This dissertation investigated the caregiving relationships between infants and nonparental caregivers in early childcare settings through the lens of attachment and language behaviors. This study sought to provide an opportunity to extend our understanding of the socioemotional factors that influence children's development in their daily lives.…

Child abuse, violence against women, and the increasing occurrences of violence in schools, churches, and movie theaters are opening a debate on the possible causes and solutions in child welfare and other disciplines. Research on the detrimental effects of hitting and other forms of physical discipline has been available for over 30 years. A…

The United States is experiencing a shift in the cultural composition of its' population, specifically seen in the increase of immigrants and children of immigrants. These populations encounter unique stressors that influence the prevalence rates of adverse mental health outcomes such as depressive symptomatology. However, little has been done to…

Shared reading is an engaging activity that can be used to facilitate communication between parents and their children. This is true for children with and without disabilities. The current study describes the communication that mothers used during shared reading with their daughters with Rett syndrome when reading unfamiliar books before and after…

Early numeracy skills are related to children's later mathematics and reading skills. Early interventions that target parent-child numeracy practices may be an effective way to promote these skills in young children. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a home numeracy environment (HNE) intervention in increasing…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of PDT on the impulsive choice-making of young children with EBD who have difficulty waiting quietly and safely in the absence of other activities or stimuli. Specifically, we aimed to answer the question, does PDT with a school rule-following requirement increase delays at which young children…

Research on bilingual education presents clear advantages for children's linguistic, cognitive, and social development (Lindholm-Leary, 2011; Thomas, Collier, and Abbott, 1993). However, recent criticism of dual language education programs has led to claims of dual language education as a marker of "elite bilingualism" (de Costa, 2010)…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the factors that contributed to Latina teenagers' decisions to remain sexually abstinent or to become sexually active. The participants in this study included four Latina women between the ages of 20-30 years from a major southwestern metropolitan area. Specifically, two of the participants who…

Young children with intellectual and developmental disabilities are at increased risk of developing persistent mental health and behavior problems. While the link between parenting behavior and the development of problem behavior is well understood in this population, there is a need for examination of key parent factors that affect parenting…

After Chinese students come to the U.S., the acculturation process is an important predictor of Chinese international college students' personal well-being and future academic achievement. Researchers and practitioners keep seeking factors that could help them in the acculturation process. This research investigated how those students' parenting…

Self-compassion has been shown to bolster resilience (Leary, Tate, Adams, Batts Allen, & Hancock, 2007), intrinsic motivation (Neff, Hseih, & Dejitthirat, 2005), and a general sense of well-being (Arimitsu & Hofman, 2015) as students cope with academic and life stressors. While research has begun exploring gender as a factor for…

The purpose if this study was to identify the primary benefits of parental engagement, obstacles to parental engagement, and best practices for educational leaders to increase the quality of programming for Latino families to actively engage in the educational experiences of their children. Research indicates that over the past few decades,…

In 1995, Betty Hart and Todd Risley published findings that young children from low-income backgrounds will hear 32 million fewer words than their more affluent peers by the time they turn four years old. Historically, this "word gap" has solely been identified as a function of socioeconomic status--or more specifically, family income.…

This study presents the qualitative results of seven parents who taught their preschool-aged children reading skills using a Direct Instruction book, "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" by Siegfried Engelmann, during a 2-month time frame. The purpose of this phenomenological case study was to explore the lived experiences of…

As the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) increases every year, so has the literature on early identification and early interventions (EI) that can result in better outcomes for children with ASD. There has been a focus on core deficits that are impaired in ASD and that appear to prevent other areas of development from flourishing,…