Psychology Commons^™

A Comparison Of One-To-One And Small Group Instruction For Young Children With Autism: Focus On Effective Teaching And Behavior Management, Kathy Marie Bertsch

Dissertations

Over the past two decades, research has focused on identifying successful instructional methods and appropriate programming for young children with autism. Much of this early research focused on the effectiveness of intensive one-to-one behavioral programs. Support for intensive one-to-one instruction for children with autism began a long-term debate over the effectiveness, efficiency and appropriateness of one-to-one instructional strategies for young children with autism. In response, researchers and educators began considering and studying small group instruction, a less restrictive alternative to intensive one-to-one instruction. While support is mounting for the use of small group instructional strategies, there continues to be limited …

Self-Control Training In Young Children, Laura Kay Murray

Dissertations

The incidence of conduct and behavioral disorders is steadily on the rise. Externalizing problems in the preschool years are considerable predictors of problems in later childhood, and even adulthood. There is a growing need for effective prevention programs for young children that can be implemented in school environments. Prevention efforts with young children often focus on self-control training for the reduction of impulsive behaviors. Impulsivity is an early presenting behavior pattern that can lead to a variety of disorders. The present study had two goals: (1) to measure the effects of a package intervention containing cognitive and behavioral treatment techniques …

Documenting Lines Of Communication Between School Personnel And Physicians For Medication Evaluation Purposes For Students With Adhd, Pamela M. Radford

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to document current and desired lines of communication between school personnel and physicians for the purpose of making medication decisions for students with ADHD. School-physician communication practices-were assessed utilizing a national survey of primary care physicians who are members o f the American Medical Association (AMA) and school psychologists who are members of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP). Specific information exchange practices that were assessed included: (a) on what student characteristics is information collected (e.g., academic performance, disruptive behavior, social interactions), (b) how school-based information is collected (e.g., direct observations, rating scales), …

Using Measures Of Intervention Integrity, Intervention Acceptability, And Intervention Effectiveness To Evaluate A Toilet Training Program In A Preschool Classroom For Children With Special Needs, Katherine M. Holverstott-Cockrell

Dissertations

The primary objective of this study is to use measures of intervention integrity, intervention acceptability, and intervention effectiveness identified by Witt and Elliott (1985) to evaluate the toilet training program in a preschool classroom. The second objective is to assess the effects of parent participation with the toileting program. The third objective is to assess the effects of the toilet training intervention. Specifically, this study investigated (a) the relationship between intervention integrity, acceptability, and effectiveness of a toilet training intervention implemented in a preschool setting and at home; (b) the relationship between parental participation with the intervention and the efficacy …

A Study Of The Effect Of Group Family Play On Family Relations For Families With Children Considered At-Risk For Educational Failure, Carmen Colleen Baldus

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Preliminary Investigation Of The Acceptability And Effectiveness Of Computer-Based Adjunctive Parent Training For Child Noncompliance, Dwayne M. Munneke

Dissertations

Noncompliance with parent requests is a commonly reported behavior problem for clinic-based child referrals. Parent skills training has been empirically demonstrated as an effective treatment for helping parents increase positive child behaviors and decrease negative behaviors. Unfortunately, many therapists and agencies are unable to implement parent-training programs due to limited therapist training, limited economic resources, or long waiting lists.

Adjunctive, computer-based, treatment programs have become increasingly popular in both research and clinical settings for facilitating psychological assessment and intervention. This project involved the development and preliminary investigation of the effectiveness and acceptability of a computer-based program designed to supplement therapist-delivered …

The Validity Of The Adhd Section Of The Diagnostic Interview Schedule For Children, Ann M. Mcgrath

Dissertations

The purpose o f this study was to learn more about the validity o f the ADHD portion of the NIMH-DISCIV. In order to accomplish this goal, 58 youth participants were divided into three groups: (1) subjects who met criteria for ADHD based upon both the youth and the caretaker versions of the DISC; (2) subjects who met criteria for ADHD based upon the caretaker DISC, but not according to the youth DISC; and (3) subjects who did not meet criteria for ADHD according to either the youth or the caretaker DISC. Subjects in these groups were compared across parent …

Evaluating The Effects Of Postive Peer Reporting On Social Acceptance, Mary Short

Dissertations

The effects of a positive peer reporting procedure on social status and social interactions were assessed. Children who are socially rejected seem to be disliked by their peers due to their high frequency of negative behaviors and low frequency of positive behaviors. Therefore, to decrease the negative behaviors and increase the positive behaviors, rejected children were asked to make positive comments about their peers. Participants included 4 children, ages 10-15 years. A multiple baseline across subjects design was utilized. Collection of baseline data began immediately following the confirmation of consent and eligibility for the child to participate. Initial baseline data …

Evaluating The Social Acceptability Of Persons With Habit Disorders: The Effects Of Topography, Frequency, And Gender Manipulation, Douglas W. Woods

Dissertations

Literature suggests that children who exhibit habit disorders are less socially acceptable than children who do not exhibit such disorders. This series of studies investigated the social acceptability of adults who exhibit habit disorders. In Studies 1 and 2, undergraduate students rated the social acceptability of individuals who exhibited motor tics, vocal tics, hairpulling, and no habit. Results showed that the individuals with no habit were more socially acceptable than the individuals who exhibited either motor tics, vocal tics, or hairpulling.

In Study 3, videotapes were created in which actors simulated motor tics, vocal tics, Tourette’s Syndrome, and Trichotillomania. The …

Intuitive Understanding Of Time And Space At The Age Of Four, Josephine Barry-Davis

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to test the central hypothesis that “children by the age of four years construct accurate and lasting conceptions o f time (past, present, future) and space (near and far away).” In order to test this hypothesis the researcher relied on qualitative research guidelines developed and published in recent years to address social science and educational research issues. The research design is especially applicable to young children where the researcher assumes the role of participant observer. In order to control for the context of the research, the children were observed for time and space cognitive …

Children's Attitudes Toward Television Advertising: A State Of The Art Review, Heidi L. Haskins

Honors Theses

The issue of children and advertising came to light in the 1970s and has continued to be a topic of much discussion ever since. In started in the 1970s when the Action for Children's Television petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to eliminate all commercials from children's TV programs. Then in January 1973, the major networks agreed to reduce commercial time in children's weekend programs from 16 minutes an hour to 12 minutes an hour. In 1991, the Better Business Bureau estimated that children in the U.S. watch an average of 3.5 hours of television every day, and the average …

A Computer/Tutorial System Compared With A Workbook/Tutorial Systeg For Presenting Instructional Material To At-Risk Elementary School Students, Vincent O. Hodge

Dissertations

Two different ways of presenting instructional material and reacting to students’ responses were compared. One, taking advantage of several features of multimedia instruction involved a desktop computer and various computer-presented consequences of correct and incorrect responses (largely chosen by the student). The other consisted in presenting the same instructional materials (the SRA primary curriculum) in a workbook form with tutors' comments and praise as the main form of response consequence. The two methods were compared with respect to various measures of student and system performance, including student accuracy (percent correct responses), types of errors, amount of correct response repetition (over-responding), …

Do Reinforcer Surveys Enhance A Brief Parenting Skills Program For Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disordered Children?, Maria A. Channell

Dissertations

Several clinical researchers have documented the benefits of evaluating reinforcer preference prior to the implementation of behavioral parent training programs. However, this has not been specifically tested with Attention- Deficit/Hyperactivity Disordered (ADHD) population in relation to parent training. This between groups study investigated whether systematically altering parent delivered reinforcers to match children’s preferred reinforcers would result in an even greater increased compliance and decreased noncompliance.

One group received a brief (4-6 session) parenting program based on Patterson’s (1974) model. A second group received the same program with an added component wherein the child completed a reinforcer survey prior to the …

The Efficacy Of Pediatric Pain Management Techniques For Infants During Inoculation Procedures, Kimberly K. Wisdorf-Houtkooper

Dissertations

In this study four different pre-immunization interventions were compared with respect to their effects on modifying arousal level before an immunization and their effects on the level and duration of distress after the immunization. In addition, the study evaluated whether the infants’ pre-inoculation behavioral state affected their response to a painful stimulus. Data consisting of facial expression, presence or absence of cry, cry duration, and behavioral state were collected prior to, during, and after the inoculation. Forty-two subjects were randomly assigned to one of four soothing conditions. These included: rocking, swaddling, sucking on a pacifier, and a control group.

An …

Measuring Changes In Spontaneous Play Behavior In Preschoolers With Autism Associated With A Receptive Language Intervention, Jori Reijonen

Dissertations

Children diagnosed with Autistic Disorder have well documented deficits in the development of pretend play. When it occurs, spontaneous pretend play differs from play seen in other children in frequency, duration, and quality. The present study examined the effects of teaching preschoolers with Autism to follow one-part directions to play during discrete trial receptive language training sessions on spontaneous play skills.

Receptive language tasks were designed to teach simple pretend play skills (e.g., "Feed the doll with a spoon"). Spontaneous play was continuously sampled during free play sessions in the clinic and in the child's home before these receptive tasks …

A Qualitative Exploration Of Women Survivors’ Disclosure Of Childhood Sexual Abuse, Joanne Dodgson

Dissertations

In clinical literature regarding adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse, disclosure of abuse is considered a vital aspect of healing (Courtois,1988; Herman, 1992). Despite the apparent significance of disclosure, few studies have been conducted to investigate this process. Integrating feminist and qualitative research perspectives, I sought to explore disclosure through the stories, language, and perspectives of women survivors. I was interested in learning about the following issues: (a) the ways in which survivors' disclosure unfolded, (b) the ways in which survivors understood and made meaning of their disclosures, and (c) the ways in which survivors' lives changed through the process …

Assessing Pediatricians' Diagnostic Practices: An Analogue Study Of Responses To Adhd-Like Presentations In Preschoolers, Helle Augustesen

Dissertations

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has been considered one of the most chronic behavior disorders observed in the preadolescent population and is one of the most frequently diagnosed childhood disorders in North America. Currently, however, there is little consistency in terms of identifying specific criteria which need to be present in a child's behavior to make a diagnosis of ADHD. This difficulty is even more pronounced in very young children of preschool age. This study utilized a three year old male child shown to 80 subjects on a videotape engaging in either a high or a low level of activity. …

Effects Of Caffeine Consumption On Cardiovascular Indices, Attention, Task Performance, And Memory Retention In Children, Suzanne L. Keller

Dissertations

Caffeine is one of the most commonly used drugs in the western world today. Average intake of caffeine in the United States has been estimated at greater than 200 mg daily per person. Although plagued by inconsistencies, and methodological problems, research suggests that this level of caffeine ingestion may have significant effects on cardiovascular functioning, and behavioral processes such as attention, cognitive processing, memory, and task performance.

Although children consume significant quantities of caffeine, very little research has been done on the effects of caffeine in children. The limited findings suggest that caffeine consumption may affect the cognitive and behavioral …

Self-Control And Choice In Children: Effects Of Food Magnitude And Reinforcer Delay, Ellen Lee Sharenow

Dissertations

The present research was designed to replicate and extend earlier studies with humans and nonhumans in the area of self-control. A discrete trial, within-subject experimental design over multiple sessions, with food as the reinforcer, was used. Instructions did not describe contingencies of reinforcement Subjects were preschool age children, a population that questionably possess the verbal repertoire capable of generating sophisticated tacting, or mediating behavior during long delays. Four experiments consisted of fixed-ratio, concurrent chain schedules with initial and terminal links. Initial links were forced trials, terminal links, choice trials. In Experiment I, the effects of differences in magnitude while holding …

The Effect Of Associative Distance On The Formation Of Transitive Relations, Robert G. Brown Jr.

Dissertations

Three children, aged eight to eleven years, were taught a series of conditional discriminations using two classes of 26 abstract visual stimuli. The conditional relations were ordered such that the correct comparison stimuli of one relation served as the sample stimuli for the next relation. This allowed for the formation of a series of derived relations (both transitive and equivalence) that differed in terms of the number of intervening nodes. At regular intervals, the subjects' performances on the different transitive relations were tested using unreinforced probe trials.

All three subjects made virtually no errors on transitive relations containing up to …

A Parent Training Program For Teaching Preschool Children Independent Self-Care Skills, Dalene Rooks Degraaf

Dissertations

Teaching children to be independent is a challenge for parents. Initially, parents directly prompt and consequate their children’s behavior. Later, the parents fade prompts and delay consequences expecting their children to use self-management skills and environmental cues to complete tasks. The purpose of this study was to observe some of the methods which parents use to teach their 4-year-old children independent self-care skills and test the effects of a parent training program. The program was designed to transfer stimulus control from the parent’s physical or verbal prompts to textual and picture prompts on a poster listing the morning self-care skills …

The Effectiveness Of Correspondence Training In Controlling Aggressive Behavior Between Children In Play Settings, Naiel Albkower

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of say/do correspondence training in controlling aggressive behavior between children in play settings. Two experiments assessed the effects of children's verbal statements, to play in a friendly manner with others, on the incidence of aggressive behavior during actual play. The results of the first experiment indicated that, in most instances, the number of aggressive incidents decreased as a result of the correspondence training in all subjects except one where the effects of treatment are not clear.

In the second experiment, the incidents of aggressive behavior decreased during the intervention to …

Television Advertising And Children, Vince Delange

Honors Theses

Thesis begins by examining the learning and cognitive processes and development of children, followed by a history of advertising to children, then explores the traditional concerns with advertising to children. The author discusses research findings and makes recommendations regarding advertising to children.