The current study involved the development, scaling, and validation of a new, brief, strength-based measure of children's ecological support, as rated by their parents. The scaling and validation of the Child and Youth Ecological Assets Scale--Parent Form (C-YEAS-P) took place through two studies. The first study involved 500 parents who were…

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5; APA, 2013) by deficits in social communication and the presence of restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests (RRBIs). Despite the mandatory requirement of both categories of impairment for a diagnosis of ASD, research…

This multiple-manuscript dissertation explored the measurement invariance (MI) testing with multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis (MG-CFA) approach from different perspectives. Study 1 explored MI from a theoretical perspective by conducting a systematic review study on MI practices in education. The findings of this study indicated…

There has been an increased interest among researchers, policymakers, and educators in climate as an indicator of the health and functioning of a school. Climate is a complex, multidimensional construct that can be examined at the school, classroom, and individual levels. There are currently few open-access, brief measures of classroom climate,…

Mental health screeners need to demonstrate measurement equivalence across the populations of their intended use in order to improve the fairness in the identification of students in need of social, emotional, and behavioral supports. This study examined measurement invariance on three mental screeners across five racial and ethnic groups. The…

Preschool social education has become an increasingly important area of research and practice in mainland China with the social domain being recognized as an independent preschool curricular domain since 2001. Little is known, however, about the specific teaching practices that Chinese preschool teachers are using to promote children's…

This dissertation is composed of four stand-alone yet linked chapters. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the theoretical underpinnings of the constructs of adaptive behavior and support needs and their evolution throughout history. There is also a review of the limited literature available examining the relationship between the two constructs that…

With the recent influx of Latinos into the United States, it is essential to understand how their backgrounds and cultures will affect the way they view their children's emotional, social, and educational development. Researchers continue to evaluate the psychometrics of various screening instruments in order to ensure a reliable and valid…

Prevent-Teach-Reinforce (PTR) is a collaborative, standardized process that was developed as a way to address identified barriers to completing effective functional behavior assessments (FBAs) in public schools. Current research literature documents the effectiveness of the PTR process in decreasing problematic behaviors and increasing social…

Previous literature provides an overview of the multiple relationships between alcohol use, protective behavioral strategies (PBS), alcohol-related negative consequences, depression, and sleep problems among college students, as well as differences by individual level characteristics, such as age, gender, and race/ethnicity. The purpose of this…

The number of young children with autism is ever-increasing, and school psychologists are more frequently required to identify these students. Valid screening tools are needed in order to focus school psychologists' time on those students in need of intensive evaluations in Early Intervention programs. The purpose of this study was to examine the…

Teachers' ratings of problem behaviors are gathered as a matter of course in psychological evaluations of children. Teacher ratings are weighted heavily in the results of educational evaluations (Frick et al., 2010). With such heavy emphasis on teacher behavioral ratings, it is important to understand the extent to which conflict between…

Many children exhibit challenging behavior even in preschool. Recent reports have suggested that behavior problems, language skills, and academic delays are interrelated and perhaps mutually causal mechanisms, each adversely influencing the other. Language difficulties lead to behavior problems, behavior problems lead to academic delays, and…

In order to provide effective social, emotional, and behavioral supports to all students, there is a need for formative assessment tools that can help determine the responsiveness of students to intervention. Schoolwide positive behavior support (SWPBS) is one framework that can provide evidence-based intervention within a 3-tiered model to reach…

The purpose of this study of teacher attitudes and school climate was to identify the intrinsic and extrinsic motivators affecting veteran teachers' decision to remain in the profession. The study was conducted using data collected by the National Center for Education Statistics from a survey administered during the 2003-2004 school year to…