Special Education and Teaching Commons^™

The Classroom Behavior Assessment Scale, Linda Beth Brooks

Special Education ETDs

The purpose of this investigation was to test the predictive valid­ity of the Classroom Behavior Assessment Scale (CBAS). The CBAS, a be­havioral checklist, was designed to be used as a screening device for the detection of possible emotional/behavioral disorders in young chil­dren. The investigation was conducted using both mean and median CBAS scores of children who were recommended by the Educational Appraisal and Review committee of Albuquerque Public Schools for Special Education programs, and those who were not recommended for Special Education programs by that same committee. The hypotheses for this investigation were stated in the null form. Hypothesis 1. …

An Investigation Of The Relationship Of Ethnicity And Sex To Intelligence And Certain Dimensions Of Creativity, Viola Roberta Sierra

Special Education ETDs

This study was designed to investigate: (1) differences in certain dimensions of creativity between Anglos and Chicanos; (2) differences in certain dimensions of creativity between males and females; and (3) the relationship between certain dimensions of creativity and intelligence for (a) the total group, (b) for Anglos, (c) for Chicanos, (3) for males, and (e) for females.

The general hypotheses tested were that: (1) there would be no significant differences between Anglos and Chicanos and between males and females with respect to composite creativity and the dimensions of fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration as measured by the Torrance Test of …

The Effects Of Perceptual Conditioning Upon Decoding And Encoding Abilities Of Children With Low Achievement, James D. Hall

Special Education ETDs

THE EFFECTS OF PERCEPTUAL CONDITIONING UPON DECODING AND ENCODING ABILITIES OF CHILDREN WITH LOW ACHIEVEMENT

James D. Hall Department of Special Education The University of New Mexico, 1976

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of two decoding training procedures upon the decoding and encoding abilities of third grade children with low achievement. The methods studied were Perceptual Conditioning (Glass, 1971a) and Perceptual Conditioning with an added spelling step. An experimental group of 24 third graders, who pretested at or below the 3.8 grade level on the Diagnostic Reading Scales word lists, were randomly assigned to one …

Parent Intervention Program For Children With Severe Learning And Behavior Problems, Mindi Golnick

Special Education ETDs

The purpose of this study was to assess the effect on parent attitudes and skills when involved in a parent training intervention program for children with severe learning and behavior problems. The intervention program was designed to train the parents to maintain, change and teach appropriate behaviors to their children while pro­viding them with the skills to extinguish inappropriate behaviors in their children.

More specifically the study attempted to answer the following four research questions:

1) Did the parents alter their attitudes toward child rearing in a positive direction as assessed on the Parent Attitude Scale (revised) after completion of …

Effects Of A Creativity Program On The Creative Thinking Abilities Of Behaviorally Disordered Elementary Children And Regular Elementary Children, Betsy Jaclynn Loewenherz

Special Education ETDs

The purpose of this study was to determine and compare whether a structured creativity program would improve creative thinking abilities in elementary behaviorally disordered children and elementary regular children. The study examined creativity as a process and contended that behaviorally disordered children would profit synonymously with regular children from learning to think creatively by increasing their repertoire of appropriate responses. The subjects were located in a special adaptation class for the behaviorally disordered and a regular classroom. Hereafter, the term regular children as it appears in the study refers to children undiagnosed for special needs and placed in the regular …

The Effect Of Parent Intervention On Academic Progress Of Learning Disabled Children, Carol Lee Byler

Special Education ETDs

This thesis project was designed to investigate the implications of involving parents of learning disabled children in on academic objective. Academic progress was measured through the use of continuous recording procedures. The main hypothesis, stated in null form, was: there will be no statistically significant difference in the mean scores of six learning disabled subjects on specified academic behavior before and after treatment involving parents as the intervention strategy.

The research results (analyzed by the mean-median/chi-square design, P < ·.05) indicated significant difference in the mean scores of four of six learning disabled subjects. Further analysis (analyzed by the Wilcox Sign and Rank Test, P < .05) indicated significant growth in the group as a whole. It was concluded that further research in a variety of settings with a variety of subjects is needed to substantiate these results and to gain further insights concerning the effects of parental involvement in the total school process.

Locus Of Control And Reading Achievement For Children With Learning Disabilities In A Self-Contained Class, Janie Stone

Special Education ETDs

Research concerning personality variables bas been expanding rapidly in the last few years. Locus of control is one of these variables; it is a developmental construct considered to be an important part of social learning theory. Locus of control refers to the degree to which a person believes that he controls his environment and reinforcements, or another person or force controls them. There have been many investigations regarding locus of control of normal and exceptional children in relation to motivation, anxiety, social desirability, success-failure attitudes, and achievement in the classroom. Specifically with students who are mentally retarded, orthopedically handicapped, or …

A Follow-Up Study Of Junior High Students Who Participated In The Monterey Reading Program, Barbara P. Warren

Special Education ETDs

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reading scores of students who participated in the Monterey Reading Program (MRP) and to determine the stability of gains if they did occur. The two populations studied represented special education students diagnosed as learning disabled with reading problems in the area of decoding, and non-diagnosed students with the same problem. All 14 students were at least two years behind in reading in terms of grade level placement. They were seventh-graders. The learning disabled sample was pre-, post-, and follow-up tested with the Wide Range Achievement Test. The non-diagnosed sample was similarly …

The Validity Of The Home Bilingual Usage Estimate In Determining Language Dominance, Richard F. Rodriguez

Special Education ETDs

The purpose of this study was to determine the validity of the Home Bilingual Usage Estimate, a test designed to determine whether English or Spanish is the dominant language spoken by and to the child. The Dos Amigos Verbal Language Scales, a teat which measures the ability of the child to express word opposites in English and Spanish was used as the criterion. On the basis of differences between English and Spanish performance a language dominance can be determined. Specific hypotheses were that: (1) the Home Bilingual Usage Estimate score of English Language usage will be positively and significantly related …

A Special Education Program Design For Small, Rural Schools, Melody Peers Mccormick

Special Education ETDs

The small, rural school, even when it is a part of a larger system does not generally have ready access to special education programs. The purpose of this investigation was to design and implement a minimum intervention program which would involve no additional staff, facilities, or expenditures. The minimum intervention program designed utilized a cross-age tutoring program which effectively removed students from one classroom and left it free to be utilized as a special education room for a specified period of time three days a week. The teachers identified children whom they felt needed special help. There were two main …

A Comparison Of Locus Of Control In Children In The Resource Room, Itinerant Program, And The Regular Class, Mary A. Weidle

Special Education ETDs

There is a great deal of personality research being carried out with children. Most of these studies are concerned with comparing a normal sample with mentally retarded, emotionally disturbed, or delinquent youths. Lately, educators have addressed their concerns to meeting the needs of the child with learning disabilities. Because of the recent increase in programs for learning disabled children, the writer chose to study these students in two types of settings: the resources room and itinerant program. Current literature indicates links between locus of control and academic achievement. Both groups of learning disabled students are compared to regular class students …

A Comparative Study Of Therapeutic Environments For Seriously Emotionally Disturbed Children, Loretta Ann Serna

Special Education ETDs

The purpose of the present investigation was to identify the kinds of facilities and rehabilitative opportunities available for children. Further purposes were to determine, more precisely, what New Mexico facilities offer parents and their children displaying emotional problems. The third purpose was to determine how New Mexico’s few existing facilities are similar or different from those of their counterparts in 23 other states (funding staff composition, and programs). It was the intent of the present investigation to provide an overview of the emotionally disturbed child's rehabilitative opportunities and to conceptualize on the resources each setting has to offer a child …

An Analysis Of The Effects Of An Itinerant Resource Program On The Academic Achievement Of Learning Disabled Children, Mary Lou Hall

Special Education ETDs

The purposes of this investigation were to compare academic achievement levels in mildly handicapped students before and after intervention by the itinerant resource program, and to try to determine optimal duration of treatment by comparing gains in each of the two treatment phases. Fifty subjects were selected from six elementary schools, in which a resource room teacher also provided itinerant resource services. All resource programs operated under the New Mexico Learning Disability Fail-Save Continuum Project (Title VI Part G).

All subjects were in grades one through six and were identified as learning disabled, according to the guidelines set forth in …

Development Of Environmental Responsiveness In Crib-Bound Profoundly Retarded Institutionalized Individuals Through Play, James Dean Decker

Special Education ETDs

Statement of the Problem

Staffing, facilities, and programming have been continual problems in institutional care of the mentally retarded. Gesell and I lg (1946) examined the institution in respect to developing the “self” of each resident. This study concluded that the institutional setting limited the resident's development because impromptu situations which build love, affection, and the feeling of belonging in the normal child were not present nor provided for in the institution. Bijou and Baer (1965) described the institutional setting as not being conducive to building affection or appropriate behavior. Staff and time are at a premium in most institutions; …

Effects Of A Creativity Program On The Creative Thinking Abilities Of Elementary Emotionally Disturbed Children, Carol S. Pitts

Special Education ETDs

The purpose of this study was to try to determine whether a structured creativity program could improve creative thinking abilities in elementary emotionally disturbed children. The study examined creativity as a process and contended that emotionally disturbed children could profit from learning to think creatively by increasing their repertoire of appropriate responses. The subjects were taken from two special adaptation classes for the emotionally disturbed. The classes were located in two elementary schools in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The eleven students in the experimental group and the eight students in the control group were pre- and posttested with the Torrance Tests …

The Effects Of A Checkmark System On The Improvement Of Attention Behavior, Language Achievement And Arithmetic Achievement In Slow Learners Jalapa, Vercurz, Mexico, Maria De Los Angeles Hurtado De Mendoza

Special Education ETDs

Problem

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effects of a checkmark system as reinforcement for a group of eleven slow-learning children in the Special Education School in the City of Jalapa, Veracruz, Mexico. The behaviors measured were attention behavior, language achievement, and arithmetic achievement.

Procedure

The research design used for this investigation was the single­group design (Campbell, 1966). Both a pre and post-test were administered with the group serving as its own control. The checkmark system was identified as the independent variable. The measures obtained for attention behavior, language achievement and arithmetic achievement were the dependent variables. …

The Use Of Audio Tape Materials For Teaching Geography To Emotionally Disturbed Children., Richard David Mann

Special Education ETDs

The purpose of this study was to determine the applicability and effectiveness of tape presentations in the teaching of geography studies. More specifically it was the purpose of this study to determine I) whether students in a special adaptation class score higher on comprehension tests and 2) express a higher level of Interest when taped materials are presented to them as opposed to traditional teaching methods.

The subjects for this study were seven students who have been evaluated through multi-discipline approaches by the Albuquerque Public Schools and placed in a classroom for the emotionally disturbed at McKinley Junior High School, …

Socio-Legal Concern With Some Special Education Practices: A Study Of Due Process Protection For Exceptional Children, Mark H. Dorfman

Special Education ETDs

Special education developed during the last seventy years through the benevolent and dedicated efforts or humanitarian organizations and persons. However, there has recently emerged strong parental opposition to a number of practices which school systems and educational practitioners employ with children, whom they have identified as being handicapped. This opposition has often been articulated through an appeal for legal and constitutional intervention, with the claim that the civil rights of children who do not perform up to normative expectations are frequently disregarded and often violated. In a number of these legal cases, the plaintiffs have prevailed and the court has …

Family Oriented Intervention For Special Pre-School Children: The Peanut Butter And Jelly Pre-School, Angela Vachio Grodner

Special Education ETDs

The study consisted of two major sections: one descriptive and one research. The first part dealt with a description of the history, philosophy, and program of the Peanut Butter and Jelly Pre-School, a novel and experimental parent-oriented pre-school for special children in the Southwest Valley area of Albuquerque. The second part dealt with an attempt to measure the effect of the school program on parental attitudes toward child rearing and education. Three groups: a) parents of children with problems involved in the Peanut Butter and Jelly Pre-School (n=11); b) parents of children with problems on the waiting list for the …

The Relationship Of Auditory Discrimination And Reading Achievement At First And Fourth Grade Levels, George Reid Lyon

Special Education ETDs

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between reading ability and the ability to discriminate verbal auditory stimuli among representative groups of first and fourth grade pupils. The sample was randomly selected from the first and fourth grade population of one Albuquerque, New Mexico elementary school located in a predominantly Caucasian low--middle to middle class neighborhood with some Mexican-American children. Subjects were administered the Quiet and Noise subtests of the Goldman-Fristoe-Woodcock. Test of Auditory Discrimination (GFW), the Wepman Auditory Discrimination Test (Wepman), the Word Recognition subtest of the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT), and the Otis-Lennon Mental …

Variability In The Development Of A Science Concept As A Function Of Age, Sex, Academic Achievement, And Training Method., Elizabeth O. Cormack

Special Education ETDs

This study investigated the scientific principle, that the level of still water remains horizontal regardless of container tilt, with fourth and eighth grade normal and learning disabled children. Measurements were made of the number of children in each group who knew the concept and of the ability of the "nonknowers" to learn the concept by an adjustment task. A two by two by two factorial design was used. A two-fold criterion of predictive water settings within 5° of horizontal and verbalization of the correct scientific principle was required for S's demonstration of concept knowledge. An adjustment task procedure with feedback …

An Evaluation Of Special Education Majors' Attitudes Towards Exceptional Children And Knowledge Of Techniques And Services., Maria Elena Berghmans Pynn

Special Education ETDs

The main questions dealt with in this thesis revolve around the attitudes of undergraduates and graduates in Special Education towards exceptional children, as well as their knowledge of instructional techniques. Special emphasis was placed on the determination of the role of Special Education 450 (Adaptive Instructional Techniques) in the acquisition of attitudes towards these children. Five groups of students were tested in order to ascertain whether differences of attitude existed between them and to test for the types of attitudes acquired in Special Education 450. Two of the groups consisted of graduate level students, the third of beginning students, the …

The Role Of The Language Sample And Short Term Interventions In The Differential Diagnosis Of Mental Retardation., Jane Blumenfeld

Special Education ETDs

The purpose of the study was to determine the role of the language sample and short-term interventions in diagnosing retardation in primary grade Spanish surnamed students from low socioeconomic level homes. The study also explored methods of programming for language development and their value in keeping target population students in the mainstream of public education

Television Viewing Habits Of Selected Special Education And Regular Education Children In Five New Mexico School Districts., Jose E. Cordova

Special Education ETDs

This study was conducted to determine:

1) what the different viewing habits were of children in special education and regular education programs,

2) what the different viewing habits were of children from different ethnic backgrounds, and

3) what the different viewing habits were of children living in different population settings.

It was known that commercial television had Statewide coverage through one or more channels. The initial survey of the study sought to determine the range and use of the educational channel. Educational television capability was reported in approximately half of the school districts in the State. A review of the …

The Relationship Between Field Dependence And Self-Concept In Elementary School Children, Celia Shore

Special Education ETDs

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between field dependence (Witkin, et al., 1954, 1962) and academic self-concept. The relationship between body concept and field dependence was further examined. The sample was randomly selected from the sixth grade population at a suburban New Mexico elementary school located in a predominantly white middle class neighborhood with some Black and Mexican-American children. Subjects were administered the Short Form Test of Academic Aptitude, the Group Embedded Figures Test, the Behavioral Q Sort, and the Draw-a­Person Test which was scored with the Witkin Sophistication Scale. The Group Embedded Figures Test was …

A Study Of The Appropriateness Of The Present Special Education Administrative Models Of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah And The Bureau Of Indian Affairs For The Provision Of Services To Navajo Handicapped Children., Gerald Roger Platt

Special Education ETDs

There are, at the present time, four major agencies providing special education services to Navajo children. These are: the states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, and Department of Education of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Each of these agencies has its own special education administrative model and each of those mode is different. It has been the purpose of this thesis to determine the adequacy of those models for the provision of special education services to handicapped Navajo children. Where it has been determined that present guidelines and standards are not appropriate, new guide lines and standards have been …

Experiential Awareness: An Existential Approach To Group Psychotherapy With Adolescents, Rae Dezettel Perls

Special Education ETDs

The purpose of this study was to describe experi­ential awareness as an existential approach to psychotherapy with adolescents in groups. Integrated within the study were the critical issues of the nature and behavior of the therapist in the psychotherapeutic encounter with adoles­cents. Review of the literature on adolescent psychology pertinent to the practice of adolescent psychotherapy sug­gested that when adolescents experience "identity crisis," peer group therapy is appropriate. The major propositions, assumptions, and applications of experiential awareness therapy relevant to adolescent therapy groups were examined. The use of therapist journal notes was presented to illus­trate the therapist's experience in the …

Maternal Attitudes Toward Clinical Evaluation Of Learning Disability Children, Leanne Davis Johnson

Special Education ETDs

The purpose of this study was to survey the attitudes of two groups of mothers of male children with learning disabilities. Group I consisted of mothers of boys diagnosed as hyperactive and receiving medication at the time of the evaluation. Group II was the mothers of boys diagnosed as academically disabled and not receiving medication at the time of the evaluation. This study was specifically concerned with maternal attitudes toward: 1) the clinical evaluation at Lovelace Clinic, 2) the change in their child's home behavior, 3) the responsiveness of the school to each child's needs, and 4) the child's reaction …

Evaluation Of Placement Procedures For The Educable Mentally Handicapped In A Public School System, Eugene Delbert Valencia

Special Education ETDs

The purpose of this study was to determine how well diagnostic procedures in a public school system of New Mexico conformed to two major definitions of Educable Mentally Handicapped and to determine which components of the diagnostic process were regarded by the evaluators as most critical in labeling children as Educable Mentally Handicapped. The subjects for the study consisted of fifteen professional evaluators and twenty-nine recently placed Educable Mentally Handicapped students of a New Mexico public school system. The instruments used were a diagnostic rating scale and a questionnaire check list. The diagnostic rating scale was designed to determine which …

Relation Of Self-Concept And Values And Public School Achievement For Selected American Pueblo Indian Students Attending Public School In The State Of New Mexico, Winfred Bullard Senior

Special Education ETDs

This study was designed to investigate the self-concept and values and the achievement of selected Pueblo Indian students attending public school in New Mexico. The population consisted of Pueblo Indian students living in a particular school district and attending a public school in that district. The instruments used to conduct the investigation were the Tennessee Self Concept Scale, the Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Study of Values, a Sentence Completion, a Cultural Theme, Intelligence Tests scores, and the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills.