Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1990. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 180-188). Also available via the Internet.

Use of compatible behavioral activities and management techniques were taught to teachers and aides, and implemented within two preschool handicapped classes. The effectiveness of the procedures in meeting behavioral goals was evaluated with the use of behavior analytic techniques. Traditional group research techniques were used to determine if the implemented curriculum affected the short-term attainment that students in treatment classrooms on the average made of academic and developmental goals. Findings1. Behavior observation research techniques documented dramatic increases in engaged/study behaviors during work and independent time periods and decreasing trends in problem behaviors after the behavioral curriculum was begun.2. Four independent factorial analyses of variance showed higher pretest - posttest gains on various subtests of the Learning Accomplishment Profile than control classroom students.ConclusionA compatible set of behavioral techniques and activities can be taught to teachers and aides within inservice training and instituted within preschool handicapped classes in such a way as to achieve more gains in observed student behavior and to affect school achievement positively.

Undergraduate honors paper--Mount Holyoke College, 2008. Dept. of Psychology and Education. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-101).

Thesis (M.A.)--Rowan University, 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies) / A child born with myelomeningocele was observed, as well as the parents. The parents were admired for their dedication in caring for this child. Their sustained efforts to make life easier for the handicapped child were observed. It seemed if they were doing a marvellous job. The following words of Mary Sharidan struck the researcher: "It is no exaggeration to 'say that in the background of every individual handicapped child there is always a handicapped family." These words instigated the empiric research undertaken to establish what is the factual situation in respect of the education of a family with a child born with myelomeningocele. In the first chapter the emphasis is on the problems parents with handicapped children have to encounter and cope with, for example the degree of the handicap, the expectations of the parents, the influence of the child on the other children, overprotection and common practical problems. The second chapter deals with the handicap myelomeningocele, an explanation of the term myelomeningocele, incidence of the handicap, corrective surgery applied and the physical handicaps arising from this congenital handicap. The physical handicaps can be bone-deformities, paralysis of the lower , extremities, loss of sensation, incontinence of bowl and bladder and hydrocephalus. In the third chapter an attempt was made to define a family, to point out that the family is a source of relations, the first life situation, a primary and educational milieu and the family milieu is an answer to experiences. Education and the aims of education were briefly discussed. In the second part of the third chapter the emphasis is on education as encountered in a normal family. The pedagogic werelation is the main theme. Its success depends on the availability of the parents and a home, the importance of conversation among members of the family, the use of leisure time, acceptance of the child by the parents, the future of the child, mutual dependence and sympathetic authority guidance. To establish how education takes place in a family with a child with myelomeningocele a questionnaire was compiled. The parents of 40 children born with myelomeningocele were interviewed. The questions covered all aspects of family education as well as the physical care of the child. The information gathered was interpreted in connection with 45 hypotheses put by the researcher. Finally the following difficulties in the education of a family with a child with myelomeningocele were identified: the child is not always available because of hospitalisation or the fact that many of the children are resident pupils; family planning suffers as a result of the handicapped child; it is difficult for the parents to join clubs or associations for sport or recreation; the parents are in need of information re their handicapped child; the future of the children is a source of concern; incorporation of the children in a suitable cultural group creates problems, as well as their total dependence on their mothers. Recommendations proposed: only the best schools and creches should be available, initial guidance to the parents should be encouraged and better arranged, aims of education for these children should be re-evaluated, the child must be guided to accept himself, obesity should be investigated and techniques should be developed to prevent the incidence of myelomeningocele.

No description available.

The problem of this study was to analyze special education costs relative to the total educational costs of a school district. Special education costs were examined from the perspective that specialized services for handicapped students constitute only a subset of a large variety of education offerings available to students. The purpose of this study was to identify the costs for special education and regular education in selected Arizona school districts, including costs for administration, instruction, instruction support, and operations. In addition, this study examined the cost relationships that existed among pupil-teacher ratios, teacher salary schedules, and teacher training and experience for special education programs. This type of information should allow for the development of finance formulas for special education that will provide the level of financing required to ensure that ample resources are available to provide appropriate educational services for the handicapped. This study examined the costs for 9 types of regular education programs and 10 categories of handicapped students. The school districts studied included 14 elementary districts, 4 high school districts, and 10 unified districts. This sample of school districts comprised over 50% of the total statewide special education enrollment for the 1977-78 school year. The results of this study indicated that extensive cost variations existed for both regular and special education programs. The highest cost for a regular education program was $7,532 for a high school program for industrial arts/home economics. The lowest cost for a regular education program was $818 for high school language arts. The highest cost for a special education program was $5,674 for a resource program for visually handicapped students. The lowest cost for a special education program was $235 for a resource program for speech handicapped students. The impacts of pupil-teacher ratio, teacher salary schedule, and teacher training and experience were established for resource programs for speech handicapped students and for self-contained programs for the trainable mentally handicapped. The impact of pupil-teacher ratio was the most extensive factor in causing cost variations in both of the programs studied. However, the impact of teacher salary schedule and teacher training and experience were major factors in individual cases.

A distinction between learning and performance has long been traditional in theoretical and experimental formulations of general learning theory. More recently a similar or parallel distinction has developed in the literature on children with academic difficulties. Here it has been referred to as a distinction between "assimilation and utilization" or between "disorders in the function of taking in knowledge" and "disorders in the use of learning." Other recent investigations have further hypothesized that a set of broad motivational variables characterized as "fear of success" or "need to fail" are crucial in the poor achievement of some children with academic difficulties. This study was designed as an experimental investigation of some consequences that seemed deducible from the inter-relationships among these distinctions and hypotheses. Three groups of children were defined within a normal school population by a statistical comparison of academic grades and achievement test scores in reading. All subjects had at least average I.Q. scores. In the first group, academic grades were significantly lower than might have been predicted from the achievement test scores. This was considered to reflect a difficulty in performance and the group was referred to as the non-performers. In the second group, academic grades and achievement test scores were both considerably below the average for the whole group. This was considered to reflect a difficulty in learning, and the group was referred to as the non-learners. In the third group, academic grades and achievement test scores were congruent and both were at an average level. This group was referred to as the normals. Subjects were examined individually under one of three conditions of evaluative feedback: (1) competitive success, (2) competitive failure, and (3) neutral. In the competitive success condition, the subject was convinced that he was performing more adequately than his peers. In the competitive failure condition, he was convinced that he was performing more poorly. In the neutral condition, the feedback was purely procedural. A modified version of the Digit-Symbol Test was the principal task. During the performance trials emphasis was on speed, and time in seconds was taken as a performance measure. After 10 trials, each subject was asked to complete the Digit-Symbol form without a key. The number of digit-symbol combinations remembered correctly was taken as a measure of learning. Thematic Apperception Test stories and Sarason Anxiety Scale scores were obtained from each subject. The major hypotheses may be stated informally. The non-performer group should show greater decrement in performance than in learning, and the largest performance decrement should occur under the competitive success condition. The non-learner group should show decrements in both performance and learning when compared to the other two groups. They should show no special decrement under success. The normal group should show best performance and learning under the success condition with only slight decrements under the other two conditions. There should be no difference between the non-performer and the normal group on the learning measure. None of these major hypotheses were unequivocally substantiated. There was, however, evidence to warrant several conclusions. The groups defined statistically were discriminable on some experimental tasks. This lends credence to the notion of two types of learning problems. The crucial role of competitive success in influencing the behavior of the non-performer group was demonstrated. However, such broad motivational patterns as “need to fail” or “renunciation of success” are not sufficiently explanatory. There was, in fact, evidence that consideration must also be given to the non-performers unduly intense "need to succeed". The experimental conditions were effectively created in that there were differences among conditions across all groups on the learning measure. Also, each group showed a pattern of differential response to each of the conditions. / This thesis was digitized as part of a project begun in 2014 to increase the number of Duke psychology theses available online. The digitization project was spearheaded by Ciara Healy.