Education Commons^™

Assessing Pre-Literacy Behaviors In Infants And Toddlers: Psychometric Evaluation Of The Infant Toddler Literacy Assessment (Itla-3), Barbara J. Jackson, Christine Marvin, Amy J. Encinger, Nicole Buchholz, Becky Zessin

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Assessment of emerging literacy in young children is generally limited to either skill development in children over 3 years of age or the quality and context of young children’s early literacy experiences. Although there has been promotion of their early literacy experiences, assessment of emerging pre-literacy behaviors in children younger than 3 years has yet to be organized into a single tool.

Preliminary work on the Infant Toddler Literacy Assessment (ITLA) has progressed through initial steps of scale development and shown promise as a criterionbased, standardized assessment for tracking children’s pre-literacy behaviors and guiding practitioners in supporting development of those …

Meditation: A Balance Of Human And Social Growth In Education, Edward Cromarty

Journal of Research Initiatives

This best practice article explores meditation as a holistic method of nurturing the balanced integration of human and social development in educational environments. It inquiries into the meaning of meditation and considers a dilemma that exists between the holistic meditation practices of its traditional religious and yogic practitioners, and recent academic studies of meditation in educational contexts which often seek scientific explanations focusing on quantitative studies for utilitarian and institutional purposes. In performing the research, this article examines the writings and Dharma talks of two world-renowned Buddhist monks and meditation experts about the practice and purpose of meditation. The article …

Promoting College And Career Readiness With Middle School Youth With Disabilities: Lessons Learned From A Curriculum Development Project, Meg Grigal, Lori Cooney, Debra Hart

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

Engagement and academic success in middle school is critically important to ensure students with disabilities complete high school and have a viable path to and through postsecondary education. Although most middle school students say they want to pursue postsecondary education or training, a significant proportion are not actively engaged in college and career readiness (CCR) activities in middle school. This transition in practice article highlights the importance of early CCR instruction for middle school youth with and without disabilities. Lessons learned from developing an online CCR curriculum and implementing it with middle school youth in inclusive middle school settings will …

Childhood Anxiety Within The Classroom: A Professional Development Experience For Educators, Madeline Garlough

Honors Projects

Education majors are required to complete a significant amount of coursework related to student behaviors and best practices regarding these behaviors. However, this coursework lies heavily on the side of disruptive and aggressive behaviors. Much less is taught about students who experience quiet conflict, despite childhood anxiety being one of the most prevalent disorders that children face. The purpose of this project is to provide teachers and future teachers with information about how to best assist these anxious students within the classroom.

Because of the nature of this project, it is also necessary to understand how teaching adults differs from …

A Suryey Of Music Therapists' Use Of Music To Facilitate Reading Development In Children, Cynthia Cross

Masters Theses

This study utilized Naturalistic Inquiry methods to investigate how music therapists use music elements to impact reading development in school-aged children. Eleven Board-Certified Music Therapists were interviewed providing information regarding music therapy interventions, reading skills targeted, theoretical influences, and professional influences. Transcripts of interviews were analyzedto determine themes, coÍtmon use of language related to the subject, common perceptions, and techniques and uses for music to impact reading development. In general subjects did not report specifically using music elements to target reading behavior. Rather, most subjects identified reading objectives determined by classroom teachers and developed music interventions to accommodate those objectives. …

Development And Validation Of An Instrument To Measure Participant Engagement In State-Federal Vocational Rehabilitation Programs, Joshua D. Southwick

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, calls for participants to become “active and full partners in the vocational rehabilitation process.” This study represents the first research to specifically address the actual meaning and importance of participant engagement in the state-federal Vocational Rehabilitation program. Defining the construct of participant engagement is an important first step in creating more effective services for persons with disabilities. It was proposed that engagement in vocational rehabilitation would include three factors: (a) attendance at meetings with the counselor, (b) fulfillment of an expected contribution during meetings, and (c) completion of homework tasks between meetings. Through …

Women, Education & The Diaspora, Dr Williams Emeka Obiozor

Dr Williams Emeka Obiozor

Educating the woman is a challenge to many governments in sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria where successive governments have made efforts to promote and support women education and bridging the gender gap in the education, labor and economic sector. This position paper examined issues and challenges of women regarding education and the Diaspora: An experience coming from a Nigerian-American who spent more than a decade living and working in the United States of America. Motivations for leaving an individuals’ homeland are as varied as the immigrants themselves, especially women who leave for opportunity, some for adventure, education, marriage and some to …

A Kinematic Description Of The Temporal Characteristics Of Jaw Motion For Early Chewing: Preliminary Findings, Erin M. Wilson, Jordan R. Green, Gary Weismer

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Purpose: The purpose of this investigation was to describe age- and consistency-related changes in the temporal characteristics of chewing in typically developing children between the ages of 4 and 35 months and adults using high-resolution optically based motion capture technology.

Method: Data were collected from 60 participants (48 children, 12 adults) across 5 age ranges (beginners, 7 months, 12 months, 35 months, and adults); each age group included 12 participants. Three different food consistencies were trialed as appropriate. The data were analyzed to assess changes in chewing rate, chewing sequence duration, and estimated number of chewing cycles.

Results: The results …

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 …

The Development Of Jaw Motion For Mastication, Erin M. Wilson, Jordan R. Green

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

The developmental course of early chewing has rarely been studied, although such knowledge is essential for understanding childhood feeding and swallowing disorders. The goal of this investigation was to quantitatively describe age- and consistency-related changes in jaw kinematics during early chewing development. An optical-motion tracking system was used to record jaw movements during chewing in 3-dimensions in 11 typically-developing participants longitudinally from 9–30 months of age. Age related changes in jaw movement were described for both puree and regular consistencies. The findings demonstrated that the development of rotary jaw motion, jaw motion speed, and management of consistency upgrades are protracted …

‘Everything Is For Him’: Mothers Of Autistics As Agents Of Social Change At Casa Da Esperança, Alexandra Levin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research project explores mothers of children with autism as social actors. I conducted the research at Casa da Esperança, which is school and therapy intstituion, and social organization, for autistics in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. A group of mothers founded Casa da Esperança based on a policy of inclusiveness towards autistics and their families. Casa da Esperança’s structure reflects its collective and communal philosophy, as demonstrated by the family program. Many mothers of autistics participate in this program on a daily basis when they stay at Casa da Esperança while their children are in class. Casa da Esperança is a …

Babbling, Chewing, And Sucking: Oromandibular Coordination At 9 Months, Roger W. Steeve, Christopher A. Moore, Jordan R. Green, Kevin J. Reilly, Jacki Ruark Mcmurtrey

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Purpose: The ontogeny of mandibular control is important for understanding the general neurophysiologic development for speech and alimentary behaviors. Prior investigations suggest that mandibular control is organized distinctively across speech and nonspeech tasks in 15-month-olds and adults and that, with development, these extant forms of motor control primarily undergo refinement and rescaling. The present investigation was designed to evaluate whether these coordinative infrastructures for alimentary behaviors and speech are evident during the earliest period of their co-occurrence.
Method: Electromyographic (EMG) signals were obtained from the mandibular muscle groups of 15 typically developing 9-month-old children during sucking, chewing, and speech.
Results: …

A 17-Year Longitudinal Study Of Spiritual Development And Psychological Correlates In A Sample Of College Students, Jeremy Daniel Bartz

Theses and Dissertations

In 1984, 1987 and 2001 data were collected on a religiously devout group of college students in an effort to better understand the process of religious development and the relationship between religiosity and mental health. This study analyzes that data by examining the stability of two different religious development styles that were identified in 1984, the stability of religious motivations over the course of adulthood, and the relationship between devoutness and psychopathology. This study found that (a) the religious developmental styles did not remain consistent from 1984 to 2001, (b) the participants' religious motivations remained stable over the course of …

Facing The Caree/Family Dichotomy: Traditional College Women's Perspectives, Lisa Michelle Leavitt

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study explored the experience of 32 traditional college freshmen women as they sought to choose a career with the idea of balancing career and family in the future. A traditional woman was defined as a woman whose central value system and cultural mores emphasize homemaking and childrearing as their primary role. Guided interviews were conducted to obtain in-depth descriptions of participants' experience. The interviews were transcribed and interpreted using a synthesis of qualitative methods based on Kvale's method. The six themes were as follows: 1. The concept of balancing careers and family life is not being discussed or …

Utilizing Applied Behavior Analysis: A Handbook For Teachers Who Are Dealing With Developmentally Delayed Children, Cleresse Sprague

All Graduate Projects

The author's perception is that a need exists for a classroom behavior management handbook targeting developmentally delayed children ages three years through first grade. Several occurrences have prompted this perception: 1. Approach by other teachers asking how to handle certain behaviors 2. Author's own experiences and frustrations 3. Participation in group discussions regarding behaviors The author has chosen to do this study and develop a handbook to meet this perceived need.