Reading Recovery är ett vida spritt, individcentrerat men reproducerbart program för de svagaste eleverna efter sitt första skolår. Reading Recovery har sitt ursprung på Nya Zeeland, där professor Marie Clay med kollegor med början under 1970-talet bedrev omfattande läsforskning. Den enskilda undervisningen sker enligt en strukturerad lektionsram under 30 minuter dagligen. Programmet bygger på genomgripande utbildning och kontinuerlig fortbildning av redan framgångsrika grundskollärare för att rusta dem för att fatta individuella, pedagogiska beslut med syfte att accelerera läs- och skrivinlärningen hos de utsedda barnen. Eleverna stimuleras att lära sig läsa och skriva genom att främst läsa korta, intresseväckande böcker samt engageras i anslutande skrivande. Betoning ligger på att eleverna ska bli självständiga och utveckla metakognitiva strategier. Elever väljs ut till Reading Recovery genom klasslärarens rekommendation samt utifrån elevens resultat på en omfattande serie tester inom den s.k. Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement; en observation av den tidiga läs- och skrivförmågan. Vanligtvis erbjuds Reading Recovery-undervisning till de 20 procent på respektive skola, vilka uppnått lägst resultat på ovanstående tester. Det grundläggande syftet med programmet är att reducera antalet elever med grava svårigheter att utveckla läs- och skrivförmåga samt att minimera kostnaden för deras utbildning. En majoritet av eleverna i Reading Recovery når avsedda mål och i internationella jämförelser ligger Nya Zeeland vanligen bland de högst rankade länderna i läsning. Samtliga av mina respondenter vittnade om de stora fördelarna med Reading Recovery. Enligt mina observationer stämmer pedagogernas faktiska utförande väl överens med programmets ursprungliga teoribas. / Reading Recovery is a widely disseminated, replicable, early intervention program for the lowest performing first-grade students. Originally, Marie Clay and colleagues constructed Reading Recovery in New Zealand on the base of broad research from the 1970’s and onwards. It utilizes a uniform lesson framework and extensive professional development to help already successful teachers make individual, instructional decisions designed to accelerate the literacy learning of the selected children within one-to-one, 30-minute daily lessons. The children are stimulated to learn to read and write by reading and writing. Short stories are used and writing activities are connected to reading. Emphasis is on teachers guiding children to be independent and learn metacognitive strategies. Reading Recovery students are identified for services based on teachers’ recommendations and the students’ performances on the Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement, with a number of wide-ranging assessments. Usually, students who score at or below the 20th percentile on the survey at a particular school are provided the intervention. The fundamental purpose of the program is to reduce the number of students who have severe difficulty developing literacy skills and to reduce the cost of educating them. A majority of the Reading Recovery students do reach the intended goals and in international comparative studies New Zealand usually is among the top ranking countries in reading. All my interviewees testified of the great advantages of Reading Recovery and, according to my conclusions, actual practice is well correlated with theory.

Teacher-Child Interaction Therapy (TCIT), which is an adaptation of the empirically-based treatment of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), addresses the needs of children and teachers through increasing positive teacher-child interactions while educating teachers on effective discipline techniques. The theoretical and empirical basis for PCIT provides the foundation for the appropriate and effective application of the adaptation of this treatment model for use with teachers.<br>The efficacy of Teacher-Child Interaction Therapy (TCIT) with a clinical preschool population was evaluated through a single subject A-B design conducted across subjects. The current study examined the impact of the intervention, TCIT, on child behavior, teacher skill development and use, as well as the quality of teacher-child relationships. Results suggest that the intervention positively impacted the behavior of preschool children diagnosed with a Disruptive Behavior Disorder, as indicated by a reduction of disruptive behaviors and increase of prosocial behaviors within a therapeutic classroom setting. Additionally, teacher skill use and the quality of teacher-child relationships were evaluated following implementation of the TCIT intervention. Findings indicate that the intervention positively impacted teachers use of the positive attention skills over the course of the intervention.<br>This study, which examined the efficacy of Teacher-Child Interaction Therapy with preschool-aged children diagnosed with a Disruptive Behavior Disorder, provides initial support for the implementation of a relationship-based technique to support teachers in addressing the disruptive behaviors of children within a classroom environment. / School of Education; / School Psychology / PhD; / Dissertation;

Early intervention services are important in obtaining better outcomes for infants with a developmental delay or a condition that may result in a delay. In Florida, a primary resource for providing these services is the Early Steps Program. This study analyzed the Early Steps referral process to identify barriers to prompt access. The guiding hypothesis was if differences exist in key outcomes of the referral process, then these differences may reveal where improvements can be made. Improving access to early intervention should produce better outcomes and reduce the costs of services required later by addressing developmental concerns earlier. The dataset included records for 10,688 infants referred to the Hillsborough County Early Steps Program between 2006 and 2009. Two measures (age at referral and time to IFSP) represented points within the referral process where delays could be quantified. Age at referral is a measure of how long it takes for a delay to be identified and the infant referred for evaluation. The time from the referral to the date an IFSP is created provides a measure of the delay in beginning services. Delays in obtaining a referral were associated with being referred by a family member, the referral code Developmental Delay At Risk and barrier codes Child/Family Issues and No Show/Unsuccessful Contact. Delays in completing the IFSP were related to being younger at referral, being referred by one of the sources that made less frequent referrals to Early Steps, an eligibility determination related to behavior concerns, maternal education that stopped at grade 8 or below and being Black.

Autism is the fastest-growing developmental disability in the United States. Proactive adult behaviors leading to early intervention are a child’s best hope to reach their full potential. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention partnered with Porter Novelli to develop a public health campaign called “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” The goal of this campaign was to increase awareness about the early warning signs of autism to help invoke positive behaviors in parents so that children receive services at the youngest age possible. HealthStyles survey data were analyzed to assess the difference in level of autism awareness of those surveyed before the campaign launch and of those surveyed two years post-campaign launch. Association between awareness of autism and early intervention behavior was also examined. Results of the study show improvements in awareness of autism issues; however, the results indicate minimal association between awareness and early intervention behavior. Further research efforts are essential to modify the campaign and target the issues necessary to instigate early intervention behavior.

Au cours des dernières années, plusieurs programmes d’intervention ont été bâtis, afin de répondre aux besoins particuliers des enfants autistes. Une composante importante de ces interventions devrait être la guidance parentale. Ce volet permet aux parents de se sentir plus compétents et les enfants peuvent généraliser leurs acquis au quotidien. Ce mémoire a donc pour but d’évaluer un programme d’intervention pour les parents d’enfants autistes au cours duquel ils recevront des connaissances sur les particularités de leur enfant et seront appelés à participer à des activités spécifiques favorisant des interactions plus centrées sur les besoins de leur enfant. Le protocole quasi expérimental avec un pré et un post test avec un groupe de contrôle non équivalent a été utilisé pour évaluer les effets de ce programme. L’échantillon pour cette étude est constitué de 14 familles, lesquelles ont été distribuées dans les groupes en fonction de leur arrivée dans le programme. Les parents et l’enfant ont participé à une séance hebdomadaire individuelle pendant cinq semaines. Des outils standardisés ont été utilisés avant et après l’intervention pour mesurer l’atteinte des objectifs. Tant pour les parents que pour les enfants, les deux groupes ont montré une amélioration significative ou une tendance à l’amélioration lors du post test, mais cette amélioration n’était pas significativement différente entre les deux groupes. Plusieurs variables non contrôlées peuvent expliquer ces résultats, malgré tout ceux-ci sont assez intéressants pour encourager la poursuite d’études sur le sujet. / Over the years, several programs of intervention were built, in order to meet the particular needs of autistic children. An important component of these interventions should be the parent-mediated treatment; this guidance made it possible for the parents to feel more qualified and the children were able to generalize their gains throughout their daily living. The purpose of this program was to evaluate an intervention for the parents of autistic children. During the study the parents received knowledge of the characteristics of their child. They took part in specific activities that taught them to be more responsive to the needs of their child. The quasi-experimental design with pre and a post test with a non-equivalent control group was used to evaluate the effects of this program. The sample for this study consists of 14 families. They were distributed into groups according to their arrival in the program. The parents and the children of the experimental group took part in an individual weekly session during five weeks. The parents and the children, from the two groups showed a significant improvement or a tendency to improve at the time of the post test. This improvement was not significantly different between the two groups as there were several non-controlled variables that can explain these results. The results are promising enough to encourage the continuation of this study.

The randomized control trial examined the effects of a short-term, interaction focused and attachment-based video-feedback intervention (VIPP, Juffer, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & Van IJzendoorn, 2008) on mothers’ sensitive responsiveness and infant-mother attachment security in a sample (N = 54) of low sensitive, non-clinical, middle class Lithuanian mothers. Maternal sensitivity was assessed in a free play session with the Ainsworth sensitivity scale, and attachment security was observed using the Attachment Q sort for home observations. The long-term intervention effect on children behavior problems was assessed with CBCL. We found that the intervention mothers indeed significantly improved their sensitive responsiveness through participation in the intervention. VIPP enhanced maternal sensitive responsiveness even when maternal age, educational level, daily hassles, efficacy, infant gender, and infant negative and positive affect were controlled for. However, attachment security in the intervention group infants was not enhanced after the intervention, compared to the control infants, and the infants did not seem to differential susceptible to the increase in maternal sensitivity. Experimental, control groups children and sensitive mothers’ children experienced the same level of behavior problems at two years. Factors associated with maternal sensitivity and children behavior problems were analyzed. / Disertacijoje tirtas vaizdo analizės metodu pagrįstos, trumpalaikės, nukreiptos į motinos ir kūdikio sąveiką, prieraišumo santykius koreguojančios intervencijos (VIPP, Juffer, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & Van IJzendoorn, 2008) poveikis motinų jautrumui kūdikio signalams bei kūdikių prieraišumo saugumui. Tiriamieji buvo (N = 54) nepakankamai jautrios kūdikio signalams, klinikinių sutrikimų neturinčios, viduriniosios klasės motinos ir kūdikiai. Motinos jautrumas kūdikio signalams buvo vertinamas klasikine Ainsworth skale pagal nufilmuotą motinos ir kūdikio laisvą žaidimą, o kūdikių prieraišumo saugumas vertintas Waters‘o „Prieraišumo Q-rūšiavimo metodika“ (stebint kūdikį ir motiną namuose). Ilgalaikį dalyvavimo korekcijos programoje poveikį vaikų elgesio sunkumams vertinome CBCL metodika. Nustatyta, kad dalyvavimas korekcijos programoje reikšmingai padidino motinų jautrumą kūdikių signalams, net kai buvo kontroliuojamas motinos amžius, išsilavinimas, kasdienis stresas, saviveiksmingumas, kūdikių lytis ir temperamentas. Kūdikių prieraišumo saugumas eksperimentinėje grupėje nepadidėjo, kai eksperimentinės grupės tiriamieji baigė dalyvauti programoje, lyginant su kontroline grupe. Aukštesniu ir žemesniu neigiamu emocionalumu pasižymintys kūdikiai gavo tiek pat naudos iš dalyvavimo programoje. Eksperimentinės, kontrolinės grupių ir pakankamai jautrių motinų vaikai patyrė panašiai tiek pat elgesio sunkumų dviejų metų amžiuje. Disertacijoje analizuojami veiksniai, susiję su motinų... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

The purpose of the study was to examine the feasibility of a dialogic book-reading intervention for bilingual preschool children with expressive vocabulary delays. The intervention was provided in English and Spanish concurrently to an experimental group of six children, while six children were in a delayed treatment control group. Dialogic book-reading has been shown previously to be effective with monolingual children, and the current study was the first to extend it to bilingual children. The children participating in the study were 22 – 41 months-old and were recruited from the waiting list of an agency providing speech-language services. The intervention was provided in English in the children’s homes by the primary investigator and in Spanish by the children’s mothers, who were trained in the techniques of dialogic book-reading. Thirty fifteen-minute sessions in each language using dialogic book-reading strategies were provided to each child in the intervention group over six weeks. The study examined the acquisition of ten target words selected for each child in English and Spanish separately, in addition to overall increases in the children’s vocabularies. The children in the intervention group learned significantly more target words in each language following the intervention than did the children in the control group. The children in the intervention group were also able to produce the acquired words at a delayed posttest six weeks following the posttest. The intervention also led to an improvement in the ability of the children in the intervention group to stay focused on book-reading tasks. The gains in the overall vocabulary of the children in the two groups did not differ significantly. The mothers’ evaluations of the intervention revealed their satisfaction with the approach. The mothers were successful in learning dialogic book-reading strategies and stated that they felt empowered to improve their child’s vocabulary development.

The purpose of the study was to examine the feasibility of a dialogic book-reading intervention for bilingual preschool children with expressive vocabulary delays. The intervention was provided in English and Spanish concurrently to an experimental group of six children, while six children were in a delayed treatment control group. Dialogic book-reading has been shown previously to be effective with monolingual children, and the current study was the first to extend it to bilingual children. The children participating in the study were 22 – 41 months-old and were recruited from the waiting list of an agency providing speech-language services. The intervention was provided in English in the children’s homes by the primary investigator and in Spanish by the children’s mothers, who were trained in the techniques of dialogic book-reading. Thirty fifteen-minute sessions in each language using dialogic book-reading strategies were provided to each child in the intervention group over six weeks. The study examined the acquisition of ten target words selected for each child in English and Spanish separately, in addition to overall increases in the children’s vocabularies. The children in the intervention group learned significantly more target words in each language following the intervention than did the children in the control group. The children in the intervention group were also able to produce the acquired words at a delayed posttest six weeks following the posttest. The intervention also led to an improvement in the ability of the children in the intervention group to stay focused on book-reading tasks. The gains in the overall vocabulary of the children in the two groups did not differ significantly. The mothers’ evaluations of the intervention revealed their satisfaction with the approach. The mothers were successful in learning dialogic book-reading strategies and stated that they felt empowered to improve their child’s vocabulary development.

Esta tese de doutorado é um estudo de caso sobre uma família com um bebê com deficiência visual e a efetividade de uma intervenção precoce, dividindo-se em quatro artigos. O primeiro objetivou revisar a produção científica sobre intervenção precoce na área da deficiência visual. O segundo artigo investigou o duplo impacto da prematuridade e da deficiência visual, examinando as reações emocionais dos pais de um bebê nesse contexto e seu impacto na parentalidade. O terceiro artigo investigou a efetividade de uma intervenção precoce com foco na sensibilidade materna – e paterna, analisando o pré e o pós-intervenção. O último estudo trata-se de um relato de experiência que examina o processo da intervenção. As discussões sobre o impacto da prematuridade junto à deficiência visual lançam bases para o trabalho de intervenção na interação pais-bebê. As análises sugerem ser a intervenção precoce efetiva em termos de promoção de mudanças na interação parental com o bebê e de expressão de emoções. / This doctoral thesis is a single case study of a family with a baby that has vision impairment and the effectiveness of an early intervention, which is divided in four articles. The first aims to review the scientific literature in the field of early intervention in the area of visual impairment. The second article investigated the double impact of the both prematurity and the vision impairment on parenthood, examining the parents emotional reactions in that context. The third article investigates the effectiveness of an early intervention focusing on maternal and paternal sensibility, by analysing the pre- and the post intervention. The last study is a narrative of the experience of the intervention process. Discussions involving the impact of prematurity on vision impairment promote the basis for the intervention in the parent-baby interaction. The results suggest that early intervention may be effective by promotion changes in the parental interaction with baby and by allowing the expresssion of parents emotions.

This work carried out the study of the effects of the babies musical education, from the proposal of Esther Beyer, in reversing the psychological risk in a case of an infant with five months, which results in PREAUT signs suggesting future autistic structure. The music education took place with the participation of two other babies with seven months, mothers of three babies and, in some meetings, the brothers. In a total of ten meetings, the baby at risk participated in eight meetings. The effects were positive for the advancement of the baby towards psychic integration. There was also psychomotor, cognitive and linguistic progress. The other two babies have evolved in their musical behavior and socialization. Mothers also evolved in their behavior and bond with their children. Research has shown that musical education can be an effective early intervention mechanism in the case of psychological risk. Can be used exclusively or associated with individual clinical intervention. When considering the possible effects on family behavior and perception of family members who participated in the experiment, it can be concluded that music was a form of positive and effective early intervention, with the advantage of not presenting itself as a traditional therapy, which, often, it does not present the accession of the family. / Nesta dissertação foi realizado o estudo dos possíveis efeitos da proposta de musicalização de bebês, a partir da abordagem de Esther Beyer, na reversão do risco psíquico no caso de um bebê com cinco meses, cujos resultados nos sinais PREAUT sugeriam uma estruturação autística. A musicalização ocorreu com a participação de outros dois bebês, com sete meses, juntamente as mães e em alguns encontros, com os irmãos. De um total de dez encontros, o bebê com risco participou de oito. Os efeitos foram positivos para o avanço do bebê na sua integração psíquica, também houve progressos psicomotores, cognitivos e linguísticos. Os outros dois bebês evoluíram em seus comportamentos musicais e na socialização. As mães também evoluíram em seus comportamentos e no fortalecimento do vínculo com os filhos. A musicalização proporcionou maior interação dos bebês com os familiares e na sua convivência social. Dessa forma, a pesquisa demonstrou que a musicalização pode ser um dispositivo de intervenção precoce eficaz em casos de risco psíquico de bebês. Pode ser utilizada de modo exclusivo ou associada a intervenção clínica individual. Quando se analisam os possíveis efeitos no comportamento familiar a partir da música e também refletir sobre os possíveis efeitos da proposta na percepção dos familiares que participaram da experiência, pode-se concluir que a música foi uma forma de intervenção precoce positiva e efetiva, com a vantagem de não se apresentar como uma terapêutica tradicional, que, muitas vezes, não apresenta a adesão dos familiares.