Communication Sciences and Disorders Dissertations

Idioms such as break a leg and piece of cake make up a significant portion of spoken and written discourse. Like other linguistic expressions stemming from conceptual metaphor (e.g., metaphors, similes), idioms serve to provide understanding of one concept in relation to a different concept (e.g., love is a journey). The ability to comprehend figurative expressions has an extended developmental period that begins as young as 5 years and continues into adulthood. The Language Experience Hypothesis attributes figurative language competence to meaningful exposure to figurative expressions. The Global Elaboration Hypothesis, however, proposes that figurative language comprehension depends upon skills needed for general text comprehension (e.g., ability to make inferences, semantic knowledge). Studies with children and adolescents have shown that reading comprehension relates to both idiom familiarity and comprehension. Similar studies have not been conducted with adult struggling readers. This study examined idiom familiarity and comprehension of adult struggling readers (N = 60; M age = 41 years) in relation to their reading skills. The Idiom Familiarity and Idiom Comprehension tasks developed by Nippold and colleagues (1993, 2001) were used, which allowed for comparisons between the performance of adult struggling readers in this study and past research. Participants’ idiom comprehension scores were lower than those of adults studied in previous research, and comparable to those of children reading at similar levels. Their familiarity rankings of individual idioms aligned with the levels established by Nippold and Rudzinski (1993); however, they were less familiar with idioms than the twelfth grade group. Results from a familiarity (high, moderate, low) x context (isolation, story) ANOVA showed story context helped adult struggling readers comprehend more high-familiarity idioms, but hindered comprehension of low-familiarity idioms. Hierarchical regressions revealed that reading comprehension accounted for unique variance over and beyond idiom familiarity and word reading skills for idioms presented in both isolation and story contexts. Findings from this study contribute to the study of figurative language comprehension by examining adults with limited literacy skills. Similarly, these findings contribute to the field of adult literacy by providing initial evidence of adult struggling readers’ familiarity and comprehension of idioms.

Theory-of-mind (ToM) is a conceptual framework used for interpreting human social activity (Astington, 2003). ToM has traditionally been conceptualized as an understanding of false belief, which is the understanding that people have different beliefs about the same object or situation and that those beliefs may not be consistent with reality. Hearing children acquire false belief between 4- and 5-years-of-age. In contrast, many deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children show developmental delays in false belief, sometimes stretching into adolescence (Courtin, 2000; Jackson, 2001; Peterson & Siegel, 1995). Wellman and Liu (2004) have argued that false belief is just one step in a progression of the child’s understanding of mental states. They created and validated a five-step ToM scale that assesses a series of related understandings of mental states, beginning with the understanding of desires and ending with false belief. Peterson and Wellman (2009) found that school-age DHH children showed delays on the ToM scale. In addition, they found that DHH school-age children developed ToM in a different sequential order from hearing preschoolers. The present study examines the development of ToM in DHH and hearing preschoolers—the time period when ToM develops for hearing children. The primary goals of the present study are to compare the developmental sequence of ToM in DHH and hearing children, while also addressing the measurement properties of the scale. One hundred and eighty one children (109 hearing, 72 DHH; M age = 50 months) were tested on the 5-item ToM scale. Using confirmatory factor analysis, the results suggest that 1) DHH children are not delayed in their overall ToM compared to hearing children, but there are differences by task, 2) DHH and hearing children follow a similar sequence of ToM, and 3) the five tasks that make up the ToM scale reasonably measure a single construct within both groups.

Data from a growing number of research studies indicate that children with hearing loss are delayed in Theory of Mind (ToM) development when compared to their typically developing, hearing peers. While other researchers have studied the developmental trajectories of ToM in school-age students who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH), a limited number have addressed the need for interventions for this population. The present study extends the current research on ToM interventions to the PreKindergarten and Kindergarten levels. This study used a single-case multiple-baseline multiple-probe across skills design with replications across classrooms to examine the effects of a ToM intervention on participants’ false belief understanding as well as outcomes on a near generalization measure (i.e., Sally-Anne Task, Baron-Cohen, Firth, Leslie, 1985) and a far generalization measure (i.e., five-task ToM developmental scale, Wellman & Liu, 2004). A thought bubble intervention (i.e., a visual representation of what people are thinking) developed by Wellman and Peterson (2013) was modified in key areas: (a) participants were substantially younger than the population in the original study and thus required a pre-teaching phase addressing vocabulary and materials, (b) manipulable materials were created from the description provided in the Wellman and Peterson (2013) study along with parallel materials used in assessment probes, (c) a certified teacher of DHH children provided direct instruction to participants in a small group setting, (d) study length was increased to 25 weeks, and (e) methodological design change (i.e., group design to single-case design). These modifications addressed the need for evidence-based ToM interventions that are both proactive and easily implemented by teachers in a classroom setting. Results from the single-case design portion of the study indicate a functional relation between the thought bubble intervention and the participants’ acquisition of the targeted skills in each stage, although progress was not uniform. Results from the pre-post assessments indicate that the children did make progress up the scale, however, children who used spoken language tended to proceed faster through the stages than those who used sign language. These results inform the field in regard to the efficacy and feasibility of a ToM intervention for young DHH children.

Many adolescent readers do not acquire adequate reading skills, and over the past 40 years reading scores for adolescent students have not improved (Edmonds, Vaughn, Wexler, Reutebuch, & Cable, 2009; Lee, Grigg, & Donahue, 2007). The purposes of this study were (a) to explore the relationships among phrase-reading ability, passage reading rate, syntactic awareness and reading comprehension of students attending an alternative school, and (b) to investigate whether phrase-reading ability serves as a mediator (i.e., the mechanism that accounts for the relationship between the predictor and the criterion) between reading rate and comprehension, and between syntactic awareness and reading comprehension. Theories of automaticity (LaBerge & Samuels, 1974; Perfetti, 1985) and the structural precedence hypothesis (Koriat, Greenberg, & Kreiner, 2002) provide the theoretical basis for this investigation. To investigate the relation among reading rate, syntactic awareness, phrase-reading ability, and comprehension, a series of assessments was conducted with 70 students who attend an alternative school. The resulting data were analyzed using correlation analysis, hierarchical regression (Pedhazur, 1997), and mediation regression (Baron & Kenny, 1984). The hypotheses for adolescent readers in an alternative setting are: (a) Phrase-reading ability, syntactic awareness, passage reading rate, and reading comprehension will have a positive, significant correlation; (b) Language related variables (i.e., phrasing ability, syntactic awareness) will account for more of the variance in reading comprehension than passage reading rate; (c) Phrase-reading ability, as measured by phrase-level prosody, provides a mechanism or at least partially mediates how passage reading rate affects reading comprehension; (d) Phrase-reading ability, as measured by phrase-level prosody, provides a mechanism or at least partially mediates how syntactic awareness affects reading comprehension. Findings confirmed all hypotheses. Based on these findings, researchers should further investigate contributions that language related skills such as phrase-reading ability and syntactic awareness make to reading comprehension for adolescent readers and whether these findings when disaggregated hold true for students with disabilities and struggling adolescent readers. This investigation brought attention to the need for a standardized terminology concerning reading fluency.

According to the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP, 2013), children from race and language minority groups continue to perform significantly lower than their peers on reading achievement tests. Current perspectives suggest that multiple factors (e.g., household income, parent education) likely contribute to the achievement gap between African American children and their White peers and children from low income and middle income households (Barton & Coley, 2010; Chatterji, 2006; Jencks & Phillips, 1998), leading to multiple approaches (e.g., Head Start Early Reading First) to prevent or alleviate the trend (Barnett, Coralon, Fitzgerald, & Squires, 2011). However, African American children continue to perform lower than their White peers, and continue to be over-represented in special services. It has become increasingly important to understand the contributors to early reading development among African American children. The purpose of this study was to provide a descriptive view of early language and literacy among typically developing children in prekindergarten who speak nonmainstream American English at child and classroom levels. Approximately 673 typically developing children in 95 prekindergarten classrooms were included in this study from a larger cross-sectional study. Results support a model with language, literacy, and dialect as separate constructs at the child level while language and literacy as one construct and dialect as the second construct at the classroom level. Language and literacy were highly related but distinct at the child level but perfectly correlated at the classroom level. The dialect construct was moderately and negatively related to language and literacy at both levels.

Students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) have delayed morphographic knowledge (Gaustad, Kelly, Payne, & Lylak, 2002) that negatively affects their morphographic analysis (Gaustad & Kelly, 2004) and decoding abilities (Carlisle, 2000). According to the lexical quality hypothesis, proficient readers must decode in orthographic chunks or morphographs to allow for higher quality lexical retrieval (Perfetti, 2002). Morphographic analysis instruction may improve DHH students’ morphographic knowledge delay (Nunes, Burman, Evans, & Bell, 2010). Spelling through Morphograhs (Dixon & Engelmann, 2007) is a Direct Instruction curriculum that teaches morphographic analysis and affixes meanings through scripted lessons and planned practice. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of morphographic instruction modeled after Spelling through Morphographs (Dixon & Engelmann, 2007) on the morphographic analysis skills of reading-delayed DHH students attending fourth through eighth grade. The research question was: What effect does morphographic instruction have on the morphographic analysis skills of DHH students with a second to fourth grade reading level? The study included three student participants and one teacher participant from a local school district. The researcher used a multi-probe multiple baseline across participants design followed by visual analysis of the data to determine the effects of morphographic instruction on the student participants’ morphographic knowledge. The intervention improved DHH students’ ability to dissect words and determine affix meanings, which may in turn positively affect their decoding abilities. Implications of this study and future research are discussed.

Math skills are critical for future success in school (Eccles, 1997), as school-entry math knowledge is the strongest predictor of later academic achievement (Claessens, Duncan, & Engel, 2009). Researchers have found that teachers of young children spend less time teaching mathematics than other subject areas (Phillips & Meloy, 2012), and there is a lack of formal early mathematics instruction for young children’s understanding of early numeracy (Chard et al., 2008). However, preschoolers are developmentally ready for mathematics and are more able to learn math concepts than previously believed (Balfanz, Ginsburg, & Greenes, 2003). While there is a recent increase of literature on math with young children, there is a scarcity of research related to young children with disabilities in the field of mathematics, particularly utilizing evidence based interventions. The current study investigates one intervention integrating mathematics within children’s literature for preschoolers with disabilities.

This study was a quasi-experimental group design, with one treatment group and one comparison group (N = 50 participants). Targeted early numeracy skills included: (1) one-to-one correspondence, (2) quantity comparison, and (3) numeral identification. The 20-minute intervention was conducted three days per week for six weeks; the comparison group received a typical small group storybook reading of the same literature book with no elaborations. The Test of Early Mathematics Ability, Third Edition (TEMA-3; Ginsburg & Baroody, 2003) was used as a pre and post standardized assessment, and analyzed using one-way ANCOVAs controlling for pretest scores. The Preschool Numeracy Indicators (PNI; Floyd, Hojnoski, & Key, 2006) was used as a weekly curriculum based measurement and analyzed by one-way ANCOVAS and by individual and group means for descriptive data. After the intervention, the children in the treatment group scored significantly higher in the areas of total math ability, quantity comparison, and one-to-one counting fluency than the comparison group. Implications include possibilities for further integrating mathematics within literature for preschoolers with disabilities, the benefits of intentional storybook selection for this type of intervention, and the recognition of the importance of introducing mathematical topics to preschoolers with disabilities in order of developmental cognitive readiness.

COMMUNITY ON CAMPUS: THE ROLE OF PHYSICAL SPACE

by

Kim D. Harrington

The physical environment of a college campus provides the context for learning and social interactions. These interactions lead to involved students, which help build community, and vibrant communities on college campuses contribute to student persistence and academic success (Kuh, Cruce, Shoup, Kinzie & Gonyea, 2008; Palmer, Maramba & Dancy, 2011; Strange & Banning, 2001; Tinto & Goodsell - Love, 1993). The purpose of this study was to explore the role of physical space on student involvement and community. The methodology was ethnography and the methods of data collection included photo elicitation and semi - structured interviews. This qualitative study presents the visual and interview data from 9 participants enrolled at a research university in the South. The student participants reported that they developed meaningful connections with their peers through interactions in outdoor spaces, student organization offices, academic facilities and recreational areas. The participants felt that many of the physical spaces encouraged interaction and helped to facilitate campus involvement. The findings of this work indicate that the natural and built environments at this university influenced how students discovered, built, and sustained community.

Stereotypy is one of the defining characteristics of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and can significantly interfere with an individual's development and acquisition of knowledge and skills as well as distract from and disrupt educational environments. Numerous behavioral interventions have been implemented by researchers in an attempt to reduce or eliminate such behaviors, including antecedent aerobic exercise. Research studies conducted on using antecedent aerobic exercise as an effective intervention to decrease stereotypy have been spread out over several years, and many of the studies are methodologically weak according to today's standards and guidelines for evidence-based practices. This study was conducted to replicate and extend previous research by examining the effect of aerobic exercise in the form of vigorous jogging for 10 consecutive minutes on the percentage of time two elementary-school-aged children with autism engaged in stereotypic behaviors during instructional activities in the morning (immediately following the aerobic exercise), with a secondary analysis evaluating potential residual effects later in the school day. A six-phase reversal (ABABAB) design was used to determine the presence of a functional relation between jogging and stereotypy. Upon visual analysis of graphed data, functional relations were apparent for both participants. Allison spent 12% less time engaging in stereotypic behavior immediately following the jogging sessions as compared to baseline, and Boyd’s stereotypic behavior decreased by 10.7% overall. There was no significant carryover effect to the instructional sessions two hours after the intervention. Measures of social validity confirmed that the intervention was easy to implement and perceived as beneficial. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD) display severe social and academic deficits that can adversely affect their academic performance in mathematics and result in higher rates of failure throughout their schooling compared to other students with disabilities (U.S. Department of Education, 2005; Webber & Plotts, 2008). Furthermore, students with E/BD are at a greater risk of being served in more exclusionary and restrictive settings compared to their peers as a result of their poor social skills and chronic disruptive behaviors (Gagnon & Leone, 2005; Furney, Hasazi, Clark-Keefe, & Hartnett, 2003; U.S. Department of Education, 2005; Whorton, Siders, Fowler, & Naylor, 2000). This is of great concern as students with E/BD often receive lower grades, fail more classes, have higher drop-out rates, have fewer employment opportunities, and have increased involvement in the legal system (Bullock & Gable, 2006; Cullinan & Sabornie, 2004; Jolivette, Stichter, Nelson, Scott, & Liaupsin, 2000; Kauffman, 2001). The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of the equal additions algorithm on subtraction with regrouping on the subtraction performance of fourth-grade students with E/BD and mathematics difficulties. The equal additions algorithm was taught using a direct instruction technique. This study investigated 3 participants at the fourth grade level in a residential treatment facility which serves students with E/BD. A multiprobe multiple baseline across participants design was used for this study. Assessments used for this study included (a) Woodcock Johnson III (WJIII), (b) the ENRIGHT, (c) a student questionnaire, (d) baseline probes, and (e) an error analysis student profile. Data was analyzed by visual analysis. The results suggest that when the equal additions algorithm was systematically implemented students were able to successfully complete subtraction with regrouping problems and errors dramatically decreased. Limitations and future for research directions are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of parent training on shared reading practices in families of children with hearing loss. This intervention augmented a multifaceted school program in emergent literacy. In a community based format, parents were explicitly taught three shared reading strategies that have evidence to support the growth of language and vocabulary in children who are hearing and children with hearing loss. These strategies include open-ended questions, language expansions, and scaffolding. A multiple-baseline across content (strategies) design examined the relationship between the intervention and changes in parent behavior. Results indicated that the intervention was effective for increasing open-ended questioning, but there was no functional relationship between the intervention and the other two strategies, language expansions and scaffolding. Conclusions suggest replication to determine the effectiveness of this intervention for increasing open-ended questions. Additionally, further research is needed to determine the intensity and duration of training to influence effects on language expansions and scaffolding.

The present research involved two studies that considered ecology-centered experiences (i.e., experiences with living things) as a factor in children’s environmental attitudes and behaviors and adolescents’ ecological understanding. The first study (Study 1) examined how a community garden provides children in an urban setting the opportunity to learn about ecology through ecology-centered experiences. To do this, I carried out a yearlong ethnographic study at an urban community garden located in a large city in the Southeastern United States. Through participant observations and informal interviews of community garden staff and participants, I found children had opportunities to learn about ecology through ecology-centered experiences (e.g., interaction with animals) along with other experiences (e.g., playing games, reading books). In light of previous research that shows urban children have diminished ecological thought—a pattern of thought that privileges the relationship between living things—because of their lack of ecology-centered experiences (Coley, 2012), the present study may have implications for urban children to learn about ecology.

As an extension of Study 1, I carried out a second study (Study 2) to investigate how ecology-centered experiences contribute to adolescents’ environmental attitudes and behaviors in light of other contextual factors, namely environmental responsibility support, ecological thought, age and gender. Study 2 addressed three research questions. First, does ecological thought—a pattern of thought that privileges the relationship between living things—predict environmental attitudes and behaviors (EAB)? Results showed ecological thought did not predict EAB, an important finding considering the latent assumptions of previous research about the relationship between these two factors (e.g., Brugger, Kaiser, & Roczen, 2011). Second, do two types of contextual support, ecology-centered experiences (i.e., experiences with living things) and environmental responsibility support (i.e., support through the availability of environmentally responsible models) predict EAB? As predicted, results showed that ecology-centered experiences predicted EAB; yet, when environmental responsibility support was taken into consideration, ecology-centered experiences no longer predicted EAB. These findings suggested environmental responsibility support was a stronger predictor than ecology-centered experiences. Finally, do age and gender predict EAB? Consistent with previous research (e.g., Alp, Ertepiner, Tekkaya, & Yilmaz, 2006), age and gender significantly predicted EAB.

For students with physical and health disabilities, the development of self-advocacy skills is critical to their future success. Characteristics that may inhibit the development of self-advocacy skills in this population include reliance on others for assistance across multiple areas requiring physical abilities, deficits in communication skills, and the development of learned helplessness. Instruction in self-advocacy is needed for this population of students in order to maximize future success and decrease learned helplessness (Angell, Stoner, and Fulk, 2010; Macdonald & Block, 2005; Roberts, 2007). For this study, the researcher provided instruction to four elementary age students with physical disabilities who exhibited characteristics of learned helplessness, including ineffective initiation of requests. Students used speech, sign, or gestures as their primary form of communication, and were able to use this form of communication as a reliable means of response during typical classroom activities, including social interactions and when responding to questions. When they needed to initiate a request for required materials during classroom activities, they made no response, ineffectively gestured, or made unrelated comments when prompted to complete an activity. Students who initiated requests ≤ 50% of presented opportunities were eligible to participate in this study.

The intervention consisted of combined use of environmental arrangement and the system of least prompts in a multiprobe multiple baseline across participants design. Environmental arrangement strategies included missing materials or materials that were out of reach. The system of least prompts involved the following levels of prompting: (a) independent, (b) verbal – restatement of direction, (c) indirect verbal, and (d) verbal/model. Analysis of the data indicated that three of the four students increased their effective initiation of requests during intervention, and generalized this skill to new materials and novel settings. The fourth student exhibited noncompliant behaviors that interfered with his ability to reach criteria during intervention. These results support the effectiveness of this intervention in decreasing learned helplessness and increasing the self-advocacy skill of initiating requests with students with physical disabilities who have no interfering behaviors.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a controversial test administration alteration, the read-aloud alteration, in which text (passages and questions) is read aloud to the student on a reading comprehension test. For students whose disabilities impair their skill in decoding text and reading fluently, accessing text to demonstrate their comprehension can be significantly impeded. Using a quasi-experimental design, this study examined whether the comprehension scores for students with disabilities with certain characteristics improved with the read-aloud alteration. Participants were fourth-grade Georgia public school students (N=664) enrolled during the 2005-2006 school year, with and without disabilities, who were administered the third-grade Reading Criterion-Referenced Competency Test under either the read-aloud or standard administration condition. A 20-question survey was completed for each special education student who participated by the educator most familiar with the student’s educational program. Several moderator variables, such as reading achievement as measured by an external criterion (the reading comprehension subtest of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills), the degree of the student’s disability, as rated by the teacher, and individualized educational program features such as the presence of a decoding objective and time spent in the general education classroom, were investigated. These moderator variables were hypothesized to help better identify students with disabilities who might need and benefit from the read-aloud alteration. Students given the read-aloud alteration achieved higher raw score gains on the posttest than those assessed under the standard condition regardless of their disability status (students with or without disabilities). No interactions were identified between the moderator variables studied and test condition, with the exception of testing condition (standard / read loud) and reading skill (below average, average, or above average). Regardless of disability status, students who were provided the read-aloud alteration and were classified as having below average reading skills on the norm-reference ITBS had higher gain scores than their peers.

WORD READING STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT OF DEAF
AND HARD-OF-HEARING PRESCHOOLERS

by

Victoria Burke

Siegler’s (1996) overlapping waves model of strategy development applied to reading posits that children use multiple strategies to read words from the earliest stage of reading development, that these strategies coexist over a long period of time, and that experience results in gradual change in the strategies children use and the effectiveness with which they are executed. Phonological recoding is one of the most effective early developing reading strategies and is predictive of future reading success for hearing children (Ehri, 2005; Juel & Mindencupp, 2000; Share & Gur, 1999). However, less is known regarding the extent to which young children who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) develop and use phonological strategies to read words. Due to technological advances such as cochlear implants and digital hearing aids, many DHH children have sufficient functional hearing to be able to perceive and represent spoken language. For these children, beginning reading strategies may resemble those of hearing children (Geers, Tobey, Moog, & Brenner, 2008; Lederberg, Schick, & Spencer, in press). The purpose of this study was to describe changes in the word reading strategies of 15 DHH preschoolers with functional hearing. These children received explicit instruction in alphabetic knowledge, phonological awareness, and early reading strategies in a year-long intervention. Instruction was videotaped and children’s overt behavior while independently reading words was coded for reading strategy and accuracy. The preschoolers used multiple reading strategies at all times including two phonological recoding strategies (segmenting phonemes only, segmenting and blending phonemes) and retrieval. Gradual change was observed in strategy choice, execution, and accuracy. Children’s use of segmenting only decreased while segmenting and blending phonemes increased between the beginning and middle of the year. Retrieval use increased between the middle and end of the year. Execution of phonological strategies gradually improved over the year. These results suggest young DHH children who have functional hearing develop and use strategies in a manner similar to hearing children and benefit from explicit instruction in the alphabetic principle.

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD) have academic deficits that affect their success in school; however, few researchers have investigated what strategies work best for this population, especially in the area of writing. One promising intervention to support the writing skills of students with and at-risk for E/BD is self-regulated strategy development (SRSD). SRSD is a six-stage, explicit strategy instruction model that includes procedures for goal setting, self-monitoring, self-instruction, and self-reinforcement and can be generalized to a variety of writing tasks. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of an SRSD persuasive writing intervention on the writing achievement of 44 students in a residential school. Results of a piecewise hierarchical linear modeling growth curve analysis suggest statistically significant gains were made over the course of the intervention in writing (quality, correct word sequences, and essay elements) and academic engagement. Effects also generalized to writing achievement measures. In addition, teachers implemented the intervention with high fidelity, and both students and teachers rated the intervention as socially acceptable, with higher ratings postintervention.

The purpose of this research was to examine the impact of self-management on daily net calories consumed by women who are overweight. Four white females between the ages of 35 and 41 with a self-reported BMI between 25 and 29.9 completed this study. A multiple baseline across participants design was used to demonstrate a functional relation between the independent variable (i.e., self-management) and the dependent variable (i.e., net calories consumed) for each participant. Three of the four participants decreased their daily net calories consumed after beginning the self-management intervention. This was the first single case research study to examine the effectiveness of self-management on daily net calories consumed (i.e., caloric intake minus caloric expenditure) and extended previous literature on white females who were overweight.

Jaye K. Luke

Numeracy skills are needed for daily living. For example, time management and budgeting are tasks that adults face on a frequent basis. Instruction for numeracy skills begins early and continues throughout childhood. Obtaining numeracy skills is difficult for some students. For example, there may be an inadequate fit between the student’s knowledge and the design of the instruction, the student may be unable to select an appropriate strategy for solving the problem, or the student may have a learning disability. Students with a learning disability comprise approximately 40% of identified children with disabilities who receive special education services (U.S. Department of Education, 2005).

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics helps teachers mediate the difficulties students may have in math. The council recommends problem solving and representation with physical objects as a teaching method. Chapter 1 presents a literature review on children with a learning disability, the use of manipulatives, and problem solving. The literature review indicates that children with a learning disability are poor problem solvers, but that further research is needed to investigate best instructional strategies. Chapter 2 presents a study on the impact of manipulatives on the accurate completion of money word problems. Three populations were included: adults who struggle with numeracy (n = 20), children with a learning disability (n = 20), and children who are typically developing (n = 23). Participants were administered a measure of 10 money word problems and were asked to solve them without the use of manipulatives. Participants were then randomly assigned to one of two groups: perceptually rich and perceptually bland manipulatives. Results indicate that none of the participants performed better with manipulatives than they performed without manipulatives. There was an interaction of Condition x Type of participant with the participants with a learning disability in the bland condition performing significantly worse than the other participants. More research is warranted to understand the impact of manipulative use in mathematics instruction for adults who struggle with numeracy, children with a learning disability, and children who are typically developing.

ABSTRACT

TECHNICAL AND APPLIED FEATURES OF FUNCTIONAL BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENTS AND BEHAVIOR INTERVENTION PLANS

by

Shannon M. Hawkins

When conducted correctly, functional behavior assessments (FBAs) can help professionals intervene with problem behavior using function-based interventions. Despite the fact that researchers have shown that effective interventions are based on function, recent investigators have found that most behavioral intervention plans (BIPs) are written without regard to the function of students’ problem behaviors as documented in their FBAs. This study was conducted to examine the overall technical adequacy of FBAs and BIPs within one educational system to evaluate reliance on the outcomes of FBAs in the development of BIPs. The technical and applied features of a randomly selected sample of 134 FBA/BIPs of students with disabilities, ages 3-21 years, who were receiving services due to their severe emotional and behavioral disorders (SEBD) or autism spectrum disorders (ASD) within the Georgia Network of Educational and Therapeutic Services (GNETS) were analyzed. In addition, similarities and differences between function-based strategies specified in BIPs were examined. Logistic regression was used to reveal the probability that a given behavioral function can predict which intervention(s) might be chosen. A series of chi-square tests of independence and a multinomial logistic regression model were used to examine how BIP component variables, demographic variables, behavioral function variables, and behavioral intervention variables related to each other statistically. Components described as critical in research literature for conducting FBAs and developing BIPs were absent from a significant number of the student files. Results suggest few of the prescribed interventions were likely to be related to function. The findings extend research on FBAs and BIPs, particularly as they are used with students with SEBD and autism, documenting that a significant number of BIPs are developed without regard of the function of the problem behavior.

Students who are deaf and use sign language frequently have language delays that affect their literacy skills. Students who use American Sign Language (ASL) often lack fluent language models in both the home and school settings, delaying both the development of a first language and the development of literacy in printed English. Mediated and scaffolded instruction presented by a More Knowledgeable Other (MKO; Vygotsky, 1978, 1994) may facilitate acquisition of a first foundational language. Repeated viewings of fluent ASL models on DVDs paired with adult mediation has resulted in increases in vocabulary skills for DHH students who used ASL (Cannon, Fredrick, & Easterbrooks, 2010; Golos, 2010; Mueller & Hurtig, 2010). Classifiers are a syntactic sub-category of ASL vocabulary that provides a critical link between ASL and the meaning of English phrases. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of teacher-mediated repeated viewings of ASL stories on DHH students’ classifier production during narrative retells. This study included 10 student participants in second, third, and fourth grades and three teacher participants from an urban day school for students who are DHH. The researcher used a multiple baseline across participants design followed by visual analysis and calculation of the percentage of non-overlapping data (PND; Scruggs, Mastropieri, & Casto, 1987) to examine the effects of the intervention. All students increased their classifier production during narrative retells following a combination of teacher mediation paired with repeated viewings of ASL models.