For many children with developmental disabilities, the everyday experiences of an inclusive preschool classroom are not enough to foster the adequate development of a tact repertoire, which consists of all the responses (tacts) that a speaker could emit in order to label environmental stimuli. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of using discrete-trial based embedded instruction for increasing the tact repertoires of four preschoolers with developmental delays and expressive language deficits. All four participants acquired tacts for common classroom items following the implementation of embedded instruction by teaching assistants. Students demonstrated acquired tacts to variable degrees during post-intervention probes. Based on student performances on probes, better learning outcomes resulted from embedding instruction into "planning" and "recall" times (small group instructional activities) than during the "worktime" (free play) period. Average percent correct on 1 wk post-intervention probes was 98% for planning items, 86% for recall items, and 63% for worktime items. Students obtained few, if any, of the control items that were not exposed to the intervention. Following training (task clarification, video modeling and criterion-based role-play), teaching assistants implemented instructional procedures with a high degree of fidelity (assistants averaged 94% correct implementation). Assistants later reported that they felt the instructional procedures were effective, easy to implement, and beneficial for this population of students. The results obtained have implications for early skill assessment, instructional design of preschool curriculums, and the professional development of educators. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Psychology in Partial Fulfillment of
the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2005. / March 25, 2005. / Verbal Behavior, Developmental Disabilities, Embedded Instruction, Preschool Education / Includes bibliographical references. / Jon Bailey, Professor Directing Dissertation; Bruce Thyer, Outside Committee Member; Joseph K. Torgesen, Committee Member; Jack Brigham, Committee Member; Mark Licht, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_175650 |
| Contributors | Barker, Mae R. (authoraut), Bailey, Jon (professor directing dissertation), Thyer, Bruce (outside committee member), Torgesen, Joseph K. (committee member), Brigham, Jack (committee member), Licht, Mark (committee member), Department of Psychology (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
Page generated in 0.0022 seconds