Date Approved

5-11-2006

Embargo Period

4-6-2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.A. in Special Education

Department

Interdisciplinary and Inclusive Education

College

College of Education

Advisor

Xin, Joy

Subject(s)

Children with disabilities; Kindergarten

Disciplines

Special Education and Teaching

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare academic and social skills of children with disabilities enrolled in both half-day and full-day kindergarten programs. Four boys, between the ages of 5 and 6, participated in the study. Of those, two were enrolled in a half-day program, and the other two were in a full-day program. Over a 4.5 month period, the children's academic skills were measured by the Kindergarten Readiness Test, and their behaviors were observed. A single subject research design with AB phases was used. Their scores were collected in three weeks as baseline data and their progress was recorded in six weeks as intervention data. All children made progress in identifying alphabetic letters, numerical numbers, geometric shapes, sight words, individual name, address, phone number and birthday, but the trend of progress was slightly accelerated by the full-day students. Meanwhile, a teacher/parent survey pertaining to their perceptions on both programs was provided respectively. All four participating teachers preferred teaching in the full-day kindergarten because they had more time to teach and reinforce their lessons throughout the day. All four participating parents reported that children had an academic advantage by being enrolled in a full-day kindergarten program, however two parents also indicated that a full-day was too long for young children. The results showed that full-day students have a slight advantage academically over the half-day students, however, there was no difference between the two groups in learning social skills.

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