Bachelor of Science (BS), Ohio University, 2013, Hearing, Speech and Language Science

The role of event knowledge and parent input in early language acquisition was investigated in the current project. Event related language and tense were used as measures of language development and parental input. Eleven typically developing children and four children with language impairment, each group an average of about four years of age, were observed during play sessions with one of their parents over a five week period. Each play session consisted of an event context and a novel context. These contexts were created with toys, with the event context consisting of the same toy each session. The novel context consisted of a new toy each session, to be used as a control. The pattern of results suggests that parent input and event knowledge do effect the development of language seen in the children. However, the extent to which each measure affects language development has yet to be determined, and each child's response is variable as language itself is variable. Clinical implications and future directions are discussed.

Committee: Joann Benigno (Advisor) Subjects: Speech Therapy

Bachelor of Arts, Ohio University, 2022, Political Science

Girls in developing countries face many barriers when it comes to obtaining an education. These girls face economic, cultural, and health and safety barriers that decrease their rates of enrollment and attendance. Many of these barriers that exists within these countries have been acknowledged by institutions like the United Nations and the World Bank and have been challenged by the introduction of policies. This thesis aims to analyze these barriers, the policies that are in place to mitigate them, and introduce policy recommendations. The barriers that girls face in education systems are, but not limited to, child marriages, poor infrastructures, school-related gender-based violence, poverty, national crises, and language barriers. While these challenges remain in certain nations, this thesis will also highlight the barriers and the progress that has been made as a result of policy implementation within a country's education system.

Committee: James Mosher (Advisor) Subjects: Political Science

Doctor of Education, Miami University, 2020, Educational Leadership

The purpose of this study was to examine teacher-child interactions and dialogue to identify instructional practices that support and promote oral language skills in five and six-year-old children within a socio-cognitive constructivist paradigm. Through analysis of specific instructional practices within the social context of the classroom, this study examined the connections between creating intentional dialogue and interaction between teachers and children and the development of early literacy skills. The central research question was created to identify these instructional practices through participant observation and reflective dialogue. This qualitative, participant-observation study, using a qualitative, reflective inquiry approach to collect, reflect upon, and interpret the data, investigated the social interactions between teachers and students as they promote oral language development and ongoing literacy development that is impacted both culturally and linguistically. The study was conducted in the 2019-2020 school year at a suburban, public school district in kindergarten and first grade classrooms. The instructional strategies identified by this study were aimed at supporting the growth and development of oral language in five and six-year-olds. Four themes emerged: questioning, conversation, culture, and connection. These four themes, woven together, show specific and targeted instructional practices that teachers in early childhood classrooms use to develop oral language. Grounding the four themes were two theoretical underpinnings from the socio cognitive theoretical framework: modeling language and building on diverse strengths.

Committee: Lucian Szlizewski, (Advisor); Kathleen Knight Abowitz (Committee Member); Nathaniel Bryan (Committee Member) Subjects: Early Childhood Education; Educational Leadership; Educational Sociology; Instructional Design; Language; Literacy; Reading Instruction; Teacher Education

Psy. D., Antioch University, 2017, Antioch Seattle: Clinical Psychology

Infants speak in their own language; sounds, screeches, cries, and howls that help them to communicate their caregiving needs. Unaware, parents may develop a checklist of caregiving approaches to the baby. The infant tells the adult directly what they need, and waits for the parent to respond. Infant talk may change from soft and quiet to loud and aggressive; coos and cries become crying and screams as the infant's caregiver—communicating the intensity of emotion, urgency of their request, or their frustration with varied and sometimes inadequate, failed, or missing caregiving patterns the infant has no choice but to accept. When the caregiver's response is slow, missing, irrelevant, inconsistent, or incorrect, the infant's level of stress increases. Stressed themselves, frustrated, and confused, parents and caregivers may neglect the child, or respond with abuse. According to the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (2006), abuse and neglect have lasting effects on the child's development. Parents and caregivers of an infant need support. The purpose of this Attune With Baby Intervention is to teach parents and caregivers infant language so they hear, more quickly understand the infant's request, and respond appropriately, coordinating care with the infant before the infant and caregiver become stressed. Parents and caregivers attune with infant in the context of a family support program encompassing training, support, developmental assessment, referrals and connection to community resources, and other families. The program is implemented, developed, and evaluated by psychologists and doctoral students in psychology.

Committee: William Heusler Psy. D. (Committee Chair); Sheldon Berger Ph. D. (Committee Member); Melissa Curran Ph. D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Psychology; Developmental Psychology; Early Childhood Education; Language; Linguistics; Personal Relationships; Psychology; Psychotherapy; Social Psychology; Social Research; Social Work; Sociolinguistics

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2017, Curriculum and Instruction: Special Education

Often children with disabilities have difficulty engaging in tasks and may display off-task behaviors. Children learn best when they are interested in a topic. This generalized learning is more meaningful than memorization of facts (McWilliam & Casey, 2008). When engagement time is increased, children often display higher cognitive skills and more appropriate social and behavioral skills (McWilliam & Casey, 2008). The use of naturalistic interventions and child initiated activities have been shown to improve children's level of engagement. This study determined how the duration and level of engagement was affected when teachers paired interest materials in the dramatic play center with teacher facilitation, defined as priming using nonfiction literature, implementing topic-related play materials, and suggesting how to play in the center. Three preschool children with speech and language disabilities along with their teachers from three classrooms participated. The children's interests were determined by parent interviews, interest inventories, and systematic classroom observations. The early childhood teachers provided facilitation by reading a nonfiction book about the child's topic of interest, embedding related play materials, and suggesting how children should take on play roles in the dramatic play center. The children's time on task and engagement levels were measured. A multiple baseline design was used across the three classrooms to determine the effectiveness of the intervention.

Committee: Laurie Dinnebeil (Committee Chair); Joan Kaderavek (Committee Member); William McInerney (Committee Member); Ruslan Slutsky (Committee Member) Subjects: Early Childhood Education; Education; Special Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1985, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1985, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1973, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1971, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Education

Psy. D., Antioch University, 2015, Antioch New England: Clinical Psychology

This dissertation evaluated archival data from the implementation of a child-centered approach to play therapy with a young girl diagnosed with autism. Goals of treatment included promoting spontaneous symbolic play and increasing verbal communication skills. Young children with autism who engage in early intervention often receive behavioral interventions, such as applied behavior analysis (ABA), on a regular basis. However, the use of child-centered play therapy as an intervention is not as common, as play is frequently viewed as being a deficiency for children with autism. In psychological theory, play is often regarded as a child's work, and his or her primary mode of communication. Play, of any type, is vital for the healthy development of all children. Through a review of the literature, the importance of play interventions for children with autism is argued. Next, the use of child-centered play therapy with the goal of enhancing both spontaneous symbolic play and functional language for children with autism is examined. Methods for how the intervention was implemented and evaluated will be described. The results of the coded sessions are reviewed and explored. Results are then discussed through a traditional narrative case study method, highlighted by examples that occurred during therapy sessions. Information from an interview with the parents is narrated to illustrate their perspective on the implementation of the intervention, as well as their own experiences with the diagnosis. Limitations and challenges to the research are explored, followed by recommendations for future research. Finally, who should receive this type of intervention as well as when CCPT should be considered is discussed.

Committee: Kathi Borden PhD (Committee Chair); Gina Pasquale PsyD (Committee Member); William Slammon PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 0, Psychology

Through play, children develop core cognitive, problem solving, motor, social, linguistic, and emotional skills. Parent-child play has become an essential assessment and treatment tool in clinical practice, yet the content, critical factors, and diagnostic utility of available measures have not been empirically evaluated. This study aimed to assess the construct validity of parent-child play characteristics across three distinct measures, evaluate the diagnostic utility of the measures, and determine whether parent, child, or combined parent-child play assessment is most beneficial for differentiating developmentally disabled groups. Findings revealed strong construct validity across the PCPS, DPICS-III, and MBRS/CBRS. The DPICS-III was found to be the most diagnostically predictive parent-child play measure, although each parent-child play measure was found to be successful when discriminating between specific diagnostic populations. The addition of parent-child play measures to a standard diagnostic assessment battery was found to increase diagnostic prediction by 7%. Finally, a child-focused set of variables, followed by a dyad set of variables, was the most diagnostically predictive.

Committee: Elizabeth Short (Advisor) Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2013, EDU Teaching and Learning

Today, reading with infants has taken on a whole new meaning and place in homes and care facilities throughout the world in the form of electronic readers. These e-readers, or e-books, provide opportunities for infants to engage in "textual experiences" without the use of a "traditional" book. Some parent groups and organizations maintain that infants do not reap benefits from electronics; favoring human interaction and unstructured play to enhance development. Some believe that electronics may actually be changing the way babies' brains develop, and others recognize that many babies of the 21st century are already connected to technology through their parents, and that electronic books can be used as learning tools to potentially enhance development. I chose to work with three babies (aged 0-12 months) and two of their teachers, at a child development center in the South. The purpose of the study was to describe their behaviors, gestures, vocalizations and other actions as babies engaged with adult teachers who read aloud e-books and traditional books with them. While research has shown the effectiveness and importance of reading traditional books with babies and toddlers, no attention, at this time, has been paid to the responses of babies to electronic readers. A qualitative approach was used as I went into the babies' environment and observed the teachers reading a “traditional” book and electronic book with them once a week. While there, I took field notes and video of their reading processes and jotted down analytical memos in the field notes. The teachers also read with and documented their observations of the babies once a week. Member checks, or brief “check-ins” took place with the teachers throughout the study; both verbally, and through e-mail. My findings showed that the actual responses (behaviors, gestures, actions, etc.) from the babies when reading both electronic books and traditional books were very similar. In addition, the teacher participants i (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Barbara Kiefer PhD (Advisor); Barbara Lehman PhD (Committee Member); Evelyn Freeman PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Technology; Language; Literacy; Literature

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2001, Allied Health Sciences : Communication Sciences and Disorders

The purpose of this study was to obtain data from parents or caregivers on the first five words produced by their child. Thirteen infants' (C.A. 0:9 to 1:1) first five words were analyzed according to Clark's (1973) Asemantic feature hypothesis to determine whether a preferential hierarchy exists among various perceptual features including (e.g., shape, size, color, function, touch/texture ). The grammatical classification/content of the words was also evaluated in determining what grammatical categories were most frequently represented. Lastly, the communicative intent of the words was investigated to establish what communicative intents prevail in the use of infant=s first five words. Results indicated that no preferential hierarchy existed in relation to the most salient features in Clark's (1973) semantic feature hypothesis. The features real, abstract, shape, size, and function were most frequently represented. A Chi Square statistical analysis revealed no difference between the use of real or abstract words. Nominals were found to compose almost half of the total words produced with evidence of other categories being used including action words, adjectives, modifiers, and personal/social words. Lastly, it was determined that all communicative intentions studied were represented in subjects first five words excluding request for information . However, naming/labeling, social intents , and requests for objects predominated.

Committee: Dr. Nancy Creaghead (Advisor) Subjects: Health Sciences, Speech Pathology

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2001, Allied Health Sciences : Communication Sciences and Disorders

Although parent-professional agreement regarding children's developmental skill levels has been studied in the population of children with developmental delays, few attempts have been made to examine agreement of language developmental age level in children with Pervasive Developmental Disorder/Autism (PDD/Autism). Even fewer researchers have examined agreement at the re-evaluation when it can be speculated that the parent is more informed. In addition, agreement across specific language areas, and agreement across test environments and methods have not been examined. The purpose of this research was to evaluate parent-professional agreement regarding children's language skills at the re-evaluation, across specific language components, such as language understanding, production, and pragmatic skills; across settings, including clinical and non-clinical; and across testing methods, including standardized and non-standardized, when the diagnosis is PDD/Autism. Forty parents and their children with the diagnosis of PDD/Autism were re-evaluated in the clinic and in the special needs classroom of a children's hospital in a major Midwestern city. Data from the evaluations was analyzed using quantitative methods. Results of the study showed significant parent-professional difference in several areas and agreement in other areas. Parents rated their children's receptive, expressive, and total language skills higher than when the professional testing was completed with a standardized instrument, in a clinical setting. When specific receptive and expressive language skills were examined across two environments, parents agreed with the professional's standardized findings in the clinic, and non-standardized findings in the classroom, more than half of the time (closest agreement occurred between parent report and professional, standardized findings for specific receptive skills in the clinic). The parents reported less use of pragmatic language at home, and the professional ob (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dr. Jean Neils-Strunjas (Advisor) Subjects: Health Sciences, Speech Pathology

EdD, University of Cincinnati, 2008, Education : Special Education

This study described the communication and spoken language development of a Japanese girl with profound hearing loss who used a cochlear implant from 19 months of age. The girl, Akiko, was born in Belgium where her family was living at that time. After she was identified as deaf at birth, she and her parents were provided with support services. The family relocated to Japan when Akiko was 1 year 5 months of age. When she was 1 year 6 months of age Akiko underwent cochlear implantation. The cochlear implant device was activated when Akiko was 1 year 7 months of age. The parents routinely made video recordings of Akiko interacting with family members and teachers at home and at school. The video recordings taken by the parents used as the data for this study contained scenes of Akiko from the time she was 3 months of age until she was 4 years 11 months of age. Micro-ethnographic methods were used to analyze the dynamics and development of selected communicative interactions over this age span of fifty-six months. The original pool of video recordings provided for my dissertation study contained 213 scenes, as well as email exchanges with Akiko's mother, the webpage created by Akiko's mother, and an informal discussion with Akiko's parents during a joint viewing session of the 29 scenes, which were chosen for in depth analysis. As a result of video viewing and editing, Akiko's communication development was found to follow expected patterns of development as described by other child language researchers of children with normal hearing, such as, Elizabeth Bates and colleagues (e.g., Bates, 1974; Bates, Camaioni, Volterra, 1975) who applied, J.L. Austin's “speech act theory” as the foundation for their descriptions of “early communication development” of children. There were seven demarcations that represent Akiko's communication and spoken language development: 1) perlocutionary, 2) transition of perlocutionary to illocutionary, 3) illocutionary, 4) transition of illocu (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Richard Kretschmer EdD (Committee Chair); Laura Kretschmer PhD (Committee Member); Jo-Ann Prendeville EdD (Committee Member); Roberta Truax PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2003, Allied Health Sciences : Communication Sciences and Disorders

A pilot study examined caregivers' expectancies of their child's speech-language therapy prior to treatment. Specific caregiver and family characteristics (i.e. socioeconomic status, caregiver stress levels, and family status) were analyzed to determine if these predicted high or low expectancies of speech-language therapy. Because of the low number of participants (15 respondents), the present study is not representative to draw conclusions about caregiver expectancies. Likely due to the small sample number, the lack of participation of single and low income caregivers, and the absence of ethnic minority participants, a relationship between caregiver expectancies and socioeconomic status, family status, ethnic status, and parenting stress could not be determined. The results based on the small sample indicated that socioeconomic status, caregiver stress, and family status did not predict high or low expectancies. Despite the small sample, statistical significance was identified in caregivers' agreement to high expectancy statements and disagreement to low expectancy statements. Additional findings showed that 26.6% of the caregivers scored at a high total stress score. Within the group of the 26.6% that scored at a high total stress score, 75% scored at an even higher total stress score indicating clinically significant levels of stress. Overall, the findings have implications for the need to understand caregiver stress, the factors that influence caregiver stress, and its impact on intervention and treatment outcomes.

Committee: Dr. Angel Ball (Advisor) Subjects:

PHD, Kent State University, 2012, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Studies

This integration of aesthetic inquiry with single-case study design utilized a nexus of select curriculum study projects of critical theory (Apple, 2001; Ellsworth, 1994; Giroux, 1985; Freire, 1970/2000) and Bakhtin's (1968/1984) literary theory of carnival as theoretical lenses to explore the problem of decontextualized learning through a specific study of intertextual engagement in a particular homeschool setting. This study reviewed literature in critical theory, carnival, text, intertextuality, multimodality, and dialectics to examine intertextual connections in the literacy development of one child over 10 years. Drawing upon the tradition of parent/researcher literacy studies, this study explored intertextual connections as they naturally emerged over time. By positioning this study within the growing body of research of out-of-school literacies, this 10-year exploration allowed contextualizing intertextual interactions to be examined in the student's natural environment, evolving as an exploratory work in the “context of discovery” (Reichenbach, 1938). Using the constant comparative method of analysis (Glaser & Strauss, 1967), seven themes emerged: Intertextuality, Multimodality, Imitation, Questioning, Voice, Community, and Action. Further analysis of these emergent themes, using Eisner's (1976, 1998, 2002, 2004) “educational connoisseurship and criticism,” identified specific gateways (Play, Dialogue, Time, and Spiritual/Democratic Work) through which these emergent findings passed, ultimately leading to dynamic outcomes (Robust Chain Reactions). This study was significant in that intertextual connections appeared to strengthen connections between child and society; as the student's intertextual connections were valued in her educational environment, her efforts to value the life stories of those around her increased in tangible ways.

Committee: Dr. James G. Henderson PhD (Committee Chair); Dr. Danielle Gruhler PhD (Committee Member); Dr. Averil McClelland PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Curricula; Education; Educational Theory; Gifted Education; Literacy

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 2011, Communication Disorders/Speech-Language Pathology

Parents are strongly encouraged to read to their preschool children to facilitate language and literacy development. Book reading exposes children to new vocabulary, complex sentence structures, and a variety of story plots. Adequate exposure to these models requires the child to maintain joint attention during the book reading experience. Past research has shown that it is difficult for children with ASD to maintain joint attention, which could negatively affect parent-child book reading interactions. The current study examined the language use and joint attention of parents and children with and without ASD during book reading interactions. Six families participated in this study, which resulted in a total of six preschool-age children and 12 parents. Each parent was videotaped while reading an age-appropriate book to his or her child. Parents were instructed to read as they normally would. Following the book reading interaction, parents independently completed a literacy-based questionnaire. Videos were transcribed and analyzed for language use and joint attention. The questionnaires were informally analyzed to check for differences between the participant groups. During the book reading interactions, mothers and fathers of children with ASD produced a lower MLU-m, elicited less joint attention via verbal bids, and used a higher percentage of redirections and unrelated utterances. Parents of children with ASD were also found to delete words from the text more frequently than the parents of TD children. In addition, the children with ASD were found to respond to fewer questions and requests. Due to the small participant size, it is difficult to make any definitive conclusions based on the results of this study. However, this study did present meaningful differences between the participant groups, which causes one to question if the parent-child reading techniques suggested by the literature are enough for parents who read to their children with ASD. Future researc (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Lynne Hewitt PhD (Advisor); Lauren Katz PhD (Committee Member); Timothy Brackenbury PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Literacy; Speech Therapy