The history of people with disabilities has been characterized by a progressive trend toward inclusion in the mainstream of life. During the last three decades, in particular, significant progress has been made toward the societal goals of normalization, deinstitutionalization, and community integration. As a result, the effects of contact with disabled peers on the attitudes of normally developing children has become an important research question. To date, it is a question with no definitive answers. / To approach this question, methods of naturalistic inquiry were used in the context of a case study. The unit of analysis was a child-care center in which young children with and without disabilities were fully integrated on an ongoing basis. The primary informants in the study were the normally developing children, aged 3 through six, enrolled in the center. Participant observation and open-ended interviewing were the primary data collection techniques. Nonparticipant observation and analysis of school records were also used. Upon completion of field study, the data were analyzed and interpreted according to accepted procedures in the naturalistic research tradition. Data consisted of comprehensive field notes and interview transcripts derived from participant observation, formal interviews, and document analysis. / In contrast with many earlier studies of disability attitudes, contact between children with and without disabilities did not result in the development of prejudicial attitudes toward peers with disabilities. The participants expressed early awareness of sensory and physical disabilities, but virtually no awareness of intellectual disabilities. They expressed feelings of tolerance with regard to their peers with disabilities, and their feelings were corroborated by their actions. They named children with disabilities as their "best friends" less often than children without disabilities, but made some friendship choices from among their disabled peers. Negative evaluations of peers were elicited by behaviors that violated social norms, but not by sensory, physical, or intellectual differences. Program characteristics that appear necessary for the success of disability integration were discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-08, Section: A, page: 2452. / Major Professor: Pearl E. Tait. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of student question generation on reading achievement. The effect of training students in dyads to ask six generic questions about what they read was studied. / Students from Bainbridge College enrolled in VTE 080-081, a developmental reading skills course, were the subjects in this study. Experimental and control groups were comprised of approximately thirty-five students each. Data collected from the ACT California Planning Program (CPP) Reading Skills Test were utilized to determine who would be placed in the VTE 080-081 reading skills class. Two types of tests were used to assess reading comprehension. The first was a standardized reading test, CAT Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE), Level D, Forms 3 and 4, which was used to measure transfer of training. The second test was a six-item comprehension test following selected passages from Six Way Paragraphs by Walter Pauk. / An analysis of covariance was used to analyze reading comprehension. The data were analyzed using pretest scores as a covariate. / An experimental design was used in this research study. / Results of a pilot study conducted fall quarter 1989 revealed that there was a significant effect on the treatment group. / The study proper was conducted winter quarter, 1990 and spring quarter, 1990. The results of the study supported the general learning theories which indicated that active processing of prose does affect learning. Training students to manipulate their own learning by teaching them to ask questions proved to be a more powerful instructional device than allowing them to devise their own strategy. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-06, Section: A, page: 2018. / Major Professor: Lawrence E. Hafner. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

The purpose of this study was to predict placement and non-placement outcomes for mildly handicapped three through five year old children given knowledge of their developmental screening data. In order to do this, discrete discriminant analysis was used to demonstrate the prediction scheme and was modified for application to Child Find data. / Developmental screening data and placement outcomes were systematically retrieved from a longitudinal set (1982-1989) of Child Find records located at the Florida Diagnostic and Learning Resources System (FDLRS)/Sarasota network for 602 subjects. The independent variables included performance on developmental activities from the Comprehensive Identification Process (Zehrbach, 1975), including: (a) gross motor, (b) fine motor, (c) cognitive-verbal, (d) expressive language, (e) receptive language, (f) social-affective, and (g) the expressed concern of parents, guardians, or primary caregivers regarding observations of children's developmental performance. These independent variables were related to two outcome groups, namely, placement and non-placement. / In addition to the two outcome groups, placement and non-placement, 128 combinations of the seven developmental variables were specified. These combinations were statistically analyzed using discrete discriminant analysis, resulting in a prediction technique for estimating the outcomes of developmental screening efforts. The expected frequencies of subjects falling into the prescribed outcome groups were computed. Also, the relative costs of misclassification (prediction mistakes) of subjects into the wrong groups were determined. / For each cost function, a comparison was made between the predictions of the discriminant analysis and the observed outcomes for the 602 subjects. Chi-square tests were conducted to test the significance of the predictions for the placement groups with each of the cost functions. The null hypothesis, that the predictions using this technique were no better than what would be expected by chance, was rejected in each instance. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-12, Section: A, page: 3844. / Major Professor: Andrew Oseroff. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.

The expansion of a child's problem solving repetoire to incorporate symbolic problem solving is the ultimate achievement in the development of adaptive symbolic functioning. In this cross-sectional study, problem solving ability was examined as a function of age. In addition, the development of the symbolic representational activities deferred imitation, symbolic play, drawing, mental imagery, and language were examined in relation to the type of problem solving behaviors demonstrated on search/retrieval problems. The sample included 36 children from 30 to 36 months of age. / Symbolic skills were assessed with a Dramatic Play Behavior Checklist, a drawing task, the Gestalt Closure subtest of the Kaufman-ABC, the Utah Test of Language Development, and two problem solving performance tasks. Spearman's Rho correlations, Chi Square Analyses, and T-tests were performed. / Clear differences were found between children $\ge$33 months of age and those $<$33 months in that younger children relied on trial and error problem solving while older children derived symbolic solutions to the performance task problems. The symbolic skills of deferred imitation, symbolic play, mental imagery, and language were found to develop in tandem with increased ability to symbolically problem solve. / Most importantly, children who averaged 34.5 months of age were found to reliably use models as mnemonic devices to symbolically problem solve on the search/retrieval tasks. Additionally, an intriguing and persistent error pattern emerged in this study. The pattern of errors indicated the presence of an intermediate step in problem solving between reliance upon trial and error and the achievement of full symbolic problem solving capability. Children committing this perseverative type error averaged 32.2 months in age, which is between the average ages of those who solved the problems via trial and error 31.1 months) and those who problem solved symbolically (34.5 months). / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-06, Section: B, page: 3181. / Major Professor: Carol Anderson Darling. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

The purposes of the study were to investigate perceptions of kindergarten teachers, first grade teachers, and parents of kindergarten children on various aspects of kindergartens and to determine if kindergarten teachers' practices coincided with their philosophies. / Researcher-designed questionnaires for teachers and parents were validated and checked for statistical significance. A sample of 75 teachers and 72 parents were drawn from a central Alabama city. Subjects completed appropriate questionnaires. / Parent data were analyzed on type of school, socioeconomic status, race, age, education, and child's ordinal position. Teacher data were analyzed on place of employment, race, age, and grade level taught. / Four null hypotheses with sub-null hypotheses were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Alpha was pre-set at .05. / The results indicated that on most aspects of kindergarten programs, kindergarten teachers and first grade teachers as a group, kindergarten teachers as a group, and parents as a group have similar opinions: the groups favored maintaining developmental orientations while including certain readiness and academic orientations such as using workbooks and drilling phonics. Parents agreed and teachers disagreed that reading, printing and simple mathematics are appropriate expectations for all kindergarteners. There were some differences in perceptions when the variables were introduced but no notable trends in philosophical orientations were indicated. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-02, Section: B, page: 0465. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.

Young children with severe and profound mental disabilities are entering the public school system as the result of Public Law 99-457. Potential social/communicative partners increase as children with severe or profound disabilities share common school times and settings with children having no disabilities. / This intervention attempted to affect change in social/communicative skills among children with severe or profound mental disabilities by affecting change in the nondisabled peers' use of techniques that facilitated social/communicative interactions during free play. A multiple baseline design across groups was used to assess the relationship between the intervention and the participants' behaviors. The dependent measures included: (a) peers' (with no disabilities) use of imitating, waiting, being animated, modeling, sharing, requesting shares, and play organizing when interacting with peers with severe or profound mental disabilities and (b) visual regard, toy or body use, proximity, initiations and responses for peers with severe or profound mental disabilities. / Peer interactions were observed and data collected by an observer using an interval recording system with auditory signals cueing times to observe and times to record. The observations were made during experimental free play times in the experimental playroom setting. / The results indicated that a functional relationship existed between the training and the minimal changes observed in the peers' (with no disabilities) use of social/facilitative strategies when interacting with peers having severe or profound mental disabilities. Training phases involving prompts resulted in greatest use of social/facilitative behaviors by the peers with no disabilities and social/communicative behaviors of the peers with severe or profound mental disabilities during free play. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-01, Section: A, page: 0081. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

The Impact of Prolonged Participation in a Pro-Social Cognitive Behavioral Skills Program on Elementary Age Students, with Behavior Related Disorders, Behavior Accelerative, Behavior Reductive, and Return to Regular Classroom Outcomes

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Lehigh University, 2009. / Adviser: Lee Kern.

Vegetation has the potential to support all domains of early childhood development when carefully selected, yet it is infrequently used as a deliberate learning element in outdoor play environments for young children. The purpose of this study was to measure vegetation value in the context of developmentally appropriate early childhood education by assessing existing vegetation and interviewing educators at thirteen nationally accredited preschools in Tucson, Arizona. Results indicated low vegetation density and diversity compared to presence and quality of built elements, both indoors and out. While potential of existing vegetation was high, many educators reported few values of vegetation and rarely regarded it as a tool in their stated environmental curriculum. Furthermore, the values of structure for climbing and refuge for dramatic play appeared infrequently despite their importance in cited literature.

The purpose of this study was to determine if preschool children, specifically three- and four-year olds, were able to demonstrate recognition of chord changes and identify implied tonic-dominant chord changes as a result of age-appropriate instruction focusing on harmony. Sixteen preschool children (7, three-year-olds; 9, four-year-olds) were given 10, 15-minute lessons that consisted of activities designed to enhance their awareness of harmony. Following instruction, students were given a test that measured their ability to recognize chord changes with regular and irregular harmonic rhythm. Furthermore, subjects were asked to demonstrate audiation of the implied harmony in three unaccompanied melodies by performing chord changes on an electronic keyboard. Results indicated that preschool children (94%) could recognize tonic-dominant chord changes, especially when they occurred in a regular harmonic rhythm. A majority of students (69%) also showed mastery when chords were played in an irregular harmonic rhythm. Students were unable to demonstrate mastery in any of the audiation tasks. Following the 10-week treatment, eight of the original subjects continued for an additional 10 sessions. Instructional and testing procedures remained the same. The scores from the 10- and 20-week tests were compared using a repeated-measures ANOVA. Students showed significant improvement in their ability to recognize chord changes that were played in an irregular harmonic rhythm. A moderate correlation was found to exist between age and this same task.