Child Psychology Commons^™

Understanding And Responding To Childhood Trauma In The Classroom, Kara L. Ganzer

Master of Arts in Human Services

This capstone explored childhood trauma as a significant public health and educational issue because of its widespread impact on children’s development, learning, behavior, and educational experiences. A review of the current literature was conducted to examine adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), the neurobiological and developmental effects of childhood trauma, its impact within educational settings, and the trauma-informed approaches for supporting students who have experienced adversity. The literature suggested that childhood trauma can disrupt brain development, executive functioning, emotional regulation, attention, memory, and stress-response systems, contributing to academic, behavioral, and social-emotional challenges within the classroom. Findings also highlighted the important role schools …

Urban Indian Parents' Occupational Perceptions Of Play And Governance Of Children's Excessive Screen Time Preferences And Behaviours In This Digital Era, Joanna Priyadarshini Udaykumar, Tony Sam George

International Journal of Playwork Practice

Abstract

Children’s innate urge to engage in joyous, self-directed, meaningful, iterative activities embodies their unique play experiences and facilitates their holistic development. However, the exponential growth of digital technology in an urbanized world has transformed their social landscape by offering them a plethora of novel play opportunities that ‘pushes children away from the outdoors and pulls them indoors’. Moreover, the radical transition from nature-based recreation to media-centric activity insinuates the surge of a global pandemic characterized by low physical activity, sleep deprivation and sedentary, lifestyle diseases. This emerging trend reflects children’s predilection for videophilia over biophilia due to the dominance …

Determinants Of Corporal Punishment And Severe Physical Punishment In Egypt: A Mixed-Methods Analysis For Child Protection Policy, Marwa Moustafa Nassef

Theses and Dissertations

Corporal punishment (CP) and severe physical punishment (SPP) remain a major public health, child rights, and child protection policy concern. In Egypt, despite legislative reforms, survey-weighted analysis of the 2021 Egypt Family Health Survey (EFHS) 2021 (CAPMAS, 2022) reveals prevalence rates of 60.5% for CP and 27.4% for SPP among children aged 1–14 (author’s calculations using EFHS-2021, n=7623), yet evidence distinguishing the determinants of routine corporal punishment from escalation to severe physical punishment remains limited in low- and middle-income contexts. Guided by Bronfenbrenner’s ecological framework, this mixed-methods study identifies key drivers of CP and its escalation to SPP among Egyptian …

An Equity-Based And Culturally Responsive Bill Of Rights For Early Childhood Students Of Color With Exceptionalities, Evette Simmons-Reed, Michelle Frazier Trotman Scott, Gloria Tardash, Mildred Boveda, Donna Y. Ford

Perspectives on Early Childhood Psychology and Education

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing disparities in early intervention (EI) and early childhood special education (ECSE) services for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) disabled children, exposing critical gaps in access, services and support. systemic inconsistencies in implementation, training, and funding, remain barriers limit opportunities for CLD students to benefit, despite the aims of the Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act (IDEA). To address these inequities, this manuscript proposes an expanded and updated Culturally Responsive Equity-Based Bill of Rights for EI and ECSE. Building upon Ford and colleagues' (2018) work, this revised document extends protections to children aged zero to five, emphasizing …

Practical Applications Of Play Therapy Principles In Early Childhood Classrooms, Colleen D. Martinez, Beth A. Trammell

Perspectives on Early Childhood Psychology and Education

Play in early childhood is a central tenet to everyday life for children and is thus of great importance to early childhood practitioners. However, the wide variety of definitions, policies, and practices related to play make implementing it effectively in the classroom nuanced. This article explores components of both child-led and adult-led practices—viewed through the lens of play therapy—to aid early childhood educators in applying these practices in the classroom. Case examples from the authors are included to further explore these topics in real-life situations.

Latent Transition Analysis: A Statistical Method For Identifying Underlying Subgroups Over Time, Holmes Finch

Perspectives on Early Childhood Psychology and Education

Researchers working in early childhood research are often interested in assessing change over time in multiple variables. In addition, they may wish to ascertain whether there exist subgroups in the data with respect to these variables, and whether/how membership in these groups is related. Latent transition analysis (LTA) provides such researchers with a useful tool for investigating questions around such groups, including their composition, frequency, and the likelihood of moving from one to another at different points in time. The purpose of this manuscript is to provide a full demonstrate of LTA and show how it can be used to …

A Tutorial For Identifying And Comparing Change Points In Developmental Trajectories, Holmes Finch

Perspectives on Early Childhood Psychology and Education

Researchers in a variety of social science fields work with sequential data, such as measurements made over time. In some instances, one or more of the moments (e.g., mean, variance) of the series may change abruptly at some point in the sequence, yielding what is known as a change point. There is a broad literature describing methods for changepoint detection. Researchers working with multiple sequential series containing change points may be interested in comparing the locations of these changes. The purpose of this manuscript is to demonstrate how a researcher can detect changepoints and compare changepoints between two or more …

Using Multilevel Modeling To Understand Nested Data, Holmes Finch

Perspectives on Early Childhood Psychology and Education

Researchers in the social sciences often work with nested data, in which individuals are collected in higher level clusters. For example, educational research often involves working with samples in which students are nested within schools. Standard data analyses, such as regression and analysis of variance (ANOVA), yield statistically biased results when this nested structure is ignored. One widely used and effective approach for handling such nested data is multilevel modeling. The purpose of this manuscript is to review the basics of multilevel modeling and to provide the reader with a fully worked example in which the analytic approach and results …

Guest Editor's Introduction: Methodological Innovations For Advancing Early Childhood Educational And Psychological Research, Anthony Mangino Ph.D.

Perspectives on Early Childhood Psychology and Education

The goal of this special issue is to provide you, the inquisitive reader and developmental scientist, with some of the methodological tools to aid in augmenting your analytic capacity.

Early Childhood Echo (Ec Echo) Start-Up & Operations Manual, Lisa Long, I. Michelle Gaither, Ruby Brenner, Bradley Long, Emily Mcclelland, Malcolm Huell, Lauren Elliott, Katerina Sergi

Publications

The Early Childhood ECHO (EC ECHO) Start-up & Operations Manual is a practical guide to launching case-based telementoring and professional development using the Project ECHO® model. Prepared for early childhood programs and agencies. Adapted from Mississippi’s EC ECHO implementation (2023–2025) and aligned with Project ECHO® guidance.

Assessing School Readiness For Social And Emotional Learning: A Study Of School Leadership Perceptions And Attitudes, Nahla Elharati

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the integration of social and emotional learning (SEL) in a number of British schools across Egypt, focusing on how school leaders defined and perceived its importance in student development. Through in-depth interviews with twelve school leaders, this study found that school leaders’ definitions of SEL emphasized self- awareness, self-regulation, and relationship-building, alongside a strong focus on the real-life applicability of SEL both within school settings and in students’ future lives. School leaders also expressed positive attitudes toward the benefits of SEL, particularly its role in enhancing academic performance, promoting student well-being, improving peer relationships, and reducing bullying, …

Children's Peer Selection In Stem: The Influence Of Gender, Ethnicity, And Disability, Meagan Girard, Kim P. Roberts

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The present study examined how children’s peer selection in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) may be influenced by gender, ethnicity, and physical disability. Sixty-four children (ages 6-12) from elementary schools in Southwestern Ontario completed three tasks: a simulated peer selection task, an attribution of ability task, and a stereotype belief questionnaire. In the peer selection task, participants were repeatedly asked to select one peer from a set of AI-generated photographs showing children who differed by gender (male, female), ethnicity (White, Black, East Asian), and physical disability status (able-bodied user vs. nondisabled). The Peer Selection Task was based on the …

Early Childhood Educators' Experiences With Autistic Students: A Qualitative Study Of Challenges And Strategies, Sarah Yang

Graduate Masters Theses

Early childhood education is a vital early learning context for children ages 2-5 years old, encompassing some of their most formative years of life. Autistic children, however, are expelled from early childhood education programs at disproportionately high rates—a troubling trend that points to a broader picture of how early education environments lack the support and structure that young autistic children need to succeed. Early childhood educators (ECEs) are fundamental in shaping these early education environments and autistic children’s experiences within them. However, while most ECEs want to include autistic children in their classrooms, past research indicates they feel like they …

“Home.”: A Trauma-Informed Children’S Book Exploring Secure Attachment For Children In Foster Care, Keeli Langford

Undergraduate Theses

Estimates suggest 6% of U.S. children (nearly half a million) will be placed in foster care at any point between their birth and eighteenth birthday (Turney & Wildeman, 2017). This population of children is subject to multiple adverse childhood experiences (ACEs; Turney & Wildeman, 2017). Such ACEs include parental divorce, parental incarceration, parental abuse, a household member with a psychological disorder, violence exposure, or a household member grappling with substance use. Exposure to childhood ACEs can negatively affect children behaviorally, emotionally, socially, and academically (Lawrence et al., 2006; McGuire et al., 2021). Research indicates youth in foster care are more …

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

Underlying Causes Linking Foster Care And The Criminal Justice System, Marcia D. Wheeler

Master of Arts in Human Services

This research expands on the ongoing statewide crisis within the foster care system that needs to be properly addressed to benefit future and current foster youth. Research has found a connection between foster care and prison, often referred as the “foster-care-to-prison-pipeline.” This study aimed to explore the impact of trauma experienced by current and former foster youth through a life course lens looking at crucial areas of development using a mixed methodology supported by theoretical theories that explored the connection between foster care and the criminal justice system. The results showed that current and former foster youth face many adversities …

Social Sprouts: A Play-Based Packaged Intervention - Improving Peer Interactions In Early Childhood Classrooms With A Novel Group Contingency, Brittany D. Garza

Master's Theses

Teaching prosocial skills such as positive peer interactions in early childhood settings not only promotes behavioral health but reliably predicts future learning outcomes. The literature suggests that decreasing levels of challenging behavior may improve peer interactions, and a feasible class-wide strategy that can address this combination of needs effectively is a group contingency. The current study investigated the effect of a novel group contingency, Social Sprouts, on both positive peer interactions and disruptive behavior. This study utilized a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design in three Head Start classrooms to evaluate the effect of this packaged intervention delivered just before and during …

The Impact Of Kinesthetic Attunement On Parents And Their Children With Autism: An Exploration, Ritu Shree

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

This study explored the impact of kinesthetic attunement as experienced through dance movement therapy (DMT) with parent-child dyads on parental stress, children’s adaptive skills and joint attention. A qualitative reflective account of parents was also studied to understand the depth of parents’ experience of dance movement therapy with their children with autism. The research emphasized the importance of collective parent-child dance therapy sessions, that especially focused on attunement and connection that built its way up from sensory-motor, social-communicative, and relational play and engagement.

A total of six parent-child dyads participated in the study that lasted over eight DMT sessions. Parents …

Early Adolescent Intervention: A Therapy Group For Girls, Madelyn A. Ohm

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

As mental health concerns are on the rise, especially among adolescents, it is important to consider promoting early intervention. Paying attention to the nuances surrounding personal identity and interpersonal relationships during adolescence is crucial. Dialectical-Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills encompass just what is needed to address said nuances, including interpersonal effectiveness skills, emotion regulation skills, distress tolerance, and mindfulness. Thus, the proposed DBT group and therapeutic manual designated for adolescent girls summarizes and explores suggestions for early intervention of mental health services. This, alongside the careful attention to the population’s specific needs and noted modules, allows for the exploration of mental …

The Demand For Educational Functions Of Study Tour Products: From Students’ Perspectives, Yaqi Yu, Azizan Marzuki

Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange (JETDE)

Few academic studies have comprehensively examined the actual demands of students regarding the educational function of study tours. This paper develops a demand index system based on three dimensions: cognitive, affective, and behavioral demands. A questionnaire survey was administered to 397 students. Initially, student demands were categorized using the Kano model. Subsequently, the “dependence” and “expectancy” characteristics were analyzed through the dissatisfaction index (DI) and satisfaction index (SI). The impact of fulfilling each demand on dissatisfaction and satisfaction levels was then determined. The results indicated that among the three dimensions, there were 7 must-be demands, 6 one-dimensional demands, 8 attractive …

Effects Of Parent Involvement In Their Children’S Academic And Behavioral Performance, Megan Menozzi

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to investigate the best practices to increase parental involvement in their children’s school activities by recording and scribing the experiences of certified teachers. Prior to this study, the current school experienced a decrease in parental involvement with their child’s scheduled school activities. As the school carry on with planning scheduled events for parental involvement, teachers were still expected to be prepared to implement curriculum in the classrooms, while ensuring children’s needs were being met by way of continuous communication with families.

The researcher developed a qualitative phenomenological approach. The design allowed the researcher to interview …

Teachers’ Perspectives On Behavioral Classroom Expectations Of Students With Emotional And Behavioral Disorders, Jennifer E. Brewer

Theses and Dissertations

The problem addressed in this study was that adolescents with emotional and behavior disorders (EBD) were failing in general education courses. The purpose was to investigate how teachers’ perceptions and biases influenced EBD students. Participants included five teachers (two special education teachers and three general education teachers) from each of Grades 6, 7, and 8 recruited from social media. The study was guided by the case study research design, and the interview instrument was the Indepth Interview Protocol. Data analysis was guided by a coding system that facilitated searching the interview responses for themes.

Research Question 1 queried about forms …

Application Of Peer-Mediated Instruction And Intervention (Pmii) To Enhance Social Interaction Skills In Early Elementary-Level Saudi Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder (Asd) In An Inclusion Setting, Inam Alghamdi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In Saudi Arabia, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is on the rise, and the government is committed to improving nationwide special education services through legislative measures aimed at enhancing the flexibility of inclusion for students with ASD within school settings. However, students with ASD often encounter social challenges, especially in their interactions with peers. This increasing trend underscores the importance of implementing effective strategies to foster the social skills of these students. Evidence-based practice (EBP) is one approach that can assist in delivering services to students with ASD, proving essential for their social development. Nonetheless, limited research has been conducted on …

The Psychological Impacts Of Algorithmic And Ai-Driven Social Media On Teenagers: A Call To Action, Sunil Arora, Sahil Arora, John Hastings

Research & Publications

This study investigates the meta-issues surrounding social media, which, while theoretically designed to enhance social interactions and improve our social lives by facilitating the sharing of personal experiences and life events, often results in adverse psychological impacts. Our investigation reveals a paradoxical outcome: rather than fostering closer relationships and improving social lives, the algorithms and structures that underlie social media platforms inadvertently contribute to a profound psychological impact on individuals, influencing them in unforeseen ways. This phenomenon is particularly pronounced among teenagers, who are disproportionately affected by curated online personas, peer pressure to present a perfect digital image, and the …

Promoting Community Responsive, Trauma-Informed Consultation Practices In Rural School Communities: A Mixed Methods Exploratory Sequential Approach, Elly Q. Maras

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rural youth are placed at greater risk for experiencing adverse childhood experiences, developing mental health disorders, and dying by suicide when compared with the general population. Due to a widespread need for better access to mental health treatment, many are left untreated. These concerns are often exacerbated by individual and systemic risk factors that are endemic to rural communities. Rural school districts are being asked to deliver mental health services to students, with school psychologists as key stakeholders. Though school psychologists are uniquely qualified to support this need, graduate programs typically do not provide adequate coursework and training on consultation …

Oral History Interview With Sharon Carnahan And Wenxian Zhang, Sharon Carnahan, Wenxian Zhang

Oral Histories

Sharon Carnahan, Ph.D. (UNC Chapel Hill 1991) is Professor of Psychology at Rollins College, where she was the Executive Director of the Hume House Child Development & Student Research Center, a laboratory preschool, from 1992-2024.

Dr. Carnahan was born in Chicago and reared in upstate NY. Her father, grandmother and 2 sisters were all teachers. The Carnahan family ran a summertime wilderness outfitting business in the Adirondacks, leading groups though weeks of primitive camping and canoeing, and she has held instructor certificates from the American National Red Cross in canoeing, boating, CPR, First Aid, and Adaptive Aquatics.

Dr. Carnahan graduated …

Five A Day, The Rainbow Way: A Nutrition Education Toolkit For Elementary School Aged Children, Sasha Menard

Department of Nutrition Student Projects

Learning Outcome: Develop a nutrition educational toolkit based on Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) for obesity prevention among elementary school-aged children by improving determinants of fruit and vegetable intake.

Background: Poor consumption of fruits and vegetables is a major contributing factor to childhood obesity, increasing the risk for chronic diseases later in life. There is a need for multicomponent nutrition educational tools to influence children to improve their eating behavior by increasing their awareness and self-efficacy. The current project describes the development of a 3-component toolkit for improving participants’ knowledge and values related to fruit and vegetable intake among 6-11-year-olds.

Methods: …

Promoting Preschool Teachers’ Maintenance And Generalization Of Behavior-Specific Praise Through Multitiered Consultation, Claudia Abril Ochoa

Master's Theses

Teachers struggle to provide behavior-specific praise (BSP), which is associated with appropriate classroom management and decreases in student’s problem behavior. The current study used a multiple-baseline design across three Head Start teachers to test the effectiveness of the multitiered consultation model in increasing teachers’ BSP. The Head Start center provided a universal training in classroom management strategies, including BSP. Three teachers who were not implementing this strategy consistently (i.e., less than five instances in a 10-min observation) received Tier 2 supports including goal setting paired with a simple prompt. Data about teachers’ use of BSP was collected class-wide at a …

Reduction Of Elopement Using A Multicomponent Treatment In Young Children With Asd, Zina Eluri, Kimberly A. Zoder-Martell, Ivette Andrade, Noemi Trevino

Perspectives on Early Childhood Psychology and Education

Elopement, leaving a caregiver's side without permission or supervision, is a behavior that is more prevalent among children with autism as compared to their typically developing peers. With potentially fatal consequences (e.g., exposure to water, traffic, and strangers), it is reported to cause high levels of stress for caregivers. In the present study, we evaluated the assessment and treatment of elopement using a multicomponent treatment package to address the multiple functions of elopement. Treatment consisted of verbal instructions, blocking, and differential reinforcement of other behaviors with extinction (DRO w/ EXT). An ABAB reversal design was utilized to assess treatment effectiveness. …

Growing Together: Cultivating The Social-Emotional Effects Of Art Education Through Trauma-Informed Pedagogy, Kaitlyn Lawrence

Masters Theses

In many societies, the process of art is recognized as a healing and transformative practice. In recent years, it has been emerging in tandem with social emotional practices and procedures in American education. However, it is also a fact that social emotional learning (SEL) does not account for all students due to its inability to account for the needs of all students in the classroom. SEL alone aims to teach healthy development and emotional management skills, but fails to account for students with varying experiences. While there are those who can and do integrate the skills from the Social Emotional …