Perceptions of trainers and practitioners regarding assessment and intervention for students with low incidence disabilities

Two national surveys of the perceptions of trainers and practitioners regarding assessment and intervention for students with low incidence disabilities (LID) were conducted. The first survey, sent to the directors of 250 school psychology training programs, was designed to determine the extent and type of training in assessment and intervention for students with LID offered in school psychology training programs. The second survey, mailed to 500 randomly selected National Association of School Psychologists' (NASP) members, was developed to assess the extent and type of assessment and intervention for students with LID provided by school practitioners. Responses were received from 121 trainers (50.8% response rate) and 361 practitioners (72.2% response rate). Results indicated, while assessment and intervention for LID remains a small part of the school psychology caseload, school psychologists are using many of the best practice methods. However, recommendations are provided for increased awareness of additional methods, for seeking closer collaboration with special education professionals who specialize in working with this student population, and for more possibilities of subspecialization for future psychologists who will possess expertise in conducting assessment and intervention for LID. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 42: 677–689, 2005.     

Spontaneous expressive control in blind and sighted children

The effect of blindness on the spontaneous expressive control of negative emotion was examined in a study comparing 12 congenitally blind children with 12 sighted children who were matched by age, sex, and school. Blind children engaged in as much positive facial display as sighted children when receiving a disappointing prize, although they were less likely to refer spontaneously to their expressive control in explaining whether the examiner knew of their disappointment. Blind children were more likely to engage in neutral remarks when receiving the disappointing prize, and older blind children referred to verbal control of emotion communication. The data suggest that blindness does not preclude the spontaneous expressive control of negative emotion.     

Individuation,vitalism and space in the overseas study tour

Study abroad programs at university are supported as a means to expand university operations beyond the study walls of the institution, and to help students become aware of and cope with the demands of an increasingly interconnected and globalised world. This paper questions the assumptions that underlie the tendencies in contemporary study abroad programs, whose ethos it is argued, at the same time misunderstands and underestimates the potential effects of the study abroad practice. Using a theoretical framework derived from the French philosophy of science of Gilbert Simondon, Gaston Bachelard and Georges Canguilhem, this paper puts to work fully elaborated and contextualised concepts, which look to change and expand one’s notion of the learning possible due to study abroad programs, beyond experiential change. Simondon’s individuation questions the ways in which particular student agencies and learning characteristics are constructed in study abroad tours, Bachelard’s concept of space questions the reality of precise coordinates and concrete analyses of the study abroad tour itinerary, and Canguilhem’s vitalism puts under pressure ‘the life’ of the tour learnings and effects. This paper will be furnished with empirical evidence taken from a recent overseas tour involving Australian students performing teaching practicums in schools in Penang, Malaysia.     

Work-oriented programmes at the secondary level in Australia

Has had extensive experience in the area of school-to-work curriculum development, promotion and management. Has helped to pioneer work-experience programmes in Victorian schools and, through his various publications and public speaking, has promoted other programmes. Recent publications include: Technology and Social Change, Revealing Work: Some Program Possibilitiesand Reorienting Work Experience: Theoretical Perspectives and Practical Possibilities.     

Emotion regulation as a scientific construct: methodological challenges and directions for child development research

Emotion regulation has emerged as a popular topic, but there is doubt about its viability as a scientific construct. This article identifies conceptual and methodological challenges in this area of study and describes exemplar studies that provide a substantive basis for inferring emotion regulation. On the basis of those studies, 4 methods are described that provide compelling evidence for emotion regulation: independent measurement of activated emotion and purported regulatory processes; analysis of temporal relations; measurement across contrasting conditions; and multiple, convergent measures. By offering this perspective, this article aims to engage thoughtful debate and critical analysis, with the goal of increasing methodological rigor and advancing an understanding of emotion regulation as a scientific construct.     

Visualization schemes for domain novices exploring a topic space: the navigation classification scheme

In this article and two other articles which conceptualize a future stage of the research program (Leide, Cole, Large, & Beheshti, submitted for publication; Cole, Leide, Large, Beheshti, & Brooks, in preparation), we map-out a domain novice user’s encounter with an IR system from beginning to end so that appropriate classification-based visualization schemes can be inserted into the encounter process. This article describes the visualization of a navigation classification scheme only. The navigation classification scheme uses the metaphor of a ship and ship’s navigator traveling through charted (but unknown to the user) waters, guided by a series of lighthouses. The lighthouses contain mediation interfaces linking the user to the information store through agents created for each. The user’s agent is the cognitive model the user has of the information space, which the system encourages to evolve via interaction with the system’s agent. The system’s agent is an evolving classification scheme created by professional indexers to represent the structure of the information store. We propose a more systematic, multidimensional approach to creating evolving classification/indexing schemes, based on where the user is and what she is trying to do at that moment during the search session.     

The Development of a Service-Learning Program for First-Year Students Based on the Hallmarks of High Quality Service-learning and Rigorous Program Evaluation

We describe six hallmarks of high quality service-learning and explain how these considerations guided the development of a Transitional Coaching Program (TCP) during the first three years of implementation. We have demonstrated that the TCP is acceptable, feasible, and sustainable. Improvements have been seen in the degree of impact on learning objectives, but statistically significant change has not yet been achieved. This project highlights the importance of looking beyond satisfaction and engaging in rigorous assessment of learning objectives and ongoing quality improvement through attention to best practices and evidence-based, continuous quality improvement.     

A socio-cognitive framework for designing interactive IR systems: Lessons from the Neanderthals

The article analyzes user–IR system interaction from the broad, socio-cognitive perspective of lessons we can learn about human brain evolution when we compare the Neanderthal brain to the human brain before and after a small human brain mutation is hypothesized to have occurred 35,000–75,000 years ago. The enhanced working memory mutation enabled modern humans (i) to decode unfamiliar environmental stimuli with greater focusing power on adaptive solutions to environmental changes and problems, and (ii) to encode environmental stimuli in more efficient, generative knowledge structures. A sociological theory of these evolving, more efficient encoding knowledge structures is given. These new knowledge structures instilled in humans not only the ability to adapt to and survive novelty and/or changing conditions in the environment, but they also instilled an imperative to do so. Present day IR systems ignore the encoding imperative in their design framework. To correct for this lacuna, we propose the evolutionary-based socio-cognitive framework model for designing interactive IR systems. A case study is given to illustrate the functioning of the model.     

An alternative approach to natural language query expansion in search engines: Text analysis of non-topical terms in Web documents

This paper presents a new approach to query expansion in search engines through the use of general non-topical terms (NTTs) and domain-specific semi-topical terms (STTs). NTTs and STTs can be used in conjunction with topical terms (TTs) to improve precision in retrieval results. In Phase I, 20 topical queries in two domains (Health and the Social Sciences) were carried out in Google and from the results of the queries, 800 pages were textually analysed. Of 1442 NTTs and STTs identified, 15% were shared between the two domains; 62% were NTTs and 38% were STTs; and approximately 64% occurred before while 36% occurred after their respective topical terms (TTs). Findings of Phase II showed that query expansion through NTTs (or STTs) particularly in the ‘exact title’ and URL search options resulted in more precise and manageable results. Statistically significant differences were found between Health and the Social Sciences vis-à-vis keyword and ‘exact phrase’ search results; however there were no significant differences in exact title and URL search results. The ratio of exact phrase, exact title, and URL search result frequencies to keyword search result frequencies also showed statistically significant differences between the two domains. Our findings suggest that web searching could be greatly enhanced combining NTTs (and STTs) with TTs in an initial query. Additionally, search results would improve if queries are restricted to the exact title or URL search options. Finally, we suggest the development and implementation of knowledge-based lists of NTTs (and STTs) by both general and specialized search engines to aid query expansion.     

The effects of reinforcement and strategy training on impulsive responding.

Impulsive second-grade children received strategy training or strategy training combined with primary or secondary reinforcement. All training groups showed significantly longer response latencies and significantly fewer errors on the Matching Familiar Figures test immediately following training. The reinforcement groups had significantly longer latencies than the training-only group, and there was some indication that primary reinforcement was more effective than secondary reinforcement in producing response delay. The 3 training groups did not differ significantly on error scores.