Early Childhood Education Commons^™

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. …

Using Music Training To Increase Social Responsiveness And Happiness In Children With Autism, Meghan Talarico

MSU Graduate Theses

Social skills are imperative for individuals’ success in their daily lives because they are applied in areas such as shared interests and cooperative work and play. This study was a replication with extension of the study on a musical treatment of social skills by Finnigan and Starr (2010). The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of musical and non-musical interventions on the sharing and turn-taking behavior of five children with autism. The participants were four boys and one girl between the ages of 4- and 8-years-old who had a diagnosis of autism and were receiving ABA …

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 …

Efficiency Of Teaching Sight Words In Similar Vs Dissimilar Sets, Jensen Chotto

LSU Master's Theses

Early reading intervention can decrease the likelihood that children who struggle with reading develop long-term reading problems. Due to the prevalence of words that cannot be read phonetically in the English language, sight word instruction is required to supplement phonics instruction. In this study, we compared the effects of creating sets of sight words with the same starting letter (3 words per set, 3 total sets) versus distributing words with the same starting letter across sets when assessing acquisition of the combined set (9 words) in five 4-to-6-year-old children using a combined adapted alternating treatments design and pre-posttest design. All …

Exploring Tactile Art-Making With Deafblind Students And Their Families: An Opportunity For Creative Play, Alice Rodgers

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The impact of a deafblind diagnosis on an individual’s mental health and the well-being of the family involved can be profound. However, current research and available literature for the mental health treatment and therapy practices of deafblind persons and their families is limited (Kyzar et al., 2016; “WFDB Global Report 2018,” n.d.). This thesis used the Leeds Family Psychology and Therapy Service principles (Leeds FPTS) and the Expressive Therapies Continuum with established deafblind teaching strategies to facilitate an original arts-based community project entitled: “Things We Like.” This project provided an opportunity for deafblind students (ages three to 22) and their …

Using Behavior Skills Training To Increase Quality Parent Talk During A Read-Aloud, Britnea Monaco

MSU Graduate Theses

Reading to children is one way to engage a child in high-level conversations that go beyond the explicit message of the book. There is a positive correlation between the amount of high-quality caregiver/child joint attention activities and language development. The purpose of this study was to use Behavior Skills Training to teach parents seven component reading skills in order to increase parents word count and quality of words read during read-alouds with their children. Results showed as parents mastered the seven reading components they increased their overall word count. Implications of these findings are discussed within the context of caregiver/child …

The Effectiveness Of Point-Of-View-Video Modeling On Improving Social And Communication Skills, Beyza Alpaydin

Doctoral Dissertations

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurobiological disorder with symptoms that affect individuals’ social interaction capabilities, their verbal and nonverbal communications, and the repertoires of activities and interest. These deficits in social and communication skills directly or indirectly influence the individual with ASDs’ lives. Therefore, many interventions have been developed to increase social and communication skills for individuals with ASD. Video modeling (VM) is one of the effective interventions in teaching social communication skills for children with ASD. There are multiple variations of VM interventions. One of the forms of VM intervention is point-of-view video modeling (POVVM) that has …

Effects Of A Visual Script With Multiple Peer Responses On The Reciprocal Responses Of Preschool-Aged Children During Play, Shea Manship

Masters Theses, 2020-current

A primary focus of many early childhood educational settings is the development of appropriate play skills. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of using a visual script that included multiple peer responses on the participants’ appropriate reciprocal responses to peers during play time. A concurrent multiple baseline design across participants was used to determine if the use of the visual script would increase the number of appropriate reciprocal responses to peers, and if the average duration of play following successful initiation would increase. The researcher observed two preschool-aged children during free play. During free play, the …

Dancing, Mindfulness, And Our Emotions: Embracing The Mind, Body, And Sole, Alisha M. Collins

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This capstone project examines dance, as an intervention and mindfulness practice that assists with managing our emotions. There is a need for dance therapy in social institutions such as, healthcare facilities, schools, and community centers. Dance therapy has the potential to reduce negative emotions, create mindfulness, improve self-expression, and promote a healthy well-being. I am proposing that dance therapy is applied as a regular practice in social institutions to develop mindfulness and promote emotional stability.

In this study, I argue that dance therapy can contribute to our well-being long term. In addition to this written thesis, a visual component of …

Application Of Response-To-Intervention In A Pre-Kindergarten Special Education Classroom, Justin J. Daigle

Dissertations

Lovaas (1987) applied behavior analysis to the treatment of autism and demonstrated a 47% “recovery” rate. He also reported that around 10% of the population that received his services made little-to-no improvement. The present study used a response-to-intervention framework to systematically identify and treat students in an early childhood, special-education classroom who were in danger of falling within that 10%. This study set out to identify, classify, and differentiate the treatment based on the student’s response to the standard classroom intervention. Improvements in multiple students’ rates of acquisition based on this system were recorded. This indicated a possibility of improved …

Attachment, Stress, And Self-Efficacy While Parenting Children On The Autism Spectrum, Angela Maire Galioto

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The current study explored the relationship between parental perceptions of stress, self-efficacy, attachment, and child functioning level. Participants were parents of children with ASD enrolled in The Special Beginnings Program (SBP, N = 44) or receiving treatment as usual (TAU, N = 39). Hypotheses included that parental perceptions of child functioning level will be negatively correlated with stress and positively correlated with self-efficacy and attachment. In addition, that parental perceptions of stress will decrease and perceptions of attachment and self-efficacy would increase after Project ImPACT training and at follow-up more so for the parents in the SBP group compared to …

The Effects Of Two Models Of Positive Feedback Of Children's Motivation, Judith Margaret Lynch

Graduate Theses

The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether the type of written or verbal positive comment regarding a child's accomplishment influences subsequent interest in a task. A preliminary investigation of literature revealed that often rewards and praise negatively alter children's behavior. The writer tested the hypothesis derived from this investigation that non- evaluative descriptive comments, commonly called encouragement, positively affect children more than evaluative praise comments. 32 kindergarten and 36 third grade children received evaluative praise comments and 31 kindergarten and 42 third grade children received non- evaluative descriptive comments on drawings for three days. The fourth day, children …