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Theses and Dissertations

School-age children

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Sociability In Children With Developmental Language Disorder, Miranda Elizabeth Miller Jun 2019

Sociability In Children With Developmental Language Disorder, Miranda Elizabeth Miller

Theses and Dissertations

This study employed the Teacher Behavior Rating Scale (TBRS) to investigate two aspects of sociability, likeability and prosocial behavior, in 143 children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and 131 of their typically developing peers. Initially, measurement invariance analysis was performed to determine if teachers evaluated likeability and sociability in a similar manner for both children with DLD and their typically developing peers. Likeability items on the TBRS were invariant, and 4 of the 5 prosociability items were invariant. Subsequent analysis revealed that teachers rated children with DLD lower in both likeability and prosociability in comparison to their typically developing peers. …


The Ability Of Children With Developmental Language Disorder (Dld) To Infer Emotions From Pictures: Where's The Breakdown?, Mary Rebekah Forbes Apr 2019

The Ability Of Children With Developmental Language Disorder (Dld) To Infer Emotions From Pictures: Where's The Breakdown?, Mary Rebekah Forbes

Theses and Dissertations

Children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) often have difficulties with social and emotional learning, including emotion understanding and inferencing. Five children with DLD, ages 6;4 to 11;9, identified emotions depicted in pictured scenarios over a period of 10 weeks. Emotion categories included happy, sad, anger, fear, surprise, and disgust. Each child's responses were analyzed and plotted on a confusion matrix. In a few cases, children did not interpret the scenario accurately. Even when they interpreted the scenario accurately, all of the children misapplied, overgeneralized, or confused emotion labels in some cases. These errors represented limitations in social and emotional learning …


The Accuracy Of A Spanish Dynamic Assessment Of Narrative Language In Identifying Language Disorder: A Cross Validation Study, Mariah Forbush Romero Apr 2019

The Accuracy Of A Spanish Dynamic Assessment Of Narrative Language In Identifying Language Disorder: A Cross Validation Study, Mariah Forbush Romero

Theses and Dissertations

This cross-validation study investigated the extent that a Spanish narrative language dynamic assessment accurately identified students with and without language disorder across three separate samples of bilingual and monolingual Spanish-speaking students from Guatemala, Mexico, and the U.S. Students with language disorder and students with typically developing language were administered a narrative dynamic assessment in Spanish. A test-teach-retest format of dynamic assessment was followed and student modifiability, or learning ability, was rated directly following the teaching phase of the assessment. Results indicated that the most predictive dynamic assessment variables for the Guatemalan sample were posttest scores combined with two separate modifiability …


The Effects Of A Social Communication Intervention On The Correct Production Of Emotion Words For Children With Language Impairment, Julia Vincent Hetherton Apr 2018

The Effects Of A Social Communication Intervention On The Correct Production Of Emotion Words For Children With Language Impairment, Julia Vincent Hetherton

Theses and Dissertations

Many school-age children with language impairment (LI) have difficulties with aspects of social and emotional learning. This study was structured to evaluate one aspect of the effectiveness of a social communication intervention, the appropriate production of emotion words. Four school-aged children with LI participated in 20 sessions of story-based intervention targeting understanding and usage of emotion-based words. Emotions targeted included the emotion word categories of happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, and disgust. Because the knowledge of the emotion word categories varied from child to child, each child had different target words. The percentage of correct production of targeted emotion …


The Efficacy Of A Literature-Based Social Communication Intervention On Teacher Report Of Withdrawal For Children With Language Impairment, Cammy G. Peterson Jul 2017

The Efficacy Of A Literature-Based Social Communication Intervention On Teacher Report Of Withdrawal For Children With Language Impairment, Cammy G. Peterson

Theses and Dissertations

Research shows that children with language impairment (LI) often have deficits in social communication. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a social communication intervention targeting emotion understanding on teacher perceptions of withdrawal in six elementary-aged boys with LI. The intervention incorporated four elements into treatment sessions: a) Story sharing of children's literature that was rich in emotional content and prosocial behaviors; b) Story enactment of the same children's literature; c) identification and discussion of pictures of facial expressions; and d) journaling to help internalize and reflect on emotions and social behaviors targeted. Two withdrawal subscales …


The Ability Of Five Children With Language Impairment To Describe Mental State In Story Narratives In Spontaneous And Prompted Conditions: Does It Help To Ask?, Naomi Asai Jul 2017

The Ability Of Five Children With Language Impairment To Describe Mental State In Story Narratives In Spontaneous And Prompted Conditions: Does It Help To Ask?, Naomi Asai

Theses and Dissertations

Numerous studies have shown that children identified with Language Impairment (LI) have marked difficulty with producing story narratives compared to their typically developing peers. One particular area of weakness seen in the narratives of children with LI is their ability to incorporate internal states, specifically internal response, internal plan, and emotion words. The current study examines five children with LI and their descriptions of mental and emotional states of characters in story narratives under spontaneous and prompted conditions. Participants produced story retells based on a series of wordless picture books taken from the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument. Story retells were …


Measuring Subtypes Of Withdrawal In Children With Language Impairment, Emma Maille Coombs Apr 2017

Measuring Subtypes Of Withdrawal In Children With Language Impairment, Emma Maille Coombs

Theses and Dissertations

Children with language impairment (LI) often demonstrate increased levels of withdrawal, specifically the reticent and solitary-passive subtypes. Although it is recognized that there are several subtypes of withdrawal, the relationship between withdrawal and children with LI is complex and unclear. The aim of this study was to examine items on the Teacher Behavior Rating Scale (TBRS) to better understand the nature of withdrawal in children with LI. A factor analysis of TBRS scores of 355 participants was conducted to ensure that individual items on each subscale were measuring the same construct. An invariance analysis was also performed to ensure items …


Story Retell Narratives In Five School-Aged Children With Language Impairment, Megan Bradshaw Deere Jul 2016

Story Retell Narratives In Five School-Aged Children With Language Impairment, Megan Bradshaw Deere

Theses and Dissertations

Many children identified with Language Impairment (LI) demonstrate difficulty comprehending and producing narratives. Their narratives are often structurally less complex and of overall poorer quality than those produced by their typically developing peers. These difficulties may negatively impact the academic and social success of children with LI. This thesis evaluates the performance of five school-aged children with LI on a story retell probe embedded within an intervention designed to address their social and emotional language abilities. During the 10-week intervention, participants completed a series of story retell probes using wordless picture books. The story stimuli were taken from the Edmonton …


The Efficacy Of A Literature-Based Social Communication Intervention On Teacher Report Of Sociability For Children With Language Impairment, Mnisa Lyn Harlow Jun 2016

The Efficacy Of A Literature-Based Social Communication Intervention On Teacher Report Of Sociability For Children With Language Impairment, Mnisa Lyn Harlow

Theses and Dissertations

Recent research indicates that children with language impairment (LI) often experience difficulties with social communication. Although the empirical basis for general social communication intervention is growing, information documenting the efficacy of these interventions for children with LI remains limited. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a social communication intervention on teacher perceptions of sociability in five elementary-aged children with LI. The intervention focused on the presentation and use of children's stories to target aspects of emotion understanding. The two sociability subscales of the Teacher Behavior Rating Scale (TBRS), impulse control/likeability and prosocial behavior, were used …


The Effects Of A Social Communication Intervention On The Production Of Emotion Words For Children With Language Impairment, Emilee Anne Longmore Jun 2016

The Effects Of A Social Communication Intervention On The Production Of Emotion Words For Children With Language Impairment, Emilee Anne Longmore

Theses and Dissertations

Many school-age children with a diagnosis of Language Impairment (LI) also have social communication difficulties. Some of these difficulties are related to deficits in emotion understanding. This thesis evaluates the effects of a social communication intervention designed to increase the production of emotion-based words as an indicator of emotional competence. For five elementary school-aged children with LI, the production of emotion-based words was analyzed by first determining the frequency of words produced in preintervention sessions for the following categories: happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, and disgust. Following these measures, the participants received 20 intervention sessions over the course of treatment. …


The Influence Of A Social Communication Intervention On The Syntactic Complexity Of Three Children With Language Impairment, Alyse Wheeler Apr 2016

The Influence Of A Social Communication Intervention On The Syntactic Complexity Of Three Children With Language Impairment, Alyse Wheeler

Theses and Dissertations

Research has shown that children with language impairment (LI) exhibit difficulties with both social communication and syntax. This study analyzed the effect of a social communication intervention on syntactic development, focusing on grammatical complexity in three children with LI when enacting stories. The intervention included reading and enacting stories, playing games with picture emotion cards and journaling. Each child's mean length of terminal unit (t-unit), the number and type of subordinate clauses they produced per t-unit, and the grammaticality of their complex sentences was analyzed. While none of the children increased their mean length of t-unit or the grammaticality of …


The Efficacy Of A Social Communication Intervention To Increase Syntactic Complexity In Narratives Of Children With Language Impairment, Alexandra Smith May 2015

The Efficacy Of A Social Communication Intervention To Increase Syntactic Complexity In Narratives Of Children With Language Impairment, Alexandra Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Research has shown that children with Language Impairment (LI) struggle with social communication skills in addition to their characteristic syntactic difficulties. This pilot study analyzed the potential change in grammatical complexity in narratives of five children with LI when enrolled in a social communication intervention. The intervention itself focused on teaching emotion understanding by reading and reenacting children’s stories and journaling. Grammatical limitations were indirectly addressed by clinician modeling of complex forms during the intervention sessions. Each child’s productions were assessed and analyzed for grammatical complexity during retelling a book in the Mercer Mayer “a boy, a dog, and a …


The Efficacy Of A Social Communication Intervention On Teacher Report Of Withdrawal For Children With Language Impairment, Allyson Roscher May 2015

The Efficacy Of A Social Communication Intervention On Teacher Report Of Withdrawal For Children With Language Impairment, Allyson Roscher

Theses and Dissertations

Recent studies and literature regarding children with language impairment (LI) indicate that these children have difficulty with social communication skills. This study assessed the effect of a social communication intervention on teacher perceptions of withdrawal in six elementary school age participants with LI. The social communication intervention included story sharing, identifying pictures of facial expressions, and journaling to target emotion understanding. The Teacher Behavior Rating Scale (TBRS) was utilized to measure teacher perception of withdrawal. The TBRS examined three subscales of social withdrawal: solitary-active withdrawal, solitary-passive withdrawal, and reticence. Following treatment, teacher ratings of withdrawn behavior decreased for all six …


The Efficacy Of Social Communication Intervention On Teacher Report Of Sociability For Children With Language Impairment, Julianne Grover Smith Guerra Jun 2014

The Efficacy Of Social Communication Intervention On Teacher Report Of Sociability For Children With Language Impairment, Julianne Grover Smith Guerra

Theses and Dissertations

Recent research indicates that many children with Language Impairment (LI) have difficulty with social communication skills. This study assessed the impact of a social communication intervention on teacher perceptions of social withdrawal in children who received the treatment. The intervention targeted emotion understanding using the presentation of children's stories, facial picture cards, and journaling. Teacher perception was measured using the three withdrawal subscales of the Teacher Behavior Rating Scale (TBRS): Solitary-Active withdrawal, Solitary-Passive withdrawal, and Reticence. Following treatment all five participants received lower ratings of withdrawn behavior on some of the subscales. Only one participant received a rating indicting increased …


The Accurate Productions Of Emotion Words During A Social Communication Intervention In Children With Language Impairment, Emily Marie Gibbons Jan 2014

The Accurate Productions Of Emotion Words During A Social Communication Intervention In Children With Language Impairment, Emily Marie Gibbons

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines a social communication intervention that targets the emotional competence of children with language impairment (LI). Three elementary school-aged children with LI received twenty, 20-minute intervention sessions over four months. Each intervention session involved a combination of activities targeting emotion recognition and emotion inferencing. The emotion-based word productions were counted and analyzed. Categorized words belonged to the emotional categories of happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, and disgust. The percentage of appropriate usage was calculated to represent how often the participants used each emotion-based word in a semantically correct manner. Emotion word productions that did not match the intended …


Outcomes Of An Emotion Word Intervention For Children With Social Communication Impairments, Rebecca Cloward Mansfield Dec 2013

Outcomes Of An Emotion Word Intervention For Children With Social Communication Impairments, Rebecca Cloward Mansfield

Theses and Dissertations

Children with social communication disorders have been found to exhibit deficits in emotional intelligence, including the ability to identify emotions attributed to facial expressions. The purpose of this thesis was to examine the efficacy of a social communication intervention program designed to increase the accuracy of emotion based word use in three elementary school-aged participants with social communication disorders. The participants took part in a multiple-baseline, 20-session treatment including story enactment, journaling procedures, and supplementary activities. The story enactment portion of the intervention centered on Mercer Mayer's A Boy, A Dog, and A Frog (1967) wordless picture book series. Participants' …


Social Networks Of Children With Language Impairment, Serena Marita Louisa Mickelson Jul 2013

Social Networks Of Children With Language Impairment, Serena Marita Louisa Mickelson

Theses and Dissertations

Children with language impairment (LI) often exhibit social difficulties along with language issues that can affect their friendships with peers. This study sought to identify the self-reported social networks of children with LI and compare them to the self-reported social networks of children with typical language development. Sixteen children with LI (9 girls and 7 boys) between the ages of 5-11 years, and sixteen children with typical language development matched for age and gender were studied. Children were asked to name interactants in four social circles (Blackstone & Hunt Berg, 2003): family, friends, acquaintances, and paid interactants. A parent also …


Outcomes Of A Social Communication Intervention On The Use Of Emotion Words, Amy Tucker Cornett Jul 2012

Outcomes Of A Social Communication Intervention On The Use Of Emotion Words, Amy Tucker Cornett

Theses and Dissertations

Children with language impairment (LI) have often been identified as having social communication breakdowns. A number of these problems are likely the result of deficits in emotional competence. This thesis examines a social communication intervention designed to target the emotional competence of children with LI. Three elementary school-aged children with LI were recruited to receive twenty, 20-minute intervention sessions over the course of four months. Each intervention session involved a combination of activities targeting emotion recognition and emotion inferencing using story retell, story exploration, story enactment, perspectives charts, journal entries, emotion labeling, and personalization. These activities revolved around Mercer Mayer's …


Social Circles Of Children With Language Impairment, Erin Whitworth Jun 2012

Social Circles Of Children With Language Impairment, Erin Whitworth

Theses and Dissertations

Children with language impairment (LI) often demonstrate difficulties in social communication. The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the quantity and quality of the social interactions of children with LI and their typical peers through an analysis of the social networks or circles of each child. Eight children with LI as well as eight children with typically developing language and their parents were interviewed. Children's social networks were organized by social circles to effectively paint a picture of each child's social communication (Blackstone & Hunt Berg, 2003). Children with LI were found to have overall fewer contacts in …


The Effects Of A Literature-Based Emotion Recognition Program On Teacher Report Of Sociability Withdrawal For Six Children With Social Communication Difficulties, Jennifer Lynn Harris Jul 2011

The Effects Of A Literature-Based Emotion Recognition Program On Teacher Report Of Sociability Withdrawal For Six Children With Social Communication Difficulties, Jennifer Lynn Harris

Theses and Dissertations

Children with language impairment (LI) often demonstrate difficulties in social communication. Although a number of general social communication interventions have been suggested, there is relatively little work done to examine the efficacy of these interventions for school-age children with LI, and none reported to target general emotional competence. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects on teacher perception of an intervention designed to improve emotion understanding. The intervention was centered on the presentation and use of children's stories to introduce and practice aspects of emotion understanding. The withdrawn and sociable subscales of the Teacher Behavior Rating Scale …