Anthony Hernandez

Information Technology Skills for a Pluralistic Society

Abstract Information technology skills are becoming more and more important to the success of students and teachers. These skills are acquired in many ways, including education, home use of computers, and on-the-job training. Literature has shown that computer access and integration of computers into curricula have been significantly lower in student populations from ethnic minorities in K-12 public schools. Studies have also shown that ethnic-minority households own computers at a lower rate than majority households. However, universities seldom stop to determine if required competencies exist uniformly across all students. This study focuses on access and use issues of students at an urban university across students of many different ethnicities. The findings indicate that discrepancies persist at the university level. A model of computer-based self-efficacy and performance is presented and partially validated. A discussion of the implications of these findings is included.

Assessment of Parental Acceptability and Preference for Behavioral Interventions for Feeding Problems

The present study evaluates the treatment acceptability and preference for behavioral interventions for feeding problems with parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and other developmental disabilities. The impact of behavioral severity on acceptability and preference was also evaluated by comparing results of parents who responded with respect to a vignette of a child with food refusal with those who responded to a vignette of a child with food selectivity. Overall, parents rated differential reinforcement of alternative behavior as the most preferred and most acceptable strategy across both food selectivity and food refusal groups. Escape extinction was the least acceptable and least preferred across both groups, and the severity of the behavior had no impact on acceptability or preference scores. Implications for future research on the social validity of feeding interventions are provided.

Assessing Preferences Among Behavioral Interventions With Japanese Parents of Children With Developmental Disabilities

ABSTRACT As the cultural dynamic continues to become increasingly complex, it is critical to assess cultural factors that influence practice. The present study considers the treatment preferences of Japanese mothers of children with developmental disabilities. After answering demographic questions, each participant was given four scenarios and asked how they would respond by choosing one of four interventions (differential reinforcement, ignoring, reprimanding, and time-out). Overall, we found that parents preferred differential reinforcement strategies the most. Moreover, parents who reported that their children had a history of involvement with applied behavior analysis were especially likely to choose differential reinforcement. Implications for future research and practice are provided.