Thesis Ph.D. -- University of Canberra, 2008. / Includes bibliography (p. 84-97) Also available online.

Thesis (EdD)-Open University.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Virginia Commonwealth University, 2009. / Prepared for: School of Education. Title from title-page of electronic thesis. Bibliography: leaves 118-123.

Thesis (D. Phil. Communication Pathology)--University of Pretoria, 2003. / Summary in English and Afrikaans. Includes bibliographical references.

Research incorporating behavior analysis to improve sports performance has shown that various feedback types (e.g., video feedback, public posting) can increase skills. Recently, auditory feedback has been shown to be effective. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the utility of auditory feedback to improve dance movements of children with disabilities using an ABAB design embedded in a multiple baseline across participants design. The target behaviors were fundamental dance skills, individualized to each student, and scored using a task analysis to calculate the percentage of correct steps. The results showed that auditory feedback was valuable in increasing the specific dance skill for each student. Although the skills decreased during the second baseline phase, the skills increased to their respective levels following treatment withdrawal.

The purpose of this study was to train teachers and peers to increase social interactions of children who had been identified as having a lack of social interactions in an inclusive preschool in Korea. Four children with disabilities were identified by teachers as lacking social interactions with peers and teachers, and were the focal subjects of the study. The focal children, four teachers, and four classes of peer children participated in two interventions, an initial training on naturalistic teaching strategies with teachers and a training on social skills with peer and focal children, and a combined intervention. A multiple probe design was employed to examine effects of the two interventions during free choice play periods. The four teachers were trained on naturalistic teaching strategies, and peers and focal children in each class participated in a training on social interactions for the first intervention phase. The second intervention was a combined intervention consisting of both naturalistic teaching strategies of teachers and a ‘group game’ in which peer children used social interaction skills with focal children. This study consisted of baseline I, training teachers and children with baseline II, the combined intervention, and the maintenance phase. The results of this study indicate that focal children’s mean percentage of social interactions with teachers and peers in free choice play periods increased from baseline I after the initial training with baseline II. The maintenance phase indicated that mean percentages of social interactions of focal children increased from the mean percentages of social interactions in baseline I. This study may contribute to issues of training teachers on naturalistic teaching strategies and children on social skill interactions in an inclusive preschool in Korea, and the United States, for promoting social interactions with children with disabilities. / text

This qualitative case study focuses on the efforts of the education staff at the Meadows Museum of Art as they planned and implemented INsights and OUTlooks – an inclusive educational program, meaning that it was designed for sighted and non-sighted visitors. Although this is an inclusive program, the study concentrates mostly on how it was designed to make art accessible to visitors with visual impairments. The researcher interviewed the staff in charge of leading the program, observed two program sessions, and attended staff meetings related to INsights and OUTlooks to gain a better understanding of how it functions. Current literature (Andrus, 1999; McGinnis, 2007) within the field of art education suggests that staff at art museums should adopt inclusive practices as they design programs and exhibitions. This study explores the process of creating such a program, the tools and approaches utilized to make art accessible to visitors with visual impairments, and the benefits of being inclusive. Research studies such as this one add to the existing but limited literature regarding inclusive programming in art museums. / text

The author examined the effect of personality traits and the buffering effect of social support on psychological well-being of primary school teachers in inclusive education in Hong Kong. A sample of 200 Chinese teachers was surveyed. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that neuroticism was highly correlated with and accounted for depression, anxiety, and burnout in our sample. Family support was found to have significant main effect on depression (R² = 48%, ΔR² = 3%), and anxiety (R² = 63%, ΔR² = 2%) when the main effects of neuroticism were partialled out. Significant moderating effect of family support on the relationship between neuroticism and depression was found. To further investigate the effect of marital status on this buffering model, hierarchical regression analysis was conducted with teachers who were married and those who were single, respectively. The analyses revealed significant main effects of neuroticism regardless of teachers’ marital status. Significant main effect of family support and interaction Neuroticism x Family Support were only found for married teachers. These findings have implications that family support was an important factor in mitigating psychological distress particularly for teachers who were married and reported high level of neuroticism. Interventions of enhancing family support and school support were discussed. / published_or_final_version / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Not available / text

As societies the world over move towards defining inclusive and effective education systems this presents the educator with the new challenge of providing an equal and democratic education environment for all students. With children the nature of functioning and environmental settings varies greatly in comparison with adults and assessing children’s involvement in activities is of particular importance to ensure effective and inclusive society building through education. Building on the existing and previous participation research this thesis specifically aims to provide a means to theorize participation from two perspectives (frequency of attending and intensity of involvement) and put in to operation using five dimensions of the environment: availability, accessibility, affordability, accommodability, and acceptability. Contextually this has been done by investigating children in need of additional support (including children with disabilities) at school. Results indicate that while research and theory take a holistic and balanced approach by using participation based on two perspectives, this has yet to filter down to practice. A new approach to measuring inclusive education using social capital, the five environmental dimensions, and the ICF-CY is proposed and tested. However, while the ICF-CY provides a consistent descriptive framework, no clear connections between social capital and inclusive education policy could be drawn and the five environmental dimensions – especially the involvement-related ones – need further development. The final paper presents evidence from the individual perspective for a third ICF-CY activities and participation qualifier to represent the subjective experience of involvement. Participation can thus be regarded as a multi-dimensional phenomenon with two main conceptual roots: sociology and developmental psychology. / MURINET project (Multidisciplinary Research Network on Health and Disability in Europe, European Commission project funded within the Sixth Framework Programme, MRTN-CT-2006-035794).