The effects of a response cost treatment tactic on the classroom off-task behavior and sociometric status of seven elementary school-aged hyperactive children, four girls and three boys, were assessed within a multiple-baseline design across two academic periods. Results indicated that the response cost procedure was effective in reducing off-task behavior in the classroom and improving teacher perceptions of child behavior for six of the seven target children. The results of this study replicated the effects on off-task behavior obtained by Rapport et al. (1980; 1982) and extended these findings to demonstrate that the response cost procedure can be effectively implemented by one teacher across more than one hyperactive child in the same classroom. Classroom observational data on pre-selected normal control children suggested that response cost effectively reduces hyperactive children's off-task behavior to a level commensurate with that of their normal peers. The results of a nonparametric analysis of the difference between pre- and post-administrations of sociometric assessments revealed a significant improvement in sociometric status for target children as a group. Weekly sociometric assessments revealed that, of the five children who demonstrated the clearest effects from the response cost intervention, three children's mean sociometric ratings improved. Overall, the results obtained suggest that improving a child's off-task behavior through the use of a contingency management system such as response cost may produce corollary improvement in social status even when this behavior is not directly targeted. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-06, Section: B, page: 1987. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.

The effectiveness of two drill and practice methods, computer-assisted instruction and workbook, was compared using six learning disabled and six normal learning students. Both instructional methods provided highly structured drill and practice of multiplication facts, but differed on several important dimensions: immediacy of feedback, individually-tailored practice of problems, and mode of presentation. A combination group/single-subject methodological approach was employed to determine any idiosyncratic or group performance differences between drill and practice methods or any group differences between learning disabled and normal students. While overall, few differences were found between the instructional methods, they did differ with respect to when learning occurred. Also, individual data suggest that for some of the students, performance varied according to the type of drill and practice employed. The performance of learning disabled and normal subjects was surprisingly similar across measures. / It was concluded that the highly structured nature of both modes of drill and practice eliminated differences in performance between the two groups. Also, while computer and workbook instruction differed on some basic structural features, these characteristics did not have a significant impact on student achievement. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-03, Section: B, page: 0934. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.

A problem brought to the attention of the Florida State University's Psychology Department by school personnel was the behavior of the more than 350 kindergarten, first- and second-graders assigned to a playground prior to the beginning of the school day. The problem behaviors were found to comprise three general categories of responses: aggression; property abuse; and rule violations. / The initial step was to develop a reliable observation system with which different interventions could be compared. After several attempts, a satisfactory method was devised. Three independent observers monitored separate areas of the playground and recorded the frequency of inappropriate incidents. / The first experiment utilized a multi-element design to compare the implementation of organized games, a brief timeout on a bench and the combination of games and timeout. The major findings were that the days with games available were generally better than those without games, and timeout was only infrequently used by the teachers' aides who supervised the playground. However, the data were highly variable which may have been due to the large number of extraneous variables that could have been present since the experiment spanned an eight-month period. In addition, the general ratings of the children's behavior obtained from the aides did not reflect the improvements seen by the direct observations. / In the second experiment, the most effective treatment, games, was compared to baseline procedures in a reversal design. At the request of school personnel, timeout was also available for extreme situations; but this was, again, very infrequently used. Substantial reductions in inappropriate behaviors were obtained when the treatments were in effect, and these results were more stable than in the first experiment. Despite an alteration of the rating method, the aides' evaluation did not coincide with the improvements recorded by the observers. However, the ability of the aides to accurately identify and intervene on the children's problem behaviors was the primary focus of this research. As such, it is suggested that in similar situations, where large groups are involved, antecedent environmental manipulations may be more practical than providing consequences for behaviors which have already been exhibited. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-06, Section: B, page: 2646. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.

The relationship between proportional reasoning ability and self concept was studied from a cognitive developmental approach. A sample of 222 adolescents attending junior high and high school in a rural southern state was comprised of 57.7% females, 41.8% males, 61.1% blacks, and 30.8% whites. The adolescents were asssigned to two problem solving groups, concrete operational and formal operational, based on their performance on three sets of proportional reasoning tasks. The mean age for the concrete group was 13.1 and for the formal group the mean age was 15.2. The two groups had comparable Cognitive (intellectual) Skills Index scores, with the concrete problem solvers mean score being 98.68 and for the formal operational problem solvers the mean score was 97.01. Data were also collected on self concept using the My Characteristic Self scale, instrumentality and expressiveness (Self Perception Inventory), and masculinity (Adolescent Sex Role Inventory). / A test of four hypotheses was carried out using a multivariate analysis of variance with two levels of the independent variable, concrete and formal operational problem solving, and four dependent variables, self concept, instrumentality, expressivenesss, and masculinity. The Hotellings multivariate test of significance revealed statistical significance ((alpha) = .05) between the two problem solving groups. The investigation of the univariate F-tests indicated that self concept was a statistically significant ((alpha) = .05) dependent variable. The statistical decision resulting from this analysis revealed that null hypothesis (1) could be rejected and hypothesis (1A) considered. The analysis further indicated that instrumentality, expressiveness, and masculinity were not statistically significant ((alpha) = .05) dependent variables; therefore, null hypotheses (2), (3), and (4) failed to be rejected. The conclusion based on these findings indicate that formal operational problem solvers rate self concept higher than concrete operational problem solvers; increases in proportional reasoning ability were associated with higher self concept ratings. / The results were discussed in relation to similar findings on elementary school and early adolescent age youth. The data from these studies and those from the present investigation indicate that cognitive developmental problem solving appears to be related to higher self concept ratings of children and adolescents. These findings provided support for the study of self concept development from a cognitive developmental framework. Finally, implications and recommendations for improving self concept ratings of adolescents were presented to educators, parents, and therapists. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-11, Section: B, page: 3640. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1984.

The study examined the effects of early childhood intervention, social class and ethnicity on family communication style. The latter was assessed through the analysis of parent-child behaviors observed during a home interview. The results show the extent to which social class and cultural differences can be understood in terms of a participatory and democratic style of parent-child interaction. Social class and ethnicity were found to affect both, the way families communicate and the child's scholastic achievement. The findings also suggest that an early, family-oriented intervention develops a more active and participatory interaction style in low SES families. Path models were employed in examining the relation of the above style of family interaction and intellectual ability as assessed through standardized achievement test performance of white and black children in one of three experimental conditions. The results show that relationship to be explained largely by social class and ethnic background. Family communication style's effect on the child's intellectual performance is discussed in terms of verbal regulation theory, which views verbal interaction as influencing the child's cognitive development. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-06, Section: B, page: 2018. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-09, Section: B, page: 4520. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-09, Section: B, page: 4521. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-09, Section: B, page: 4523. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-10, Section: B, page: 5036. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

Attention problems have often been associated with learning disabled adolescents. However, in reviewing the literature with regard to attention problems and learning disabled adolescents, it became apparent that there is confusion regarding the definition of attention and that research from neurophysiology was generally ignored. Research from neurophysiology suggests that the ability to engage in sustained attention is related to cortical maturity which is generally achieved between the ages of 12 to 15. Subsequently, the selective attention problem associated with learning disabled adolescents could in essence be a problem of sustained attention. / Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the respective performance of learning disabled and non-learning disabled adolescents on measures of sustained attention and cortical integrity. / The subjects for this study consisted of 60 learning disabled adolescents and 60 non-learning disabled adolescents. The subjects were between the ages of 16 and 19, enrolled in the Scranton Public School District, Scranton, Pennsylvania, for the 1987-88 school year. / The following research question was addressed: Can subjects be classified into learning disabled and non-learning disabled groups based on their respective performance on a task of sustained attention, cortical integrity, and the demographic variable of age. / To analyze the data, a two-group discriminative analysis was performed with four predictive variables in two outcome groups. Three of the four predictive variables were sufficiently robust to significantly discriminate between the two groups. / The discriminating function was found to differentiate between the two groups at.0000 level. The classification efficiency of this function was assessed through the classification of all subjects following the derivation of the function. The overall percent of correct classification was 82.5%. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-01, Section: B, page: 0450. / Major Professor: E. Jane Burkhead. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.