Journal of Multidisciplinary Graduate Research Volume 1

Volume 1, Issue 1

A Holistic Approach to Counseling Mexican American Adolescents

Bindi Shah
Lake Correctional Institution

Cirecie West - Olatunji
University of Cincinnati

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A Holistic Approach to Counseling Mexican American Adolescents

Among adolescents in the U.S., Mexican American youth have the highest rates of depression and suicidal ideation. Acculturation theory was used as the framework in developing a comprehensive counseling approach to address the mental health needs of Latino adolescents in the United States (U.S.). The Holistic Approach for Counseling Mexican American Adolescents incorporates acculturation issues and familial relationships, while working towards the improvement of Latino adolescents’ well-being. The authors provide professional counselors with recommendations for increasing cultural competence to effectively work with the Latino population. For future research, exploration of relationships between adolescent well-being, familial relationships, and acculturation is suggested.

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Counseling Latino Students Using a Comprehensive Developmental Guidance and Counseling Model

Glenda Johnson
Appalachian State University

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Counseling Latino Students Using a Comprehensive Developmental Guidance and Counseling Model

Latino immigrants are the fastest growing minority group in the United States. This literature review explores challenges faced by Latino youths in the United States. Services provided to Latino youths in Mexico, the United States neighboring country, are described. Professional school counselors’ and the implementation of a comprehensive school counselor program are reviewed. Implications for school counselors are presented.

Key words: Latino adolescents, professional school counselor, comprehensive school counseling programs

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The Effect of Community Involvement Programs on School Violence

Angie Wilson
Sam Houston State University

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Counseling Latino Students Using a Comprehensive Developmental Guidance and Counseling Model

Concerns about school violence and violent youth are increasing and knowing which programs are effective would be beneficial to schools as well as the community. The author examined the effect of community involvement programs. The total number of violent incidents recorded at schools that participated in the School Survey of Campus Safety (n = 2,724 schools). Of the total number of schools: 726 were primary schools, 956 were middle schools, 954 were high schools, and 88 were combined schools. Data were analyzed for the schools interventions, and three of the eight involvement groups were found to be statistically significant.

Key words: community involvement programs, school counseling interventions, and School Survey of Campus Safety

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School Size and School Climate among Texas Middle School Students as a Function of Programmatic Labels

Bonnie C. Lenear
John R. Slate
Sam Houston State University

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School Size and School Climate among Texas Middle School Students as a Function of Programmatic Labels

In this investigation, archival data for the 2010-2011 academic school year from the Texas Education Agency Academic Excellence Indicator System were analyzed to determine the extent to which school size was related to school climate as measured by dropout and attendance rates for students labeled as Limited English Proficient or economically disadvantaged in Texas middle schools. After forming three school size groups (i.e., small, medium, and large), students enrolled in medium-size schools (i.e., student enrollment 500 to 859) had the highest dropout rates and the lowest attendance rates. Findings were consistent for both students labeled as Limited English Proficient and for students labeled as economically disadvantaged. Suggestions for future studies are provided.

Key words: school size, school climate, economically disadvantaged, Limited English Proficient

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The Role of Teachers Attending Field Experience Trips: A Nature Center Case Study

Lisa G. Chebret
Karla W. Eidson
Robert M. Maninger
Sam Sullivan
Sam Houston State University

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The Role of Teachers Attending Field Experience Trips: A Nature Center Case Study

Nature Centers across the United States provide approximately 1500 outdoor learning sites for school-aged children and serve as teaching labs for subject matter across the curriculum. This case study is based on the Spring Creek Greenway, a nature center recently opened in Montgomery County, Texas. At the request of the nature center manager, the study seeks to answer the question, “Why would teachers attending field experience trips, assume they are taking the day off?” The study explores the role of teachers attending field-trips and seeks to define the most helpful role for a teacher, from the perspective of site-educators. The study involves qualitative reflections from fifteen site-educators based on their experiences with attending teachers. Three non-participant field-trip observations served to confirm the results of a pilot survey conducted by the nature center. The study found that while attending teachers valued the experience, were comfortable in the outdoors, and felt equipped to contribute, they were uncertain about the contribution they should make in order to maximize student learning. The study provides useful recommendations to teachers uncertain about their role and opens research opportunities to nature centers interested in tapping the potential of the attending teachers.

Key words: education, field experience, field-trip, outdoor, role, successful, teacher

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The Effectiveness of Chaining to Increase Complexity of Echoics in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Language Delay

Rebecca Mallory
Stephen Bernier
Hyesuk Lee Park
Sam Houston State University

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The Effectiveness of Chaining to Increase Complexity of Echoics in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Language Delay

The present study tests the effects of a chaining procedure to increase the complexity of correct echoic responses with multi-syllable words in two children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and language delays. Data on number of correct full echoics were collected within 1 or 2-min time blocks. During the intervention, each word was broken into two to four smaller segments and a chaining procedure was used to teach to echo the segments of a word in which a correct echoic of each segment functioned as a cue to move to echoing two segments together, and then move to echoing all of the segments of the word, which was the terminal response of the chaining procedure. Generalization of full echoic behavior was tested with a novel word. Results indicated clear differences in the level of correct responding between baselines and intervention conditions across the first two words with both of the participants. The percentage of correct full echoics with the word used for generalization probe increased from 10% to 100% with the participants.

Key words: autism, chaining, complexity, echoics, language, verbal

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Contriving Deprivation Condition to Teach a Child with Autism to Request Missing Items Needed to Complete Tasks

Angela Carbonell
Ann Maddox
Ashley Bennett
Hyesuk Lee Park
Sam Houston State University

 

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Contriving Deprivation Condition to Teach a Child with Autism to Request Missing Items Needed to Complete Tasks

The purpose of this study was to test the effects of contriving motivational condition in a form of deprivation of an item on emergence of vocal request for the item. The participant of the study was a first grade boy with autism and language delays who attended to a public elementary school in a metropolitan area. A deprivation as a motivational condition was contrived by placing an item which was needed to complete a given activity within a sight but out of reach of the child. One activity was used to teach to request and three novel activities were used to test if the learned language skill was generalized within the novel activities. A prompt procedure was used. During the prompting, the investigator presented a vocal model of the name of the missing items when the participant reached to a step of the activity in which the missing item was needed. The prompt procedure was faded systematically. The participant learned to request the missing item with sessions and the skills was generalized across all three novel activities without additional instruction on the vocal requesting.

Key words: autism, motivational condition, vocal request, generalization

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Moonlighting and Morale: The Impact on Educators Who Moonlight and How Classroom Teaching Suffers

Sharon Brown
Sam L. Sullivan
Bob Maninger
Sam Houston State University

 

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Moonlighting and Morale: The Impact on Educators Who Moonlight and How Classroom Teaching Suffers

This paper explores the impact of moonlighting between teachers who moonlight and those who do not. Data from the voluntary, online survey of teachers indicated that instruction was impacted when moonlighting occurred. Teachers, who are members of Texas Classroom Teachers Association, provided data about their salary and the (possible) impact moonlighting had on their teaching. Would teachers stay in the classroom and quit moonlighting for bigger salaries? Was instruction impacted by moonlighting? What types of jobs are available for those who moonlight? Data showed that if teachers received higher salaries, they would stop moonlighting. Teachers felt their instruction was directly affected by moonlighting at various jobs, both in-district and out-of-district.

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