<p> A critical component of teaching social skills to people with autism is the generalization of behavior change across a variety of untrained situations during which social skills are appropriate. The script-fading procedure is an effective technology for teaching social skills to people with autism, but few researchers have established cues in the natural environment as the discriminative stimuli for social initiations. The purpose of this study was to use a script-fading procedure to teach young children with autism to initiate to one another across various activities in the school setting, and to program for generalization across untrained stimuli in the school setting and in the untrained home setting with a sibling. The three participants, ages 7 to 10 years, demonstrated deficits in social initiations with their peers. During the baseline condition, the participants did emit initiations to one another, although this behavior was variable and did not endure over time. With the introduction of the script-fading procedure, however, social initiations increased systematically for all participants. Moreover, the data demonstrated that the effects of the script-fading procedure generalized across untrained stimuli, responses, and to an untrained setting with an untrained conversation partner. Overall, this study demonstrated the effectiveness of the script-fading procedure in teaching children with autism to initiate to their peers. This study has expanded upon previous research by demonstrating generalization from school with peers to the home setting with siblings, and by providing social validity data obtained through outside observers that support the effectiveness of the script-fading procedure in producing an important behavior change.</p>

<p> This causal comparative study investigated the relationship of an identified disability (IDEA declared vs. non-declared) on success outcomes for sixth through twelfth grade at-risk students enrolled in a school-based mental health program. Outcome variables included: selected attendance, behavior, and achievement indicators for students who were enrolled in and received intensive school-based counseling.</p><p> Overall, after one year in the program, referrals for violent incidents significantly decreased for both groups of students while lack of respect incidents increased, indicating that staff changes in providing preventative strategies and approaches for working with students may have led staff to "catch" student behaviors at an earlier phase. IDEA declared students also had a significant decrease in suspensions. Although absences increased and instructional days decreased for both groups of students, a few of the non-declared students had more extreme changes. In-depth examination of the data showed that non-declared students, in particular Black and Asian students, had the most negative changes. Achievement data revealed that the majority of IDEA declared and non-declared students failed at pre and continued to fail at post.</p><p> This study adds to the limited base of research that on outcomes for students with and without disabilities. As school-based mental health counseling programs, coupled with strengths-based, multi-level counseling approaches expand across schools, it is important that we further the research base to determine what differences exist and what ramifications emerge for students based on disability, mental health problem, or ethnicity. Findings in this study of decreased referrals for severe behaviors for all students, decreased suspensions for IDEA declared students, and more extreme cases of negative outcomes for Asian and Black students without a disability, should be considered important factors in the continued effort to improve educational success for all students by supporting and promoting positive social emotional development and decreasing student risk factors.</p>

<p> Previous research suggests that executive functions (EF), including self-regulation skills, are essential for children's academic readiness and educational production, particularly middle school students, who are identified with learning disabilities (Desmond &amp; Hanich, 2014; Hartman, 2012). Decline in the educational outcomes of middle school students remains an alarming concern for educators and researchers (Anderman, Anderman, &amp; Greisinger, 1999; Bobik, 2010; Jimerson, 2001; Roderick, 1994; Rumberger, 1995). For special education students, who fall short on the "producing" end, academic goals do not address the EF deficits, which are more likely to be addressed by EF development geared for academic production in reading, writing, and mathematics (Denckla, 2002; Hartman, 2012; McCloskey, Perkins, &amp; Van Diviner, 2009). </p><p> Furthermore, the wide-range of changes experienced by the early adolescent during the critical development stage is supported by research on the brain&mdash;development of adolescent and related cognitive processes, particularly EFs (Sylvan &amp; Christodoulou, 2010; Jensen, 2008; Kellough &amp; Kellough, 2008; Caskey &amp; Ruben, 2007; Manning, 2002; Dorman, Lipsitz, &amp; Verner, 1985). Findings from these researchers have supported a variety of school-based interventions designed to support children's EF development. Limited research has investigated interventions utilizing mindfulness to improve EFs and academic production in middle school. To address the gaps in literature, the study design is a secondary analysis of an existing data set at the item level. </p><p> Five questions were investigated in this analysis of a prior study; Desmond and Hanich (2014) conducted a randomized control experiment using a quasi-experimental design, including repeated measures analysis of variance (RMANOVA) and multiple regression analyses. Additional procedures were used for accounting for and handling missing data arising from attrition (Enders, 2013; Little &amp; Rubin, 2002). </p><p> The results suggested the following: a refinement of the item pool to produce more valid sub-sets of indicators of positive change in order to create a Scale based on the findings; establishing a basis for a more sound methodology for assessing change in studies of mindfulness; and supporting the research on the continuing plasticity of the early adolescent brain and on school-based interventions for brain development. The recommendations for practice, policy, and research are presented.</p>

<p> A leadership program was created for students to gain skills and/or change their behavior using Appreciative Inquiry and Video Self Modeling, VSM. In 2011a youth that experiences a disability had been unable to achieve a skill utilizing traditional methods of skill acquisition. He employed the Appreciative Inquiry and VSM leadership program and was able to achieve 100% skill acquisition. Appreciative Inquiry was used to gather information on what makes a participant who experiences a disability feel successful and the theme of the greater organization/class which was independence, provided guidance for examples of success. Videos were created showing students succeeding in activities that they have not yet achieved or participate in with low frequency. These activities were documented as a barrier to success typically in the Individual Education Plan, IEP. Viewing these videos aids the individual in achieving a goal as they viewed this desired future as the present in the majority of cases.</p>

<p> Verified improvement in the treatment of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in the past decade has involved both early interventionists and parents. It is widely acknowledged that the parent-child relationship is fundamental to the development of communication and social skills, especially for children with ASD, and accordingly that parent education is critical. However, lists of required skills and knowledge in professionally developed curricula designed for parents of children with ASD have not been prioritized by the consensus of large numbers of variously affiliated practitioners. The present research yielded wide professional agreement on the prioritization of such skills and knowledge. The instrument used was a self-evaluating, closed-ended survey administered to 483 behaviorists who treat autism. In particular, the survey identified whether a participant had a child with autism or not. The information gathered will assist in the development of a curriculum intended to guide parents in optimizing the help they can give their children with autism.</p>

<p> This study utilized a quality of life framework of psychosocial adaptation to explore relationships among college stress, functional limitations, coping strategies, and perceived social suport in adjustment to college among first-year and second-year undergraduate students with disabilities, based on specific hypothesized relations. College adjustment outcomes included: life satisfaction, academic performance, and psychosocial-emotional adjustment to college. </p><p> A nonprobability sample of 103 first-year and second-year undergraduate college students with disabilities participated in the study. Respondents were registered with an office of support services for students with disabilities at a public, four-year university, located in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Respondents were recruited by responding to an e-mail requesting participation in an online, web-based survey. </p><p> Eight self-report measures included: (a) Participant Survey (developed by the researcher to collect socio-demographic information, (b) College Stress Inventory (CSI; Solberg, Hale, Villarreal, &amp; Kavanagh, 1993), (c) Disability Functional Limitations Scale (DFLS) (developed by the researcher), (d) Brief COPE; Carver, 1997, (e) Social Support Appraisals-Revised (SSA-R) scale; Vaux et al., 1986), (f) Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, &amp; Griffin, 1985), (g) Grade Point Average-Scale (GPA-S; adapted by the researcher from a self-reported grading scale), and (h) Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ; Baker &amp; Siryk, 1999). </p><p> Data were analyzed using descriptive and correlational procedures. Bivariate analysis suggested that all predictor variables (i.e., college stress, functional limitations, engagement coping, and perceived social support) were significantly associated with student adjustment to college. Hierarchical multiple regression suggested mostly direct (i.e., main) effects for engagement coping and perceived social support. No interacting role for either engagement-type coping or perceived social support was suggested, except for the following: Engagement-type coping moderated the relationship between disability-related functional limitations (as measured by increased restrictions in the ability to perform daily routines, activites, and life roles) and adaptation to college, as measured by life satisfaction. Analyses of socio-demographic variables revealed significant associations between chronological age, gender, hours employed, and adjustment to college. Lastly, hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed disengagment coping accounting for as much as 53% of the variance in adjustment scores. This result suggested disengagement coping adding significant predictive utility for adaptation-associated college adjustment. </p><p> In light of these findings, counseling professionals may wish to consider the beneficial role of engagement coping in promoting optimal adjustment to college for lower-division undergraduate students with disabilities.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, 1994. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-04, Section: B, page: 2324. Chair: Frances Campbell LaVoie.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-11, Section: A, page: 4215. Adviser: Julia Kellman. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 247-253) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

<p> A leadership program was created for students to gain skills and/or change their behavior using Appreciative Inquiry and Video Self Modeling, VSM. In 2011, a youth that experiences a disability had been unable to achieve a skill utilizing traditional methods of skill acquisition. He employed the Appreciative Inquiry and VSM leadership program and was able to achieve 100% skill acquisition. Appreciative Inquiry was used to gather information on what makes a participant who experiences a disability feel successful and the theme of the greater organization/class which was independence, provided guidance for examples of success. Videos were created showing students succeeding in activities that they have not yet achieved or participated in with low frequency. These activities were documented as a barrier to success typically in the Individual Education Plan, IEP. Viewing these videos aids the individual in achieving a goal as they viewed this desired future as the present in the majority of cases. </p><p> Keywords: Appreciative Inquiry, Video Self Modeling, Skill, Behavior, Disability, Leadership, Education</p>

The object of the research was the hardiness of adolescents with mental retardation. The subject of the research was the personal characteristics, manifestations of hardiness, as well as features of the coping-strategies choice of adolescents with mental retardation. The master's thesis consists of an introduction, two chapters, conclusion, list of references (153 sources) and an Appendix, including the test results forms for the subjects, as well as the results of mathematical data processing performed in the SPSS Statistic program. The volume of the master's thesis is 158 pages, which contains 4figures and 32 tables. In conclusion, the results of the theoretical and empirical parts of the work, as well as conclusions on the hypotheses put forward, the practical significance of the study and the possible prospects for further development of this problem are described in a generalized form. / Объектом исследования явилась жизнестойкость подростков с задержкой психического развития. Предметом исследования стали личностные характеристики, проявления жизнестойкости, а также особенности выбора стратегий совладающего поведения подростков с задержкой психического развития. Магистерская диссертация состоит из введения, двух глав, заключения, списка литературы (153 источника) и двух приложений, включающих в себя бланки с результатами тестирования для испытуемых, а также результаты математической обработки данных, выполненные в программе SPSS Statistic. Объем магистерской диссертации 158 страниц, на которых размещены 4 рисунка и 32 таблица. В заключении в обобщенном виде изложены результаты теоретической и эмпирической частей работы, а также выводы по выдвинутым гипотезам, обоснована практическая значимость исследования и описаны возможные перспективы дальнейшей разработки данной проблематики.