Developmental Psychology Commons^™

The Impact Of Sitting And Crawling On The Acquisition Of Object Permanence In Infants With Motor Delays And Infants With Typical Development, Karl Jancart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Object permanence (OP) is the ability to understand that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be perceived. During play, infants with an understanding of OP will continue searching for toys when the toys have been obscured by other items. Searching requires movement. The theory of embodied cognition maintains that the form and function of an organism’s body influence how the organism learns; Therefore, if a child has difficulties with movement, as demonstrated by children with motor delays, they will likely have difficulty engaging in play, the modality by which children learn about their world. The current research is …

Facial Expression Recognition Deficits In Autism Spectrum Disorder, Zachary Friedman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are an umbrella term for lifelong neurobehavioral disorders characterized by a set of social (verbal and nonverbal) communication challenges and behaviors and restricted, repetitive behaviors. Emotions serve many functions, but primarily they help with the appraisal of stimuli and driving of responses. Emotional processing and facial recognition are integral abilities that influence the acquisition of social skills. For individuals with ASD, it is hypothesized that facial recognition deficits contribute to social communication traits. The bulk of previously conducted research has utilized static images of facial expressions. This study utilized videos of spontaneous expressions. Participants were tasked …

K-5 Elementary Alternative Program: A Case Study, William E. Scheuer Iv

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this case study was to examine how the K-5 elementary alternative program All Students Can Thrive (ASCT) used student-centered learning practices to influence the whole child. There is a lack of research on K-5 elementary alternative programs, such as ASCT, and specifically those that integrate student-centered learning practices to influence the whole child. Literature does not contain universally accepted interventions that are effective in the elementary alternative setting to help students return to the mainstream classroom setting better prepared to display appropriate behaviors when a student is removed from a mainstream classroom setting due to disruptive behaviors. …

Emergency Care For Youth Who Experience Suicidality And Identify As Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer/Questioning (Lgbtq+): An Interpretive Phenomenology, Theresa Schultz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: Suicide is a leading cause of death in children; youth who identify as LGBTQ+ are at an exponentially higher risk of suicide. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of young adults who identify as LGBTQ+ and sought emergency care for suicidality when they were adolescents.

Methods: Heideggerian hermeneutics phenomenology is the research method used in this study. Youth, ages 18-25 years, who identify as LGBTQ+ and sought emergency treatment for suicidality when they were adolescents (13-17 years) were recruited to participate;fifteen youth enrolled. Individuals ranged in age from 20 to 25 years. Participants described …

Does Speech-To-Text Assistive Technology Paired With Graphic Organizers Improve The Written Expression Of Students With Traumatic Brain Injuries?, Kayla Cuifolo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) can range from mild to severe and can cause debilitating outcomes that require children to need specialized medical or educational services post-injury. Outcomes vary and are dependent on the location of injury, age, severity, and environmental factors. Some common deficits that happen as a result of a brain injury are fine motor and executive functioning skill difficulties. Fine motor and executive functioning skills are an important component of written expression. Therefore, this current study utilized a brief experimental analysis in order to determine the effects that speech-to-text assistive technology along with a graphic organizer has …

Medication Versus Brain-Based Treatment: Evaluation Treatment Preferences Of Parents Of Children With Adhd, Rebecca Recio-Swift

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most prevalent neurodevelopmental disorders across the world. Currently, treatment for ADHD mostly consists of either medication or behavioral therapy or a combination of both. However, research has shown that medication used as therapy for the treatment of ADHD has side effects which parents deem undesirable for their children. Therefore, recent research has focused on patient and parent preferences. Studies have found that behavioral or other treatment options may often be chosen over medications. These same studies have documented the characteristics of parents that prefer certain treatments for their children. The purpose of this …

A Meta-Analysis Of The Longitudinal Relationship Between Adolescent Depression And Academic Achievement., Rachel E. Buehner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Researchers in the fields of both education and mental health endeavor to develop and implement interventions which will bring children and adolescents greater academic success and optimally address mental health issues. Educators seek to target risk factors which might impede a student’s success in the classroom, while mental health providers seek to reduce issues within a child’s environment which might be risk factors for depression. Evidence for a cross-sectional relationship between adolescent depression and academic achievement is well-supported, with depression and achievement being negatively correlated in adolescents. The longitudinal relationship between these two variables is not fully understood, however. While …

Predicting Academic Performance: A Commitment Perspective, Frank E. Gomez Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Shifts from scientific and theoretical exploration to occupational preparation within academic scholarship has led researchers to focus on performance variables, such as grade point average (GPA), to better understand how to promote academic success. For example, researchers have examined variables to determine their influence on GPA. The purpose of this study was to identify if commitment variables in conjunction with executive functioning significantly predicted cumulative GPA in a college setting beyond previously established predictors. Results indicated that high school GPA (b = .44) was the only significant predictor of cumulative GPA. When high school GPA was eliminated from …