| Titel: | The Effects of Yoga on Attention and Self-Concept in Special Education Preschoolers |
|---|---|
| Autor: | Voll, Christine Baviello |
| Mediengruppe: | dissertation |
| Herausgeber: | --- |
| Zeitschrift: | Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering |
| Jahr: | 2009 |
| Band: | 70 |
| Heft: | --- |
| Seiten: | --- |
| Sprache: | English |
| Abstract: | Attention difficulties are a common problem faced by professionals in the schools today. A school-based intervention program involving yoga and its impact on attention problems and self-concept was investigated in this study. Yoga is practical as an intervention because it can easily be taught by a classroom teacher and incorporated into the school day. Yoga is especially applicable with preschool children because it involves physical exercise as well as incorporating elements of play to which young children can relate. In the present study, an ABAB reversal design was employed to examine the effectiveness of yoga as an intervention for increasing on-task behavior and self-concept in special education preschool children who demonstrate attention problems. It was hypothesized yoga, as an intervention, would significantly increase on-task behavior in preschool children during intervention phases as compared to baseline phases. Additionally, it was hypothesized yoga would significantly increase self-concept in preschool children from pretest to posttest. The participants were eight preschool children who were enrolled in a self-contained, special education classroom. Yoga sessions were conducted using a video that required the children to follow along with the exercises demonstrated by an instructor and three children. Sessions lasted for 30 minutes, three times a week, for a period of two weeks. On-task behavior was measured by calculating the percentage of 10-second intervals where the children were orienting toward the teacher or task and remained in their seats. The means, standard deviations, and effect sizes were calculated for each student. Interobserver agreement was calculated for approximately 30% of all observation sessions across the four phases. Kappa values indicated good to excellent agreement. The results of the present study did not find support for either of the original two hypotheses. In fact, for half of the participants in this study, their levels of on-task behavior decreased during intervention phases. The intervention had no effect at all on the other four participants. The results of the present study indicate that yoga was not an effective intervention with this small group of special education preschoolers. Suggestions for future research involving other samples and other methods of presenting yoga were suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved) |