Creating Opportunities for Contact between Mainstream Pupils and their Counterparts with Learning Difficulties

Michael Shevlin, Lecturer in Education, and Astrid Mona O'Moore, Senior Lecturer in Child and Educational Psychology and Co-ordinator of the Anti-Bullying Centre, both at Trinity College, Dublin, describe a programme linking mainstream pupils and their counterparts with severe and profound learning difficulties, consider the reactions of the pupils, and assess the social and educational benefits for all involved.     

Interactions between Pupils with Severe Learning Difficulties and their Mainstream Peers

Dr Jean Ware, Department of Educational Psychology and Special Educational Needs, Institute of Education, London University, Maeve Sharman, Sue O'Connor and Mall Anderson describe four studies on the interaction between pupils with SLD and their mainstream peers.     

Experience and Achievement: Initiatives in Curriculum Development for Pupils with Severe and Profound and Multiple Learning Difficuties

Richard Byers, education consultant and part-time lecturer at the University of Cambridge School of Education, challenges recent thinking on the teaching of subjects to pupils with learning difficulties. He emphasises that school-centred and innovative practices in curriculum development should be fully recognised and the role of experience and achievement thoroughly explored.     

The Assessment of Pupils with Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties

Jim McNicholas, educational consultant, provides an overview of a detailed research enquiry into the practices of teacher assessment of pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD) set against a background of curriculum theory and curriculum change. The overview approach (with its 'instant practical application') to a major study has not previously been reported in BJSE and the Editor would be grateful for your comments on its relevance to other studies.     

The Gender Mix Among Staff in Schools for Pupils with Severe and Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties and its Impact

Phil Goss has extensive experience as a practitioner and manager in schools for pupils with severe and profound and multiple learning difficulties. In this article, he reports on his enquiries into the gender mix among staff in these schools. He finds that there are significantly more women than men working as teachers and in support roles in these specialist contexts. Phil Goss goes on to discuss the outcomes of his research into headteachers' perceptions of the impact of this gender imbalance. In concluding, he makes a series of proposals for future policy on recruitment and staff development, for teachers and teaching assistants. Phil Goss argues that we need to find ways to bring more men into this work.     

Contingency Awareness in Infants and Children with Severe and Profound Learning Disabilities

Seven infants and children with severe, profound and multiple learning difficulties (CA 3 months to 4 years, MA 2 months to 12 months, mean MA 4.5 months) were presented with a contingency situation where they could control the onset of a visually and auditorily attractive toy. In this situation their responding increased and some positive emotional effects were seen. When they were subsequently unable to control stimulation, negative effects were seen on a range of emotional, motivational and self‐stimulation measures. These results suggest that from a mental age level of 2 months children are equipped to detect cause and effect relationships and build up a picture of their world based on expectancies about such relationships; and that violations of these expectancies can lead to negative effects.     

Bridging the Communication Gap (for Pupils with Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties)

Tina Detheridge, a Senior Lecturer at Westminster College, Oxford, suggests that, by using information technology, some pupils are able to generate unambiguous signals which, used in social contexts, stimulated interaction and enhanced communication. The work undertaken further highlighted criteria for the successful use of IT in such contexts.     

学习困难学生教育干预中的激励手段

学习困难学生(以下简称学困生)的动机水平和任务坚持性已越来越受到特殊教育界的关注.传统的学习困难研究一般从学困生的认知角度进行分析和设计教育手段,但现在人们越来越认识到非认知因素对学困生的影响.     

Music Education for Pupils with Severe or Profound and Multiple Difficulties — Current Provision and Future Need

There is a general agreement about the important role that music can play in the education and daily lives of children with severe or profound and multiple learning difficulties. But what are the distinctions and relationships between music education, music therapy and music as a vehicle for other forms of learning, occupation, development or engagement? To what extent are professionals in schools aware of these issues and prepared to explore them from an informed perspective? In this article, Dr Adam Ockelford, Deputy Director of Education and Employment for the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB), Sally Zimmermann, Music Education and Employment Advisor (RNIB); and Professor Graham Welch, Chair of Music Education and Head of the School of Arts and Humanities, Institute of Education, University of London, present and expand on the key findings from their recent research project, 'PROMISE', which examined the Provision of Music in Special Education and specifically in schools for pupils with severe or profound and multiple difficulties. The authors conclude their paper with an acknowledgement that a great deal of significant work takes place in these contexts at present but that further research, leading to the provision of new resources for curriculum and staff development, is crucial to the realisation of music's full potential in the lives of pupils with severe and profound and multiple learning difficulties.     

Dickens for All: Inclusive Approaches to Literature and Communication with People with Severe and Profound Learning Disabilities

Keith Park, a teacher of children with visual impairment and learning disabilities with the Greenwich Visual Impairment Service, describes a series of multisensory interactive drama games re-telling the story of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, following a discussion of the potential uses of literature with people with severe and profound learning disabilities.     

Sex Education for Pupils with Severe Learning Difficulties

This article is based on the dissertation for the degree of B.Ed. (Honours) awarded by Birmingham University in July 1986 to the author when she was a student at Westhill College, Birmingham. Karen Giles is now teaching at Rosemary School, Islington, in the Inner London Education Authority.     

论小学生学习障碍及其教育对策

小学教育阶段是读写算能力迅速发展的关键时期,而学习障碍对小学生的学习和今后的生活造成不良影响,文中探讨了小学生学习障碍的涵义、发病率、类型、成因,最后从为学习障碍学生设立资源班和资源教室,以及如何应对具体学习障碍,如阅读障碍、拼写障碍、数学障碍和社会障碍等方面提出了相应的教育对策。     

Customizing Instruction to Maximize Functional Outcomes for Students With Profound Multiple Disabilities

This article describes a process for customizing instruction for students with profound multiple disabilities that has been used to design instructional programs and maximize the attainment of functional outcomes for students. The process focuses on collaborative teamwork and problem solving to design and implement instructional programs by ensuring that the 5 components of the process are included. Team members determine (a) prepositioning handling procedures; (b) overall body positioning for instruction; (c) hand, arm, and head positioning; (d) instructional adaptations and materials; and (e) handling procedures to combine with systematic instructional strategies.     

Conducting Preference Assessments and Reinforcer Testing for Individuals With Profound Multiple Disabilities: Issues and Procedures

The purpose of this article is to review the current research on preference assessment and reinforcer testing for individuals with profound multiple disabilities (PMD). It briefly reviews the literature that describes a subpopulation of individuals with PMD distinct from the general population of individuals labeled as having profound disabilities. The article describes the types of preference assessment procedures that have been used with individuals with PMD. Results from 13 published studies, which assessed preferences and tested reinforcers with individuals with PMD, suggest that preference procedures currently used with individuals at the higher levels of profound disabilities and individuals with severe disabilities are not always successful in identifying preferred stimuli that function as consistent reinforcers for individuals with PMD. Based on this review and other studies over a 3-year period, this article provides a rationale for conducting preference assessments to assist in curriculum development and describes a process for conducting preference assessments and targeting social, affective, and motor behaviors to increase with individuals with PMD.     

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Intensive Interactive Teaching with Pupils with Profound and Complex Learning Difficulties

Judith Watson, lecturer and Anne Fisher, teacher, present encouraging results from two research studies which evaluated the effectiveness of Intensive Interactive teaching with pupils who had profound and complex learning difficulties. The method is compared with the effects of other classroom experiences over the course of one school year.     

What Happens After the Age of 14? Mapping Transitions for Pupils with Profound and Complex Learning Difficulties

This article reports on part one of a three-part national survey of provision for pupils aged 14 and older, in England and Wales, who have profound and complex learning difficulties. The survey is part of the Enhancing the Quality of Life (EqoL), a three-year research project jointly awarded to Skill: the National Bureau for Students with Disabilities, and the University of Cambridge School of Education. The aim of the project is to construct a framework for learning which will support improvements in the quality of life for these young people. It is funded by the National Lottery Charities Board.     

The Internet: a New Frontier for Pupils with Severe Learning Difficulties?

David Banes, Headteacher, and Richard Walter, IT co-ordinator, describe ways in which the Internet has been used by a group of pupils with complex needs at Meldreth Manor school. The rationale, some teaching techniques and methods of evaluating the experiment are discussed, and a range of issues requiring further investigation are identified.     

Pupils Helping other Pupils with their Learning: Cross-age tutoring in a primary and secondary school

Doctoral students leave their programs early due to lack of mentoring relationships needed to support degree completion and success. However, how mentoring contributes to Ed.D degree completion is not widely studied. In this qualitative narrative study, we sought to explore how multiple mentoring relationships reduced attrition in an Ed.D program. Study participants shared their experiences with mentors across their life domains (academic, personal, and professional) to seek support needed to promote progression and or completion of the program. Each mentoring relationship served a specific purpose. For instance, family members and friends supported participants with home duties, childcare, encouragement, and praise during their doctoral journey. Supervisors supported the participant’s success both academically and professionally. Fellow doctoral students enhanced the learning experience by sharing different perspectives and providing academic and career advice/strategies. Faculty mentoring support was critical to the academic and dissertation process as well as to scholarly development.     

'It Would Have Been Bad': The Development of Historical Imagination and Empathy in a Group of Secondary Aged Pupils with Severe Learning Difficulties

Andrew Turner, who teaches in a school for pupils with severe learning difficulties, considers the teaching of history by teachers of such pupils and suggests that the skills of imaginative reconstruction and empathy are relatively neglected areas, particularly when dealing with distant historical periods. Recent research with mainstream primary pupils illustrates the possible parallels and the article gives details of a small-scale study of one group of Key Stage 3 pupils.     

Ethical Reasoning Used by Teachers of Children with Severe and Profound Intellectual Disabilities: A preliminary investigation

In a study of the ethical reasoning of teachers of children with severe and profound intellectual disabilities, the authors report on their findings from interviews with, and classroom observations of, five teachers of children in segregated classrooms. The teachers' responses to four ethical dilemmas were discussed and analysed for the types of reasoning that they used and for the presence of four principles often cited in normative ethics: justice, respect for autonomy, beneficence, and non-maleficence. Interview data also suggested the presence of some distinctive elements in the ethical discussion of the participants. The authors found that teachers gave almost exclusive consideration to individual student interests in their discussions of the dilemmas. Although justice played a significant role in their validation of their decisions, the governing principle in their argument seemed to be beneficence. Moral impasses have frequently arisen in discussions of the ethics of decisions regarding persons with severe and profound intellectual disabilities. The findings of this study are presented as an empirical contribution to that debate and as a mandate for further discussion.