Therapeutic Listening Communication in Children with Autism and Hyperacusis

Hyperacusis, or auditory hypersensitivity, is defined as abnormally sensitive hearing and in some cases an extreme sensitivity, where normally tolerated sounds are perceived as excessively, even painfully loud. This is a debilitating condition for children with autism, causing activity limitations and participation restrictions, also leading to peer isolation and habitual sound avoidance behaviors. This research explores a means of modifying the auditory environment of a child with hyperacusis in a safe, effective way for the purpose of improving attention span and facilitating learning. The small pilot study (n=4) was a single-subject, multiple-baseline design, conducted with school-aged children in the special education classroom setting. The researcher and associate have designed, developed, constructed, and safety tested the electronic device used in the study; it combines existing sound therapies of white and pink noise generation, noise cancelling headphones, and receives wireless communication from the teacher(s), in a small, wearable package that allows individual preference in user control of the audio levels. Research consisted of twelve classroom sessions, 15 to 30 minutes in length, with subjects wearing the device during normal classroom instruction. Some sessions added controlled levels of white or pink noise and some did not. Sensory and behavioral data for each child in the study was captured pre- and post-study from both the caregiver/parent and the teacher using the nationally recognized Sensory Profile 2™ tool. The researcher also observed each session, recording qualitative data about student behaviors and classroom interactions along with the physical aspects of wearing and functioning of the device. Study results were compiled and found to be generally favorable; the study subjects overall showed varying amounts of improvement in attentiveness during classroom activity and interaction, while wearing of the device was readily accepted across all participants. Research results indicated where some improvements to the device could be made; teacher and parent comments were all positive and supportive of the concept. This study has shown the device may have a beneficial result toward the research objective and warrants further research on a larger scale

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThis qualitative research study attempted to understand and unpack the caregiving experience in the illness of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Ten couples were interviewed separately and later as a dyad to discuss care, care responsibilities and support systems to see how gender influenced either the caregiving or care receiving experience. The purpose of this research was to explore, develop, and understand perceptions of care between care providers and caregivers of MS under the lens of feminist care theory/ethics of care within a social model of disability. Caregivers and those diagnosed with MS experience the caregiving relationship in a variety of ways where gender does indeed influence the experience of care. Gender provides a dimension for understanding the social construction of the disease including daily responsibilities of both the care giver and care receiver. Participants were acutely aware of gender when required to complete a care event or task outside of traditional gender roles. The social construction of gender provided a point of awareness for participants to examine care roles. Those tasks falling outside traditional gender roles were frequently brought to consciousness and provided an area of potential provocation. Additionally, this research examined care needs and the role of social support in the care experience. Care needs differed among participants depending on the availability of resources. Resources include: financial, time and social support. Access to these various resources affected the outcome of the care situation. Gender in turn influenced the understanding and use of resources as a dynamic in the experience. The social construction of gender also affected participants' ability to clarify and understand their experience in terms of accessing resources

The perks of high tech PR: examining diffusion of innovations in public relations and its effect on practitioners\u27 roles, status and power

This qualitative study examines the field of public relations though the lens of Everett Rogers’ diffusion of innovation research. The fields of public relations and diffusion of innovations are paired for the first time in a study of the effects of proximity to innovators on public relations practitioners. In-depth interviews and focus groups with practitioners working in both high-tech and low-tech environments are transcribed and coded to compare the effects of technology adoption on roles, status and power in organizations. This study not only contributes to the literature in public relations and diffusion of innovations, but also its findings are useful to PR practitioners seeking career benefits through strategic technology use

Caregiver Assessment Using Smart Gaming Technology: A Preliminary Approach

As pre-diagnostic technologies are becoming increasingly accessible, using them to improve the quality of care available to dementia patients and their caregivers is of increasing interest. Specifically, we aim to develop a tool for non-invasively assessing task performance in a simple gaming application. To address this, we have developed Caregiver Assessment using Smart Gaming Technology (CAST), a mobile application that personalizes a traditional word scramble game. Its core functionality uses a Fuzzy Inference System (FIS) optimized via a Genetic Algorithm (GA) to provide customized performance measures for each user of the system. With CAST, we match the relative level of difficulty of play using the individual's ability to solve the word scramble tasks. We provide an analysis of the preliminary results for determining task difficulty, with respect to our current participant cohort.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figures, 6 table

Family-focused treatment for childhood depression: model and case illustrations

Although the evidence base for treatment of depressive disorders in adolescents has strengthened in recent years, less is known about the treatment of depression in middle to late childhood. A family-based treatment may be optimal in addressing the interpersonal problems and symptoms frequently evident among depressed children during this developmental phase, particularly given data indicating that attributes of the family environment predict recovery versus continuing depression among depressed children. Family-Focused Treatment for Childhood Depression (FFT-CD) is designed as a 15-session family treatment with both the youth and parents targeting two putative mechanisms involved in recovery: (a) enhancing family support, specifically decreasing criticism and increasing supportive interactions; and (b) strengthening specific cognitive-behavioral skills within a family context that have been central to CBT for depression, specifically behavioral activation, communication, and problem solving. This article describes in detail the FFT-CD protocol and illustrates its implementation with three depressed children and their families. Common themes/challenges in treatment included family stressors, comorbidity, parental mental health challenges, and inclusion/integration of siblings into sessions. These three children experienced positive changes from pre- to posttreatment on assessor-rated depressive symptoms, parent- and child-rated depressive symptoms, and parent-rated internalizing and externalizing symptoms. These changes were maintained at follow-up evaluations 4 and 9 months following treatment completion.K23 MH101238 - NIMH NIH HHS; R01 MH082856 - NIMH NIH HHS; R01 MH082861 - NIMH NIH HH