Psychology Commons^™

Transitioning Children With Autism From A Discrete Trial Classroom To A Group Classroom, Alexandra Ennis

Honors Theses

The goal of this project was to prepare children diagnosed with autism for the transition to group learning environments by teaching them to sit in their chair and attend while the teacher is at least five feet away. This is a skill that will help kids succeed when they make the transition from an early intervention program to a group learner environment because it allows the teacher to focus more on learning important skills. A proximity procedure was put in place for two children that focused on gradually increasing the distance between the tutor and the student with use of …

Sensor-Enabled Reduction Of Stereotypy, Aaron Brzezinski

Honors Theses

The goal of this study was to create and implement an intervention to reduce stereotypic behavior in a child with Autism. The participant was chosen based on a high occurrence of target behavior and was recruited through his treatment center. The target behaviors were selected based on the subjective evaluation of his treatment provider and parents. The dependent variable in this study was hand-flapping. The independent variable was DRO training that included a buzzer and a chime noise contingent on the presence or absence of stereotypy respectively. A Microsoft Kinect© 2.0 was used to track occurrence of target behavior and …

Increasing Vocalizations In Children With Autism, Nicholette Christodoulou

Honors Theses

This study focuses on increasing vocalizations for students with Autism spectrum disorder. A three-part intervention was used to attempt to establish an echoic repertoire in students who had little to no vocalizations. Both students attended an early intervention classroom with a special education school. Students were selected from their classroom if they showed little to no vocalization or echoic skills. The goal during the first phase was to collect all sounds being made by the student to increase the overall number of vocalizations being made. This was done by continuous reinforcement using edible reinforcers. In phase two, the student’s dominant …

Effects Of Multiple Exemplar Instruction On Reading Comprehension For Secondary Students With Reading Delays, Reilly Chabie

Honors Theses

This study tested the effects of multiple exemplar instruction on reading comprehension for a middle school student with a reading delay. A multiple probe design was used to evaluate and observe the changes in the number of questions the student answered correctly. Probes consisted of: (1) pre-experimental, (2) single exemplar instruction (SEI), (3) post-SEI, (4) MEI, and (5) post-MEI. The independent variable was a multiple exemplar intervention that required the student to read a passage across three topographies (silently, listening, and aloud).

Multiple exemplar instruction was shown to be effective in increasing the number of questions answered correctly during single …

Teaching Children With Autism Who Have Difficulty Mastering Auditory Discriminations, Sarah Lichtenberger

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

Simple and conditional visual and auditory discrimination repertoires are critical components of many skills necessary for daily functioning, including communication, academic, and daily-living skills (Green, 2001). When auditory discrimination is not under instructional stimulus control, it can result in delayed acquisition of new skills and limit academic progress. The purpose of this study was to teach auditory discrimination to children with autism who had little to no progress on classroom procedures that required auditory discrimination, such as selecting an object from an array when given the name of the object as the direction. Auditory discrimination was taught starting with teaching …

The Impact Of Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Qualitative Analysis Of Healthy `Couples’ Perceptions, Brian C. Doane

Dissertations

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a problem affecting millions of individuals, with a prevalence rate of 28% to 30% for women (Cobia, Sobansky, & Ingram, 2004) and 14% for men (Breire & Elliott, 2003). Because of the psychological trauma associated with CSA and the potential impact on the survivor’s sexuality, a couple’s relationship satisfaction may be reduced and survivors may experience difficulty in maintaining healthy intimate relationships. How CSA impacts an individual has been studied extensively, but its effect on committed couple relationships has received much less attention in the literature. Additionally, very few studies have incorporated the non-abused partner’s …

Psychological And Social Variables Impacting Young Adults Caring For Severely Mentally Ill Mothers, Courtney Gale Deloney

Dissertations

This dissertation study examined the psychological and social functioning of young adults who care for their severely mentally ill mothers; in doing so this study examined the independent variables coping style, perceived stress, quality of life, and resilience. The dependent variables considered were race, socioeconomic status, support group participation, and living in the same household as one’s mother. Young adulthood was examined as a distinct period of human development. The policy of deinstitutionalization led many families to become caregivers for their severely mentally ill relatives. While some knowledge on this exists, little is known about the experiences of young adult …

Are There Shared Characteristics Among Children With Autism Who Develop Speech While Training With The Picture Exchange Communication System?, Katherine Neidhart

Honors Theses

It is clear in the literature that there are many factors that may contribute the development of speech as a possible outcome of training with the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). Research has indicated a need for more data on the characteristics and skills of children with autism that may contribute to their success while using PECS, and the possible development of speech while receiving PECS training.

This study sought to identify common characteristics and skills of children with autism that acquired speech while receiving PECS training through creating an inventory of demographics, pre-requisite skills, and other characteristics of children …

Assessing The Effectiveness Of A Picture Exchange Communication System On Increasing Manding And Vocal Speech In Identical Twin Adults With Autism, Laura C. Hilton

Dissertations

This study examined the effectiveness of a Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) on increasing manding (i.e., making requests) and spontaneous vocalizations. Participants were a set of identical twin adult women, both with a diagnosis of autism. The main dependent variable was the number of mands emitted by the participants while utilizing PECS. During each phase of training, participants had to meet a specific criterion before receiving a preferred item. Once the participants met the criterion for each phase of PECS training, a new phase began. Spontaneous vocalizations were tracked during each phase of training to determine if, as previous studies …

Factors Influencing Academic Engagement And Achievement: Exploration Of Impact Of Parentification And Poverty In Adolescents’ Student-Teacher Relationships, Nontle Nako

Dissertations

Parentification is the highest form of Adultification; a phenomenon that occurs when some children precociously perform extensive labor in their families, often as a function of poverty, and when their roles, responsibilities, and behaviors are “out of synch” with contemporary social and institutional notions of what children are expected to do (Burton, 2007). Based on the hypothesis that a significant number of children growing up in economically disadvantaged family backgrounds have higher chances of taking on adult roles at a young age and become adultified to a level of being parentified; this study sought to investigate whether and how school-based …

Training Tutors To Use A Time Delay Procedure To Increase Vocal Manding In Children With Autism, Chelsea Roberts

Honors Theses

Learning how to spontaneously mand, or request without prompting, can be difficult for children diagnosed with developmental disabilities. Previous research has shown that the implementation of a time-delay procedure aids in increasing spontaneous mands with these children (Charlop, Shreibman, & Thibodeau, 1985). The goal of this study was to increase vocal mands in children with developmental disabilities with a time-delay procedure by training their undergraduate tutors, using Behavioral Skills Training (BST), how to implement the procedure in naturally occurring opportunities. The study used a multiple baseline across participants design. The intervention used in this study can help children with developmental …

Autism Project: Case Study Evaluating Behavioral Interventions For The Self-Injurious Behavior Of Biting, Brittani Rohrig

Honors Theses

Self-injurious (SIB) behavior is a common problem among the autism population, and often those who engage in SIB have done so since a very early age. There was a nine-year-old boy named Jack who was diagnosed with ASD and engaged in the self-injurious behavior of biting his hand. A functional analysis was conducted and it was found that the behavior was multiply controlled across three main conditions: alone/play, demand, and attention. The goal of this case study was to review previous interventions that did not eliminate the target behavior, analyze and revise the current protocols in place, and eliminate the …

The Effects Of Systemic Racism On The Academic Achievement Of African American Male Adolescents, Andre Rubin Fields

Dissertations

In the most recent decade, there has been a spiraling national trend of academic underachievement on the part of African American male adolescents. The empirical purpose of this study was to investigate what role, if any, systemic racism may be playing in the growing epidemic of academic underachievement in African American male adolescents. The results of the analyses utilized in this study found that there were significant correlations between perceptions of racism, coping behavior utilization, and psychological dysfunction. Specifically, canonical correlation analysis found that elevated levels of Cultural Mistrust, Cultural Race-Related Stress, and Individual Race-Related Stress leads to increased use …

The Use Of Response Interruption Redirection, Timeout, And Differential Reinforoement To Decrease Stereotypy, Jessica Korneder

Dissertations

Behaviors such as toe walking, hand flapping, nonfunctional vocalizations, and rocking are all examples of stereotypy. Stereotypy can occur at high rates in children with and without developmental delays (Smith & Van Houten, 1996). These behaviors can interfere with the acquisition of new skills (e.g., Dunlap, Dyer, & Koegel, 1983; Morrison & Rosales-Ruiz, 1997) and social interactions (Jones, Wint, & Ellis, 1990). The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of response interruption and redirection (RIRD), time-out, and differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) in reducing vocal and motor stereotypy with children who engage in automatically reinforced high-rates …

A Comparison Of Two Variations Of A Stimulus-Stimulus Pairing Procedure On Novel And Infrequent Vocalizations Of Children With Autism, Andrew J. Bulla

Masters Theses

Despite the growth in a behavioral technology for the treatment of autism, a small population of individuals with autism fails to develop functional language. One procedure used for inducing vocalizations in non-verbal children is a stimulus-stimulus pairing (SSP) procedure. In an SSP procedure a vocalization is paired with a reinforcer over a period of time to establish the vocalization as a learned reinforcer, and any utterance of the target vocalization is believed to be automatically reinforced thus increasing the frequency of the vocalization. Past research has yielded mixed results with the SSP procedure, and more research is warranted to identify …

Efficacy Of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy With The Use Of In-Room Coaching, Cassie Shacklett Reeve

Dissertations

One significant consequence of oppositional and defiant behavior is an increase in negative interactions between caregivers and the child exhibiting those behaviors (Greene & Doyle, 1999). Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an empirically supported treatment that targets the development of a nurturing parent-child relationship along with teaching effective discipline strategies to decrease child noncompliance (Bodiford-McNeil & Hembree-Kigin, 2010). The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of PCIT when modified by utilizing strictly in-room coaching. This type of research would allow for expanded use of this empirically supported treatment into community agencies and clinics which do not …

Urban School Counseling Impact: An Aba Reversal Single Subject Time-Series Analysis Of Academic, Suspension, And Attendance Data, Katherine L. N. Colles

Dissertations

While there is a dearth of longitudinal outcome research on comprehensive school counseling program impact (Carey & Dimmitt, 2006; Carey, Dimmitt, Hatch, Lapan, & Whiston, 2008; Gysbers, 2001; Whiston, 2002) on indicators of importance to school systems (Borders, 2002; Lapan, 2001), school counseling research primarily studies program components (Borders, 2002; Herr, 1979; Whiston, 2002; Whiston & Sexton, 1998) and component outcomes (Hughes & James, 2001; Schmidt, 1984, 2000; Sink, 2002). Grounded in a historical review of the school counseling field and pertinent related research, this research investigated the school counseling program impact of one kindergarten through eighth grade urban school …

Combined Effects Of Mdma And Ethanol On Locomotor Activity And Place Conditioning In Male And Female Adolescent Sprague-Dawley Rats, Keli A. Herr

Masters Theses

MDMA, ("Ecstasy") is commonly abused in combination with ethanol (EtOH). Relatively few preclinical studies have investigated sex differences in animal models of polysubstance use. The current study employed a conditioned place preference (CPP) procedure to assess the behavioral effects of the co-administration ofMDMA /EtOH in 32 male and 32 female adolescent Sprague-Dawley rats. Following a 15 min habituation trial, eight 30-min conditioning trials were conducted in two- compartment chambers with different environmental cues. Before each drug conditioning trials, rats were administered intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of MDMA(6.6 mg/kg), EtOH (1.5 g/kg), MDMA (6.6 mg/kg) and EtOH (1.5 g/kg), or saline. Prior …

The Effects Of Child Birth Order And Number Of Children On Mother’S Supervision Beliefs And Practices, Alyssa Schramm

Honors Theses

Objective: This study aimed to examine (1) whether mothers’ attitudes about supervision differ based on (a) the number of children in the home and (b) the birth order of the child; (2) whether mothers’ reported supervision levels differ based on: (a) the number of children in the home and (b) the birth order of the child; (3) whether children in families with more than one child sustain more injuries than children in families with fewer children. I expected to find that mothers had more lax attitudes for their younger children versus old, and were more lax for homes with more …

The Gender Of Participants In Published Research Involving People With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Erin Watkins

Masters Theses

Research articles involving participants with an autism spectrum disorder and published from 2010-2012 in Autism, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Journal of Child Psychology and Child Psychiatry, and Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders were examined to determine the reported gender of participants. The overall male:female ratio was 4.62, which is similar to that reported in epidemiological studies, but the ratio was 6.07 in intervention studies. These findings suggesting that males were in a statistical sense over-represented in intervention studies, but not in other kinds of research. Most (82.21%) of these studies included both male and female participants, but …

Delayed Match-To-Sample In Preschool Children, Thomas Ratkos

Masters Theses

In delayed match-to-sample (DMTS) tasks, a sample stimulus is shown and then removed for some period of time before comparison stimuli are presented. Joint control theory (Lowenkron, 1984, 1988, 1991, 1998, 2006) explains correct selections on delayed match-to-sample tasks in terms of the joint control of behavior by the comparison stimulus and a repeated word or words originating from the sample stimulus. Eight children ages 3 to 6 were exposed to a DMTS task with visual stimuli using a 15s delay. During training, children were taught to name the stimulus cards and then repeat the name of the target stimulus …

Expanding The Ecological Lens In Child Welfare Practice To Include Other Animals, Christina Risley-Curtiss

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Sixty-nine million U.S. households have companion animals and most of these families consider these animals to be family members. Research shows that children have powerful emotional connections with animals that can be both beneficial and harmful. Considerable research findings report that violence against animals often co-occurs with, indicates, or predicts other forms of family violence, including child abuse. A companion animal may be an abused child's confidante, and separation from that animal through foster care may be a source of stress and grief for that child. Child welfare agencies are slowly acknowledging some animal-human relationships, especially in regard to animal …

Exploring Adolescent Experiences Of Race, Ethnicity, And Socioeconomic Status In Counseling Relationships: A Qualitative Approach, Christina Crans

Dissertations

The ACA Code of Ethics (2005) states the expectation that counselors must understand the diverse backgrounds of their clients. In addition, counselors are called to understand how their personal cultural identity informs and affects the counseling process. Yet there is paucity in the literature regarding the multicultural client experience within a counseling relationship. Of the few multicultural counseling studies that attempt to address multicultural client concerns, the approach has been quantitative or reliant on counselor self-report. In addition, the lived counseling experiences of adolescents and individuals from lower socioeconomic status (SES) is absent in present literature. This qualitative study examined …

Motivational Interviewing Assessment And Behavior Therapy As A Stepped-Care Approach To The Treatment Of Adolescent Depression, Tanya N. Douleh

Dissertations

Depression is a significant public health concern with a lifetime prevalence of 24.01 for adolescents in grades 9-12 (Lewinsohn, Hops, Roberts, Seeley, & Andrews, 1993) and a point prevalence of 4-6% (Kessler, Avenevoli, & Ries, 2001). The risks associated with adolescent onset depression include comorbidity, depressive episodes continuing into adulthood, and suicidality. These risks make it imperative to develop effective treatments to address adolescent depression. Stepped care is an approach to treatment which involves treatment of illness using the least invasive measures first and moving toward more invasive treatment as indicated by ongoing assessment. Through a single-participant design, the current …

What Psychotherapists Have To Teach Us About Childhood Developmental Trauma: The Roles Of Attachment Orientation And Coping Strategy, Rebecca Klott

Dissertations

Psychotherapists have been found to have higher rates of childhood developmental trauma when compared to non-clinicians, yet they do not report more distress. The current study added to the literature regarding the experiences of psychotherapists and explored a theoretical model integrating attachment and coping as mediators for the relationship between childhood developmental trauma and psychological distress among psychotherapists.

A total of 130 masters' level psychologists participated in this study. These participants were asked to complete the following measures: The Child Abuse and Trauma Scale (Sanders& Becker-Lausen, 1995), the Ways of Coping-Revised (Folkman & Lazarus, 1985; Folkman, Lazarus, Denkel-Schetter, DeLongis, & …

The Effects Of Implementing Restorative Justice In An In-School Suspension Program, Nikki Brown-Kersey

Dissertations

The purpose of the proposed study was to assess the effects of implementing an in-school suspension program with a Restorative Justice component on office referrals, suspensions and grade point averages. The combination of Restorative Justice and inschool suspension as an alternative to out-of-school suspension warrants empirical evaluation. According to recent research, neither Restorative Justice nor in-school suspension alone have enough empirical evidence to support their success and continued use in schools in isolation. The positive aspects of each combined may produce a more successful alternative to suspension. A group design procedure was used to assess if significant changes in the …

Jamaican American Child Disciplinary Practices, Stephaney Carter

Dissertations

Little is known about child disciplinary practices in Jamaican American families. Literature on child discipline in Jamaica and other Caribbean nations has mainly focused on physical discipline, and no empirical studies have investigated the types of discipline used in the Jamaican American community. The purpose of this study was to describe current child disciplinary practices in Jamaican American families. A total of 311 primarily first-generation Jamaican American parents from New York City completed the 54-item Jamaican Child Discipline Survey, designed for this study, either online or in paper-pencil format. The main foci of the study included the use of child …

Evaluating The Effects Of Camera Perspective In Video Modelingfor Children With Autism: Point Of View Versus Scene Modeling, Courtney Cotter

Dissertations

Video modeling has been used effectively to teach a variety of skills to children with autism. This body of literature is characterized by a variety of procedural variations including the characteristics of the video model (e.g., self vs. other, adult vs. peer). Traditionally, most video models have been filmed using third person perspective (i.e., scene models), where the viewer is watching the actor perform in a scene. Recently, studies have successfully incorporated the use of first person perspective into video models (i.e., point of view models), where the view is directly from the actor's point of view. Currently, no studies …

Using Environmental Sounds To Initiate Receptive Language Training For Children With Autism, Woan Tian Chow

Dissertations

A pre-test showed that three pre-school children with autism had difficulty learning to match spoken words to objects (receptive identification). Therefore, they were first taught to match environmental sounds to objects (e.g., to touch a tambourine, when they heard the sound of the tambourine) and then to match spoken words to other objects while continuing to match the mastered environmental sounds to the original objects.

For all three children, simply learning the environmental-sound/object matching did not facilitate learning spoken-word/object matching; however intermixing the training of spoken-word/object matching with the previously mastered environmentalsound/ object matching did result in the mastery of …

The Economics Of Being Young And Poor: How Homeless Youth Survive In Neo-Liberal Times, Jeff Karabanow, Jean Hughes, Jann Ticknor, Sean Kidd, Dorothy Patterson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Based upon in-depth interviews with 34 youth in Halifax and seven service providers in St. John's, Montreal, Hamilton, Toronto, Winnipeg, and Calgary, the findings of this study suggest that labor occurs within a particular street context and street culture. Formal and informal work can be inter-related, and despite the hardships they experience, young people who are homeless or who are at-risk of homelessness can respond to their circumstances with ingenuity, resilience and hope. Often street-involved and homeless young people are straddling formal and informal work economies while mediating layers of external and internal motivations and tensions. The reality is that …