Naturalistic behavioral interventions increase the acquisition, generalization, and maintenance of child social communication skills among children with developmental delays (DD). Teaching Assistants (TAs) are ideal interventionists for delivering social communication interventions because of the significant amount of time they spend working directly with children with DD in the preschool classroom. However, professional development for TAs is often inadequate and there has been a limited amount of research in this area. In addition, TAs are often working with more than one child at a time with varying skill levels, but no research has been conducted on the use of strategies with more than one child at a time. The current single-case research study addresses gaps in the literature by answering the following questions: (1) Is there a functional relation between coaching TAs to use EMT and increases in TA’s fidelity of implementation of EMT with a child dyad?; (2) Is there a functional relation between TA’s use of EMT and increases in child social communication skills?; and (3) Are TAs able to generalize the use of EMT across students with varying social communication skills and goals? Results suggest coaching TAs contributes to increases in fidelity of implementation of EMT strategies and subsequent increases in child social communication skills. TAs were able to generalize the use of EMT across students.

The current study used a quasi-experimental comparison group pre/post-test design to examine the effectiveness of the Language and Play Everyday (LAPE) program for improving EI/ECSE practitioners’ knowledge, use of, and confidence in using Caregiver Implemented-Naturalistic Communication Interventions (CI-NCIs). Participants included 20 EI/ECSE practitioners across IDEA-related disciplines, eight with prior LAPE experience. 10 practitioners took part in a new, more intensive LAPE program, and 10 did not. Analysis of pre/post-questionnaires revealed that practitioners with prior LAPE experience reported significantly higher use of CI-NCI skills and mean self-efficacy ratings than those without LAPE experience. Practitioners who participated in the new, more intensive program used significantly more skills and scored significantly better on a knowledge test than those who did not participate, even when controlling for prior LAPE experience. These findings indicate that the LAPE program is a promising model to train EI/ECSE practitioners across disciplines in CI-NCIs.

The aim of this dissertation is to present the criticism of Hare to ethical theories who commit the "naturalistic fallacy". These theories, according to the author, search for a "definition" of value words - words that underpin the majority of moral theories. Hare doubts the possibility of a definition of words like "good", "right, "fair", because he believes that such terms are used to recommend, or not, certain acts, to judge certain acts. In order to examine this fallacy, the author proposes the logical study of value words involved in moral judgments, seeking, reflexively, to clarify the role of words like "good" within the moral discourse. The discussion of the Harean metaethics is divided in three chapters. The first deals with the origin of the term "naturalistic fallacy", expressed initially by Moore, where the author firms its position on the undefinability of "good" and exposes the fallacy committed in the identification of good with natural objects. This chapter has, also, an analysis of the relationship between the definitional problem proposed by Moore and the inference problem of the "Law of Hume." The second chapter is a critique of Hare to naturalistic theories and his defense of the applicability of logic to moral discourse - which he believes is essentially prescriptive - through a review of sentences. In the third chapter criticisms to the vision of Hare on the naturalist theories are exposed, and an analysis of these criticisms is elaborated. After this presentation of the subject, I conclude that Hare has good reason to reject naturalism. / Este trabalho tem por objetivo apresentar a crítica de Hare às teorias éticas que cometem a chamada falácia naturalista . Estas teorias, segundo o autor, buscam uma definição para as palavras de valor palavras que alicerçam a maioria das teorias morais. Hare duvida da possibilidade de definição de palavras como bom , certo , justo , pois acredita que tais termos são usados para recomendar, ou não, certas atitudes, para julgar certos atos. Para analisar esta falácia, o autor propõe o estudo lógico das palavras de valor envolvidas nos julgamentos morais, procurando, reflexivamente, esclarecer o papel de palavras como bom dentro do discurso moral. A discussão da proposta metaética hareana está dividida, neste trabalho, em três capítulos. O primeiro trata da origem do termo falácia naturalista , expresso inicialmente por Moore, onde este firma sua posição sobre a indefinibilidade do termo bom e sobre a falácia cometida ao identificá-lo com objetos naturais. Ainda neste capítulo há uma análise da relação ente o problema definicional proposto por Moore e o problema inferencial da Lei de Hume . No segundo capítulo está a crítica de Hare às teorias naturalistas e sua defesa da aplicabilidade da lógica ao discurso moral que ele acredita ser essencialmente prescritivo através de uma reformulação de sentenças. No terceiro capítulo estão expostas as críticas feitas à visão hareana das teorias naturalistas, bem como uma análise destas críticas. Esta breve apresentação do tema permite chegar ao entendimento que Hare tem boas razões para rejeitar o naturalismo.

This study examined the relationship between emergent imitation skills and social communication skills in 15 to 18 month old infants, using a quantitative correlational research design. Imitation skills are an index of later social cognition and language development, and a critical mechanism in language learning for typically developing children. Social communication skills in this age predict later language skills. The relationship between imitation and social communication is poorly understood in infants. This study looked at the relationship between imitation and social communication at their emergence. This study included 30 typically developing infants, whose participation was volunteered by their parents. They were recruited through posters and word-of-mouth in communities in the Pacific Northwest. Infants’ imitation behaviors were measured using the Motor Imitation Scale (Stone, Ousley, & Littleford, 1997), and their social communication skills were measured using the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales- Developmental Profile (Wetherby & Prizant, 2002). This study used a naturalistic observation model so the one-hour play sessions took place in the infants' homes. Sessions were digitally recorded for later scoring and analysis. This study demonstrated a concurrent and predictive relationship between imitation and language understanding in this age group. The study suggests that imitation is an important variable in early language acquisition that needs further study, and needs to be addressed when assessing prelinguistic child development. The study suggests that imitation skills should be fostered early on and provides evidence-based methods for facilitating imitation and language development. / Graduate / 0525 / 0518 / 0620 / 0460 / lhanika@uvic.ca

The purpose of this study was to provide training to peer tutors in order to teach students with severe intellectual disability to initiate communication to obtain preferred objects. A multiple probe (days) across students was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the peer implementing a naturalistic time delay to teach the communication skill. Two of the four students were able to initiate communications with the peer tutors to use objects they preferred. One student showed increasing in responding prior to the implementation of the intervention. The results showed that the peers were able to maintain the instructional procedures to teach the skill.

With accountability on the rise, educators are changing their focus to optimizing instructional strategies in the classroom. Their job performance depends upon their ability to show progress on child outcomes. One way teachers advance this process is by executing more evidence-based practices in their classroom. There is a lack of research in early childhood that report treatment integrity of the treatment package. This study utilized a multicomponent coaching intervention to increasing treatment fidelity of teacher implementation of naturalistic teaching strategies in an early childhood classroom. This coaching intervention could prove to be more efficient and practical for educators. This study added to the external validity and generalization of the findings in an early childhood classroom by using one-two year old children with social communication delays. This study found a functional relationship between training early childhood teachers through a multicomponent coaching intervention and the increase in treatment fidelity of implementing naturalistic teaching strategies with children with communication delays. The percentage of child responses per opportunity increased once the teachers implemented the strategies.

Ce travail de thèse s’intéresse à comprendre comment un individu expert se comporte dans une situation de crise sur-Médiatisée. Pour ce faire, nous inscrirons notre recherche dans l’approche naturaliste de la décision dans laquelle, le contexte joue un rôle essentiel. Dans notre cas, nous avons choisi celui des crises sur-Médiatisées. En effet, depuis quelques années, la sur-Médiatisation nous apparaît être un facteur inédit qu’il convient d’analyser de manière rigoureuse. L’intérêt sera double. Du point de vue théorique, il s’agira d’observer les effets de la sur-Médiatisation sur le comportement des experts, et ainsi d’enrichir l’approche naturaliste. Du point de vue managérial, nous proposons une méthode de formation pour les experts confrontés à ce contexte d’actualité. Notre thèse se fonde sur une méthodologie qualitative visant à analyser deux situations extrêmes. La première porte sur le cas de pilotes de l’aviation légère de l'armée de terre et la seconde sur celui de restaurateurs de l’hôtellerie-Restauration. Dans tout contexte de crise, les individus experts peuvent être initiateurs ou suivre les décisions prises par d’autres experts confrontés au même problème. Dans le cas de situation de crise sur-Médiatisée, nos résultats révèlent un taux très élevé de suiveurs de décision. Il y a donc là un comportement paradoxal : les experts se focalisent sur les décisions de leurs homologues plutôt que sur le contenu intrinsèque du problème et n’utilisent que peu leur expérience. Nous estimons alors que les experts se comportent comme des novices, c’est-À-Dire, des décideurs sans expérience. Finalement, nous soulignons l’intérêt de former les experts aux situations de crise sur-Médiatisée pour les aider à surmonter ce nouveau défi. / This thesis is interested in understanding on how an expert behaves in a mass communication situation crisis. To attain this objective, we use the naturalistic decision making approach in which the context plays an essential role. In our case, we used the mass communication situation crisis. In fact, since couple of years ago, mass communication in an unusual important factor that is convenient to analyze in a rigorous way. The benefit will be double. From a theoretical point of view, the aim is to observe the effects of the mass communication on the expert’s behaviors and in this way to reinforce the naturalistic approach. From a managerial point of view, we propose a learning method for the experts that face this context of actuality. This thesis is based on a qualitative methodology is order to analyze two extreme situations. The first one is the case of the hotel’s restaurant. In any crisis situation, experts can be leaders or followers: they follow the decision taken by other experts confronted to the same problem. In the case of a mass communication crisis situation, results reveal a higher percentage of followers. This shows a paradoxical behavior. Experts focus on the decision of their peers rather than on the content of the problem and use very low percentage of their own experience. Therefore, we estimate that an expert’s behavior is similar to a novice. Finally, we underline the importance of forming experts to mass communication crisis situations to help them overcome this challenge.

Behavior analysts have proposed a primary measure, the "learn unit," to evaluate educational effectiveness. Past research has indicated this is a useful approach. The benefits of "learn units" may also apply to family interventions in autism. The current analysis evaluated the rates of learn units in a naturalistic parent-training program to determine if (1) definitions of learn units previously described in the literature can be reliably applied to family interventions and (2) an increased number of learn units correlate with increased child responding and attainment of child and family goals. Results from the current analysis demonstrated that the rate of learn units increased from baseline to training for all parent-child dyads and the percent of correct child responses increased for all children. Teaching parents the components of effective education may increase the quantity and quality of interventions for children diagnosed with autism.

The prevalence of Alcohol Use Disorders is rapidly increasing among college students. The use of real time monitoring in conjunction with contingency management procedures to reduce alcohol consumption has only recently been developed. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to learn more about natural patterns of alcohol consumption in college-aged adults. A second goal was to evaluate a novel, handheld technology for obtaining reliable samples over extended time periods. College students were given a SoberLinkTM SL2 breathalyzer for eight weeks to monitor their drinking behaviors and asked to self-report the number of drinks consumed each day. Participants received one to three text messages per day to provide breath samples and earned monetary rewards for submitting samples within the allotted time. The results of this study showed that college students tend to consume alcohol during the evening hours and mostly on the weekends. There was a weak to medium correlation between average breath alcohol concentration and conditional average drinks. Compliance with prompts ranged between 77 and 84 percent and monetary earnings ranged between $152 and $160. Naturalistic observations of college drinking may aid in the development of interventions to prevent excessive drinking and the SL2 breathalyzer may have great potential to be used in a number of therapeutic approaches.

Den här studien handlar om hur svenska officerare fattar sina beslut i dynamiska situationer, det vill säga situationer som bland annat präglas av stress, oklarheter och tidspress. Även frågor kring vad som bygger förmågan till att fatta dylika beslut och hur till exempel gruppen och ledarskapet påverkar beslutsfattandet studeras. Det tycks finnas motsättningar gällande frågan om beslut fattas på ett rationellt och analytiskt sätt eller om det sker på ett intuitivt vis. Syftet med uppsatsen är att studera hur svenska officerare fattar beslut i dynamiska situationer och vad det kan innebära för deras utbildning och utveckling. Frågan studeras genom sammanlagt femton intervjuer med erfarna svenska officerare och officerskadetter och i studien har en tematisk analys med en induktiv ansats använts. Studiens resultat tyder på att det militära beslutsfattandet i dynamiska situationer kan förklaras med två teman: a) individuella och b) strukturella faktorer. Individuella faktorer handlar bland annat om intuitivt beslutsfattande, ledarskap och gruppdynamik medan strukturella faktorer avser erfarenhet och utbildning. Resultaten bekräftar teorier om att det intuitiva beslutsfattandet förutsätter att officeren är erfaren och har en hög nivå av expertis. En expertis och erfarenhet som genom år av träning har skapat en minnesbank som medger igenkänning eller mönsterförståelse i många militära dynamiska situationer. Med resultaten i åtanke diskuteras slutligen huruvida den inslagna vägen för att forma morgondagens officerare och högre officerare är den mest produktiva.