? I will highlight these issues in my presentation and demonstrate a few activities that can be helpful in teaching ADHD kids.

Patterns Of Presenting Problems And Symptom Severity Related To Family Trauma In A Robust Sample Of College Students, Gerilynn Price Vorkink

Theses and Dissertations

Because of the lasting impact that traumatic family events can have on psychological well-being, students who present for services at college counseling centers may be experiencing problems and symptoms associated with earlier trauma. Many college counseling centers utilize the Counseling Concerns Survey developed by the Research Consortium of Counseling and Psychological Services in Higher Education (1991) and the Outcome Questionnaire-45 (OQ-45; Lambert et al., 1996) as intake instruments to assess students who present for counseling. The major components of the Counseling Concerns Survey are the 18-item Family Experiences Questionnaire, which identifies history of family trauma, and the 42-item Presenting Problems …

Creating An Expected Profile For Affinity 2.5 From A Sample Of Non-Pedophilic, Exculsively Heterosexual, College-Age Females, Marie Worsham

Theses and Dissertations

The Affinity, an instrument designed to measure sexual interest using viewing time, has recently been upgraded from version 2.0 to version 2.5. The Affinity presents slides depicting non-pornographic images of people varying by age and gender. The expected Chi square weights established for Affinity 2.0 for non-pedophilic, exclusively heterosexual females may have been impacted by Affinity 2.5's 42.9% increase in the number of slides. There were two purposes to this study. The first was to establish new expected Chi square weights for non-pedophilic, exclusively heterosexual females using Affinity 2.5. The second purpose was to employ a Chi square procedure (in …

Examination Of Behavioral Momentum With Staff As Contextual Variables In Applied Settings With Children With Autism, Mark P. Groskreutz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Behavioral momentum theory proposes that the persistence of behavior when exposed to disruptors provides an appropriate measure of the strength of behavior. Basic research has consistently demonstrated that behaviors that occurred in a context with higher overall rates of reinforcement (rich contexts) were more persistent than other behaviors that have occurred in a context with relatively lower rates of reinforcement (lean contexts). More surprisingly, behavioral momentum theory goes on to assert that this greater persistence in richer contexts is found even when rate of responding is lower in the rich context, and when the greater richness is due to noncontingent …

Innovative Teaching Approaches That Stimulate Active Student Learning, Norman Powell, Sherwood Thompson, Roger Cleveland

Norman W. Powell

No abstract provided.

Stress Levels And Development: A Phenomenology Of Autistic Children And Their Parents, Tiffany R. Wiggs

Senior Honors Theses

Being a parent means taking on both the joys and struggles that come with it. When a parent discovers that his or her child has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the level of stress changes. It could be helpful to discover the severity of change that the stresses involved in parenting a child with ASD brings to the parent/child relationship and what effect this has on a child’s physical, cognitive, emotional, and spiritual development. To attempt to answer these questions, six parents were interviewed. Findings suggested that structure in daily living improves the quality of the child/parent relationship …

Spiritual Bypass: A Preliminary Investigation, Harriet L. Glosoff, Craig S. Cashwell, Chereé Hammond

Department of Counseling Scholarship and Creative Works

The phenomenon of spiritual bypass has received limited attention in the transpersonal psychology and counseling literature and has not been subjected to empirical inquiry. This study examines the phenomenon of spiritual bypass by considering how spirituality, mindfulness, alexithymia (emotional restrictiveness), and narcissism work together to influence depression and anxiety among college students. Results suggested that mindfulness and alexithymia accounted for variance in depression beyond what is accounted for by spirituality and that all 3 factors (mindfulness, alexithymia, and narcissism) accounted for variance in anxiety beyond what is accounted for by spirituality. Implications for counselors are provided.