Early Childhood Education Commons^™

Exploring The Therapeutic Effect Of Children's Picture Books, Yunfan Chen

Theses - ALL

This thesis discusses the phenomenon of left-behind children in China amid the country's urbanization, revealing the psychological state of these children in the countryside.

In this thesis, some psychological research sources have proven how picture books relieve children's emotions and attain therapeutic effects on children's psychology. Then, this thesis analyzes two examples of children's books depicting how picture books help children to manage their negative feelings and having a therapeutic effect on the child.

This thesis claims that bibliotherapy through children's independent reading of books can effectively alleviate left-behind children's negative emotions.

Social-Emotional Learning For The Classroom And Family Contexts, Courtney Bockbrader

Honors Projects

This project focused on developing a social-emotional learning workbook for use in the classroom and family contexts. Based on a review of relevant literature, emotional recognition, self-regulation, and social skills were identified as the most beneficial social-emotional skills for the personal and academic success of elementary-aged students. The resulting workbook included eleven activities aimed at promoting these three skills. Each activity was designed to be implemented in the classroom setting, with associated take-home activities for use in the home with the parent/guardian(s) for increased generalization of skills. Accessibility for schools of all income levels was taken into account, as activities …

The Lived Experiences Of Latinx Parents And Their Perception Of Bilingual Programs: A Phenomenological Reflection, Manuel O. Adrianzen

Dissertations

The aim of this study is two-fold. First, to better understand and capture the lived experiences of Latinx parents as they navigate the registration/enrollment process at the school and select a language program for their Pre-kindergarten child. Second, to understand what lived experiences influence their perception about bilingual education programs. Using Van Manen’s (2016) concept of human sciences and phenomenology, data was collected through the use of conversational interviews. The responses provided by the parents and school clerk revealed five themes, fear & anxiousness, hope for things to come & for a brighter future, use of social networks to understand …

An Evaluation Of A School District’S Mental Health Services Program Designed To Ensure A Safe And Positive Learning Environment For All, Jasodra Suba

Dissertations

A key component to academic success is comprehensive mental health services for students. The intended purpose of this evaluation was to study the implementation of strength-based performance standards in one school district’s mental health training for all individuals preparing to work in a school-based environment. The context of my program evaluation was one large public school district in the United States operating in a state that mandates that each public school district implement a mental health services program. As part of this study, I examined the underlying concerns surrounding the large public school district’s implementation of evidence-based Mental Health Assistance …

Literacy Abilities Of Children And Adolescents With Williams Syndrome., Caroline Greiner De Magalhaes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation I report findings from two studies of the literacy abilities of children with Williams syndrome (WS), a genetic disorder associated with intellectual disability. I had two overarching goals: 1) evaluate the applicability of theories of reading and spelling acquisition developed based on typically developing children to children with WS; and 2) provide results that would inform the development of targeted assessments and interventions. In Study 1, individual differences in phonological awareness, visual spatial perception, vocabulary, overall intellectual abilities, and reading instruction approach (systematic phonics vs. other approaches) for sixty-nine 6 – 7-year-olds (most of whom were in …

The Development, Short-Term Efficacy, And Pilot Implementation Of An E-Learning Course In Physical Activity And Sedentary Behaviour For Pre-Service Early Childhood Educators, Brianne Bruijns

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The overarching purpose of this dissertation was to develop an e-Learning course in physical activity and sedentary behaviour and test its short-term efficacy and implementation among pre- and in-service early childhood educators (ECEs). The Delphi approach was adopted for Study 1, wherein a panel of international experts in physical activity and sedentary behaviour suggested topics for the course and, together with a panel of ECE experts, rated their importance. Study 2 employed a pre-post design to explore the changes in pre- and in-service ECEs’ physical activity and sedentary behaviour-related knowledge, self-efficacy, behavioural intention, and perceived behavioural control following course completion. …

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 …

Parental Incarceration And The Costly Effects On Their Children, Briana Rae Zocher

Master of Arts in Criminal Justice Leadership

The purpose of this project is to bring awareness to the silent victims associated with parental incarceration – their children. Throughout this project, the focus will be aimed towards promoting the education of the effects of parental incarceration and the impact it has on their children in a variety of compacities and how those settings influence incarceration amongst children of incarcerated parents. In addition, this paper will discuss parental incarceration in three different lens views: administrative, ethical, and legal. First, the administrative lens pertaining to leadership and evolution to successful leadership, especially the critical component of crisis communication strategy. Second, …

Predicting Parent Attendance For Group-Delivered Pcit Workshops In Head Start Centers, Jennifer Tannehill

Dissertations

Group PCIT was offered to parents of Head Start children as part of a larger study that investigated the Impact of a Preschool Obesity Prevention (IPOP) Program Enhanced with Positive Behavioral Supports. The dependent variable (DV) in this study was number of group PCIT sessions attended. The independent variables were marital status, income, education level, parenting practices measured by the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire-PR, and responses from the Caregiver Feeding Style Questionnaire. Predictions were made regarding the impact each of these variables had on attendance to group PCIT sessions. An ordinal logistic regression model was used to analyze the data. No …

Implementing Positive Guidance Strategies To Reduce Challenging Behavior In Preschool Classrooms, Margaret Weber

Graduate Teacher Education

Preschool teachers are looking for more positive classroom support to handle disruptive behaviors in the classroom such as Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports Carter ,Van Norman, Tredwell (2011). Conscious Discipline Bailey (2014), and Trauma-Informed Practices Erdman, Colker, Winter (2020). Carter, Van Norman and, Tredwell (2010), discussed how there has been a shift from using punitive discipline practices to incorporating positive guidance strategies in early childhood education classrooms. Clearly defined expectations and teaching the expectations positively guide the child’s social-emotional, cognitive, and physical growth. Researchers have shown that using positive guidance strategies such as Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), Conscious …

Social-Emotional Supports For African American Males: An Examination Of Strategies And Practices That Inform Persistence For College And Career Readiness, Kamilah Hampton

Dissertations

African American males are faced with many challenges because of the lack of social-emotional supports and current society. African American males experience trauma as a result of their exposure to violence, mistreatment in most environments, and implicit biases in obtaining an education. Social-emotional programming designed specifically for African American males is proven to positively impact their learning outcomes. This study found that the implementation of programming can have a direct impact on African American male’s ability to achieve at high levels. This must be addressed through continuous professional learning and support to challenge and improve a teacher’s instructional practice with …

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 …

Poverty In Schools: The Impact Of Poverty On School Readiness For Kindergarteners, Emily Inglett

Counselor Education Capstones

Experiencing poverty in childhood has lasting impacts on a child. Poverty can have a negative impact on a child’s development academically, cognitively, emotionally, and behaviorally. The present literature review aims to explore research that has looked into what it means to live in poverty, what lasting impacts living in poverty have on children, and what that means for a child’s school readiness when entering kindergarten. It will also discuss some interventions that a school counselor could implement in schools to support a child who lives in poverty and their family.

Approaches To Narrative Instruction For Second Language Learners, Mathew Peters

MA TESOL Collection

Narratives have reemerged as a dominant form of rhetoric over the last fifty years. This dominant use of narrative discourse has only increased with the rise of social media. Walther Fisher (1987) proposed the narrative paradigm as a unifying theory of human communication. His major claim is that people are inherently storytellers and that people use a narrative rationality and a logic of good reasons to inform their beliefs, values, and actions. This paper utilizes his theories, along with recent findings in neuroscience, to establish an argument for greater inclusion of narratives into second language teaching. Narratives can have a …

The Impact Of Covid-19 On Young Children's Education - Exploring The Compatibility Of Combining Progressive Education With Online Learning, Yini Li

Child Development Theses

The COVID-19 outbreak at the end of 2019 forced most schools around the world to move their classrooms online. This research takes the progressive education of young children as the basic educational concept and attempts to explore the compatibility of online education and progressive education of young children through interviews with educators in the United States and China. By understanding how online teaching occurred through interviews with early childhood teachers who implemented it during the COVID-19 outbreak, and the decisions and opinions of school administrators, this study compares the different teaching measures taken by early childhood teachers in the United …

Increasing Bullying Awareness In Middle Schools, Crystal Rocha

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Bullying is a repetitive behavior of mistreatment towards someone less powerful than you. This includes to be verbal, physical, and social. This issue is very common in schools, but students don't get enough knowledge from this behavior to be able to change or help others.

Implementing Lgbtq+ Curriculum In Early Education Classrooms, Mahri Walker

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Many elementary schools have LGBTQ+ content missing from the curriculum, with gender identity and expression and diverse family structures notably absent. The issue that arises is children from LGBTQ+ families, or who may be LGBTQ+ themselves, do not feel represented in the curriculum. If children are provided with the knowledge of what it means to be LGBTQ+, then they are more likely to have a healthy relationship with themselves and their peers who may be included in that community. In order to address this issue, I created a three-day lesson for Kindergarten through first graders at San Lorenzo Valley Elementary …

K-12 Economically Disadvantaged Students, Poverty, And Education: Ecological Narratives Of Successful Raised-In-Poverty, Texas Educators, Rebecca N. Morris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research study aimed to understand how successful Texas educators who grew up in poverty understood and improved the educational experience of economically disadvantaged students. This study utilized a structural ecological theory and three theories of social relationships (Social Identity, Standpoint, and Cultural Capital). This phenomenological and qualitative study used a cross-sectional, descriptive, online case study design rooted in narrative nonfiction. Virtual interviews with six successful Texas educators that grew up in poverty were conducted. A narrative method of analysis was utilized to generate codes then organize them into themes, and to construct and compare the narrative findings. The results …

The Mind Matters: Yoga And Mindfulness In Preschool And K-12 Schools, Anna E. Hall

Honors Theses

This study uses a systematic literature review to examine the efficacy of preschool and K-12 school based yoga and mindfulness programs. A collection of 47 sources were examined to compare and contrast results and determine best practices. The results of the literature review are divided into three primary categories: implementation methods, student outcomes, and teacher and student opinion. The results suggest that individual and whole school implementation methods are the most effective. The results also suggest that there are positive student outcomes in regards to classroom behavior, child executive functioning, and anxiety. Teacher and student opinion on these programs are …

Examining Construction And Reproduction Of The Educational Opportunity Gap: The Nation’S School Board Members Respond, Hallet Demouy

Honors Theses

This thesis explores opportunity gaps, often related to achievement gaps, in education via the analysis of school board members’ responses regarding challenges that face future education, students, and the public school system. The perceptions of these school board members serve to address the sources, prevalence, and effects of inequities that exist in widening (perpetuating) this gap between students. After discussing and elaborating upon the perceived challenges and barriers located in the institution of education, school board member responses will again be used to present potential ways and opportunities through which the achievement gaps, relating to the success rates and testing …

The Lived Experiences Of African American Women Enrolled In Or Graduated From A Doctoral Program And Have Experienced Adverse Childhood Experiences (Aces): A Phenomenological Study, Alicia Williams

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this heuristic phenomenological study is to describe and understand the lived experiences of African American women who are enrolled in or graduated from a doctoral program and have experienced Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in regards to the supports received and barriers experienced in their life journey toward enrolling in a doctoral program. Methodology: The methodology used for this study was a heuristic phenomenological approach which explored the factors of supports received and barriers experienced during the childhood of African American women who experienced ACEs and still pursued a doctorate degree. The study revealed the commonalities among …

Coaching Caregivers In Rural Communities On Naturalistic Strategies Via Telehealth, Stevie L. Ogburn

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

Naturalistic strategies have been shown in research to promote expressive language in children by embedding opportunities for learning trials during routines and activities. Efforts to promote expressive language development are often focused on training caregivers in implementing naturalistic strategies in their child’s typical daily routine. Coaching is a consistently effective training practice to prepare family members to implement the naturalistic strategies. While coaching has been shown to be effective, the recommended time requirement could be a barrier for most caregivers. Caregivers living in geographically remote areas also face additional barriers, such as higher rates of poverty and less access to …

An Examination Of The Use Of The Bess With Rural Appalachian Preschoolers, Savana B. Earnest

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The use of universal behavioral screenings is endorsed by school psychology training programs as a gold standard of practice, but the implementation of these screenings is less common. Due to this, it is crucial that research examines reliability, validity, and all other psychometric properties when implementing a universal behavioral screening. Literature tells us that the BESS TRSP has shown to have moderate-to-high predictive validity and high stability coefficients in a variety of urban and rural populations of preschool and school age children. This research examined stability of high and low risk scores on the BESS TRSP within a rural Appalachian …

A Psychometric Evaluation Of The Best In Class Adherence And Competence Scale, Katrina A. Markowicz

Theses and Dissertations

It is critical to utilize treatment integrity instruments to support the evaluation of evidence-based programs in early classroom contexts. However, in the early childhood field, guidelines for collecting treatment integrity data are underdeveloped. Consequently, most treatment integrity instruments employed in the field solely assess adherence, vary in design features and have little psychometric evidence supporting their use. As such, this represents a gap in the field that might slow efforts to implement evidence-based programs. The current study examines the score reliability and validity of an observational treatment integrity instrument (The BEST in CLASS Adherence and Competence Scale [BiCACS]; Sutherland et …

A Bilingual Advantage For Children With Autism: Effect Of A Bilingual Education On Set Shifting In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Chandler Flannery O'Reardon

Senior Projects Spring 2021

The proposed study will examine the effect of an early bilingual school environment on the set shifting abilities of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). More specifically, it will evaluate how an English-French bilingual education program affects the set shifting abilities of children with ASD compared to a monolingual English education program. Set shifting will be measured by the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) task both before and after the respective education programs. I hypothesize that there will be a main effect of both time point and education program on set shifting abilities such that (a) set shifting abilities will …

Kindergarten Entry Assessment Practices In Pennsylvania, Anne Katona Linn Ed.D.

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, there is significant variation in kindergarten programs and the entry assessment systems used in school districts. There are no reliable data on the kindergarten entry assessment (KEA) systems used in public kindergarten programs across the Commonwealth. It is well-established that comprehensive KEAs should be part of a broader preschool through third grade (P-3) continuum of early childhood education to assess whole-child skills, include families and community partners, be culturally and linguistically responsive, and developmentally appropriate. This study aimed to understand the KEA practices of kindergarten teachers in Pennsylvania. An online survey was distributed to kindergarten …

Communicating With Play: Helping Adults Recognize Separation Anxiety Disorder And Social Anxiety Disorder In Preschool Children, Katlynn Marie Shamro

Senior Projects Spring 2021

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Despite well-founded and agreed upon evidence showing preschool-aged children experience anxiety (CDC, 2020), children ages 2-6 are continuously understudied, underdiagnosed, and undertreated for these disorders (NIMH, 2019). Researchers attribute this to the primarily cognitive, as opposed to behavioral symptoms of anxiety, communication deficits during the preschool years, and the nature of childhood amplifying already existing barriers to a diagnosis of anxiety. Because diagnosis is the first step to gaining access to mental health resources and early intervention mitigates symptoms and impaired functioning (Barstead et al., 2018), as well …