Screening for hearing loss in early childhood programs

This study assessed the feasibility of doing hearing screening in Migrant, American Indian and Early Head Start programs using otoacoustic emissions (OAE) technology. Staff members were trained to screen 0–3-year-old children for hearing loss using hand-held OAE equipment and a multi-step screening and referral protocol. Of the 3486 children screened as a part of the study, 77% passed an OAE screening at the first step, 18% more passed an OAE screening at the second step, and 5% were ultimately referred for medical or audiological follow-up. Eighty children were identified as having a hearing loss or disorder of the outer, middle or inner ear requiring treatment. Of these 80, six had permanent bilateral or unilateral hearing loss. Although the protocol suggested that the multi-step screening procedure should be completed within a 4-week time period or less, analysis of the data showed that for children requiring more than an initial OAE screening, the length of time over which the screening was completed ranged from 7 to 12 weeks. The median time required to complete a single OAE screening session was 4 minutes per child. The results demonstrate that OAE screening of young children using this protocol is practical and effective. The implications for conducting periodic hearing screening throughout early childhood are discussed.     

Person-centred reviews and transition: an exploration of the views of students and their parents/carers

The person-centred review (PCR) is a model for the review of a student’s special educational needs (SEN) which places the young person and their family at the centre of the process. This mixed-methods, exploratory study investigated the views of 16 students with SEN aged between 10–11 years (Year 6) and 13–14 years (Year 9), and their parents/carers on their PCRs (which were mostly held at transition). Attention was paid to potential changes in the young people’s locus of control and feelings towards school. Findings indicated that the PCR is a collaborative, constructive and reassuring process for families where a wealth of information is shared openly and honestly within a relaxed, yet structured, meeting. The young people were generally positive about the process, although many felt daunted beforehand. Some parents felt the meeting was too long and not entirely accessible to children. The study did not conclude that the young people’s locus of control or feelings towards their education changed following the PCR. Implications for good practice are discussed, particularly for educational psychologists and in the context of the SEN and Disability Code of Practice.     

Collaborative knowledge-making in the everyday practice of youth suicide prevention education

The development and implementation of a new school‐based suicide prevention education programme in one secondary school in Vancouver, British Columbia, recently provided us with an opportunity to conduct an in‐depth, qualitative case study. The purpose of our study was to deepen our understanding of how school‐based suicide prevention education programmes like this one get planned and enacted in particular, local settings. We argue that the narrow range of methodologies that have traditionally been deployed to study school‐based youth suicide prevention education programmes have hindered our ability to see the complexities and potentialities of this work. Through the presentation of a sub‐set of findings, we aim to show the possibilities for fresh thinking and contextualized understandings that a qualitative case study, informed by a constructionist methodology, invites.     

Testing Literacy Educational Software to Develop Design Guidelines for Children with Autism

Multimedia computer programmes have been found to facilitate learning in children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD). However, the effectiveness of these resources is limited due to poor design or a lack of consideration of the ASD cognitive profile, particularly at the lower functioning end of the spectrum. This article attempts to tackle the problem of the lack of design guidelines, with the aim of facilitating the development of effective educational programmes for children with severe ASD. The case study reported here evaluated two literacy educational computer programmes, by observing five low-functioning children with ASD, compared to five neurotypical children (control cases). The two types of reading-support software contrasted in the study presented different characteristics. The children’s data analysed here concern observations of child–software interactive sessions based on video recordings and coded for attention deployment to each programme, including motivation and engagement indicators.     

Investigating Cheaters

This article analyzes the American television program Cheaters. Cheaters advances itself as the most “realistic” of reality programs based on an ethnographic approach to the surveillance and exposure of infidelity. The program offers theoretical lessons in the vernacular of reality television, as it proliferates positions for the subjects in its narrative and raises questions about the relationship between seeing and believing. Every effort to show and tell more destabilizes the possibility of discerning the very truths it purports to uncover. In the process the program offers insights into the limits of reality television and into contemporary socio-cultural epistemology.     

Information use and needs in manufacturing organizations: Organizational factors in information behaviour

In this paper assumptions about the nature of complex organizations are examined in relation to the design of information systems. Models of organizational structure which have been used in relation to information need are discussed in the light of recent findings of a research project which has investigated the information use and needs of managers in manufacturing companies. Qualitative and quantitative data are presented and discussed. The findings do not support some of the current assumptions about information in complex organizations and the implications of this are discussed.     

Regulating research: The problem of theorizing community on LambdaMOO

This article considers ongoing attempts to regulate or even ban researchon LambdaMOO. Industry, private individuals, and research institutionshave supported MOOs, or multi-user object-oriented worlds. The earlyresearch on MOOs by Pavel Curtis, who was one of the key designers,suggests that these systems are part of a research project and have beenresearched since they were originally designed. However, a group ofMOOers have grown increasingly uncomfortable about the quotation ofcertain texts on web sites and academic journals and the potentiallypanoptic effect of research. Some of these practices have breachedcommunity conventions. Yet, such things as testing, invisibly watching,freely quoting characters, and ignoring certain rules have always beenaspects of the system. The dispute over research ethics and theparticipation of varied researchers within this setting indicate thatdiverse values are represented among MOOers and different expectationsexist about how the MOO might be a community. The term ``community' andthe presumption that online characters are people may have alsoincorrectly informed the research debate by making it seem that onlinesettings provide immediate access onto spaces, bodies, and individuals.Many MOOers may believe that research threatens individuals andcommunity. However, critical histories and analysis are needed in orderto explain the system to new users and encourage alternative forms ofdevelopment. Such work can only be produced if online systems are opento research and critique.     

The Value of Education: A Reply to Andrew Reid

Andrew Reid's essay on the value of education in this journal distinguished the intrinsic features of education from what education is for, the latter being ultimately located in the promotion of personal well-being. At a meta-ethical level, this response accepts Reid's claim about ultimate location, but challenges his view that prudential goods are desire-independent, arguing for a desire-dependent conception based on supra-individual, but not always universal-human, preferences. It also questions his claim that the source of educational value lies in the intrinsic features of education, rejecting the suggestion that epistemological rather ethical considerations should be the starting-point.     

Feedback complexity and corrective efficiency

College undergraduates read a 2400-word passage, responded to 16 multiple-choice questions, and received one of four types of feedback following their responses. Complexity of feedback was inversely related to both error correctability and criterion efficiency taken as a ratio of feedback study time to post-test corrects. The results were discussed in terms of depth of processing and instructional comprehension.