Teaching children with autism through task variation in physical education.

The purpose of the study was to determine whether the technique of task variation (with maintenance tasks interspersed) (TV) is more effective in the acquisition of gross motor skills for students with autism than a constant task (CT) condition in a physical education setting. Subjects were 12 male students with autism, ages 11 to 15 years. The study included pretest-posttest administration of the I CAN assessment of Gross Motor Skills to assess skills such as overhand throw, kick, and vertical jump. After a 6-week treatment period, the TV condition was significantly more effective than the CT condition, at the .05 level.     

藏区高校维稳工作中的思想政治教育探析

思想政治教育是维护学校稳定的重要手段。本文结合藏区高校实际和特点,从理论教育、实践教育和情感教育的层面,探索藏区高校维稳中的思想政治教育的途径与方法,增强思想政治教育在学校维稳中的作用。     

论西北地区社会工作职业教育

本文通过对西北地区社会工作现状的考察,对建立西北地区社会工作职业教育体系提出基本思路、具体设想,以期促进西北地区社会工作人才队伍的建设。     

VLEs,social stories and children with autism: A prototype implementation and evaluation

Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) have been successfully used in educational interventions for children with Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) for overcoming their persistent differences related to social communication and imagination. This paper investigates the potential of VLEs presenting Social Stories, as an advantageous pathway for the development of social problem skills in children with ASC. To this end, it presents the design and development of VLSS (Virtual Learning Environment with Social Stories), a prototype three-dimensional VLE for children with ASC. Overall, the evaluation of VLSS by 40 experts (special education teachers) was very positive, indicating that VLSS has the potential to be a beneficial and easy-to-use educational tool for enhancing social problem solving in children with ASC.     

对进一步搞好支教工作的几点建议

教育部门近几年组织了多次支教活动 ,这一活动已取得了一定成果 ,但仍存在一些问题。对支教活动的认识 ,支教人员的基本素质和奉献精神 ,各部门之间的协同 ,对支教人员的考核和管理等诸多方面需要进一步改进。全面分析找出解决这些问题的合理方法 ,才能将支教工作搞得扎实有效。     

Inclusive education and best practice for children with autism spectrum disorder: an integrated approach

Many parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have reported general discontent with the services offered by the education system and have advocated for increased ASD‐specific services to better meet their children’s educational needs. The elements of best practice offer an ideal model for educational support. There are, however, limitations to advocating ASD‐specific services. This paper describes how best practice for ASD as an educational model fits within what is described as authentic inclusion. Further, it is suggested that the ASD community align with the greater inclusive education reform movement. With the use of this unified model of education, all children will receive the educational support they require.     

Development of children with autism spectrum disorders in special needs education schools in the Netherlands: a three-year follow-up study

The purpose of the study was to investigate the development of symptomatology and academic growth of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) attending a special needs education school in the Netherlands as well as to explore the relationship between academic achievement and symptom reduction of those children. To this end a three-year follow up study was conducted by using multiple informants. The group of children with autism was compared with a group of children having other diagnoses but attending the same school. Results showed that teachers’ and parents’ perceptions about children’s symptomatology development differed significantly. Even though teachers reported a significant symptom reduction of ASD symptoms after two years of school attendance the parents of the same children did not. Furthermore, it was found that both groups of children had gains in different aspects of school-based cognitive skills; however, no association was found between symptom reduction and academic growth of the children. Implications of the study are discussed.     

Families of children on the autism spectrum: experience of daily life and impact of parent education

Information and support for families of children on the autism spectrum is limited in south-east Europe. A three-year project, Equity and Social Inclusion Through Positive Parenting (ESIPP), was established to develop and provide parent education (PE) in autism for families in Croatia, Cyprus and North Macedonia. This paper presents findings from Croatia regarding family life and the impact of PE. Data were collected via pre- and post-PE questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Participants discussed the impact of autism on family life, the difficulty of obtaining a diagnosis, the importance of family support (and varying experience of formal support), common experiences of stigma and social exclusion and concerns for the future. The value and benefit of PE is identified, and recognition of its impact within Croatia has ensured its ongoing provision.     

关注农村“留守儿童”的亲情教育

很多农村"留守儿童"与父母长期分开生活后,缺乏来自父母的亲情呵护和家庭教育,加上和父母、监护人、学校老师情感沟通不畅,使许多留守儿童的情感需求长期得不到满足,造成亲情缺失,影响他们健全人格的形成和身心的健康发展.依据农村留守儿童的情感生活现状,分析亲情缺失所产生的问题,指出加强农村留守儿童亲情教育的重要性,最后提出解决农村"留守儿童"亲情教育的对策.     

Online multiplayer games for the social interactions of children with autism spectrum disorder: a resource for inclusive education

ABSTRACT

This article describes the support for social interactions received by three students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) through their multimodal engagements with Minecraft®. The data were collected through at-screen observations and semi-structured interviews. Multimodal analysis of the data demonstrated that online multiplayer games supported social interactions through modes, such as speech, writing and gesture, and within physical and virtual spaces. The analysis revealed that online multiplayer games provided platforms for the students to use speech to engage in reciprocal conversations, to share information, to make requests, to give commands and to direct others. Additionally, screen-based written texts were used to attract the attention of others, send messages, communicate rules and maintain engagements with others within the students’ physical and virtual worlds. Furthermore, the findings showed that online multiplayer games supported the students’ uses, interpretations and mirroring of gestures for social interactions. The findings have implications for providing opportunities to support social interactions in multimodal ways that social spaces in face-to-face and offline contexts do not allow. The findings offer implications for targeting the students’ interests in online multiplayer games to support their capacity to initiate and sustain social interactions in inclusive educational settings.     

Loneliness and friendship in high-functioning children with autism

Loneliness and friendship were examined in 22 high-functioning children with autism and 19 typically developing children equated with the autistic children for IQ, CA, gender, mother's education, and ethnicity. Children between the ages of 8 and 14 were asked to report on both their understanding and feelings of loneliness and the quality of their friendship. Compared to typically developing children, children with autism were both lonelier and had less complete understandings of loneliness. Although all children with autism reported having at least one friend, the quality of their friendships was poorer in terms of companionship, security, and help. Fewer associations were found between loneliness and friendship for the autistic than for the non-autistic children, suggesting less understanding of the relation between loneliness and friendship. Implications of these results are discussed for conceptualizing the social deficits in autism.     

Connecting with RE: an approach to religious education for children with autism and/or severe and complex learning disabilities

In this article Liz O'Brien discusses the need for a distinctive approach to the religious education of children and young people with autism and/or severe and complex learning disabilities. She describes how an imaginative and creative approach, built on an underlying principle of understanding, empathy and respect in relation to the ‘culture of autism’ can lead to enriching, meaningful and enjoyable RE experiences. Through an RE and Special Needs Fellowship, awarded by the National Society for Promoting Christian Education, she was given the opportunity to assemble Connecting with RE (O'Brien, 2002), a resource for all those seeking accessible RE for children with autism and/or severe and complex learning disabilities. This article presents some of the fundamental philosophy and methodology that underpin the Connecting with RE approach.     

Interprofessional work in early childhood education and care services to support children with additional needs: two approaches

Abstract

In Australia, over 900,000 children attend some type of early childhood education and care service. Many of these children have learning difficulties and early childhood teachers play a significant role in identifying children’s needs and working with other professionals to instigate and/or implement appropriate interventions. When educators and allied health professionals work collaboratively in interprofessional ways, they are in a better position to support children and their families. Drawing on findings from a sustained body of research, this short paper shares our reflections on some of the benefits and challenges of two different approaches to working in interprofessionally in Australian early childhood education settings, and provides some suggestions for supporting this work.     

Technologies of governance and education welfare: monitoring education transitions in Greece

ABSTRACT

The aim of this article is to explore the ways educational transitions, i.e. student dropout and early school leaving (ESL), are understood and governed in the contemporary Greek sociopolitical context that is dominated by a persistent economic crisis. Drawing upon the residual nature of the Greek welfare state the paper examines the shifts in the dominant discourses referring to ESL. Furthermore, it attempts to understand the configurations of educational attainment as well as the significance of monitoring technologies such as those of comparative statistics, especially in the context of European governance. It is argued that education transitions are multifaceted phenomena and act as sensors of socio-economic and cultural diversity in each national setting. While EU governance shifts from sophisticated technologies to direct unreserved control, compliance with the rules is a manifestation of political realism on the part of the Greek state, but at the same time a representation of the never accomplished European political integration.     

学校教育中的误区与青少年犯罪

学校是实施系统教育，为社会培养人才的专门机构，但是学校在教育内容、教育方法和态度以及管理工作上存在着某些缺陷和不足，都可能对青少年产生消极影响，成为诱发青少年犯罪的因素。     

Executive functions and pragmatics in children with high-functioning autism

Children with deficits in executive functions (EFs) and impairments in pragmatic language have a range of cognitive and language difficulties that affect their literacy and educational achievements. As deficits in EFs and pragmatic impairments are characteristics of autism spectrum disorders, this study examined the associations between EFs and pragmatic skills in children with high-functioning autism (HFA). Fifteen children with HFA (5–9 years; M?=?7.44, SD 1.21), matched to 15 typically developing peers on age, gender, and non-verbal intelligence participated in the study. Children completed a pragmatic language assessment protocol, and a rating scale of EFs was administered to parents. Our results point to two main findings: children with HFA presented pragmatic difficulties and EFs impairments when compared with typically developing peers; and, as shown by a significant indirect effect of group on pragmatics via EFs, the poor pragmatics skills of HFA children were associated with their EFs difficulties. These findings may be of clinical relevance for children with pragmatic impairments, such as autism spectrum disorders. Future studies are crucial to further investigate the relationship between impaired pragmatics and EFs.

     

The Acquisition of Communication Skills by People with Brain Injury: Some comparisons with children with autism

This research identifies the extent to which different contexts shape and modify the language and behaviours of four people with acquired brain injury. Comparisons are made with factors which can influence the language acquisition of children with autism because it is postulated that children with autism also have a particular brain injury. The comparison does not end there as the criteria for effective management necessary to nourish the communication skills of both groups appears similar. The four contexts used to shape and evaluate the language of people with brain injury include their own home, a residential camp with maximum support and enriched activity, a post camp period with comparable support, followed by a return to their own home with very limited support. Measures of communication skills demonstrate the success of the enriched camp facility. This was characterised by planning, structured support, and expectation of success from the participants. Their motivation and ability to communicate generally far exceeded the communication skills that each person with brain injury demonstrated when organised activity and sustained support is not available.     

农村留守儿童家庭教育理论探析

笔者首先以目前农村留守儿童家庭教育的特点出发,分析了农村家庭教育理念和教育方法,阐述了其中的弊端与不足;然后,提出了农村留守儿童家庭教育所存在问题的必然性与长期性;最后,从社会影响角度对目前农村留守儿童家庭教育方式做出了深入的探讨,为以后减少问题儿童研究提供了理论性的参考依据。