Based on the survey results of 150 South Korea toddler caregivers about training needs, I developed a relationship-based approach for a toddler caregiver training program. The training program was modified using suggestions provided by 6 South Korean professors, who were asked to review the program. Survey findings revealed that: (a) All participants (toddler caregivers) perceived that it is necessary for caregivers to attend training. However, most (72.2%) found that it was difficult to attend training programs more than 1 time per year because it was hard to find a substitute teacher (64%). Participants desired to attend training programs on toddler care because of the lack of in-service education (26%), curriculum (24%), and training programs (15.3%); (b) Caregivers who had the third-degree caregiver certification preferred to learn parent education more than child development. However, caregivers who had a higher degree of caregiver certification preferred to learn child development more than parent education; and (c) Caregivers who had more than 5 years of teaching experience preferred to learn about the teacher's role more than caregivers who had fewer than 4 years of teaching experience. Future studies need to evaluate the effect of this relationship-based training program for toddler caregivers in relation to improvement in the quality of child care and interaction between caregivers and toddlers. A large-scale study would increase the generalizability of research findings. A larger sample size from different cities in South Korea and random sampling would generate more reliable findings.

Social deficits are one of the defining symptoms of autism spectrum disorder and affect a child’s ability to build relationships with others. These deficits put children with autism at a disadvantage when most of their world is focused on building connections with others – family, friendships, and community ties. Sunny Starts, a service-learning project, was created to specifically meet the needs of families with young toddlers with autism. The primary focus of Sunny Starts is to enhance the quality of the parent-child relationship by teaching parents a basic teaching interaction and to arrange the child’s environment in ways that are mutually reinforcing. The purpose of this experiment is to study the effects of the Sunny Starts DANCE training package, a responsive parent training program, on three levels of parent and child behaviors: 1) teaching episodes, 2) turn taking, social attending, vocal requests, and 3) synchronous engagement. Participants included two parent-child dyads. Parent training included 5-minute video assessments, video review, descriptions, rationales, modeling, practice, and feedback. The effects of the parent training were evaluated using a concurrent multiple baseline across participants. Results indicate parent teaching episodes and child behaviors (turn taking, social attending, and verbal requests) increased during the intervention phase. The duration of parent-child synchronous engagement maintained at high levels and slightly increased.

This study utilized ethnomethodology to provide a description of the process and the effect of training counselors to incorporate the concepts and techniques of Individual Psychology into play therapy. Transcripts of the training program and of three individual interviews with the nine counselors who participated in the training were made. These transcripts and the journals in which the subjects were asked to chronicle their personal experiences and reactions to the training were qualitatively analyzed. This analysis indicated that most of the subjects reported that their attitudes toward play therapy, toward themselves as play therapists, and toward their play therapy clients had changed after their participation in the Adlerian play therapy training. The majority of subjects also reported that they perceived that their behavior in their play therapy sessions had changed, frequently in the direction of including more creative and active techniques. Qualitative analysis of the transcripts made from videotaped play therapy sessions by the researcher and an outside evaluator indicated that, while some of the counselors' behaviors seemed to have changed after the training, many of the counselors' behaviors did not appear to have been affected by their participation in the training. Possible explanations of the discrepancy between the counselors' perceptions of their behavior and the researcher's and outside evaluator's perceptions of the counselors' behaviors were discussed. Other areas considered as worthy of in-depth examination were: (a) possible influences on the changes in the counselors' attitudes toward play therapy, toward themselves as play therapists, and toward their play therapy clients; (b) several factors involved in training counselor education students; (c) elements which may have affected the counselors' receptivity to learning a new method of conducting play therapy; (d) implications for the future adaptation of the Adlerian play therapy training program; and (f) potential avenues for future research.

Title: The development of flexibility and its influence on sports training of judo Objectives: Analysis of the influence of flexibility in sports performance in judo and its appropriate methods of development. Methods: The diploma thesis was processed as a descriptive-analytical work in the form of a critical literary resource search. Results: Based on the literature search, it was found that judo in the main part of the training unit leads to the development of flexibility. It influences the speed of execution of the technique and improves sports performance. Flexibility can be amplified not only by the traditional stretching method, bud also by strength training. However, this is not the case with the development of maximum strength. There is no established test in testing methodology for evaluating flexibility. Keywords: Judo, flexibility, sports performance, resistance training, motor testing, literary research

This paper addresses the idea that the successful of mathematics reform demands the support of the full educational community including school principals, parents, and students. One of the most important group that affect mathematics reform is school principals. A project related to modifying UAE principals’ perceptions of mathematics is presented. This project consists three steps. In the first step, principals’ perceptions of the nature of Mathematics and its learning and teaching were examined. Results showed that those principals possess many improper perceptions related to Mathematics. In the second step, a professional training program for promoting school principals\'' understanding of the new vision of teaching and learning mathematics has developed. This training program comprises two integrated phases: Clarification and conviction, and implementations for principal’s role. It includes a package of paper documents, videotapes, discussion sessions, and group and individual activities. In the third step, the training program is applied on eight principals in UAE. An initial analysis of the qualitative data showed many positive improvements in principals’ perceptions of mathematics education.

Organizational leaders know that training improves worker performance, but training is often initiated without considering employees' work task requirements. This instrumental case study was conducted to understand the perceptions of employees who completed a skills training program and those of supervisors. The conceptual framework was andragogy, emphasizing self-efficacy and self-direction, motivation, and goal setting for adult learners. The guiding questions addressed the perceptions of employees about their self-directed participation in the skills training program and its relationship to work tasks and supervisors' perceptions of employees' participation in that program. Semi-structured interviews with 8 individual employees and a focus group with 5 supervisors were conducted to discover those perceptions. All study participants found the training program to be generally beneficial, but some findings were unexpected. Employees expressed disappointment that anticipated promotion opportunities did not result from completing the program. Supervisors stressed that the high organizational operations tempo prevented employees from performing what they learned in the program. The findings led to the proposal of an instructor development program for the study site with the intent of improving instructor abilities to create more effective training. Through the program, instructors would increase knowledge and skills in instructional and design skills. Through a performance-based mindset that focuses on whether the training participant has improved in trained work tasks, instructors would be enabled to better prepare employees to succeed in work tasks and career goals and provide leaders with the information and products that they require.

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Foreign-trained healthcare professionals consist of a sizable and important portion of the United States healthcare workforce (Chen et al., 2013; Farkas, 2003; Lowell, 2012). Foreign-trained healthcare workers often encounter various challenges in acclimating and integrating into the American society and workforce. Even though foreign-trained occupational therapists are considered essential, and their difficulties in adjusting are well-recognized, there are very limited bridging and training programs designated solely for this population that incorporate a comprehensive approach and meets their unique needs. Therefore, this doctoral project aimed to understand the barriers to integrating into the local workforce and proposed ways for supporting these highly- educated and experienced professionals in their new country. The resulting solution is A Bright Future Ahead, an online educational and vocational program designed for new foreign occupational therapists. The program’s content and structure are based on existing programs for adjacent health professionals while customizing the program’s layout and content to target occupational therapists. A Bright Future Ahead suggests a multi-layered solution that requires an enormous investment in the program’s development and implementation; however, this program can be expanded in the future to other professions that share similar professional credentialing processes and experience akin barriers.

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