Author: kascetta@uoregon.edu

UPDATE: James Sinclair – School-based cognitive behavioral therapy curriculum on mental health and academic outcomes for adolescents with disabilities

Posted on by kascetta@uoregon.edu

-41. Researchers’ names: Doctoral Student James Sinclair PI, (jsinclai@uoregon.edu) ; Dissertation Chair Chris Murray (cjmurray@uoregon.edu)

2. Study Title: The effects of a school-based cognitive behavioral therapy curriculum on mental health and academic outcomes for adolescents with disabilities.

3. Phase of study: Data collection and analysis are complete. Currently, he is finishing writing up his dissertation.

4. Population or age group: High school students with disabilities

5. Summary: This study is for my dissertation, I am utilizing a group comparison design to see the effects of a self-developed curriculum on mental health outcomes. The curriculum is developed to teach students about internal locus of control, and how common mental health problems like depression and anxiety can impact relationships as well as their environments.

6. Opportunity for Participation: If you are interested in helping with this project, please contact James Sinclair (jsinclai@uoregon.edu), there will be opportunity to help with data collection. 

Tracy Jane Raulston – Play Date

Posted on by kascetta@uoregon.edu

Tracy_Raulston1. Researchers’ names: Doctoral Students Tracy Raulston, PI (tracyr@uoregon.edu), Sarah Hansen & Angus Kittleman; Faculty Advisor Wendy Machalicek (wmachali@uoregon.edu)

2. Study Title: Effects of Simulated Play Date on Parent Use of Strategies to Promote Social Skills in Children with Autism

3. Phase of study: Recruitment, follow-up, and data analysis as of Fall 2015.

4. Population or age group:Triads including children ages 3-7 with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), their parent, and a typically-developing peer.

5. Summary:This study employs a non-concurrent multiple baseline single case design to train parents of children with autism to uses strategies to promote social skills during a simulated play date. The intervention package consists of strategies to prevent challenging behavior (e.g., social story, visual supports), specific techniques (environmental arrangement and prompting) to increase turn taking and language during game play with a peer, and strategies to reinforce appropriate social skills. Generalization to the home setting is assessed to evaluate the efficacy of this clinic-based, simulated approach

6. Opportunity for Participation: Actively recruiting participants through the Pearl Duck Autism Center (PDAC). Email Tracy Raulston at tracyr@uoregon.edu for more information.

Rebecca Frantz: Father – Mediated Play Intervention

Posted on by kascetta@uoregon.edu

Rebecca Frantz

1. Researchers’ names: Doctoral Students Rebecca Frantz, PI (rfrantz@uoregon.edu), Sarah Hansen & Jake Mahon; Faculty Advisor Wendy Machalicek (wmachali@uoregon.edu)

2. Study Title: Father-Mediated Play Intervention

3. Phase of study: The IRB has been accepted, and they are currently recruiting participants as of Fall 2015.

4. Population or age group: Children with ASD ages 3-5 and limited play skills.

5. Summary:There is limited research about father involvement in interventions, despite research suggesting that fathers play a critical role in child development. This study will use a concurrent multiple baseline design across four father-child dyads to examine the effects of father-mediated play intervention on symbolic play skills and creativity of play in young children with ASD. Fathers will be taught to use naturalistic behavioral teaching strategies in the home environment to target child play skills. It is anticipated that fathers will be able to learn how to implement the naturalistic behavioral intervention with fidelity and there will be improvement in child play skills.

6. Opportunity for Participation: Assistance  with recruitment father-child dyads would be appreciated. Additionally, assistance with  coding parent and child behavior will be needed when the study begins.

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

Posted on by kascetta@uoregon.edu

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

Posted on by kascetta@uoregon.edu

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.

Welcome!

Posted on by kascetta@uoregon.edu

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Welcome Everyone!

The purpose of this blog is to create a central location to share the excellent research being conducted by the Special Education doctoral students at the University of Oregon.

The blog will be updated regularly; to keep current with all of the different research projects doctoral students are involved in.

We welcome you to reach out to any of the doctoral students or faculty to get more information about the current studies.