Parental distress: the initial phase of hearing aid and cochlear implant fitting

The results of previous cross-section studies suggest that childhood hearing impairment may lead to parental psychosocial stress. The present study investigated whether modifications in parental psychic state can be ascertained in connection with the child's treatment events and the child's hearing and speech status, in a prospective study design. Data were available on 116 fathers and mothers regarding the pre-cochlear implant examination or hearing aid fitting of their child. In the course of the child's treatment, parental quality of life improved from a low to a normal level. Among children who were at the stage of pre-examination for a cochlear implant, better hearing and speech capacity was linked to more severe impairment of the parental state. It is emphasized that the parents whose children showed comparatively good language development at the time of pre-examination for a cochlear implant were especially subjected to stress.     

Behavioural and emotional problems in hearing impaired children: a preliminary study of teacher and parent ratings

A case study of what appears to be an inclusive classroom in Sweden is reported. The group of children in the class studied was very heterogeneous: five of the 15 children had a disability diagnosis at the time of the study. One aim of the study was to develop a methodology which can be used in order to investigate in what sense classrooms are ‘inclusive’, especially as regards the point of view of the pupils. It is argued that an explicit definition of characteristics of inclusive classrooms and clear‐cut methods to study those characteristics are necessary prerequisites in order to reach valid conclusions concerning what teaching strategies are central to inclusive processes. The data consist of interviews with the teachers and children involved, sociograms, a questionnaire answered by the children, notes from participant observations and poetry by the children. The analyses suggest that the classroom seems to be inclusive, although it is emphasised that this is not an all‐or‐none phenomenon, especially children's experiences are complex phenomena. It is argued that the teachers try to create a learning community where differences are valued. Six teacher strategies emerged from the data.     

借鉴柯达伊教学法加强视唱教学中情感内觉体验

视唱教学可以提高学生的识谱能力,培养学生良好的乐感,使他们的音乐兴趣得以持续与发展,为他们进一步感受和学习音乐打下坚实的基础。     

Adverse childhood experiences,health perception,and the role of shared familial factors in adult twins

To examine the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACE) and health perception in adulthood, and to explore the contribution of shared familial factors to these associations. Data were collected from 180 female twins (90 pairs) from the community-based University of Washington Twin Registry. Participants completed questionnaires including the modified ACE Questionnaire, Traumatic Life Events Questionnaire, McGill Pain Questionnaire-Short Form, and the SF-36. Mixed effects linear regression modeling investigated the effects of ACE on indices of health perception controlling for correlated twin data. Additional models examined the associations while controlling for the experience of physical and/or sexual abuse in childhood; within-twin pair models that inherently adjust for familial factors explored shared familial influences. After controlling for relevant demographic variables, more ACE was associated with worse perceptions of general health (p = .01) and vitality (p = .05) on the SF-36. After controlling for childhood physical and/or sexual abuse, the relationship between ACE and general health remained significant (p = .01) while vitality was no longer significant. None of the associations remained significant after accounting for the influence of familial factors. These results support previous findings on the negative link between ACE and perceived health in adulthood. The detrimental effects of ACE on vitality may be accounted for by the experience of childhood physical and/or sexual abuse. Shared familial factors might play a partial role in the relationship between ACE and health perception. Future research should further investigate the genetic and environmental mechanisms that may explain this relationship.     

Nonsense passage reading as a diagnostic aid in the study of adult familial dyslexia

We examined Nonsense-Passage oral reading in adults, using data derived from new and previously published studies (Finucci et al 1976, Gross-Glenn et al 1985). Time-scores and error-frequency data are presented for five samples of non-dyslexic readers with a minimum of a high-school education and no childhood history of dyslexia (N=127). Considerable uniformity is demonstrated across these samples, and reading performance of non-dyslexic individuals contrasts sharply with that observed in four samples of adult familial dyslexics. Both affected and compensated-affected dyslexic subjects read the passages significantly more slowly and with more errors than did nondyslexic readers. Results are discussed in relation to the cognitive and neural processes that may underlie this specific reading difficulty in dyslexics. We have found Nonsense-Passage reading to be especially useful in family studies of inherited dyslexia as a means of quantifying oral reading deficits in adults who have learned to compensate for their children reading difficulties.     

Region,resources, and reason: A contextual analysis of state tuition and student aid policies

This paper reports on an investigation of differences and similarities across the 50 states in approaches to the pricing and discounting, via student aid, of undergraduate education. To examine national patterns in tuition and aid policies, the analysis used recent state-by-state data and multivariate statistical methods. The results suggest that region, social and economic resources, and postsecondary governance arrangements each have distinctive connections to the nature of states' tuition and aid policies. Of particular interest are the results relating to high-tuition/high-aid policies at the state level, an approach termed by proponents therationalization of tuition and aid policy. Multiple regression analysis revealed rationalization to be primarily a regionally driven phenomenon concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest. Rationalization showed weaker, but still significant, connections to the states' population, personal income levels, extent of reliance on private postsecondary institutions, and governance arrangements. Implications of these findings for theory and policy are discussed.     

Temporal resolution of auditory perception in relation to perception, memory, and language skills in typical children

This study examined temporal resolution of auditory perception (TRAP) in relation to speech perception and phonological working memory in one experiment and in relation to measures of rapid naming, understanding of grammatical contrasts, and phonological awareness in a second experiment. In the TRAP test, 6- to 9-year-old children discriminated four pairs of two sine tones, 878 Hz and 1350 Hz, presented in blocks with stepwise decreasing interstimulus intervals from 256 ms to 8 ms. In Experiment 1, weak but significant correlations between TRAP and speech perception and phonological working memory were found, as well as a significantly lower TRAP performance by girls. Experiment 2 indicated a significant relation between TRAP and the phonological awareness task. The results give qualified support to the notion of a weak relationship between TRAP and speech perception and language skills among typical children. However, the gender differences in TRAP performance, the limited variance explained by the regression models, and the finding that only one of the language parameters correlated with TRAP do not support the notion of a causal relationship between language skills and TRAP. The possibility that TRAP is connected to general neurological maturation rather than specifically to language abilities is discussed.     

Characteristics of the population of deaf and hard of hearing students with emotional disturbance in Illinois

The study summarizes a database for the years 1994-1999 on deaf and hard of hearing students in Illinois with a diagnosis of emotional disturbance (N = 115). Data are reported on the group's demographic, domestic, etiologic, communication-related, and intervention-related characteristics. These dually diagnosed students differed from Illinois's general population of deaf and hard of hearing students in many ways, including higher incidences of prematurity, prenatal trauma, and perinatal trauma. They were more likely to have had a later onset of hearing loss, to live in single-parent homes, to belong to an ethnic minority, to live in an urban or suburban area, and to qualify for low-income health care. Many had histories of abuse, 50% were regularly medicated, and 15% were assigned to surrogate parents.     

The politics of adult education: state,economy and civil society

There has been a recent general resurgence of interest in civil society, a resurgence that is also found in adult education. Radical adult educators, in particular, view civil society as the privileged sphere of radical learning and social change. It is seen as the site to engage in democratic struggle, social movements and political change. This new elevation of civil society is tied into a wider crisis on the political left ? the crisis of socialism. This crisis is reflected in the wider debates on the politics of civil society, a debate centred on the differences between Marxist and post-Marxist definitions of civil society. The purpose of this paper is to clarify this debate, and outline its implications for adult education theory and practice. To this end, the paper examines the history of the civil society idea, a history demonstrating that analyses of civil society need to be placed alongside understandings of the state and the market. These understandings of political and economic society provide the bases for two very different political agendas - socialism and radical democracy. The paper discusses how these two agendas impact on adult education, in particular how different analyses of the state/economy/civil society relationship suggest divergent conceptions of social conflict.     

The effects of tuition and financial aid on the enrollment decision at a state university

Students admitted to more than one institution of higher education face one of the most difficult decisions of their lives. The determinants of these enrollment decisions are crucially important to the yield of qualified students from the number admitted to colleges and universities. This paper specifies an empirical model of the enrollment decision for students admitted both to Rutgers University and to at least one alternate college. Our estimates of the parameters of the model with a binary choice multiple regression equation show that students base their enrollment decision on the relative quality of the schools, their own abilities and family resources, and the net costs of the schools. The results are relevant to university tuition and financial aid policies. The general methodology is replicable by other institutions seeking information on the determinants of the enrollment decision.     

An ERP study of emotional face processing in the adult and infant brain

To examine the ontogeny of emotional face processing, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from adults and 7-month-old infants while viewing pictures of fearful, happy, and neutral faces. Face-sensitive ERPs at occipital-temporal scalp regions differentiated between fearful and neutral/happy faces in both adults (N170 was larger for fear) and infants (P400 was larger for fear). Behavioral measures showed no overt attentional bias toward fearful faces in adults, but in infants, the duration of the first fixation was longer for fearful than happy faces. Together, these results suggest that the neural systems underlying the differential processing of fearful and happy/neutral faces are functional early in life, and that affective factors may play an important role in modulating infants' face processing.     

明代驸马都尉沐昕与武当山

明代驸马都尉沐昕历事永乐、洪熙、宣德、正统、景泰五朝,是明代的勋臣贵戚,但《明史》、《明实录》等书没有他的传记。文章对沐昕其人其事和他奉命把总提调营建武当山工程,向朝廷奏报武当山"瑞应",宣扬君权神授的行为等作了钩稽、考证和分析;对武当山保存的沐昕诗歌和书法作品作了介绍和考述。     

Learning to spell and learning phonology: the spelling of consonant clusters in Kiswahili

In orthographies studied to date, children learning to spell tend to omit one consonant of a cluster—for initial clusters, the second consonant, and for medial nasal clusters, the nasal. Explanations have included a special status for the initial consonant of a word, and the fact that in English nasal clusters are not true clusters but consist of a nasalised vowel plus a consonant. We tested children’s spelling of initial and medial clusters consisting of a nasal consonant followed by another consonant, but non-nasalised vowels, in Kiswahili. For both initial and medial clusters, the nasal was spelled wrongly more often than the other consonant. The initial position in a word does not seem to have special properties. Rather, the spelling of clusters seems to depend on the properties of the individual phonemes, nasals being particularly difficult to spell. It is concluded that cross-linguistic studies of spelling development are necessary to draw generalised conclusions about phonological processing.     

Prelinguistic vocal development in young cochlear implant recipients and typically developing infants: year 1 of robust hearing experience

This investigation examined the time course and sequence of prelinguistic vocal development during the first year of cochlear implant (CI) experience. Thirteen children who were implanted between 8 and 35 months and 11 typically developing (TD) infants participated in this longitudinal study. Adult-child play interactions were video- and audio-recorded at trimonthly intervals for each group, and child utterances were classified into categories representing progressively more mature productions: Precanonical Vocalizations, Basic Canonical Syllables, and Advanced Form vocalizations. Young CI recipients met the 20% criterion for establishment of the Basic Canonical Syllables and Advanced Forms levels with fewer months of robust hearing experience than the TD infants. Most CI recipients followed the sequence of development predicted by the Stark Assessment of Early Vocal Development-Revised. The relatively rapid progress of the CI children suggests that an earlier period of auditory deprivation did not have negative consequences for prelinguistic vocal development. It also supports the notion that young CI recipients comparatively advanced maturity facilitated expeditious auditory-guided speech development.     

Social inequalities in early childhood competences,and the relative role of social and emotional versus cognitive skills in predicting adult outcomes

This study draws on the nationally representative British Birth Cohort Study (BCS70) to examine (1) the association between social background and early socio-emotional and cognitive competences at age 5 and (2) the relative and independent contributions of early socio-emotional and cognitive competences to educational and socio-economic attainment in adulthood. A multi-dimensional (multiple exposure, multiple outcome) approach is adopted in conceptualising social background, childhood competences and adult outcomes by age 42. Indicators of social background include parental education, social class, employment status, family income, as well as home ownership, enabling us to test which aspects of socio-economic risk uniquely influence the development of early competences. Indicators of childhood competences include directly assessed cognitive competences (i.e. verbal and visual motor skills), while measures of socio-emotional competences include hyperactivity, good conduct, emotional health and social skills, reported by the child’s mother at age 5. Adult outcomes include highest qualifications, social class and household income by age 42. The findings suggest that multiple indicators of social background are associated with both socio-emotional and cognitive competences, although the associations with socio-emotional competences are less strong than those with cognitive competences. We find significant long-term predictive effects of early cognitive skills on adult outcomes, but also independent effects of socio-emotional competences, in particular self-regulation, over and above the role of family background. The study supports calls for early interventions aiming to reduce family socio-economic risk exposure and supporting the development of cognitive skills and self-regulation (i.e. reducing hyperactivity and conduct problems).     

Social and emotional learning around technology in a cross-cultural,elementary classroom

The purpose of the study reported on in this paper was to design and test an intervention with elementary-aged children to promote social and emotional learning around technology. The intervention structured learning around technology as a catalyst and scaffolding tool that engages learners in cross-cultural, collaborative interaction, dialogue, problem-solving, decision-making and reflection in a face-to-face context. Participants were five Thai and 18 Cambodian learners in a Thai elementary classroom. Data collection involved self-report use of the Thai Emotional Intelligence Screening Test (TEIST) before and after 8 weeks of an intervention consisting of learners’ collaborative and interactive use of online, animated stories, discussion forum, mind maps and learning journal. Results are presented as pre-post for the whole group, for Thai vs. Cambodian, and for males versus females. Whole group (N?=?23) T-values for the subcategory of Emotional self-control were significantly different at p?<?.05 from the pre- and post-TEIST (t?=?2.712). Comparisons of pre- and post-TEIST between Thai and Cambodian learners revealed no significant difference. Comparisons between males and females evidenced a significant difference at p?<?.01 for the post-TEIST (t?=?3.886, 3.092 respectively), showing increased Empathy and Responsibility among participating females. The paper concludes with an expanded model of social and emotional learning around technology.     

Literacy,schooling and ideology in a multilingual state

In this article I argue that current government policy for teaching literacy in schools in England is part of a broader ideology of homogeneity which is visible in other dominant-culture institutions. Despite the multilingual nature of England and its schools, the dominant discourse is one which values English at the expense of other languages, leading to the ‘misrecognition’ (Bourdieu, 1998b: 131), by majority and minority language speakers alike, of English as the sole language of symbolic capital. While the first part of this article outlines the monolingual ideology of current literacy policy in schools in England, and locates this in the context of a similar ideology evident in discourses beyond education, I also suggest that this process of symbolic domination is not inevitable. Schools need not be sites of social and cultural reproduction. They can challenge existing relations of power in society, and put in place structures and practices which question and even reverse the coercive relations between majority-culture schools and minority-culture communities and their children. I propose some ways forward in the development of structures which can enable schools to become sites of social and cultural transformation, rather than reproduction.     

Examining metacognition in hearing and deaf/hard of hearing students: a comparative study

The metacognitive performance of 87 hearing and 20 deaf/hard of hearing students was examined. The hearing students consisted of 42 males (mean age 15.6 years) and 45 females (mean age 15.4 years). The deaf/hard of hearing students consisted of 13 males (mean age 16.9 years) and 7 females (mean age 15.9 years). Metacognition was conceptualized in terms of choosing the best response to problematic situations drawing upon problem-solving and logical reasoning skills. In the test, pictures represented various daily life interactions. There was no significant difference between hearing and deaf/hard of hearing students in metacognitive performance, nor was there a gender-based significant difference among the deaf/hard of hearing students. However, hearing female students scored significantly higher on the metacognitive test than hearing male students. Further analysis of the study findings possibly would show students' overall performance on the metacognitive test to be independent of grade point average. Analysis did show, however, a significant negative correlation between test performance and grades in Arabic among deaf/hard of hearing students.