Special Education and Teaching Commons^™

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.

The Relationship Between Fifth Grade Children's Performance On The Goldman-Fristoe-Woodcock Test Of Auditory Discrimination And Ratings Of Attention Given By A Teacher Using The Devereux Elementary School Behavior Rating Scale, Carter Gordon Brower

Special Education ETDs

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship of children's performance on the Noise Subtest of the Goldman-Fristoe-Woodcock (GFW) Test of Auditory Discrimination and ratings in Classroom Disturbance and in­attentive-Withdrawn from the Devereux Elementary School Behavior Rating Scale DESB.

The sample consisted of a single fifth grade class in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The class contained 29 students, but nine of these were eliminated because of auditory discrimination problems as measured by the GFW Test of Auditory Discrimination. According to the school records, none of the subjects had any significant hearing loss.

Data were analyzed with the Spearman Rank …

Effects Of Parent Participation On The Arithmeticl Computational Skills Of Fourth Grade Students, Yvonne Hamburg

Special Education ETDs

The purpose of the is study was to investigate the effects of parent assistance upon academic achievement. The total I number of randomly selected subjects in the experimental group (parent participation) was 15. There were 17 subjects in the control group. Participating parents received instructions in the use of arithmetic materials. Sets of four tasksheets and flashcards in the basic facts of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, were sent home each week. In addition, participating parents were asked to complete a 10 item 91uestionnaire before and after the program in order to measure parental attitude toward assisting with academic tasks …

A Comparison Of First Grade Children With Kindergarten And Non-Kindergarten Backgrounds, Robert Gregory Walsh

Special Education ETDs

The entire first grade of an elementary school in Albuquerque was divided up into two groups; one group consisted of those who had attended kindergarten and the other group was made up of those who had not attended kindergarten. The hypothesis for this study was that kindergarten attendance would affect the academic achievement of first graders in Albuquerque, New Mexico, when tested at the beginning and end of each school year. The Wide Range Achievement Test (1965 Revised edition) was administered early in first grade and at the end of first grade. The test was designed to measure academic achievement …

Behavioral Characteristics Of The Ideal Student As Perceived By Engineered Class-Students, Regular Classroom Students, And Their Teachers, Michael Henry Stuart

Special Education ETDs

Perception of behavioral characteristics of the ideal student by three groups of elementary school pupils and their teachers was examined. In May, 1973, 5 students from an engineered classroom, 5 special education referral students, and l0 regular classroom students completed a behavioral Q-sort of 25 classroom related behaviors, describing the ideal student. The sorting of each student was correlated with the sorting of his teacher concerning the ideal student using an adaptation of the Pearson product­moment correlation coefficient formula. The Mann-Whitney U Test was then applied to determine significant differences in student-teacher correlations among the three groups. Significant differences were …

Effect Of A Feedback System On Word Recognition Of Primary Children In A Tutorial Project, Verlinda Parnell Townsend

Special Education ETDs

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a feedback system on word recognition gain. The subjects were six primary students referred to the resource room for reading problems. A cross-age tutorial project was established in which the subjects were tutored, using flash cards, for two 15 minute sessions each day. The feedback system, in the form of daily rate measures and charts, included the manager, the tutor, and the subject. In the first session, Condition A, the subjects received feedback on a one minute rate sample of reading performance and were allowed to chart the number …

The Effects Of Auditory Training On Word Recognition Achievement Of First Grade Students, Nila Jaramillo

Special Education ETDs

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the efficacy of auditory discrimination and memory training on word recognition achievement of first grade students. First graders of ostensibly average intelligence and free of apparent observable organic deviations participated in this experiment. Twenty children were alternately assigned to the Experimental Group (n=10) and to the Control Group (n=10). Stimulus material consisted of commercially available instructional and program materials. While the series encompasses five sequential areas of development, only auditory discrimination and auditory memory were included for the purpose of this study. All subjects were administered the word recognition subtest from the …

The Effects Of Three-Dimensional Objects Vs. Two-Dimensional Objects In A Serial Positions Task On The Short-Term Memory Of Elementary School Children With Low Intelligence, Alice Dye Maechtlen

Special Education ETDs

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of three-dimensional stimuli versus two-dimensional stimuli in a serial positions task on the short-term memory of elementary school children with low intelligence. The specific hypothesis was that elementary school children with low intelligence would have greater short-term memory response accuracy on a serial positions task with three-dimensional objects than with two-dimensional objects. Fourteen fourth, fifth, and sixth graders whose IQ scores ranged from 60 to 85 were selected from regular classrooms in a middle income area in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Each subject was given the serial positions task with the …

Attitude Change Of Couples Involved In A Sexual Therapy Program., Ruth Thurlow Caplan

Special Education ETDs

The purpose of this investigation was to study the changes in attitude of a group of sexually inadequate couples after a sexual therapy treatment program. This investigation utilized a three group design. The experimental group consisted of five committed couples who had sought treatment of difficulties in the sexual aspects of their relationship and had indicated some degree of inadequacy in this area on the part of one or both partners. In addition, another couple participated as a special case since no symptoms were present. The first control group consisted of six similarly sexually inadequate couples who agreed to wait …

The Effects Of Individualized Instruction On Mathematics Achievement In Third Grade, Ann Wheeler Hurt

Special Education ETDs

This study was conducted to determine the effects of individualized instruction on mathematics achievement in the third grade. Hypotheses were that: (1) individualized instruction would result in greater mathematics achievement than group instruction in mathematics, and that (2) individualized instruction would result in greater interest in mathematics than group instruction in mathematics.

Forty third grade students from each of two geographically adjacent elementary schools were randomly selected to comprise the experimental and control groups. The Metropolitan Achievement Test, Elementary Arithmetic Form B, Otis-Lennon Mental Ability Test, Elementary Level I-Form J, and an interest questionnaire were administered to both groups. A …