An evaluation of consultation sessions for foster carers and adoptive parents

The aim of the study was to examine whether consultation sessions provided by educational psychologists (EPs) offer a useful way of supporting foster and adoptive parents. Feedback was collected from 101 EPs and 78 foster and adoptive parents through the use of a short questionnaire at the end of each session. As might be expected, educational issues were the main focus of the sessions, although other areas such as behaviour management and emotional well-being were also addressed. In general, both EPs and carers were enthusiastic about the sessions, with carers reporting that they found it helpful to be able to discuss their concerns, receive practical advice, set goals and gain a new insight into their situation. These findings were supported by an increase in carers’ feelings of confidence, and a decrease in their feelings of concern, following the sessions. Such findings endorse the use of EP-led consultation sessions as a means of supporting foster and adoptive parents.     

Developing a Shared Vision for Change: Moving toward Inclusive Empowerment

Research in Higher Education - Shared vision is an important process for change projects, serving to amplify success, increase participation, and erode the divide between project leaders and...     

Adductor longus mechanics during the maximal effort soccer kick

Groin pain is a common cause of athletic disability and often involves the adductor longus. A common complaint of patients with groin problems is pain while preparing to kick the ball. The purpose of this study was to examine muscle length and activation of the adductor longus while kicking a soccer ball. Three-dimensional joint positions and muscle activation were obtained from 15 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 1 male soccer players during maximal effort kicks. Musculoskeletal modeling techniques incorporating joint position and muscle attachments were used to estimate adductor longus length from the beginning of the kicking leg's swing phase until ball strike. The maximum rate of stretch of the adductor longus (22.3 ± 5.3 cm/s) and maximum hip extension (23.3 ± 8.8°) occurred near 40% of swing phase. Activation of the adductor longus occurred between 10% and 50% of the swing phase. Adductor longus maximum length occurred at 65% of the swing phase. Maximum hip abduction (25.3 ± 5.4°) occurred at 80% of swing phase. The adductor longus appears to be at risk of strain injury during its transition from hip extension to hip flexion. This knowledge could be applied to muscle injury prevention and rehabilitation programs to aid with treatment of adductor longus related groin pain.     

Understanding the Distinctive Differences between Relationally and Physically Aggressive Behaviours Used in Early Childhood Contexts

Although there has been considerable research on the distinction between categories of relational and physical aggression, very little is known about the difference in nature of these behaviours. This study presented early childhood educators (N = 123) and parents (N = 112) with common relationally and physically aggressive behaviours, to determine whether item-level behaviours differ in prevalence, intervention and whether differentiated gender perceptions for each behaviour exist. Research Findings: Educators and parents reported observing and intervening in direct relationally aggressive behaviours more frequently compared to indirect relationally aggressive behaviours. Physical acts of aggression were reported more frequently compared to threats of physical aggression. Gender stereotypical perceptions of girls’ and boys’ aggression were evident, with boys being reported to engage in physical aggression more frequently. In comparison, relational aggression was more common in girls. At an item-level, there were some behaviours that educators identified both boys and girls using about equally. Practice or Policy: These findings highlight that meaningful differences exist between relationally aggressive and physically aggressive behaviours when examined at an item-level. A greater understanding of the most common behaviours used during early childhood will allow researchers, practitioners, and parents to focus their intervention efforts more specifically on these behaviours.     

“What Are You?” Conceptualizing the Complexities of Bicultural and Biracial College Student Experiences

Reflecting the increasing diversity of the United States, universities are seeing growing rates of students from diverse cultural backgrounds. The authors present culturally responsive suggestions to facilitate conceptualization and counseling with biracial and bicultural college students, integrating cognitions, behaviors, emotions, and relationships associated with culture and cultural identity of both culture of origin and mainstream U.S. culture. Recommendations for counseling an increasingly diverse student body are presented.     

Learning Culturally Relevant Practices: Facing Developmental Roadblocks

In the Filipino language, kuwento means “story,” but the concept itself encapsulates more than its literal meaning. Similar to talk story events in Hawaiian communities (Au &; Jordan, 1981 Au, K. and Jordan, C. 1981. “Teaching reading to Hawaiian children: Finding a culturally appropriate solution”. In Culture and bilingual classroom: Studies in classroom ethnography, Edited by: Trueba, H., Guthrie, B. P. and Au, K. H. 139–152. Rowley, MA: Newbury.  [Google Scholar]), kuwento serves as a tool to communicate everyday experiences within groups, especially among family and community members (Eugenio, 1981 Eugenio, D. L. 1981. Philippine folk literature: An anthology., Diliman, Quezon City: The University of the Philippines Folklorists.  [Google Scholar]). It is an abstraction of history, congealing experience into a chain of events. It is what Bakhtin (1981) Bakhtin, M. M. 1981. The dialogic imagination: Four essays by M. M. Bakhtin., Austin: University of Texas Press.  [Google Scholar] would call a unique speech experience—one that is shaped and developed in continuous and constant interaction with others. Kuwento is largely influenced by other people's words and ideas that eventually become incorporated into one's own. Like story and storytelling, kuwento takes many forms and can be used in the classroom during sharing time to construct and activate newer understandings (Cazden, 1994 Cazden, C. B. 1994. “What is sharing time for?”. In The need for story: Cultural diversity in classroom and community, Edited by: Dyson, A. H. and Genishi, C. 72–79. Urbana, IL: NCTE.  [Google Scholar]; Michaels, 1981 Michaels, S. 1981. “Sharing time”: Children's narrative styles and differential access to literacy. Language in Society., 10: 423–442. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). In the case of paucity in classroom material, the teacher can engage students to learn through her/his own writing (Vascellaro &; Genishi, 1994 Vascellaro, S. and Genishi, C. 1994. “All things that mattered”: Stories written by teachers for children”. In The need for story: Cultural diversity in classroom and community, Edited by: Dyson, A. H. and Genishi, C. 172–198. Urbana, IL: NCTE.  [Google Scholar]) and her/his own construction of oral stories in different participant structures (Phillips, 1972 Phillips, S. 1972. “Participant structures and communicative competence: Warm Springs children in community and classroom”. In Functions of language in the classroom, Edited by: Cazden, C., John, V. and Hymes, D. 370–394. New York: Teachers College Press.  [Google Scholar]). As we shall see in the case of Filipino Heritage Studies, the teacher's use of reflective- and real-time stories conveys the importance of history and present-day realities both in his and his students' lives. Although kuwento is also present in other participant structures, this article focuses on the teacher's whole-class lecture during a unit on the Philippine American War.     

The Longitudinal Associations Among Temperament,Parenting, and Turkish Children's Prosocial Behaviors

In Turkey, responsive behaviors toward kin are expected from children. Despite this, we know little about the factors that influence young Turkish children's prosocial behaviors. The goal was to explore how temperament and parenting are related to children's prosocial development in Turkey. A total of 293 Turkish children (M_age = 49 months; 48.12% females) were followed up for 3 years. Mothers completed measures of their child's prosocial behaviors, as well as measures of their warmth, inductive reasoning, and the child's approach and reactivity. Maternal warmth predicted children's reactivity, and maternal induction predicted children's sociability. Children's reactivity was inversely related to children's helping behavior and sociability was related to more prosocial behavior. Maternal warmth had indirect links with helping through lessening children's reactivity.     

Theory of mind,directly and indirectly,facilitates kindergarten adjustment via verbal ability,executive function,and emotion knowledge

Theory of mind describes the ability to engage in perspective‐taking, understand intentions, and predict actions and emotions. Theory of mind typically achieves major developmental milestones around age of 5, coinciding with the transition to kindergarten, and is associated with a verbal ability (receptive and expressive vocabulary), executive function (inhibitory control and working memory), and emotion knowledge. Less is known about how the theory of mind operates in low‐income samples, where foundational skills (i.e., verbal ability, executive function, and emotion knowledge) tend to be delayed. Applied to classrooms, the theory of mind may support the transition to kindergarten by facilitating relationships, learning‐related behaviors, and socioemotional skills that require perspective‐taking. In a low‐income sample of 140 kindergarteners across 21 classrooms, the theory of mind was directly associated with teacher‐ratings of social and emotional skills, behavioral and academic adjustment, and closeness within the teacher–child relationship, beyond the contribution of foundational skills. Moreover, verbal ability, executive function, and emotion knowledge were indirectly associated with outcomes through the theory of mind. Findings suggest the theory of mind facilitates the transition to kindergarten and is built upon a complex set of foundational skills.