Prenatal cocaine exposure places infants at risk for developmental delays, particularly language delays (Chapman, 2000; Lester, LaGasse, & Seifer, 1998), which increase the likelihood that they will require special education services as children and show poor developmental outcomes (Delgado, Vagi, & Scott, 2006). This study used second-order latent growth curve modeling to identify the trajectory of language development of infants from 12 to 36 months of age who had completed a three-year early intervention program. This study also investigated the predictive ability of six factors related to the child, family, and intervention. Child factors included sex, birthweight, and cognitive ability at 12 months, a family factor included mother's education level, and intervention factors included intervention type and age at enrollment. Results revealed that language growth across the two-year period was quadratic, with growth declining initially, then accelerating after 24 months, compared to the nationally normed sample upon which standardized language scores were based. Being a girl, being enrolled in the program soon after birth, and having higher cognitive ability at 12 months predicted higher initial language ability. Intervention group predicted growth in language, such that both intervention groups predicted less or no initial decline compared to the primary care non-intervention group, and the center-based intervention group showed faster acceleration after 24 months compared to the home-based intervention group. Implications of these results on the research literature and practical applications were discussed.

The positive link between children's joint attention skills and subsequent language outcomes is well established. There is also abundant evidence that responsive caregiver behaviors lead to optimal language outcomes. Though directive behaviors are generally considered detrimental to children's growth, specific types of directive behaviors which extend or build upon a child's behavior are thought to promote children's learning. No study has examined how caregiver behaviors interact with children's joint attention skills to affect subsequent language. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to examine how three different caregiver behaviors (Responsiveness, Supportiveness, and Intrusiveness) measured at 18 months moderated the relation between joint attention (also measured at 18 months) and language in two separate samples (a 24-month and a 36-month outcome sample). Intrusiveness was a significant moderator of the relation between RJA and 24-month language. RJA was a significant predictor of 24-month receptive and expressive language only in children whose caregivers had a low to moderate level of intrusiveness. Understanding the child and caregiver factors that promote or hinder children's language outcomes in children at risk for delay may help inform and target interventions that will help improve children's school readiness outcomes.

This study explored the relationship between attachment quality and school connectedness in a high school sample of adolescents. Although there is a literature related to adolescent attachment quality and its effects on adjustment and development, relatively little attention has been paid to the relationship between parent and peer attachment and school connectedness. Further, these attachments and connections have yet to be examined among general and special education populations. Attachment quality has been correlated with identity development, self-esteem, competence, and psychopathology and has been investigated as a mediator in the relation between risk and resilience. School connectedness centers around the theory that when adolescents perceive consistent personal power, attention, and praise, they develop a sense of attachment to their school environment. Further, school connectedness, attachment to family, and positive peer bonds, respectively, have been viewed as protective factors, i.e., preventing adolescents from engaging in health risk behaviors (i.e., violence, risky sexual behavior, drug use, and dropping out of school) (U.S. Department of Education, 2006). The present study included 157 students, aged 15 to 18 years who participated in a longitudinal study (The Longitudinal Study of Co-morbid Disorders in Children and Adolescence). Using quantitative methodologies, analyses examined the relationships among gender, ethnicity, risk status and parent attachment, peer attachment, and school connectedness. Measures included self-report questionnaires of attachment quality and school connectedness in adolescence. Several major findings from the present investigation include: (1) higher ratings of attachment to parents were associated with higher ratings of school connectedness; (2) higher ratings of attachment to peers were associated with higher ratings of school connectedness; (3) students at risk reported less school connectedness than not at risk students; and (4) the effects of peer attachment on school connectedness were moderated by risk group.

Ce travail se compose de trois parties consacrées à différents aspects des modèles ARCH (AutoRegressive Conditionally Heteroskedastic) quantiles. Dans ces modèles, l’hétéroscédasticité conditionnelle est à prendre dans un sens très large, et affecte de fa¸ con potentiellement différenciée tous les quantiles conditionnels (et donc la loi conditionnelle elle-même), et non seulement, comme dans les modèles ARCH classiques, l’échelle conditionnelle. La première partie étudie les problèmes de Value-at-Risk (VaR) dans les séries financières ainsi modélisées. Les approches traditionnelles présentent une caractéristique discutable, que nous relevons, et à laquelle nous apportons une correction fondée sur les lois résiduelles. Nous pensons que les fondements de cette nouvelle approche sont plus solides, et permettent de prendre en compte le fait que le comportement des processus empiriques résiduels (REP) des processus ARCH, contrairement à celui des REP des processus ARMA, continue à dépendre de certains des paramètres du modèle. La seconde partie approfondit l’étude générale des processus empiriques résiduels (REP) des processus ARCH dans l’optique de la régression quantile (QR) au sens de Koenker et Bassett (Econometrica 1978). La représentation de Bahadur des estimateurs QR, et dont découle la propriété de tension asymptotique des REP, est établie. Finalement, dans la troisième partie, nous mettons en évidence la nature semi-paramétrique des modèles ARCH quantiles, et l’invariance, sous l’action de certains groupes de transforma-tions, des sous-modèles obtenus en fixant la valeur des paramètres. Cette structure de groupe permet la construction de méthodes d’inférence invariantes qui, dans l’esprit des résultats de Hallin and Werker (Bernoulli 2003) préservent l’optimalité au sens semi-paramétrique. Ces méthodes sont fondées sur les rangs et les signes résiduels. Nous développons en particulier les R-estimateurs des modèles considérés et étudions leurs performances.

Following the Basel Committee’s advocacy of value-at-risk (VaR) disclosure in external reports of financial institutions, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued Financial Reporting Release No. 48 to permit VaR disclosure as one of the most important disclosure approaches for market-risk quantitative information in 1997. This study is the first to empirically examine both economic determinants and consequences of VaR disclosure informativeness in the banking industry. First, this study finds that more informative VaR disclosure is associated with more effective corporate governance characteristics, including better shareholder protection, a larger and more independent board, the presence of a separate risk committee under the board of directors, a more independent risk committee, higher institutional ownership and a better overall governance environment. These results suggest that corporate governance mechanisms are important determinants of the informativeness of VaR disclosure. Second, the evidence shows that the cost of equity capital is negatively associated with the informativeness of VaR disclosure, consistent with informative VaR disclosure effectively communicating private information to investors about a bank’s market risk exposure and its risk management system. Additional evidence during the recent crisis further suggests the importance of VaR disclosure informativeness to the capital market as a strong signal reflecting the efficacy of risk management practices and the quality of risk governance mechanisms. However, I still find that a large proportion of the sample banks choose not to disclose information with respect to some important disclosure items (e.g., quantitative stress-test results, and non-trading portfolio VaR). It is necessary for government regulators to re-consider the current regulation on VaR disclosure in the external reports of the banking industry.

The purpose of this study was two-fold. First the researcher set out to determine if phonemic awareness skills improved for first grade students of teachers who used the Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing Program (LiPS; Lindamood & Lindamood, 1998). Second, an attempt was made to determine if there was a relationship between reading improvement in decoding and teacher level variables (i.e., perception of their knowledge of the LiPS program (Lindamood & Lindamood, 1998), and relevant demographic variables).<p>Students scores based on the Learning Disabilities Working Committee Kindergarten screening tool (LDWC, 2005) were compared to their respective scores on the Learning Disabilities Working Committee Grade One screening tool (LDWC, 2002). Comparison of progress for all students were evaluated as well as assessment of progress for students deemed at risk (below the 25th percentile) of reading failure compared to those not at risk (above the 25th percentile). Teachers perceptions of the critical elements of the LiPS program (Lindamood & Lindamood, 1998) and demographic information were collected. The teacher level variables gathered from this survey (i.e., teaching experience, formal training, knowledge, or skill level in program delivery) were correlated to students scores on the screening tools.<p>Results revealed that teacher demographics, such as teaching experience, specialized training, and intensity of instructional approach are related to student reading achievement in decoding; however, no clearly defined relationship was found between teachers perceptions of the LiPS program (Lindamood & Lindamood, 1998) and student achievement. Paired-sample t-tests were also used to determine if statistically significant differences existed between the means of phonemic identity, phonemic blending, and letter/sound identification between Kindergarten and Grade One. Even though statistically significant results were noted, consideration of the actual change in mean scores and effect size suggested if a practical significance existed. Results indicated that gains were made by students in phonemic awareness and letter/sound correspondence; however, greater gains were noted for students deemed at-risk whose teachers used the LiPS program (Lindamood & Lindamood, 1998).

The purpose of the present study was to construct and validate a brief screening instrument to support parent(s) and preschool/kindergarten teachers in monitoring and screening for cognitive impairment and/or delay in preschoolers. The target population of interest is all preschoolers <i>at-risk</i> for poor psychosocial and school outcomes due to chronic and acute dysfunction of the central nervous system (CNS). The accessible populations of interest to the present study are pediatric cancer survivors, preschoolers with alcohol related neurodevelopmental disorder (ARND), being preterm low birth weight, and/or diagnosed with various learning disabilities. The past practice of waiting until an <i>at-risk</i> child experienced poor school outcomes before being referred for cognitive assessment toward tailoring an intervention is no longer defensible. For the present study, a 61-item screening instrument (18 memory items, 19 verbal ability items, 15 attention items, and 9 demographic items) was pilot tested with parents, playschool teachers, and kindergarten teachers to rate preschoolers on overt behaviours associated with cognitive functioning. A criterion-referenced framework was used to establish a performance standard and set a cut score based on a sample of 151 normally functioning preschoolers aged 4:0- to 5:11-years. The various empirical and substantive analyses conducted resulted in a revised scale of 28 items (10 memory, 11 verbal ability, and 7 attention) titled, <i>Screening Test for the Early Prediction of School Success</i> (STEPSS). Given the need for a future study to validate the STEPSS with clinical groups of preschoolers, the screening instrument is intended to provide the empirical evidence needed to refer <i>at-risk</i> preschoolers for assessment with more comprehensive cognitive batteries. Constructing and validating the STEPSS is important for two reasons: 1) to fill a gap in the types of instruments available for monitoring and assessing cognitive functioning in <i>at-risk</i> preschool populations; and 2) to alleviate the current delay in targeting interventions for preschoolers because of the practice of depending upon the school system to monitor and identify poor cognitive functioning.

The purpose of this inquiry was to retell and represent the life that I have lived as I explore how I adapted my professional practice for students in an alternative program. This naturalistic inquiry is positioned as a self narrative. Retrospection and reflection enabled me to bring together my construction of self and my journey of teaching as I attempted to explain how I know what I know about working with at risk students and alternative programming. <p>The collection of data comes from my personal experience; thus I am observer, participant, and narrator. Threaded throughout this thesis are interwoven stories which create the fabric of my teaching experience. Each narrative represents justification of teacher knowledge and a refocusing of the lens through which I viewed at risk students and their marginalized position in our education system. As teachers we must first establish a relationship with our students and develop an empathetic understanding of the circumstances of the life experiences each one brings to the classroom. By understanding their past, we can make the school experience a positive influence in their lives and hopefully smooth out their way to a successful future.

Following the Basel Committee’s advocacy of value-at-risk (VaR) disclosure in external reports of financial institutions, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued Financial Reporting Release No. 48 to permit VaR disclosure as one of the most important disclosure approaches for market-risk quantitative information in 1997. This study is the first to empirically examine both economic determinants and consequences of VaR disclosure informativeness in the banking industry. First, this study finds that more informative VaR disclosure is associated with more effective corporate governance characteristics, including better shareholder protection, a larger and more independent board, the presence of a separate risk committee under the board of directors, a more independent risk committee, higher institutional ownership and a better overall governance environment. These results suggest that corporate governance mechanisms are important determinants of the informativeness of VaR disclosure. Second, the evidence shows that the cost of equity capital is negatively associated with the informativeness of VaR disclosure, consistent with informative VaR disclosure effectively communicating private information to investors about a bank’s market risk exposure and its risk management system. Additional evidence during the recent crisis further suggests the importance of VaR disclosure informativeness to the capital market as a strong signal reflecting the efficacy of risk management practices and the quality of risk governance mechanisms. However, I still find that a large proportion of the sample banks choose not to disclose information with respect to some important disclosure items (e.g., quantitative stress-test results, and non-trading portfolio VaR). It is necessary for government regulators to re-consider the current regulation on VaR disclosure in the external reports of the banking industry.

The generalization from the univariate volatility model into a multivariate approach opens up a variety of modeling possibilities. This study aims to examine the performance of the two multivariate GARCH models BEKK and DCC, applied on ten years exchange rates data. Estimations and forecasts of the covariance matrix are made for the EUR/SEK and USD/SEK, whereby the  used in a practical application: 1-day and 10-day ahead historical simulated Value-at-Risk predictions for two theoretical portfolios, one equally weighted and one hedged, consisting of the two exchange rates. An univariate GARCH(1,1) approach is included in the Vale-at-Risk predictions to visualize the diversification effect in the portfolio. The conditional correlation forecasts are evaluated using three measures, OLS-regression, MAE and RMSE, based on an one year evaluation period of intraday data. The Value-at-Risk estimates are evaluated with the backtesting method introduced by Kupiec (1995). The results indicate that the BEKK model performs relatively better than the DCC model, and both these models perform better than the univariate GARCH(1,1) model.