Impact of legislation on post‐school transition practice for young people with additional support needs in Scotland

A longitudinal study was conducted to understand post‐school transition practice for young people with additional support needs (ASN) before and after the implementation of key legislation, the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, amended in 2009. Primary data were collected from one local authority in Scotland. Twelve professionals involved in post‐school transition planning were interviewed in 2004 and eight in 2010. Minutes of transition meetings from one school for three young people prior to the implementation of the Act and four after the implementation were analysed. Results show some changes since the implementation of the Act.     

The Impact of Victimization and Witnessing Violence on Physical Aggression Among High‐Risk Adolescents

Relations among witnessing violence, victimization, and physical aggression were investigated within a high‐risk sample of 1,156 sixth graders. Longitudinal, multilevel analyses were conducted on two waves of data from two cohorts of students in 37 schools from four communities. The sample was 65% male and 67% African American. Neighborhood concentrated disadvantage, witnessing violence, victimization, and physical aggression were strongly and positively correlated at the school level. Contrary to hypothesis, exposure to violence did not mediate the effects of neighborhood concentrated disadvantage on changes in physical aggression. As expected, witnessing violence and physical aggression had bidirectional longitudinal effects on each other at the student level. In contrast, there were no cross‐variable relations between changes in violent victimization and aggression over time.     

Blocking with serial and simultaneous compounds in a trace conditioning procedure

Blocking of conditioned suppression in rats was studied in three experiments using serial and simultaneous compounds in Pavlovian trace conditioning procedures. Experimental groups were first given trace conditioning trials with a 2-sec stimulus (A) presented at least 60 sec before an electric grid shock US. Next, both experimental and control groups received reinforced trials with a compound stimulus (AB). Both A and B were 2 sec in duration and were presented at least 60 sec before the US. For some groups during AB training, the A stimulus preceded the B stimulus; for others, B preceded A; for still others, A and B occurred simultaneously. Conditioning was subsequently assessed separately to both A and B. The results were as follows: First, varying the interval between the onset of A and the US during A training appeared to produce significantly different levels of conditioning to A but did not detectably affect A’s ability to block conditioning to B. Second, blocking was observed in both simultaneous and serial procedures. Third, in the serial procedure, A blocked conditioning to B whether it preceded B or followed B in the AB compound. Fourth, in tests given after AB conditioning, the experimental and control groups suppressed similarly to A. The relevance of these results to the conditioning model of Rescorla and Wagner (1972) and to Mackintosh’s (1975b) theory of attention are discussed.     

Exploring the Factors of Professional Readiness in Athletic Training

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study was to explore the factors of professional readiness in the healthcare field of athletic training. We used a qualitative research design based in grounded theory. Participants included newly certified athletic trainers and athletic training supervisors from collegiate, secondary school, and emerging work settings. After completing the demographic questionnaire, 14 newly certified athletic trainers and 9 supervisors were selected to complete one-on-one interviews using GoToMeeting audiovisual web conferencing software. Data was analyzed using a constant comparative analysis as well as open and axial coding. We established trustworthiness using bracketing interviews, reflexivity, triangulation, member checks, and peer reviews. Analysis revealed four overarching themes including organization and administration, interpersonal relations, athletic training attributes, and confidence. Readiness for autonomous practice is multifaceted and exceeds clinical skills. Athletic trainers must possess certain personality characteristics and confidence, as well as interpersonal, organizational, and clinical skills that can be incorporated into daily practice.     

Parent Praise to 1‐ to 3‐Year‐Olds Predicts Children's Motivational Frameworks 5 Years Later

In laboratory studies, praising children's effort encourages them to adopt incremental motivational frameworks—they believe ability is malleable, attribute success to hard work, enjoy challenges, and generate strategies for improvement. In contrast, praising children's inherent abilities encourages them to adopt fixed‐ability frameworks. Does the praise parents spontaneously give children at home show the same effects? Although parents' early praise of inherent characteristics was not associated with children's later fixed‐ability frameworks, parents' praise of children's effort at 14–38 months (N = 53) did predict incremental frameworks at 7–8 years, suggesting that causal mechanisms identified in experimental work may be operating in home environments.     

Timing and Intensity of Tutoring: A Closer Look at the Conditions for Effective Early Literacy Tutoring

In this article we report data from a longitudinal study of one–to–one tutoring for students at risk for reading disabilities. Participants were at–risk students who received phonics–based tutoring in first grade, students who were tutored in comprehension skills in second grade, and students tutored in both grades 1 and 2. At second–grade posttest, there were significant differences in word identification and word attack between students who were tutored in first grade only compared to students who were also tutored in second grade, favoring students who were tutored in first grade only. Overall, there were no advantages to a second year of tutoring. For students tutored in second grade only, there were no differences at second–grade posttest compared to controls. Schools may have selected students who did not respond to first–grade tutoring for continued tutoring in second grade. Findings are discussed in light of decisions schools make when using tutors to supplement reading instruction for students with reading difficulties.