Hello all,
My name is Mandy Phillips. I am new to this group. For the past fifteen years, I have worked with children and adults with various disabilities/exceptionalities in professions including social work, job coaching, education, and counseling. Currently, I am the Principal and Elementary School teacher at a private school for children on the Autism spectrum in Daytona Beach, Florida. I opened the school four years ago when I realized the need for specialized services in our community. We opened the school with eleven students and currently, for the upcoming school year, we have forty-five students enrolled. It has been, and continues to be, an amazing process with our students.
In addition to being a part of our quickly growing school, I am completing my Ph D in Psychology with Capella University. Currently, I am working on my dissertation research study. The title of my study is “Anger, Anxiety, Depression, Disruptive Behavior and Self-Concept of Children who have a Sibling with a Disability”. I wanted my passion for working with children with disabilities and their families to be reflected in my own research study. The purpose of my study is to look at the anger, anxiety, depression, incidents of disruptive behavior, and self-concept of children who have a sibling with a disability. For my study, disability is defined as any disability including, but not limited to: Autism, Asperger’s, Down’s syndrome, mental retardation, ADD, and AD/HD. In our community, there is much needed focus on supports for children who have a disability. However, there is very little focus on the siblings of these children. I feel that it is important for each member of the family to receive the supports they need as this is extremely important for the family dynamics. Participants for my study are children ages 10 to 15 from two-parent homes who have a sibling with a disability as well as children who have a sibling WITHOUT a disability. Participants will complete the Beck Youth Inventory II, which takes approximately 20 minutes. I am including children who have a sibling with a disability as well as children who have a neurotypical sibling(s) (no disability) in order to compare the results of the two groups.
I want to give as many families as possible the ability to participate as possible. Many families that are involved with our school are always looking for ways to be active in the area of Autism and have their voice heard. I wanted to extend the opportunity to the families in this group. Participation in this study is very simple. A questionnaire is mailed to your home for your child to complete. It is then mailed back to me in a self-addressed, stamped envelope. My study is being overseen by my committee at Capella University as well as the Institutional Review Board (IRB). My research study number is 421083-4. Interested families can contact me at [email protected] or (386) 576-6362.
Sincerely,
Mandy Phillips, General Psychology
Capella University ↓
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