Digital Commons Network^™

Teaching Children To Use Interaction Strategies With Their Younger Siblings That Are Minimally Verbal, Abby Rucker

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

Children that are minimally verbal often lack same- or near-age peer interaction outside of the home environment. This study attempted to bridge that gap by training older siblings of minimally verbal children to use interaction strategies during play sessions. Through this, researchers were able to examine both the fidelity of use of the trained interaction strategies as well as their effect of the younger siblings’ communication skills.

Improving Writing Skills With Kindergarten Students Using Embedded Learning Opportunities In Dramatic Play, Samantha Tabor

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

How do kindergarten teachers meet the required instructional mins, get students to reach mastery of common core standards, and embed learning opportunities in play? Teachers will need to focus on creating environments that foster creativity, problem-solving, and will help their individual students grow academically, socially, and emotionally (Cress & Holm, 2017). There are very few studies that discuss embedding learning opportunities for kindergarten students using kindergarten common core standards. There are no current studies that address kindergarten teachers using embedded learning opportunities to increase kindergarten writing skills as outlined by common core standards. This study focused on just that: Do …

Evaluation Of Preschool Life Skills (Pls) Program To Teach Social Skills In A Preschool Class, Zhenying Jiang

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a Tier 2 PLS program on increasing critical social skills (i.e., requesting for attention, framed requesting for materials and assistant, and delay and denial tolerance) and decreasing problem behaviors for the participants with risk of delay in social domain. A multiple probe across behaviors design replicated across participants was employed. The intervention terminated due to the end of school year before skill 3 could be introduced. Two of three participants met criteria for two taught skills, while one participant did not acquire all skills. Decrease of problem behavior accompanied …

The Effects Of System Of Least Prompts On Preschool Children’S Play Skills, Hailey D. Helton

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

This research study utilized a multiple probe design to teach pretend play skills while embedding the system of least prompts teaching strategy during pretend play. Four preschool-aged children with and without disabilities participated in the study. When the system of least prompts was embedded within pretend play, play skills increased.

Teaching The Picture Exchange Communication System Phases I-Ii To Preschool Students With Disabilities, Olivia Kelly

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching the PECS protocol to preschool students with disabilities using the PECS Phases I-II. A multiple probe across participants design was used to conduct the study and evaluate the effectiveness of the training on the PECS Phases I-II. The results of the study demonstrated that teaching the PECS protocol using picture cards of preferred items was effective in the preschool setting to teach preschool students with moderate to severe disabilities to independently travel to a PECS book and exchange a picture request with the investigator.

Inclusive Practices In Teacher Education Programs, Melike Yozgatli

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

Inclusive education is a global trend and an educational right that refers to the inclusion of students with disabilities in general education settings (GECs). Applying to the most effective practices is particularly essential for students with disabilities in GECs. Most of the responsibility to implement inclusive practices and create a positive inclusive classroom environment falls on special and general education teachers in GECs. Thus, pre-service teacher education is crucial for teachers’ future achievements in inclusionary settings to address the diverse needs of students with disabilities. The purpose of this survey study was to investigate teacher education programs in the United …

Coaching And Training Paraprofessionals To Implement Communication Strategies In The Classroom With Students With Disabilities, Andrea Grace Antoniewicz

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

The purpose of this project was to evaluate the effects of a training and coaching intervention on increasing paraprofessionals use of communication strategies to increase the participation between students with disabilities and paraprofessionals. Students with CCN struggle to interact with peers and communicate appropriately, and therefore need guided instruction by adults. To encourage interactions across contexts, paraprofessionals must first learn how to use communication strategies. This skill also was chosen to extend our knowledge on coaching paraprofessionals to use different communication strategies to promote communication with students with ESN and CCN.

Teaching Social Communicative Intents To Elementary Aged Students Through The Use Of Aided Language Modeling, Kaitlyn Yvette Kousins

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

The purpose of this study was to extend the research of using aided language modeling as an intervention with elementary aged students with extensive support and complex communication needs. A multiple probe design across participants was used to determine if there is a functional between an aided language modeling intervention and improvements in contextually relevant initiations (i.e., requests and comments) between children with extensive support and complex communication needs. The results showed that using aided language modeling within play-based sessions was effective in teaching social communicative intents to students with extensive support and complete communication needs.

Negotiating Islam: Debating Authority And Ethnoreligious Authenticity Among Iranian Americans In The U.S. South, Erfan Saidi Moqadam

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

This dissertation examines the flexibility of Quranic exegesis in accommodating self-defined Muslims’ agency in the predominantly Christian society of the United States. This is a project to study Islam not from the perspective of an explicit ideology articulated by clerics, intellectuals, scholars and elites on scriptural texts, but rather one that focuses on Muslims’ readings of scripture and practices of Islam(s), reconstructed in their lived experiences. During fourteen months of ethnographic research in four cities in urban and rural areas in the U.S. South with Iranian Muslims, interlocutors were found to be engaged in a particular kind of relationship with …

Toxic Public Goods, Brian L. Frye

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Everybody loves public goods. After all, they are a perpetual utility machine. Obviously, we want as many of them as possible. But what if the consumption of a public good actually decreases net social welfare? I refer to this kind of public good as a "toxic public good." In this essay, I discuss three kinds of potential toxic public goods: trolling, pornography, and ideology, and I reflect on how we might make the production of toxic public goods more efficient.

The Multi-Level Marketing Pandemic, Christopher G. Bradley, Hannah E. Oates

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Among the societal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a sharp rise in the activities of multi-level marketing companies (MLMs). MLMs are business enterprises in which participants seek not only to sell products to friends, family, and social media contacts, but also to recruit them as MLM participants, with the promise of "building their own business from home."

False promises often pervade MLM sales pitches. Evidence shows that few participants see even a dollar of profit from their MLM work; the vast majority of recruits quickly abandon their MLM dreams and lose their investments. Yet the pitch has become …

The Ties That Bind: The Relationship Between Law Firm Growth And Law Firm Survival, Alan J. Kluegel

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

For the better part of the twentieth century, law firms hired, trained, and grew through a stable and predictable pattern: hire new law school graduates, monitor and evaluate their work, and pick promising attorneys from among their ranks and elevate them to partner. Rinse, lather, repeat. A combination of professional norms and organizational inertia made this approach the dominant method of growth among large corporate law firms until changes in legal market broke down these customary practices, ushering in a new era of lawyer mobility. Now, it has become commonplace for lawyers to leave for greener pastures as more law …

A New Methodology For The Analysis Of Visuals In Legal Works, Michael D. Murray

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The goal of this Article is to introduce a comprehensive methodology for the analysis of visuals used for communication in legal works, by which I mean transactional and litigation documents, legal instruments, primary and secondary sources of law, and legal informational materials. To date, the scholarship on visuals in legal communications has been heavily descriptive, with some forays into the ethical and practical considerations of the use of “visualized” legal works. No one has yet devised a comprehensive analytical methodology that draws upon the disciplines of visual literacy, visual cultural studies, visual rhetoric, and mise en scène analysis to evaluate …

The Mixed Legacy Of The January 6 Investigation For Executive Privilege And Congressional Oversight, Jonathan Shaub

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The attack on the Capitol on January 6 was an unprecedented event in U.S. history. Across a wide swath of constitutional law, January 6 will have significant implications and consequences, most of which are likely not yet known. That is particularly true of constitutional doctrines governing congressional oversight and executive privilege. The select committee established by the House of Representatives to investigate the events on and leading up to January 6 has undertaken a monumental task of investigating, collecting, and reporting the facts surrounding the attack, and the January 6 committee has doggedly pursued an exhaustive investigation in furtherance of …

Finding The Way Forward: Expectations For Interim Law Library Directors, Billie Jo Kaufman, James M. Donovan

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

With almost 7 percent of all academic law libraries being headed by interim directors, this chapter seeks to fill a gap in the literature about what these leaders can expect.

Cannabis Use Rates And Modes Of Use In Kentucky, Gunnar Kennedy

Theses and Dissertations--Public Health (M.P.H. & Dr.P.H.)

ABSTRACT:

Background and Objectives:

The purpose of this study was to assess cannabis use rates and modes among people who use cannabis (PWUC) in the state of Kentucky in relation to socioeconomic, demographic, and geographic factors. Furthermore, this study compared Kentucky’s rates of use to other states and built a multivariable regression model to identify characteristics of individuals who use cannabis in Kentucky.

Methods:

For this cross-sectional descriptive analysis, we used 2020 data from the Kentucky Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). We tabulated weighted responses to questions asking about frequency of cannabis use over the past 30 days, primary …

Covid-19, Chronic Stress, And Adolescent Mental Health, Corina Barker

DSW Capstone Projects

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an undeniable impact on adolescent mental health. Though not considered to be high risk when it comes to physically contracting the virus itself, adolescents have shown to be significantly impacted by the indirect effects of the pandemic. Because of the unique and formative time, this is in their lives, adolescents are already vulnerable to the impact of social stressors. Risk factors associated with the COVID-19 pandemic such as social isolation, disruption in routine, uncertainty, fear, and chronic stress have all proven to have a profound negative impact on adolescent mental health and overall well-being. It …

A Pathway For Inclusive Innovation In Pediatric Mental Health: Prevention And Intervention Using Technology, Kate Corinne Bennett

DSW Capstone Projects

It is no secret that access to quality healthcare is difficult for citizens to achieve in the United States. Racism, discrimination, and oppression further exist at the root of compounding social problems, including limits in minority access to mental health services. The COVID-19 pandemic has also exacerbated mental health problems for young children, especially those who are already underserved and at risk. For these reasons, it is imperative that the social work profession emphasizes innovative approaches to equitable treatment access, including a focus on early intervention and the use of technology. Product one of this capstone engages a systematic review …

Self-Care And Cultural Humility: Expanding The Practice Of Social Work Leaders, Donia Addison

DSW Capstone Projects

Social workers experience vicarious trauma, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion fatigue regularly. Well documented in the literature, self-care has the ability to assuage these negative consequences, as well as, positively impact retention rates, decrease burnout and increase the quality of services provided to clients. Despite a burgeoning of research on self-care and burnout over the last few decades, continued empirical research is necessary. This capstone project sought to add to the knowledge base on self-care and provide pragmatic recommendations for future research and social work practice.

This capstone project was comprised of three scholarly products and focused on fostering cultural …

The Inclusion Of Black Social Workers: More Than A Seat-Creating A Culture Of Belonging, Sallie J. Ingram

DSW Capstone Projects

The social work profession has been around for at least 12 decades. During most of this time, Black and White social workers have focused on issues affecting their own races. Unfortunately, social work has been found to have some of the same biases and stereotypes as the society that it serves. Therefore, three products were developed to provide research-based evidence on the importance of inclusion of Black social workers and how this inclusion will benefit social work, and the clients served.

Product One was a systemic literature review focused on answering the research question of whether or not the social …

The Underlying Issue: Acknowledging The Impact The Race-Based Bias Of Some White Teachers Poses For Black Adolescents, Cerenity Leavell-Barker

DSW Capstone Projects

Current literature fails to assess the race-based bias of some white teachers and its impact on the school-to-prison pipeline. The actions of some white teachers due to unconscious or conscious race-based bias can increase race-based stress experienced by Blacks students and lead to racial trauma. Racial trauma is a traumatic experience that can alter this stage of development and have significant impact on the academic achievement of Black adolescents and influence behaviors perceived as negative. The purpose of this capstone is to enhance awareness and knowledge on the traumatic impact the race-based bias of some white teachers poses for Black …

The Impact Of Bias And Historical Racial Trauma On Black Girls’ Education: Using Theory To Better Understand Benefits, Angela Fisher-Williams

DSW Capstone Projects

ABSTRACT OF CAPSTONE

Implicit biases are among the most unfair discriminating microaggressive habits; Black students face within the compulsory educational system. However, college institutions are not sufficiently preparing social work students to work with this marginalized group to help manage these needs through diversity training courses. The researcher wrote a synthesis paper that synthesized two theories, the Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome (PTSS). This research will determine if social work students who take part in diversity training embedded in their coursework could better prepare social workers for the field. This research employed a descriptive design while …

Leadership & Innovation: The Keys To Solving Wicked Social Problems, Kaye Mooney

DSW Capstone Projects

Social work leaders must utilize unique leadership styles and innovative activities to enhance human well-being and meet the basic needs of all people (NASW, 2008). Social work leaders must value and actively seek input from all people, strengthening the solutions' chance to work. Wicked social problems (WSP) plague our country, especially among marginalized groups. We must utilize a new combination of social work leadership styles to resolve WSP.

The capstone project presents significant social work leadership and social innovation findings. First, a systematic literature review synthesized how transformational, anti-oppressive, and ubuntu leadership styles impact social service organizations. The conceptual paper …

Assessing Veterans For Acquired Suicide Capability: Blocking The Intersection Of Desire And Ability, Jennifer Schneider

DSW Capstone Projects

The purpose of the capstone project was to identify a procedure to increase the number of lethal means safety encounters occurring with the veteran population. Ultimately, the capstone had a dual focus to address this goal, as the systematic literature review focused on a research question separate from the remaining papers.

The systematic literature review asked, “what are veterans’ perspectives of discussing firearm safety with healthcare providers?” Through the review process, and the utilization of a meta-ethnography approach, two third-order constructs were formulated. These constructs identified that veterans view the provider as responsible for trust and rapport development, in addition …

Disproportionality In School Discipline: The Use Of Critical Race Theory And Attachment Theory Interventions In Action, Phaecia Ward

DSW Capstone Projects

Two primary focuses of schools have been to educate and keep children safe. Although exclusionary discipline practices are and should be the last resort for dealing with safety in schools, research indicates that preschool-aged children are being expelled or suspended at rates that are at least three times that of children in grades K-12.

The central problem is why are Black children being disciplined disproportionately in early childhood settings? What are the identified risk factors because of exclusionary discipline for children in their early years? What are the identified protective factors that can be employed to help prevent the statistics …

Vicarious Trauma In The Black Community Due To Police Brutality And Aggressive Policing: How Social Work Clinicians Can Understand And Mitigate The Problem, Sharrion Brown

DSW Capstone Projects

Police brutality and aggressive policing impacts the Black community. Social media and new outlets allow visuals of police brutality and aggressive policing to be shared rapidly. This form of second-hand exposure can cause trauma. The purpose of this study is to explore the adverse mental health outcomes in the Black community due to police brutality and aggressive policing and find ways that social work clinicians can understand and mitigate the problem. This study was conducted because when Black people seek therapeutic services, they are often met with clinicians who invalidate their racial trauma and racial experiences due to second-hand exposure …

Huddle Implementation In The Perioperative Setting, Tina Thomas

DNP Projects

Background: Communication is essential for safe and effective patient care. In the perioperative setting, information sharing is critical to care coordination. Lack of communication between caregivers can lead to medical errors. Evidence shows that huddles lead to increased communication, satisfaction, and engagement between team members resulting in better patient outcomes. Huddles are short, less than 10-minute gatherings that focus on the daily schedule, identify potential obstacles, explain unique needs, and discuss preceding day issues.

Objectives: This project aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of huddles on employee satisfaction, engagement, and communication of healthcare workers while also determining if huddles were …

Evaluating The Use Of A Diet Screening Tool For Diabetes And Weight Management In Primary Care, Christie Mcbride

DNP Projects

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a prominent disease and leading cause of death in the nation. Many complications can develop when glucose levels are poorly controlled. When patients receive education and support in diabetes self-management, including individualized dietary interventions, it leads to improved glycemic control.

Purpose: The purpose of this quality improvement (QI) project was to evaluate the incorporation of a diet recall tool, Starting the Conversation (STC), in the standard care for diabetic patients with abnormal body mass index (BMI). The study aimed to examine: (1) patient opinion of the intervention and (2) healthcare provider satisfaction with use …

Examining The Impact Of A Protein Intervention To Improve Outcomes In Frail Perioperative Candidates: A Feasibility Study, Anna M. Rose

DNP Projects

Background: Frailty is a syndrome or grouping of clinical characteristics that collectively increases one’s vulnerability to acute and external health stressors. Higher rates of frailty are present in oncology surgical patients and is a predictor of postoperative complications, as well as increased morbidity and mortality. Long- and short-term survival of surgical oncology patients is worse in frail patients than robust patients. Prehabilitation interventions during the planning phase of surgical intervention may serve to mitigate already known health concerns prior to inflicting the stressor that is surgical intervention.

Purpose: To measure the feasibility of an educational prehabilitative nutritional intervention aimed at …

On Flow Polytopes, Nu-Associahedra, And The Subdivision Algebra, Matias Von Bell

Theses and Dissertations--Mathematics

This dissertation studies the geometry and combinatorics related to a flow polytope F_car(ν) constructed from a lattice path ν, whose volume is given by the ν-Catalan numbers. It begins with a study of the ν-associahedron introduced by Ceballos, Padrol, and Sarmiento in 2019, but from the perspective of Schröder combinatorics. Some classical results for Schröder paths are extended to the ν-setting, and insights into the geometry of the ν-associahedron are obtained by describing its face poset with two ν-Schröder objects. The ν-associahedron is then shown to be dual to a framed triangulation of F_car(ν), which is a …