Leadership: A Supercomplex Phenomenon

Treating leadership as a supercomplex phenomenon and relating leadership research to the philosophical disciplines is a way to begin to understand its enigmatic and fluid nature. Its theories are living theories that change in an ever-dynamic world. Leadership is a phenomenon embedded in experience. This article examines leadership against the backdrop of the disciplines of philosophy (ontology, epistemology, politics, axiology and ethics, and aesthetics) with particular emphasis on phenomenology. I suggest that leaders and followers understand and filter subjective experiences through self-reflection until self-awareness is achieved in the moment by pausing and filtering subjective experiences before responding to people and situations. As a consequence, our intentions can be ethically focused, politically mitigated, and directed appropriately. Additionally, inappropriate intentions can be assuaged if the leader is self-aware and present in the moment.     

The TeleTOP Implementation Model: Establishing the Use of a WWW-Based Course Management System in a University

The process that accompanies the decision to make an institutional commitment to new ways of teaching and learning supported by a WWW-based course management system is complex. Such a process is underway in the Faculty of Educational Science and Technology at the University of Twente in the Netherlands via its TeleTOP project (http://teletop.edte.utwente.nl). A model was needed to guide the change process. In this paper, the development of the first version of the TeleTOP Implementation Model is described and an exploratory study of the generalizability of the model to other settings is reported upon. The general conclusion of this preliminary investigation is that the model appears to be generally applicable in other institutional contexts also involved in systematic change processes involving WWW-based course management systems, but that some revision of the model is needed. Based on the preliminary exploration study, an introduction to version 2 of the model is presented here.     

Successful nurturing in residential treatment for abused children

Both parents and children need a high potency nurturing program to develop trust. They must experience a dependent, close relationship to form basic trust. There is no other way to heal the scars of past abuse and insure healthy relationships with others. With proper nurturing, self-esteem is raised and feelings of power, self-control and long-needed security follow. Nurturing can be done successfully in residential treatment for children and out-patient treatment of parents. Selection of academically qualified, emotionally mature and caring staff members is the major factor affecting success. Myriad therapies fail for abused children and families when the vital basic need for nurturance is not filled. Without forming basic trust, the completion of this early developmental task, behavior gains will be short-lived and subsequent emotional problems result. Emotional involvement and commitment from therapists is necessary for the kind of nurturing process that promotes growth and healing. This involvement brings rich rewards to both client and therapist. The younger the children and parents are at the time of treatment, the greater is the potential for success. The program described in this paper illustrates how children can be reunited successfully with their families after a period of residential treatment for the children if the families are similiariy treated.     

Where special education goes to die

We suggest that special education could die among common myths about it. That is, special education could cease to exist, at least as we know it, because its true nature and requirements for its functioning are misunderstood. We discuss only 12 common myths about special education, recognizing that there are many more myths and that the ones we write about could be stated differently. We conclude with comments about how the long roots of the idea that special education could become unnecessary might be traced to a publication by Evelyn Deno in 1970 and express our hope that special education will continue as a separate entity.     

Cognitive-behavioural Approaches for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Teacher Survey

This study provided an investigation of the knowledge, implementation and perspectives of Australian teachers of students with autism spectrum disorder regarding cognitive-behavioural approaches, using an anonymous survey. The sample of 270 New South Wales teachers reported a reasonable level of knowledge and implementation of strategies commonly employed in interventions using cognitive behavioural approaches. A modest difference was found in the knowledge and implementation of surveyed strategies between teachers with and without formal qualifications in special education. Incongruent with research evidence, the respondents perceived that cognitive-behavioural approaches were suitable for students from a very young age and with cognitive levels from typical intellectual ability to moderate intellectual disability. The respondents also used the surveyed strategies for various purposes over and beyond those reported typically in the research literature. Directions for future research are suggested.     

Prediction of School Outcomes Based on Early Language Production and Socioeconomic Factors

Early differences in family SES, child language production, and IQ were related to outcomes in early elementary school in the present prospective, 10-year longitudinal study. In a prior study of family interactional variables associated with language learning, major differences in parenting (i.e., time, attention, and talking) were found to be associated with differences in child productive vocabulary between 7 to 36 months of age, and child IQ, favoring higher-SES parents. Lower-SES children were exposed less often than higher-SES children to diverse vocabulary through their parents' attention and talking, and they were prohibited from talking more often. In the current study, 32 children involved in the earlier study were repeatedly assessed between 5 to 10 years of age, while in kindergarten through third grade. Results indicated that SES-related differences in child language prior to school were predictive of subsequent verbal ability, receptive and spoken language, and academic achievement assesed on standardized tests in kindergarten through grade 3. However, none of the predictor variables were related to direct measures of elementary schooling. When combined with a composite SES indicator, early child language production significantly increased the variance accounted for in the prediction of elementary language and academic competencies in each subsequent year in elementary school. Implications are discussed in terms of the stability of performance on language and academic performance measures of children who entered school with different early language learning experiences, and the need to consider early home- and school-based intervention designed to prevent or ameliorate these trends.