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- Creators: College of Health Solutions
- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Description
This thesis project examines the nature of aquatic exercise and the applicability and advantages it has for individuals living with a developmental disability. Specifically, this project will be taking a look at the discontinuation of the Red Cross adapted aquatics certification in the early 2000's. This certification was specifically meant for swim instructors to teach those with disabilities. However, this program was cut in 2004 and has not been replaced in the current Red Cross literature, excluding a single chapter of limited scope and does not include in-person training. Therefore, this project is meant to be a multifaceted study of the history, benefits, and limitations of re-instituting this and similar programs that help prepare aquatics teachers to aid individuals with disabilities, specifically individuals living with cerebral palsy and autism spectrum disorder. The primary goal of this project is to take an understanding of aquatics as a method of healing and apply these findings in order to promote the continued growth of aquatic exercise in a way that will make it more accessible to individuals who may not be able to participate in such an environment otherwise. This paper will also be exploring future endeavors related to adapted aquatics groups, and what steps should be taken to bolster awareness and participation, both through the Red Cross and other organizations. For this project I will be relying not only on current journalistic literature, but also my own experiences as an instructor of Red Cross swimming lessons, and the Sioux Falls based group, Adaptive Aquatics.
ContributorsHansen, Emily Ann (Author) / Collins, Michael (Thesis director) / Washo-Krupps, Delon (Committee member) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
The purpose of this study, originally, was to contribute to the completion of a meta-analysis conducted by Mara Wierstra from the University of Virginia. Wierstra had requested individual participant data from two separate studies conducted in our lab: "Acute bouts of assisted cycling improves cognitive and upper extremity movement functions in adolescents with Down syndrome" and "Assisted Cycling Therapy (ACT) improves inhibition in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder." From the data requested, the participants were required to complete three separate tests (i.e., Tower of London, Trail Making Task and the Stroop Test). After compiling the data and sending it to her, we decided to conduct a small meta-analysis of our own, drawing connecting conclusions from the data from the two studies. We concluded that observationally our data suggest an advantage for ACT over voluntary cycling and no cycling across two separate populations (i.e., Autism Spectrum Disorder and Down syndrome), and across different measures of executive function (i.e., Stroop Test, Trail Making Test, and Tower of London). The data suggest that the ACT interventions may promote the upregulation of neurotropic factors leading to neurogenesis in the prefrontal cortex of the brain.
ContributorsParker, Cade Joseph (Author) / Ringenbach, Shannon (Thesis director) / Holzapfel, Simon (Committee member) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
The present study investigated the communicative characteristics of challenging behavior documented in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and how those behaviors changed as receptive and expressive language skills changed. Several years of the individual education plans (IEPs), behavior plans, and test scores of three male students from a small non- public school (NPS) were reviewed for this study. Challenging behaviors that served a communicative function showed some signs of diminishing as functional communication increased. While functional communication did show signs of increasing with the acquisition of expressive and receptive language the participants differed in their dependence on prompting to use functional communication in lieu of challenging behavior. Additionally, some of the challenging behaviors were rooted in a difficulty with self-regulation and stimming behavior and didn't appear to serve a communicative function. Given the significant impact challenging behaviors have on the quality life of the children with ASD and their families, more research is needed to better understand the connection between spontaneous and independent functional communication and duration to independent attention to task effects on challenging behavior.
ContributorsPringle, Deborah (Author) / Bruce, Laurel (Thesis director) / Dixon, Maria (Committee member) / Elliott, Alicia (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor)
Created2023-05
Description
Many children with disabilities need physical therapy treatment but it can be difficult to instruct patients with restricted or limited communication. Most exercise cards and depictions used in communicating instruction to pediatric special needs patients are not representative of children with disabilities. This project aimed to create inclusive physical therapy exercise cards depicting children with disabilities. The goal of these cards was to help communicate instructions and motivate children to perform their exercises in clinical settings. The exercise selection was based on observations from working with children with disabilities in a pediatric physical therapy clinic. As a result, photos of children with developmental disabilities were taken performing exercises and subsequently made into cards and provided to physical therapists (PT). The PT’s used the cards for at least a week and reported on their functionality. The feedback from PT’s regarding the use of exercise cards in therapy sessions was overwhelmingly positive. With the positive feedback from the PT’s, the cards will be published and donated to pediatric physical therapy clinics in Arizona.
ContributorsMack, Sarah (Author) / Hart, Teresa (Thesis director) / Broman, Tannah (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is an intricate neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired social functioning and communication, repetitive behavioral patterns, and specialized interests (Olesova et al., 2020; Osredkar et al., 2023). Despite the efforts of modern science, the biological origin of ASD is unknown, and no known biomarker for ASD currently exists (Olesova et al., 2020; Osredkar et al., 2023). Indoxyl sulfate has been identified as a toxin associated with ASD and its related symptomology in addition to a number of other conditions, including chronic kidney disease, acute kidney injury, heart failure, Parkinson’s disease, and various mood disorders (Cao et al., 2015; Cassani et al., 2015; Karbowska et al., 2020; Zhao et al., 2013). This article will review what is currently known about indoxyl sulfate in relation to ASD and its comorbidities in an attempt to determine the validity of indoxyl sulfate as a potential biomarker for ASD. Articles for the purposes of this review were collected via Google Scholar, PubMed, and the ASU Library using key words such as “indoxyl sulfate,” “Autism,” and “indican,” and chosen based on relevancy. Through this review, indoxyl sulfate was identified as a potential physiological biomarker for a subset of ASD, with additional research required to verify the findings presented. The identification of a biomarker for ASD could change the current methods of testing for ASD, greatly improving our understanding and treatment of the disorder.
ContributorsHill, Zoë (Author) / Adams, James (Thesis director) / Flynn, Christina (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor) / Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation (Contributor)
Created2024-05