This study investigated the question, if children diagnosed with ASD who learned safety skills through traditional teaching methods transferred them to real world situations more effectively and efficiently than children who learned safety skills through VR strategies. Eight children diagnosed with ASD were selected for this study. Participants were randomly assigned to form two groups of four children each. Two training phases were used for each condition ("Teaching As Usual" and VR). Training sessions were conducted twice a week for a maximum time limit of 30 minutes per session. Training phases lasted for five weeks and included instruction on fire safety (Phase I) and tornado safety (Phase II). A generalization and maintenance phase followed the training phases to assess learned skills. Results indicated that training via VR was a more efficient means; however, when effectiveness was measured both groups appeared to yield similar results. / Thesis (M.A.)--Wichita State University, College of Health Professions, Dept. of Communication Sciences and Disorders. / "July 2006." / Includes bibliographic references (leaves 83-88)

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Alberta, 2010. / A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Science, Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine. Title from pdf file main screen (viewed on January 31, 2010). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Texas, May, 2009. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Psy.D.)--Rutgers University, 2009. / "Graduate Program in School Psychology." Includes bibliographical references (p. 103-106).

Thesis (Psy.D.)--Rutgers University, 2009. / "Graduate Program in Clinical Psychology." Includes bibliographical references (p. 110-120).

Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD's) represent some of the most common developmental disorders amongst children today (Rapin, 1994), yet knowledge and interventions for these disorders remain minimal. Access to resources for diagnosis and intervention for children with ASD's in South Africa appears to be limited to a few families. For this select population, many difficulties and much dissatisfaction with diagnostic processes remain. This study aimed to capture the experiences of parents whose children had received ASD diagnoses. This study was qualitative in nature and took the form of semi structured interviews with a total of eight parents of ASD children (7 mothers and 1 father). These interviews highlighted key issues in the area of ASD's in South Africa, including: a lack of knowledge amongst professionals, an unwillingness to diagnose, and lack of available support and facilities. Data collected from this sample revealed that the average age of diagnosis of children was 6 years old, and the average number of years taken to reach diagnosis was 3 years 3 months. Although these figures correlate with international research, participants of this study revealed that it had taken on average 7.2 medical practitioners to diagnose their children with ASD's. This number is significantly higher in South Africa than research from other countries indicates. These findings are discussed in this research study, with emphasis being placed on implications for early intervention in South Africa. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

It was identified that there was little published research into the lived experience of parenting a child with autism that utilised a qualitative approach. There was a paucity of material in the literature, beyond single parent accounts, for a nurse to turn to develop a beginning understanding of the experience. There was also little for a parent to compare their own experience with. This study of the lived experience of parenting a child with autism provides an exploration of the experience within the framework of a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Initially nine parents were interviewed and the resulting transcripts analysed. This analysis was taken to four focus groups to allow the parent's voice to remain active in the refinement of the analysis. The parents reported a strong resonance with the analysis and the discussion fell silent. The experience identified was not that of a series of activities but profound changes to the self of the parent. This is considered in the discussion in the light of the existential challenge to the parent's being posed by the demands of parenting a child with autism. Chaos theory and its mathematical applications are considered as a potentially fruitful way to pick up the conversational relation with the question of, "what is the lived experience of parenting a child with autism"?

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Technology, Sydney, 2003.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-67).

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--University of Toledo, 2007. / Typescript. "Submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology." Bibliography: leaves 48-56.