Counseling, Higher Education & Special Education Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2757
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Item Fathers of children in public preschool programs [electronic resource]: a study of school involvement and satisfaction(2012) Noggle, Amy Kappel; Lieber, Joan; Special Education; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In this quantitative study, I examined the involvement levels of fathers of children attending public preschool programs using the Family Involvement Questionnaire; I also examined fathers' satisfaction with school contact and involvement experiences using the Parent Satisfaction with Educational Experiences scale. Additionally, I investigated public preschool programs' efforts to involve fathers in school using modified versions of the family involvement and parent satisfaction measures. The final purpose of this study was to determine which demographic and child characteristics, if any, influence father involvement levels in school. Fifty-two biological fathers rated their own involvement in activities at their children's schools, and they rated their own satisfaction with school contact and involvement experiences. Two public preschool administrators answered questions about what types of involvement opportunities are offered to fathers. Participating fathers' children were enrolled in one of the three following public preschool programs: Head Start, Prekindergarten (PreK), or Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE). Fathers of children with disabilities, as well as fathers of children without disabilities, were included in this study. As predicted, fathers of children in Head Start volunteered at school more frequently than fathers of children in PreK or ECSE programs. However, contrary to the original hypothesis, fathers of children with disabilities were more involved in school activities compared to fathers of children without disabilities. Fathers of children with disabilities were equally satisfied with school contact and involvement compared to fathers of children without disabilities with the exception of one item on the satisfaction measure; fathers of children with disabilities were more satisfied with their contact with other parents outside of school. Examination of the predictive value of fathers' income levels, child's gender, child's disability status, schools' efforts to involve fathers, and satisfaction on fathers' involvement levels resulted in only one significant finding. Lower income predicted higher levels of volunteerism in school. Correlational analyses revealed a number of significant positive relationships between items on the involvement and satisfaction measures. However, more research is necessary to establish causal relationships between satisfaction and involvement. Additionally, researchers, teachers and policy makers need to carefully examine the ways in which fathers are currently involved in public preschool programs and make programmatic changes, as necessary. Finally, low-income fathers of children with disabilities face more adversity than either low-income fathers or fathers of children with disabilities; thus, it is very possible that they need to be supported differently. More research is needed to find out what these fathers need to support their children and to remain involved in their children's lives.Item An Investigation of the Characteristics and School Readiness of Children with Disabilities who Attend Head Start Programs(2010) Smith, Amy Falk; McLaughlin, Margaret J; Special Education; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics and school readiness of children with disabilities who attend Head Start programs, as well as the characteristics of the programs they attend and the school districts in which they receive special education. In addition, a second purpose was to determine whether there are differences in these characteristics of children who attend Head Start programs and those who attend other early childhood education programs. I used data from the Pre-Elementary Education Longitudinal Study, a study of a nationally representative sample of preschool children with disabilities. I used a subsample of the data to compare the characteristics and school readiness of children with disabilities who attended Head Start to those who attended other early childhood education programs using chi-squares, analysis of variance, and ordinary least squares regression analyses. The results suggest that there is no difference in the school readiness of children with disabilities who attended Head Start and those who attend programs in elementary schools. However, in comparison to children who attended other programs, children with developmental delays who attended Head Start had more advanced receptive language skills and those with other disabilities had less advanced pre-reading skills. Additionally, the results of this study show that there is some variation in the characteristics of children with disabilities who attend Head Start and those who attend other programs. Children who attended Head Start were more likely to be Black or Hispanic and from low socioeconomic families. They were also less likely to have disabilities other than speech impairments or developmental delays and, on average, received fewer special education services. Finally, children who attended Head Start were more likely to be from rural school districts and districts with higher rates of poverty. These findings indicate that children with disabilities who attend Head Start programs face additional risk factors that are associated with poor school readiness and emphasize the need to ensure that the programs provide services that are adequate to meet the needs of the diverse population they serve and to prepare those children for the onset of formal schooling.Item The Maternal Role in Promoting Emotional Competence: Predicting Head Start Mothers' Expressiveness, Perceived Role, and Receptivity to Support(2010) Edwards, Nicole Megan; Lieber, Joan A.; Special Education; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Guided by Bioecological Systems Theory and Schema Theory, I investigated mothers' perceptions regarding the emotional development of their preschool children. Researchers acknowledge mothers' contributing role in influencing children's behavioral displays of emotion, but there is a dearth in the literature on mothers' emotion-related behaviors, beliefs, and needs. In my quantitative study, I collected self-report data from a mid-Atlantic, low-income, urban sample of Head Start mothers (n = 114) and assessed which child, mother, and/or community-based factors may predict the probability of mothers being high in negative expressiveness, low in positive expressiveness, not strongly supportive of the literature in their perceived role in emotional development, and not highly receptive to parent-focused support. I pretested my devised Perceived Role and Receptivity to Support measure and conducted interviewer-administered interviews (using my devised measure, the Parenting Stress Scale, the Early Childhood Behavior Problem Screening Scale, and the Self-Expressiveness in the Family Questionnaire). Results supported only a few instances of group uniformity, with mostly group variability in Head Start mothers' emotion-related behaviors, beliefs and needs. Further, logistic regression analyses suggested: (1) mothers are likely to be high in negative expressiveness when raising a preschooler with a combination of internalizing and externalizing behaviors, high in parenting stress, and obtaining at least an Associate's degree; (2) mothers are predicted to be less positive in expressiveness when raising a preschooler with a delay, not having had any child in the family receive specialized services, raising only one child, dropping out of high school, and not having received advice from Head Start staff; (3) mothers are predicted to be less supportive of the purported role of mothers in the literature when raising only one child and not having received behavior advice from Head Start staff; (4) mothers are predicted to be lower in receptiveness to parent-focused support when raising a preschooler with no perceived behavior concerns, anticipating maladaptive behaviors to improve with age, raising only one child, dropping out of high school, and having had fewer outreach efforts in the past. I discuss implications for research and practice, including how results may inform early screening and parenting intervention initiatives.