Sarah Hansen – Shared moments: a parent-mediated, play based, joint attention intervention

Sarah Hansen1. Researcher name: Doctoral Students Sarah Hansen, PI (sgh@uoregon.edu), Tracy Raulston, Rebecca Frantz; Wendy Machalicek, Faculty Advisor (wmachali@uoregon.edu)

2. Study Title: Shared moments: a parent-mediated, play based, joint attention intervention

3. Phase of Study: Intervention/data analysis

4. Population or age group: Children with ASD ages 3-6

 5. Summary: This is a single subject multiple-baseline design across parent-child dyads to see if  parents can be trained to successfully implement a naturalistic and behavioral joint attention intervention. Four parents intervened on response to joint attention behaviors in their young (3-5) children with ASD. Joint attention, or shared attention on an object or event with another person is a pivotal social communication skill often missed in children with ASD.

6. Opportunity for Participation: Not currently.

Ronda Fritz – Increasing Observation Efficiency to Improve Instructional Quality in Small Group Intervention Settings

Rhonda_Fritz1. Researcher name: Ronda Fritz, PI (rfritz@uoregon.edu); Faculty Advisor, Beth Harn (bharn@uoregon.edu)

2. Study Title: Increasing Observation Efficiency to Improve Instructional Quality in Small Group Intervention Settings

3. Phase of study: IRB submitted

4. Population or age group: Kindergarten students at-risk for reading difficulties

5. Summary: Using an observational tool (Quality of Intervention Delivery and Receipt: QIDR) designed at the University of Oregon for measuring instructional quality in small group intervention settings, this study will examine the extent to which the QIDR can be used to observe very short observation periods (i.e., six minutes) and still obtain a reliable and valid measure of instructional quality that is predictive of student outcomes. Given the nature of intensive interventions and the specificity of the observation tool, it is predicted that the QIDR can be used to effectively measure instructional quality to provide more frequent feedback to interventionists for the purpose of improving instructional quality and subsequent student outcomes.

6. Opportunity for Participation: Observers are still needed to code existing videos. Time requirements include CITI training, QIDR training (approximately 4-6 hours), and 2-3 hours of video observation and coding. Please contact Ronda (rfritz@uoregon.edu) if you are interested in participating. Training and coding should commence during Fall 2015.