Thesis (M.A.)--Marshall University, 2001. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 25 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 16-18).

Thesis (M.A.)--Marshall University, 2001. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains 32 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 22-26).

ABSTRACT Introduction. Research from the early 1980s indicates that there are different neurodevelopmental differences between methadone-exposed and non-exposed infants. However, the extent to which these difficulties translate to later problems in the domain areas of physical health, social-emotional adjustment, approaches to learning, language, and cognition for children born to mothers maintained on methadone during pregnancy, is largely unknown. Accordingly, this research aimed to compare school readiness outcomes between children prenatally exposed to methadone and comparison children at age 4.5 years across five key developmental domains. A secondary aim was to assess the impact of known neonatal, and socio-familial risk factors associated with this population on school readiness outcomes of methadone-exposed children at age 4.5 years. Research Methods. Sixty seven children born to mothers maintained on methadone and 81 comparison children were followed prospectively from birth to age 4.5 years. At age 4.5 years, all children underwent a comprehensive school readiness assessment of health and physical development; social-emotional skills; approaches to learning; language; and cognition. A score < 1SD below the comparison group mean was used to classify children as unready in any one domain. Measures of socio-familial risk were collated from aspects of the maternal interview at the term assessments, based on risk indices used in the research of other at-risk populations. Results. Methadone-exposed children performed worse than comparison children across all school readiness domains. They also had higher odds of being classed as “unready” in each school readiness domain, relative to the control group. They were also iii more likely to have multiple readiness problems (p =<.0001). The most common pattern of comorbidity identified, was among children classified as unready in terms of cognition and general knowledge. However, after controlling for confounding and selection factors, methadone-exposure was not significantly associated with school readiness at age 4.5 years. Maternal smoking during pregnancy, maternal benzodiazepine use during pregnancy, and socio-familial risk were significant covariates of low school readiness at age 4.5 years, independent of group. Discussion. By age 4.5 years, a larger proportion of methadone-exposed than control children were experiencing school readiness difficulties across five key developmental domains. Prenatal methadone exposure alone was not a sufficient explanation for these problems. Findings suggest that readiness outcomes were largely explained by a range of confounding and selection factors, including the extent of socio-familial risk, and poly-drug use during pregnancy. The results raise concerns for the later school performance of methadone-exposed children and emphasise the importance of early and targeted intervention services prior to school entry for this population.

This study investigated domains within the tasks of ordination, cardination and natural number. In addition, it examined the sequencing of the development of established domains between ordination, cardination and natural number. One hundred and forty-eight children were individually given a test designed to ascertain the presence of arithmetic related skills. The task of cardination was designed to detect the ability to associate numbers with sets containing a group of elements ranging from one to five. The task of ordination was designed to detect the ability to associate a number with a relative position within a group of ordered objects. The task of natural number assessed children's ability to add numbers with a sum equal to five or less. Latent structure analysis was used to analyze the results. Four different models were used in order to establish domains within each task. The four models that were used tested independence, equiprobability, ordered relations and asymmetrical equivalence. The results showed two domains for cardination. One item in a set constituted one domain while three and five items in a set constituted a second domain. The domain for ordination included relative positions one, three and five. In regards to natural number, the results showed a permeable domain. There was some indication of ordering but it was not strong enough to yield separate domains. The same models were then used to compare across the different tasks. The results showed that the easiest cardination domain developed before ordination and natural number. The results also showed that the ordination task was equivalent to one of the natural number tasks. All of the other comparisons between cardination, ordination and natural number yielded asymmetrically equivalent relations. That is, there was an ordering but the ordering was not strong enough to establish separate domains.

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Auburn University, 2005. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (ℓ. 54-62)

Research paper (M.A.) -- Cardinal Stritch College -- Milwaukee, 1971. / A research paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Education (Reading Specialist). Includes bibliographical references (p. 20-41).

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Liberty University School of Education, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.