Recent research has demonstrated that vigorous exercise is effective in curbing subsequent inappropriate behavior of behaviorally disordered and autistic children of elementary through middle school levels (Evans, Evans, Schmid & Pennypacker, 1985; Kern, Koegel, Dyer, Blew, & Fenton, 1982). The research described in this dissertation examined effects of vigorous exercise on behavior in mildly handicapped preschool children served under the Emotionally Handicapped (EH) category. / Four subjects were selected for this study. They met the following criteria: (a) They were exceptional students receiving special education services in a pre-k EH classroom, but (b) had no physical impairments, and (c) received parental permission to participate. / The treatment entailed fifteen minutes of continuous vigorous exercise including jogging, jumping, hopping and other physical movements incorporated in an outdoor exercise trail. A paraprofessional conducted the exercise treatment. Three treatment conditions were compared: (a) no exercise--subjects participated in normally on-going classroom activities, (b) vigorous individual exercise and (c) vigorous group exercise. / A repeated measures multi-element baseline design (rapidly alternating treatments within subjects) (Barlow & Hersen, 1984; Sidman, 1960) was used to evaluate if a functional relationship exists between treatments and the subjects' behavior. The dependent measures, positive and negative social interactions, were directly observed daily via a partial interval recording system. Observation periods lasted 20 minutes and began exactly ten minutes after the treatment period had ended. Inter-rater reliability measures as well as procedural reliability on trainers were obtained. / The results of this research revealed the following. For one subject, solitary positive behavior decreased as a function of vigorous exercise conducted on a one-to-one basis with the paraprofessional. Although exercise appeared to differentially affect other behaviors, differences were not of great enough magnitude to substantiate a functional relationship between exercise and subsequent behavior of preschool children with behavior problems. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-03, Section: A, page: 0664. / Major Professor: Mark A. Koorland. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_77976 |
| Contributors | Vail, Cynthia Ogden., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 233 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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