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General Course Catalog [2022/23 academic year]
Get PDFGeneral Course Catalog, 2022/23 academic yearhttps://repository.stcloudstate.edu/undergencat/1134/thumbnail.jp
Evolutionary Relationships of the Butterfishes and their Allies (Stromateoidei) and the Evolution of Symbiosis with Aquatic Invertebrates
Get PDFStromateoidei, the Butterfishes and their allies, are a suborder of marine fishes renowned for their diverse morphological specializations and life history adaptations where many of the taxa have symbiotic relationships with aquatic invertebrates. The hypothesized evolutionary relationships differ greatly amongst previous studies conducted with either morphological or molecular data. All six families—Centrolophidae, Stromateidae, Nomeidae, Ariommatidae, Amarsipidae, and Tetragonuridae—are known to engage in a symbiotic relationship with aquatic invertebrates. To estimate a novel hypothesis of evolutionary relationships of Stromateoidei, nuclear genome-scale ultraconserved element data was used to determine intrarelationships within this group. This resulted in a clade of four of the original families—Centrolophidae, Stromateidae, Nomeidae, and Ariommatidae—with the remaining two, Amarsipidae and Tetragonuridae, being the sister-group to Chiasmodontidae, the deep-sea swallower fishes within the Scombriformes. Using the evolutionary framework from Chapter 1, the ancestral character evolution of symbiosis with invertebrates was inferred, which identified three separate evolutions of symbiosis with Cnidarians within the Scombriformes, and once within the common ancestor of Stromateoidei (sensu this study which is restricted to Centrolophidae, Stromateidae, Nomeidae, and Ariommatidae). Symbiosis with Tunicates evolved once in a common ancestor of Tetragonuridae and Amarsipidae clade and within some specific species of Stromateoidei
The Eagle Nest Site An Examination of the Stone Tool Technological Organization During the Woodland Period in Central Minnesota
Get PDFThe Eagle Nest (21SH85) is a multicomponent Woodland period site located in Sherburne County, Minnesota. The site was first excavated in 2018 during St. Cloud State University’s summer field school. A number of artifacts were recovered as part of the survey, including lithic debitage, pottery, fire-cracked rock, and formal and flake tools. Several potential features were also noted which included hearths, a midden, and a living surface.
The primary goal of this research project was to attempt to develop an understanding of the lithic technological organization of the peoples who once occupied the Eagle Nest site by completing a morphological analysis of the lithic artifacts, a raw material analysis, a microwear analysis, and a spatial analysis of the site. Additional goals were aimed at determining the number of components within the site’s boundary and to determine the applicability of microwear analysis in the CRM setting, a field with budgetary and time constraints.
The results of the project indicate the Eagle nest was a multicomponent site occupied during the Transitional and Late Woodland periods, with some evidence of an earlier occupation. Peoples occupying the site used a variety of local, non-local, and exotic materials to manufacture both expedient and curated tools. Results indicated both marginal and non-marginal flaking occurred on the site, and there was a heavy reliance on flake tools. The results of the microwear analysis indicate formal tools were frequently hafted with antler and hide working likely occurred on site
Transition Planning for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders; Implications for Post-Secondary Education.
Get PDFThe purpose of this starred paper is to identify the challenges that arise for individuals with Autism spectrum disorders when they move onto post-secondary education and what supports should be put in place for those individuals during transition planning to help mitigate those challenges
Kitchen, Fully Updated
Get PDFThis flash nonfiction essay explores how trauma and pursuit of recovery are as everyday as making meals, washing dishes, or letting your gaze wander out a kitchen window
Let’s Talk Wrestling: Perspectives on Age, Injury, and Illness in Sports Entertainment
Get PDFThis is a conversation between a husband and wife, whose distinct but complementary perspectives on wrestling are influenced by their educational and professional backgrounds, as well as the age at which they were introduced to the sport. Frank Martinović is a life-long fan and current physical education teacher. Dr. Jovana (Joey) Martinović is a psychiatrist, who only became a wrestling fan fifteen years ago, when she met Frank. Dr. Nevena Martinović, Joey’s sister and a theatre and performance studies scholar working in the field of age studies, provided the guiding questions for this conversation, edited the final piece, and provided a reflection on their conversation through the lens of her academic work and lived experience
SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS AND THE INPUT HYPOTHESIS: AN AMERICAN ENGLISH SPEAKER’S EFFORTS AT LEARNING KOREAN AS L2
Get PDFThe influence that social networks have on the acquisition of a second language (L2) has not been investigated as extensively as the influence that classroom instruction has. Yet, throughout the world, people acquire L2s without ever setting foot in a classroom. In this paper, we investigate the social network of Author 1 in her attempt to acquire Korean while teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in South Korea. The analysis revolves around four people in her social network. The interactions that she had with these individuals allow us to investigate any putative correlation that may exist between social network analysis (SNA), the Input Hypothesis (IH), and the development of proficiency in an L2
A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF INTONATION: PSYCHOACOUSTICS MODELING OF PROSODIC PROMINENCE
Get PDFBolinger (1978:475), one of the foremost authorities on prosody of a generation ago, said that “Intonation is a half-tamed savage. To understand the tamed or linguistically harnessed half of him, one has to make friends with the wild half.” This review provides a brief explanation for the tamed and untamed halves of intonation. It is argued here that the pitch-centered approach that has been used for several decades is responsible for why one half of intonation remains untamed. To tame intonation completely, a holistic acoustic approach is required that takes intensity and duration as seriously as it does pitch. Speech is a three-dimensional physical entity in which all three correlates work independently and interdependently. Consequently, a methodology that addresses intonation comprehensively is more likely to yield better results. Psychoacoustics seems to be well positioned for this task. Nearly 100 years of experimentations have led to the discoveries of Just Noticeable Difference (JNDs) thresholds that can be summoned to help tame intonation completely. The framework discussed here expands the analytical resources and facilitates an optimal description of intonation. It calculates and ranks the relative functional load (RFL) of pitch, intensity, and duration, and uses the results to compute the melodicity score of utterances. The findings replicate, based on JNDs, how the naked ear perceives intonation on a four-point Likert melodicity scale
The Impact of Social/Emotional Learning in the Classroom for Young Children
Get PDFAccording to Sriram (2020), critical times are moments when a child\u27s brain develops rapidly. The first critical learning moment happens about age two. A second one happens during puberty (Sriram, 2020). The number of synaptic connections between brain cells (neurons) doubles at the beginning of these periods. Therefore, children\u27s experiences at this stage have an ongoing impact on their development (Sriram, 2020). Their brains are not only developing cognitively as they work to solve problems and learn new skills, but they are also trying to understand their emotions and the emotions of others around them. As they see other children and adults reacting to situations, they are trying to determine how they are supposed to respond to the environment and people around them.
A key component of young children\u27s success in school and in later life is the development of social-emotional competence (SEC). The significance of social-emotional ability to school readiness has received fresh attention from empirical studies. Numerous studies have demonstrated that youngsters who begin kindergarten with higher levels of social-emotional competence are more effective in forming favorable school attitudes and making early adjustments, as well as in achieving higher academic standards (Im, Jiar, & Talib, 2019). When a child has historical interactions with parents or other primary caregivers who are dependable, predictable, and accessible during their care, an attachment is formed. The degree to which a youngster is willing to participate in and gain from social interactions determines the quality of attachment. These early attachments lay the foundation for trust in interpersonal relationships. The potential to have intimate relationships with people throughout one\u27s life is strengthened by this partnership (Im, Jiar, & Talib, 2019)
The Effectiveness of Social stories as Behavior Intervention for People with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Get PDFThe Effects of Social Stories as Behavior Intervention for People with Autism Spectrum Disorder
by
Angel Dawson
A Starred Paper Proposal
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of
St Cloud State University
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree
Master of Science in
Special Education
May, 2023
Starred Paper Committee:
Bradley Kaffar, Chairperson
Frances Kayona
Cody Lewis
Table of Contents
Page
Chapter
1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………… 3
Overview………………………………………………………………………………….3
Research Question ……………………………………………………………………….6
Importance of Review ……………………………………………………………………6
Focus of Review ………………………………………………………………………….6
Definition of Terms …………………………………………………………………….7-9
Chapter
2. Review of Literature……………………………………………..………………………10
Social Stories as an Intervention…………………………………………………………10
Chapter
3. Conclusions………………………………………………………………………………25
Recommendations for Future Research……………………………………………….…26
Summary………………………………………………………………...……………….28
Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………………...…29 Chapter I: Introduction
Autism refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech, and non speaking communication. The three core features are a problem with social interactions, which is often the heart of the matter; a problem with language; and a tendency to have restricted interest and repeated, stereotypic motor behaviors. That is the so-called autistic triad, and you need to have two of the three and to develop them by the age of 3 to be considered autistic (Raff, 2010, 2), Approximately 31% of children who have ASD have intelligence quotients (IQs) below 70 (Baio et al., 2018).
In 2013, the Centers for Disease Control reported Autism in one out of fifty-nine children were affected , but according to reports from Autism Speaks in 2021, numbers increased to one in forty-four. The increase weighs heavily on families and educators as they work to facilitate the needs of students with severe cases of Autism. The higher rates of Autism diagnoses over the years, has resulted in an increased need for proven ways to communicate with those individuals within varying situations when in high stress. Many students diagnosed with Autism have limited language skills that can affect the students ability to communicate wants or needs from their caregivers or staff. There are estimates that a proportion of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder who are minimally verbal vary from twenty five to thirty five percent (Rose et al. 1).
In addition to challenges with communication, often those diagnosed with ASD have co-occurring psychiatric disorders; meaning two or more disorders simultaneously. I work in a Federal Setting IV Special Education Intermediate District with students that range from highschool aged (14-18) to Transition age (19-21). Setting IV is a non residential, public school facility that is separate from general education settings, where students are away from a mainstream classroom for more than fifty percent of their school day (Reeves and Edson). This environment is still considered the least restrictive for children who are placed in this setting. My current classroom consists of ninth, tenth, and eleventh graders each of whom have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) with a primary diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Each of my students have co-occurring disabilities that include Other Health Disability (OHD), Specific Learning Disability (SLD), Developmental Cognitive Disability (DCD), and Speech Language Impairments (SLI). Along with these diagnoses each student in my class struggles with challenging behavior which affects the student’s ability to attend school in a general education setting. All of my students fall under the umbrella diagnosis of “Severe-Profound,” meaning that each of them must be closely supervised as they have limited self-protection skills, limited self-care abilities, severely restricted sensory and motor functioning, and may be in need of on-site nursing care.
As a teacher in a setting IV school, I am always working to develop more efficient and accurate modes of communication with those of my students who are completely non-speaking and found that social stories are another form of communication with them when there are feelings that they may not be able to express. Shrinbert et al. (2011) advanced the concept of speech attunement framework in which children with ASD have normal auditory abilities but have emotional and social interaction difficulties that impact their use of appropriate speech, prosody and voice in conversation. Approximately 30%-40% of children with ASD remain minimally verbal (MV) into adulthood (Howlin et al., 20012, Pickles et al., 2014, Bal et al., 2016). Social stories are a way to help students comprehend in methods more conducive to their abilities, these small books are personalized to their needs. The ability for students with autism to clearly state their needs ties directly to their ability to communicate their needs when they are upset.
I stumbled upon social stories and their use when a teacher that I worked with as an Education Assistant (EA) would talk about them for what felt like every situation. She used social stories for any major or minor change in the students\u27 day to day life or school schedule as well as to explain behaviors to demonstrate in social situations or for following school rules. Depending on the story that was written, the words used, and the student for whom they were written, their use varied in effectiveness. At times they felt helpful, and other times felt like a setup for an increase in challenging behaviors. Depending on the student and their goals, if they didn’t particularly like what was in the story, we would find out quickly.
I chose social stories as my topic because of my direct observation of their effectiveness with students. Often students with Autism are misunderstood because they don’t use the same forms of communication as neurotypical students and their cognitive differences frequently make it difficult for them to process information or make sense of the big feelings they may experience throughout the day. Over the past 10 years, researchers have shown Social Stories to be successful when applied to a wide variety of problem behaviors including aggression, screaming, grabbing toys, using inappropriate table manners, and crying (Kuoch & Mirenda, 2003; Rowe, 1999; Scattone, Wilczynski, Edwards & Rabian, 2002). For these reasons, all possible modes of communication should be available to this population of students, as well as any other techniques or approaches that may assist in their improved understanding of information.
When I discovered social stories I didn’t fully understand their purpose or whether or not they really had a positive effect based on my own experience. Upon becoming a teacher, I adopted their use with my students. I use them consistently, but am not always sure that I’m applying them properly. I have been using what I learned about them from my work as an EA since within my formal education, there has been no class or certification focused on social stories or their proper application. There is wide variation in the implementation of Social Story interventions described in the literature, particularly in regard to the use of supplementary and comprehension strategies (Ali & Frederickson, 2006; Reynhout & Carter, 2006; Rust & Smith, 2006; Sansosti et al., 2004)
Research Question
With my research I will address the following question: How effective are social stories for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder that have increased behavior support needs?
Importance of Review
The work done in schools with and for students with ASD, is ever evolving and continued evolution of techniques is necessary for prevention and intervention of challenging behavior exhibited by those students. There is need for concrete evidence that social stories are impactful as forms of behavior prevention and intervention. Teachers are directed to use them but are not given specific training to do, and the studies regarding effectiveness are conflicting.
Focus of Review
This literature review is focused on the use of social stories as strategies to work through difficult behaviors with adolescents with Autism. The children in each study range in age from one to twenty one. The studies that I am using for this review were published from 2010-2022 and include BMC Psychology, Education and Treatment of Children Vol. 39, Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Journal of Intellectual Disabilities, The SAGE Online Journal, Journal of Biology, JIDR, Elsevier, HHS Public Access, BMC Biology, American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, and Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied FamilyScience.
Definitions
Autism Spectrum Disorder: Autism, or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and non speaking communication. According to the Center for Disease Control, Autism affects an estimated one in fifty nine children in the United States today (Autism Speaks, 2013).
Social Story: “Social Stories describe a situation, skill or concept in terms of relevant social cues, perspectives and common responses in a patient and reassuring manner that is easily understood by its audience” (1). In particular, social stories use words and/or images to explain specific occurrences, appropriate behavior, effective social interactions, concepts, or skills. They are designed to benefit those with developmental delays, challenges with socialization, Autism, or other difficulties with comprehension. (Gray, 2019)
Federal Setting: Refers to the percentage of time a student spends in special education. Federal Setting I: 0-21% in special education, Federal Setting II: 21-60% in special education, Federal Setting III: 60% or more in special education, Federal Setting IV: separate special education site, Federal Setting V: public hospital, day treatment, correctional facility etc. (Reeves and Edson)
Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports: Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a way for schools to encourage positive behavior. With PBIS, schools teach kids about behavior, just as they teach about subjects such as reading or math. The focus of PBIS is prevention, not punishment (Lee, 2014).
Challenging Behavior: Challenging behavior can involve harming personal property or causing physical or emotional harm to others, and may range from verbal to physical abuse. Challenging behavior violates social boundaries, can be obvious or secretive, and can lead to breakdowns in relationships. Occasional aggressive outbursts are common and even normal in the right circumstances (Gabbey, 2019)
Intervention: In general terms, classroom intervention is a set of steps an educator takes to help a child improve in their area of need by removing educational barriers. There are four key components of classroom intervention:
Proactive: Deals with areas of need before they become a larger obstacle to education.
Intentional: Specifically addresses an observed weakness.
Formal: Uses targeted methods for addressing specific needs and tracks progress.
Flexible: Adjusts methods based upon the needs of the student (Lynch, 2019).
Co-occurring Disability: Co-occurring refers to the presence of more than one disorder in the same person. For example, if a person is diagnosed with both Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), they are said to have comorbid (meaning co-existing) anxiety and depressive disorders (Cuncic, 2021).
Reinforcement: “Reinforcement is the process in which a behavior is strengthened by the immediate consequence that reliably follows its occurrence”. To “strengthen” a behavior is to make it occur more frequently - when a type of behavior is followed by reinforcement there will be an increased future frequency of that type of behavior”. (Malott & Trojan-Suarez, 2004).
Evidence-based practice: refers to practices that have been shown to be effective based on actual evidence. In education, most of the time, this evidence is the result of studies or the collection of a lot of data from many different sources. (Duffy,)
IDEA:. “The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a law that makes available a free appropriate public education to eligible children with disabilities throughout the nation and ensures special education and related services to those children. The IDEA governs how states and public agencies provide early intervention, special education, and related services to more than 6.5 million eligible infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities” (What is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act?, 2019).
Least Restrictive Environment: “LRE is part of IDEA. IDEA says that children who receive special education should learn in the least restrictive environment. This means they should spend as much time as possible with peers who do not receive special education. IDEA says two things about LRE that are important to understand when working with the IEP team: 1) Your child should be with kids in general education to the “Maximum extent that is appropriate”. 2) Special classes, separate schools or removal from the general education class should only happen when your child’s learning or thinking difference–his “disability” under IDEA–is so severe that supplementary aids and services can’t provide him an appropriate education” (Morin, 2019).
Chapter II:
Review of Literature
The goal of this literature review is to gain understanding on how social stories can impact the behavior of a student. This chapter focuses on the different uses of social stories as an intervention during times that students are having challenging behaviors. In some of the articles social stories are the only intervention used but in others it is used in concert with an Evidence Based Practice. The hope is to understand whether or not social stories can improve a student’s social skills and behaviors within the classroom and beyond. The articles are chronologically ordered from older studies to newer studies.
Social Stories as an Intervention
Interventions are defined as a set of steps to assist a student in an academic or, in this case, social goal. There are times that there are school-wide interventions or interventions that are put in place for a specific student. The following section includes reviewed studies that focus on using social stories as a sole intervention.
In the Crozier and Tincani (2006, p.8) article, the treatment was focused on decreasing the disruptive behavior of a child with ASD. The participant was an eight year old male named Alex. Alex attended a private school with students that were in Kindergarten. He was a bit older than the other students but his placement was based on his cognitive ability not his chronological age. . Alex did not participate in any pre-assessment for this intervention. He was chosen to participate based on some very specific criteria which included diagnosis of Autism and presence of prerequisite skills (including emergent literacy skills and demonstrated ability to sit and read a book with adult support). Lastly classroom teacher’s willingness to be a part of the intervention.
Alex’s teacher identified that the target behavior that she needed help with was Alex’s “Talking out” during class. This meant he would talk during independent times when he didn’t have direct attention from staff in the classroom. Alex sought attention with no discrimination other than the need for the person to be an adult. His “talking out” did not change even if he was seated in different seats throughout classroom time. Alex would talk until instructed to be quiet. There were three phases to the intervention: baseline, the intervention, then the intervention with prompts. Afterward there was a maintenance period established.
After Alex’s thirty minute observation there was a set baseline of data which gives an understanding of where Alex’s behavior was prior to the intervention. Alex was given a social story that contained a descriptive meaning: a description of the expectation and a directive based on the targeted behavior. The story followed the guidelines of an emergent reader as Alex was just beginning to learn to read. After his initial observation Alex was observed for thirty minutes in his regular classroom setting. In the intervention stage Alex was read the social story immediately before the observation period. Alex received six sessions then the observation was scaled back to once weekly for 30 minutes.
The second intervention phase the social story was resumed with the evidence based practice of verbal prompting in addition to the social story. The entire classroom staff knew and understood the intervention and all knew what the expected outcome was. Two of the initial interventions were completed without any verbal prompting. Once this was done, two weeks passed before the final probes were performed.
Alex demonstrated a decrease in the behavior of “talking out” after the completion of the intervention. The average of “talk outs” during baseline was 11.2, during the social story, there was a decrease to 2.3 per thirty minute session. The combination of prompting and the social story, the “talk outs” decreased to .2 times in a thirty minute session. During the two maintenance sessions Alex’s talkouts were at zero. The results showed that a modified social story with prompting worked best for Alex. Alex’s results were clear that he was successful in decreasing the negative behaviors based on the use of Social Stories and Verbal Prompting.
In the second study, Scattone, and Wilczynski (2006, p.11 ) made use of social stories in a hope to decrease specific behaviors in three male students ages eight and thirteen named Drew, Billy and Steven, who were all previously diagnosed with ASD. Scattone et al. (2006) states that social stories transfer stimulus control from the teacher and peers directly to the child with Autism and can be used in a variety of ways. The focus of this article is on their use in reducing challenging behaviors in three students which included aggression, screaming, grabbing toys, using inappropriate table manners, and crying. The students chosen were selected based on their ability to initiate or respond appropriately during free-time activities.
The students were in a Self-Contained classroom. Self-contained special education classroom placement is considered best practice when students require a specialized setting that allows for intensive academic and social supports that are not readily available in general and inclusive classroom environments (Algozzine et al., 1988; Fisher & Meyer, 2002; Maggin et al., 2011). All of the students studied had intelligible speech and were all capable of speaking and reading complete sentences.
The intervention was assessed based on social interactions that were measured based on the percentage of intervals that each student had appropriate social interactions during 10 minute observations. The appropriate interactions were graphed for each individual participant daily as a percentage of intervals. Steven’s behavior didn’t initially change after the introduction of the Social Story. The mean level of appropriate social interactions during the baseline was 1% of intervals (range = 0%-3%) and 4% (range =0%-65%) during intervention (Scattone et al., 2006, 215)
Drew had the largest increase in appropriate social interactions, Drew’s ranged from 0%-18% of intervals during baseline (M=7%.). (Scattone et al., 2006, 216). For Billy, percentage of intervals of appropriate social interactions during baseline ranged from 9% to 22% (M=13%) (Scattone et al., 2006, 216). All three of the students experience some level of success with Drew being the largest increase at 40% in appropriate behaviors. Steven had an increase of 35% , and Billy had an increase of 32% positive behavioral change. Both Billy and Drew had some levels of positive behavior so the scale was up and down throughout the intervention.
The third study via Chan and O\u27Reilly (2008, p. 5), used social stories as interventions for two students with Autism that also had language skills that were appropriate for social interactions but had difficulty applying those skills. The study\u27s goal was to increase social behaviors and increase their ability to apply their social skills in an inclusive classroom setting.
This study was done with two kindergarten students Matt and Ted, who attended full time public elementary schools in different locations. Both students had a teaching assistant and each intervention was laid out in a training session format which was held just before the start of the school day. The students were observed for one hour during circle time on the days that the sessions took place and baseline data was collected on the target behaviors during the hour-long observation.
Matt’s goal was to stand or sit within a reasonable distance between him and his peers during circle time. He also made vocalizations and noises along with comments that were irrelevant to the classroom activities. Ted’s goals were to raise his hand at appropriate times and make social interactions with peers like asking peers to play with him during free time. Ted also made vocalizations and comments that were inappropriate for the classroom activities.
Once baseline data was collected, the students received interventions one to four times per week. Matt received interventions for five weeks and had a total of thirteen intervention sessions. Ted received interventions for ten weeks with a total of ei