Conversational skills in a semistructured interview and self-concept in deaf students

The starting point for this study is the importance of linguistic competence in deaf students as part of their process of socialization and the formation of their self-concept. With the 56 deaf students who participated in the research, we consider the following sociodemographic variables: age, sex and degree of hearing loss, and the educational factor with respect to the mode of mainstream schooling. Self-concept was explored using the Spanish version of the Self Development Questionnaire (SDQ; I. Elexpuru, 1992) and the TST-Who Am I? test, adapted from M. H. Kuhn and T. S. McPartland (1954). To obtain the data for conversational competence, a conversation was held with a hearing adult. An explanation is given of the criteria for pragmatic analysis. The main results highlight the relationship between positive self-concept and most aspects of conversational competence. The study concludes with pedagogical procedures for integration, including specific strategies for teaching conversational skills to deaf pupils through nondeaf pupils and vice versa.     

The effects of participation in parent group sessions on child‐rearing attitudes among parents of learning disabled children

Using a control group pre‐, post‐test design, this studysought to determine the effects on child rearing attitudes among parents of LD children of participation in parent education group sessions. Results indicated that on some of the measures employed participating parents manifested more positive and healthy child‐rearing attitudes than controls.     

Assessing child-care quality with a telephone interview

As increasing numbers of children enter child-care environments that are subsidized by federal and state funds, the demand has risen from policy makers and activists for valid, cost-effective methods of assessing the quality of those environments. In this study we asked whether data on child-care quality obtained from a telephone interview with the provider can serve as an adequate proxy for data obtained from direct observation. Observations were conducted in 89 family child-care homes and 92 centers using the Family Day Care Rating Scale (FDCRS) and the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale (ECERS-R), respectively. The target providers and teachers were subsequently interviewed by telephone using a protocol developed by the authors. For the family child-care providers, the 25 item telephone interview explained 49% of the variance (adjusted r²) in the total FDCRS score. Discriminant analyses revealed that the telephone interview was able to predict accurately 92% of the homes in terms of three FDCRS-derived categories of quality: “poor,” “mediocre,” or “developmentally appropriate.” For the centers, the 22 item telephone interview accounted for 51% of the variance (adjusted r²) in the total ECERS-R score. The telephone interview was able to predict the classification of 89% of the centers in terms of the ECERS-R derived categories of “poor,” “mediocre,” or “developmentally appropriate.” Shorter forms of the telephone interviews (12 items for family child-care; 13 items for center-based care) also demonstrated adequate predictive capability. These findings suggest that the telephone interview can be a valid source of data concerning the global quality of a child-care environment.     

Parents of disabled children burn-out too: counseling parents of disabled children on stress management

This paper explores the problems faced by parents of disabled children with respect to stress-related factors. Parents of disabled children experience tremendous stress in the responsibilities and problems that they face. Counselors who become involved with parents of disabled children need to be capable of assisting these parents in developing and implementing stress management programs. The counselor needs to teach the parents effective ways of reducing stress, in their everyday activities centered around the disabled child.This paper will discuss some of the circumstances that cause stress and suggest procedures for training parents in becoming aware of the stressors and learning to manage them. The paper will also discuss promoting self-awareness and developing coping skills for parents of the disabled children. Counselors are encouraged to use these and other stress management techniques in helping parents become more effective in managing the stressors and developing appropriate coping skills.     

The expectations of parents of disabled children

Following the diagnosis of a child's disability, parents have to develop new expectations concerning the child, their role as parents and the support services that are designed to meet their needs. Research shows, however, that these needs frequently remain unmet. In this article, Fran Russell, who writes as a parent of a son with a learning disability and as a professional with experience of practice in early years support services, explores parents' perspectives from a different direction. She argues that an investigation into parents' expectations could lead to a greater understanding of how parents of disabled children respond to their new-found situation. Fran Russell's own research, undertaken as part of her Education Doctorate programme at Leeds University, reveals that little is currently known about parents' expectations and indicates a pressing need for parents to be better informed, at an early stage in their experience of parenthood, in order to interact more effectively with professionals at a range of levels.     

The social perception of learning disabled and non‐learning disabled children

This study was undertaken to determine if there were differences in the social perception of learning disabled and non‐learning disabled youngsters, whether social perception was related to sex and if interaction by sex and learning disability status was involved. Fifty‐seven elementary school children aged 9 to 11 years were given four measures of social perception. Results showed that learning disabled children differed significantly (p .01) from their non‐learning disabled peers on each of the four measures. Neither sex nor group by sex interaction was significant. Assessment and intervention aimed at improving social perceptual skills should be incorporated into educational programming for those learning disabled children who exhibit deficiencies in this area of functioning.     

Use of the WISC-R with a learning disabled population: Some diagnostic implications

A group of 41 learning disabled children in Hawaii, aged 6 to 151/2, were tested on the WISC-R. Two main questions were explored: (a) Do the separate WISC-R tests assess “g” for learning disabled children to the same degree that they do for normal children? (b) Is there significantly more scatter among the tests for learning disabled than for normal youngsters? The answers to these questions were interpreted in terms of their diagnostic significance.     

Counseling parents with a Down's Syndrome child

This paper concentrates on the needs of parents with Down's Syndrome children in Arab society. Understanding the needs of these parents in this specific culture will give clearer guidelines to professionals of what and how to give the support.Two Arab families were chosen. This will enable us to deal in depth with the family dynamics and it will give a better focus on the cultural and social structure of the family.The paper will discuss the relevant features of the Arab population in Israel, its social, cultural and religious structure, what changes happen in this population and how they affect the parents when they come to deal with the developmentally disabled children.Following the presentation of two cases, the paper deals with the needs and coping system of parents toward their Down's Syndrome children.Finally, the study presents implications and suggestions to professionals to help parents of children with Down's Syndrome to function better and to extend maximum help to their children.This study was part of a wide survey done by Reiter, University of Haifa and Tirosh, the Haifa Municipality Hospital (Rothchild), 1987.