Enabling behaviors may impair the recovery of individuals with substance use and eating disorders. Participants read one of six vignettes portraying a character with either a substance use disorder or bulimia and were asked how they would react. The effects of several factors, such as gender, knowledge of disorder, disorder type, and enabling behaviors, on the likelihood of specific responses were examined for the most common responses. Some notable results included that females were more likely to intend to provide support. Participants who had higher enabling scores were less likely to tell a professional and were more likely to do nothing. Higher stigma scores were observed for those in the other category, which encompassed several less definitive responses. Responses did not vary by character gender, knowledge of disorder, or disorder type. The results point to the need for education and stigma reduction efforts for substance use and eating disorders.

The present study explored the intended reactions to a hypothetical character with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and the effect of several variables on those intended reactions, using a convenience sample of 172 introductory psychology college students. Preliminary analyses of the results were concerning regarding the low recognition of this disorder, and a high endorsement of myths, stigma, and social distance. We predicted that those who correctly identified ASD would state an intention to provide more supportive responses than those who failed to correctly identify the disorder as autism. Frequency counts, chi-squared analyses, and an independent t-test were used to summarize the participants' intended responses to the character, assess the relation between categorical variables, and compare the means of continuous variables by each of the behaviors endorsed. Significantly more participants who correctly identified autism in the vignette said they would offer support to the character than if they did not correctly identify it as autism. Those who said they would provide general support had less personal stigma about the character and lower scores on the Autism Quotient. Participants who said they would do nothing in response had higher preferred social distance scores. No significant effects of participant gender and character gender were found. This research is important for the purposes of education of the public on autism spectrum disorders and how best to support such individuals, especially when transitioning to post-secondary education.

Demonstrate and evaluate the use of a PBIS intervention, "PLAY." Four rules were modeled and a group contingency was used to decrease problem behaviors in a recreational setting. Results showed positive outcomes through the use of PBIS, reinforcing rules, and use of group rewards.

Texting has been integrated into virtually all aspects of society, including medical and mental health interventions. Researchers examined the use of crisis hotline among college students and their willingness to consider text-based forms of counseling. A surprising number of undergraduate students expressed willingness to seek counseling support through a text-based hotline. In a one-year study, researchers' text-based hotline was texted more often by women survivors of sexual assault than their traditional hotline alternative. These results should be taken into consideration by college campuses and mental health providers when expanding their mental health interventions to include text messaging services.

The purpose of the current study was to examine what factors best predict the entrance into kindergarten with an Individualized Education Program (IEP). Cognitive ability, language skills, social skills and adaptive skills were all used as independent variables. The presence of an IEP upon kindergarten entry was used as the dependent variable. The Battelle Developmental Inventory (BDI-2) served as the primary source of quantitative data. The Preschool Language Scales-4, Preschool Language Scales-5, and Developmental Assessment of Young Children-Second Addition also served as a source of quantitative data. The sample consisted of 50 children who had been evaluated at local preschool in upstate New York and have a clear IEP or no IEP status upon kindergarten entry. The scores of the tests were compiled and statistically analyzed using a Logistic Regression to determine which factors have the highest predictive ability of whether or not a student enters kindergarten with an IEP. The sensitivity and specificity were also calculated and analyzed to determine the accuracy of each model. Results of the analysis indicate that none one predictive variable is significant when all entered in the model together; however, the full model has excellent sensitivity and specificity. Additionally, social skills and adaptive skills emerged to be significant when entered alone. All predictive variables have excellent sensitivity and specificity

The purpose of this study is to illuminate the knowledge and perceptions of Response to Intervention (RtI) among graduate students enrolled in SUNY Plattsburgh education-related programs. RtI, a tiered system designed to provide universal support and interventions to students based on a spectrum of needs, was first introduced in 2004. The system continues to evolve within schools as stakeholders (i.e. administrators, educators and specialists) navigate their roles, expectations, and understanding of the realm and structure of RtI. Programs represented in this study following the collection of surveys include: Adolescent Education, Childhood/Special Education, Special Education, and School Psychology. An overview of how subscription to and training within a particular program correlates to knowledge and perceptions of RtI is used as grounds for discussing the implications for the systemsâ success.

Microaggressions are defined as everyday verbal or nonverbal exchanges that convey contemptuous and derogatory messages that may be interpreted as acts of non-physical aggression. They can also be described as subtle acts of discrimination directed at marginalized groups that unfortunately occur on a daily basis. Psychological research has shown that there are many detrimental effects to those who experience these microaggressions, and specific to this research, can impact individuals in the school environment. The purpose of my study is to determine whether students attending the State University of New York at Plattsburgh are experiencing these subtle acts of discrimination.

A growing body of evidence has corroborated the notion that aphasia is not a pure linguistic disturbance, but is one that is exacerbated or perhaps generated by underlying cognitive weaknesses. Varying degrees of dysexecutive syndrome, attention deficit, and working memory impairment are thought to interfere with semantic, syntactic, and phonological processing. As a result, symptoms of aphasia may be intensified. This thesis reviews evidence for the existence of a modular cognitive-linguistic system in terms of Baddeley and Hitch’s (1974) single resource model, and outlines how this interplay is manifest in persons with aphasia (PWA). An instantiation of two reciprocally interactive components implicating long-term linguistic representations and the mobilization of cognitive resources for linguistic processing is proposed in order to condense relevant literature on the matter, and to support McNeil and Pratt’s (2001) proposition for an operational definition of aphasia that universally includes a cognitive element. Due to persistent ambiguity surrounding the nature and separation of working memory, attention, and the central executive in PWA, the ability to draw clinical conclusions on the precise characterization of neuropsychological deficits manifest in various aphasia severities remains to be poorly defined, particularly in the acute and early subacute stages of aphasia recovery. This is due to the fact that authors tend to exclude participants with severe aphasia syndromes who are in the rapidly changing acute and early subacute stages of functional recovery. Consequently, the current study originally aimed to elucidate the roles of multiple cognitive facets across the severity continuum in persons within the acute and early subacute stages of aphasia recovery using procedures designed to bypass verbal responses. Specifically, this study explored the nature and exclusivity of verbal and nonverbal working memory subdivisions, as well as the influence of attentional control, for the purpose of elucidating certain cognitive-linguistic syndromes in persons with severe aphasia. A comprehensive cognitive battery was assembled to include the following: two n-back programs, one tapping phonological working memory, the other tapping semantic working memory (entitled “phonoback” and “semback,” respectively, both administered at the 1-back and 2-back levels), forward and backward block tapping tasks, and a nonverbal numeric Stroop task with measures of both inhibition and facilitation. The effect of response modality on simple and complex digit spans was also explored to elucidate the effect of verbal responses on certain cognitive tasks in PWA. Consequential to unexpected recruitment difficulties, persons in the acute and early subacute stages of aphasia recovery could not be included; therefore, findings apply to those with chronic aphasia. While participants presented with a range of severities, only 1 group could be formed, precluding a priori sample divisions. Results of this study alluded to the presence of processing deficits in all participants, although effects of inhibition and facilitation could not be precisely determined. All participants presented with phonological working memory deficits as measured by complex digit span, which was not influenced by response modality. Results on a measure of visuospatial working memory were mixed, but found to be inversely associated with aphasia severity. The role of semantic working memory in aphasia severity could not be determined; however, a relationship between visuospatial working memory and the semantic n-back was identified, suggesting intrusion of visual working memory that was, perhaps, compensatory in nature. This study also identified that pronounced cognitive deficits can exist in both younger and older adults with aphasia, thus diminishing the putative influence of natural cognitive decline on aphasia symptoms. While quantitatively limiting, this study was able to corroborate many research claims for the presence of distinct linguistic processing deficits in PWA, as well as the possibility of nonlinguistic processing deficits, through qualitative means. Results ultimately supported a need to further elucidate the nature of cognitive impairment in PWA across time, severity, and syndrome in order to derive standard therapeutic interventions that sufficiently remediate both cognitive and linguistic aspects of aphasia. Specifically, it is suggested that future studies explore whether or not working memory, attention, and executive control are relatively separable constructs in PWA, and whether cognitive processing deficits can be (a) localized within Baddeley’s and Hitch’s (1974) framework and (b) reduced to phonological, semantic, or syntactic domains.