Children with autism spectrum disorder often display some form of challenging behavior and have complex communication needs. Functional communication training is an evidence-based practice that (a) decreases challenging behavior and (b) increases appropriate communicative behavior. Recent research has demonstrated how using augmentative and…

Adolescents living in both rural and urban settings experience the same mental health care needs at similar rates, but those living in rural environments experience exacerbated consequences because of localized barriers to receiving support. These barriers are often summarized as the three A's: availability, accessibility, and acceptability.…

It is well established that spatial reasoning skills (i) support mathematics achievement, (ii) are malleable, and (iii) can be improved through training. More recently, there has been interest in using spatial training to causally support corresponding improvements in mathematics achievement; however, findings so far appear to be mixed. The…

When college students are in a mental health crisis, they often turn to a peer or a trusted faculty or staff member first. As the number of students struggling with mental health issues continues to rise, higher education professionals are called upon to do even more. "Basic Counseling Skills for Higher Education Professionals" equips…

An estimated 8.7% to 9.8% of school-age children in the United States have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), affecting 4.3 to 4.9 million public school students. ADHD is a costly disorder that often goes untreated, especially among adolescents. Accessible computer- based programs have emerged to address the neurocognitive deficits…

School psychologists often administer evidence-based academic interventions such as Explicit Timing in order to increase math fact fluency. However, little is known about the efficacy of adapting Explicit Timing interventions to be used in a virtual format. This dissertation examines the use of virtually delivered Explicit Timing interventions as…

In 2019, Native youth had the highest rate of teen pregnancy of all racial/ethnic groups. "Respecting the Circle of Life" (RCL) is one of the first evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs for Native teens and there is interest in replicating the program across tribal communities. To inform replication, it is important to…

Art therapy is an alternative therapeutic intervention implemented with individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Researchers, therapists, and parents suggest that art therapy is an effective treatment for targeting social and communicative behaviors. However, there is a paucity of evidence-based research to support this claim. A…

Purpose: Cognitive load theory focuses on providing appropriate cognitive engagement to facilitate knowledge learning. The purpose of this study was to determine the contributions of cognitive load on high school students' in-class physical activity. Method: A stratified random sample of high school students (N = 150) who participated in a large…

Multiplication fluency math interventions are utilized in elementary schools, but a dearth in scholarship exists on the effects of these interventions on fifth grade math students' performance and final grades. This scholarship gap may have an adverse effect on informing administrators and educators on best practices in helping fifth grade math…

Backgrounds and aims: Echolalia, the repetition of previous speech, is highly prevalent in Autism. Research into echolalia has historically assumed a clinical standpoint, with two opposing paradigms, behaviourism and developmentalism, offering differing support and intervention programs. These paradigms offer a multitude of clinical…

This article reports on an evaluation the effectiveness of e-mailed grade "nudges" on students' performance and engagement in an introductory statistics course for undergraduate health science students. In 2020-2021, 358 students were randomized to an e-mail (n = 178) or no e-mail (n = 180) group. The intervention e-mail contained…

Community colleges are frequently an affordable, accessible entrance to a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and career, but the transition from a 2-year program to a 4-year institution can be tumultuous. In this mixed-methods study, we explore the experiences of transfer and prospective transfer students. Through…

This study examines the effectiveness of study abroad and pragmatic instruction on L2 learners' acquisition of the speech acts of requesting, thanking, and refusing. In the study, speech acts produced by L2 learners of Spanish who studied abroad for six weeks in Buenos Aires, Argentina and L2 learners who received eight weeks of pragmatic…

This applied dissertation was designed to improve the effectiveness of professional educators in using the methodology of functional behavior assessment (FBA) and function assessment-based intervention (FABI) to reduce challenging behaviors exhibited by students with Down syndrome (DS), or a dual diagnosis of Down syndrome and autism spectrum…