Objective: To determine the relationship of motor skills and the core behaviors of young children with autism, social affective skills and repetitive behaviors, as indicated through the calibrated autism severity scores.
Design: The univariate GLM tested the relationship of gross and fine motor skills measured by the gross motor scale...
Motor skill deficits are present and persist in school-aged children with autism
spectrum disorder (ASD; Staples & Reid, 2010). Yet the focus of intervention is
on core impairments, which are part of the diagnostic criteria for ASD, deficits in
social communication skills. The purpose of this study is to determine...
In addition to the core characteristics of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) motor skill
deficits are present, persistent and pervasive across age. Although motor skill deficits have been
indicated in young children with autism they have not been included in the primary discussion of
early intervention content. 159 young children with...
This thesis analyzes two Victorian fairy tales that feature queer endings, or endings that offer alternatives to the heteronormative fairy-tale tradition that idealizes heterosexual marriage and the biological family. In both George MacDonald’s The Wise Woman (1875) and E. Nesbit’s “The Island of the Nine Whirlpools” (1901), I argue that...
Approximately one in six children in the United States has a developmental disability (CDC, 2018). Among a wide variety of interventions that have been developed to support the health, wellbeing, and development of youth with disabilities, Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAI) have become increasingly prevalent. Some AAI involve youth participating with their...
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been reported to have motor skill delays and deficits. However, there have been challenges to these findings on whether these deficits are due to lack of movement skills or inaccurate assessment methods. Due to relative strengths in processing visual stimuli as opposed to...
The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion released the Healthy People 2020 plan in 2010 (Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion [ODPHP], 2010). The mission of Healthy People 2020 is focused on improving the health of all Americans. One common tool utilized to improve the health of Americans...
Preschool outdoor play environments (OPEs) are unique spaces that, when carefully designed, can encourage child-initiated play resulting in jumping, chasing, and exploration of materials and natural spaces (Moore, 1996). Specifically, elements of the OPE can facilitate movement and increase physical activity (Baek et al., 2015) through engaged, child-initiated play. Children...
In recent years, there has been an increased interest in accurately measuring physical activity levels with accelerometers. Two distinct approaches have been used to estimate physical activity levels with accelerometers are vertical axis activity counts and vector magnitude (VM). Although previous studies evaluated these two distinct approaches for individuals without...
The benefits of physical activity (PA) are well established (USDDHS, 2008). Concern over the high rate of childhood obesity, however, has highlighted the emphasis of PA. Yet, children and adolescents are not obtaining the recommended amount of PA (CDC, 2011). Physical education (PE) has been recognized as an important source...