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No description available.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts

The present study compared the effects of an errorless stimulus shaping procedure to an errorful fluency based procedure for teaching difficult letter sound discriminations using a counterbalanced multielement experimental design. For 2 participants, letters fsteai were taught using the errorless procedure and letters bpdvou were taught using the errorful procedure. For the other 2 participants the conditions were reversed. All participants had considerably fewer errors and fewer trials to criterion with the errorless than with the errorful procedure. Tests of retention and generalization indicate that the errorful procedure generalized and was retained at a higher frequency than the errorless procedure. For 3 participants preference for the errorless procedure over the errorful procedure was demonstrated; whereas, the fourth participant demonstrated preference for the errorful procedure.

Three reaction time experiments were conducted to determine when and how memory for the normal left-right orientation of letters is mediated by the developing brain. In each experiment, participants identified forward and backward letters presented unilaterally to each visual field and thus to each hemisphere (VF-H). / The main findings were as follows: (1) For the five-year-olds, no VF-H differences were found in the speed of identifying either forward or backward letters or in the difference in speed between forward and backward letters. (2) The seven-year-olds identified forward letters faster than backward letters in the right visual field-left hemisphere (RVF-LH) with the contralateral, right hand, and the boys, unlike the girls, also showed this difference in the left visual field-right hemisphere (LVF-RH) independent of the responding hand. (3) Performance of the nine-year-olds was similar to that of the seven-year-olds. (4) Adults identified forward letters faster than backward letters in the RVF-LH with each hand, whereas in the LVF-RH this difference was found for the ipsilateral, right but not for the contralateral, left hand. / Support was provided for the Corballis-Beale (1976) hypothesis, and discussion centered on the implications of the results for the development of cerebral lateralization of memory for the normal left-right orientation of letters in normal and reading disabled children.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a training package consisting of response restriction and the reinforcement of self-evaluation on letter reversal errors. Participants were 3 typically developing boys between the age of 5 and 7. The results indicated that the training package was successful in correcting reversals in the absence of a model during training and on application tests. These improvements maintained during subsequent follow-up sessions and generalized across trainers. Fading was not always necessary in correcting reversals, but was effective in correcting reversals that persisted during the overlay training procedures. The advantages to implementing a systematic intervention for reducing letter reversal errors in the classroom, as well as directions for future research, are discussed.

There are numerous methods teachers use to teach the alphabet to children. This thesis is a curriculum on how to teach the alphabet to English learners and English speakers. The author teaches kindergarten to students who are English speakers and to students who are Spanish speakers learning English as a second language. The school's instructional Reading Based Program (the Houghton Mifflin Lectura of California) offers many ideas and strategies but is missing some components necessary to meet distinct standards for kindergarten. The author developed this curriculum to meet the standards of teaching English speakers and English learners the alphabet to meet district standards.