The majority of children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) have comorbid Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (95%; Fryer et al., 2007). The goal of this study was to compare the neuropsychological and adaptive skills profiles of children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) with or without comorbid FASD in order to improve interventions for both of these populations. This study paid particular attention to neurological, cognitive, and adaptive skills strengths and weaknesses in children with ADHD/FASD and children with ADHD without comorbid FASD. By identifying these strengths and weaknesses recommendations were able to be made to help the functioning of each of children with ADHD/FASD and children with ADHD in their home, community, and school environments based on their neuropsychological and adaptive skills profiles. Neurologically, children with ADHD/FASD and children with ADHD have been shown to have impairment in the basal ganglia, cerebellum, corpus callosum, frontal lobes, hippocampus, hypothalamus, occipital lobes, parietal lobes, temporal lobes, and thalamus. Cognitively, children with ADHD have been shown to have difficulty in areas such as working memory and processing speed with less significant deficiencies in verbal ability and perceptual organization whereas children with ADHD/FASD have shown impairment in all of these cognitive abilities. When compared to typically developing children with approximately the same level of general intelligence, children with ADHD have been shown to obtain lower standard scores in all domains of adaptive functioning and children with FASD have been shown to demonstrate significant adaptive skills deficits throughout the lifespan. This study used specialized statistical procedures including Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA), Discriminant Analysis (DA), and Classification and Regression Tree (CART) in order to investigate the neuropsychological and adaptive skills in 81 children with ADHD/FASD and 147 children with ADHD. The statistical analyses indicated that children with ADHD/FASD and children with ADHD have similar cognitive and adaptive skills profiles; however, the children with comorbid ADHD/FASD were significantly more impaired in verbal ability, perceptual reasoning, working memory, processing speed, and overall adaptive skills. The current study took a step forward in helping to make diagnostic decisions based on the similarities and differences between children with ADHD with and without comorbid FASD. Given the data from the current study indicating the significant differences in cognitive and adaptive skills in these two samples, it is imperative that psychopharmacological interventions be tailored to these two seemingly similar yet different groups, especially as these two groups may respond differently to stimulant medication, the first line of medicinal treatment for ADHD. Children with ADHD/FASD should also be treated with more intense interventions in the home, community, and school than children with ADHD. / Department of Educational Psychology

The purpose of this study was to examine whether or not having social support serves as a tool of encouragement for youth to become skilled in areas preparing them for adulthood.

The project is concerned with the effectiveness of the Independent Living Program (ILP) in assessing the effectiveness of preparing youth for emancipation from the foster care system. Specifically, the project focused on ILP participants' preparedness to live independently as determined by: education, housing, employment/career, and money management skills attained.

本研究旨在瞭解家長親職態度與幼兒生活適應兩者之關係。以台北縣市公立國小附設幼稚園幼兒及其家長為研究對象，以立意取樣方式選取七個園所進行問卷施測，計回收有效問卷315份，以SPSS14.0視窗中文版進行資料分析。研究結論如下： 一、家長性別、教育程度和月收入不同其親職態度有顯著差異 （一）女性家長在家長親職態度的行動面向表現優於男性家長。 （二）母親教育程度為「大學、專科」在家長親職態度及「情感」面向表現均為最優。 （三）女性家長月收入為「兩萬-四萬」在家長親職態度及「情感」面向表現均為最差。 二、幼兒性別、年齡和就讀幼稚園年數不同其生活適應有顯著差異 （一）女生幼兒在幼兒生活適應的各面向和整體表現均優於男生幼兒。 （二）年齡越大和就讀幼稚園年數越長的幼兒其生活適應表現越佳。 三、家長教育程度、月收入、社經地位、家庭型態和親職態度不同者對幼兒生活適應有顯著差異 （一）父親教育程度為「研究所」和母親教育程度為「研究所」、「大學、專科」及「國中」其幼兒的「學習適應」表現較優。 （二）女性家長月收入為「四萬-六萬」和「八萬以上」者，其幼兒的「學習適應」表現較優。 （三）高社經的家長其幼兒的「學習適應」表現優於低社經者。 （四）「非小家庭」的幼兒其常規適應表現優於「小家庭」者。 （五）家長親職態度總分為「高分組」者其幼兒的學習適應表現最優。 最後，根據本研究結果，提出相關建議供父母家庭、學校和後續相關研究者參考。 / The purpose of this study aims to probe into the relationship between parents’ attitude and children life adjustment. Children and parents in public kindergarten in Taipei are chosen as the research objectives by purposive sampling. Questionnaires Investigation as the research method is used in this study. The research instrument was distributed to 7 kindergartens. There are totally 315 valid samples used in this study. After all, the data obtained is interpreted and analyzed by SPSS 14.0, and the main conclusions are drawn as follows: 1. There are several significant differences in parents’ attitude if different parents’ gender, level of education, and monthly income are considered. (1) Matriarchs’ performance in the respect of action of parents’ attitude is better than Paterfamilias’. (2) The performance of Matriarchs whose level of education is university or college is ranked the best in the respect of emotion of parents’ attitude. (3) Matriarchal whose monthly income is ‘twenty thousand to forty thousand’ is ranked the worst in the respect of emotion of parents’ attitude. 2. There are several significant differences in children life adjustment if children’s gender, age, and year studying in kindergarten are considered. (1) Girl’s in each aspect of children life adjustment is better than boy’s. (2) Children’s performance in life adjustment is better if they are elder or the year studying in kindergarten is longer. 3. There are several significant differences in children life adjustment if different parents’ level of education, monthly income, socioeconomic status, family patterns, and parents’ attitude are considered. (1) Father’s level of education is “graduate institute” and mother’s level of education is “graduate institute”, “university”, or “college” and “junior high school”, whose children’s representation of study adjustment is better. (2) Matriarch’s monthly income is “forty thousand to sixty thousand” and “more than eighty thousand”, whose children’s performance of study adjustment is better. (3) Performance of children with parents in higher SES is better than the ones with parents in lower SES in the aspect of study adjustment. (4) Performance of children in “Non nuclear family” is better than the ones in “nuclear family” in the aspect of study adjustment. (5) Parents’ attitude scores in “high score” whose children’s performance in study adjustment is ranked the best. Based on the research results, the researcher proposes some suggestions about “parents’ attitude” and “children life adjustment” for parents, related schools, and further studies after all.

This research study focused on resilient, former foster youth. Given the vulnerabilities of children in foster care, what factors lead to participant resilience? Data was obtained from ten participants who were receiving independent living services in San Bernardino County.

The purpose of the study was to examine the guiding factors that help foster youth emancipate successfully. The goal was to examine five areas: housing, education, identifying role models, social skills and effectiveness of Independent Living Program (ILP) services.

As technology and our world understanding develop, we will need citizens who are able to ask and answer questions that have not been thought of yet. Currently, high school and college graduates entering the workforce demonstrate a gap in their ability to develop unique solutions and fill the current technology-driven jobs. To address this gap, science needs to be prioritized early in children's lives. The focus of this research was to analyze a science training program that would help pre-school teachers better understand Mind in the Making life skills, the nature of science, science practices, and improve their self-efficacy integrating science education into their classrooms and curriculum. Seventy-one teachers enrolled in two three-day, professional development trainings that were conducted over three, five-hour sessions approximately one month apart. During that training the teachers learned hands-on activities for young children that introduced life and physical science content. They were also given the task of developing and implementing a science-based lesson for their students and then analyzing it with other participants. The information from the lesson plans was collected for analysis. After the last training the teachers were given a pre/post retrospective survey to measure effective outcomes. The results from the lesson plans and surveys indicate that the trainings helped improve the teachers' understanding of Mind in the Making, the nature of science, and science practices. The results also show that the teachers felt more comfortable integrating science education into their classrooms and curriculum.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the outcomes of the Independent Living Program (ILP) of former foster youths who have aged out of foster care and group care in San Bernardino County of California using an exploratory and quantitative survey design.

No description available.