Assessment of teacher and school psychologist knowledge of Attention‐Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

The purpose of this study was to investigate teacher and school psychologists' knowledge of Attention‐Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). One hundred thirty‐two kindergarten through 12th‐grade general education teachers, special education teachers, and school psychologists responded to a 24‐item questionnaire concerning treatment and possible causes of ADHD. The results supported the hypothesis that school psychologists' knowledge level of ADHD would be significantly greater than the knowledge level of special and general education teachers, but did not support the hypothesis that the knowledge level of special education teachers would be significantly greater than the knowledge level of general education teachers. Increased years of professional experience was negatively associated with increased knowledge about ADHD. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Coordination in gait: Demonstration of a spectral approach

Many important notions in Life Sciences are linked with the idea of cycles, periodicity, fluctuations and transitions. The aim of this paper is to use spectral analysis in a unique way to study and quantify whole body coordination during gait. A participant walked at 3 km/h and ran at 15 km/h on a treadmill for 2 minutes. Position of the approximate center of rotation of the toe, ankle, knee, hip, shoulder, elbow and wrist, heel, PSIS and head were collected (CODAmotion; 100 Hz). Fast Fourier Transform was performed on x-coordinate data of the 1) knee marker; 2) 4 markers attached to the free lower limb (toe, ankle, heel and knee); 3) left and right free lower limbs; 4) whole body (all markers). Gait is described by a largely harmonic and resonant oscillator that operates unilateral free limbs at the stride frequency, and axial regions at the step frequency. Running is described by a more harmonic and resonant oscillating structure than walking, with a 3 times higher Q factor and 47% lower Inharmonicity Index. This method is presented as a way to capture global dynamics of our complex multi-segment system, and presents a novel application of spectral analysis to study coordination.     

Tufts academic health information network: concept and scenario

Tufts University School of Medicine's new health sciences education building, the Arthur M. Sackler Center for Health Communications, will house a modern medical library and computer center, classrooms, auditoria, and media facilities. The building will also serve as the center for an information and communication network linking the medical school and adjacent New England Medical Center, Tufts' primary teaching hospital, with Tufts Associated Teaching Hospitals throughout New England. Ultimately, the Tufts network will join other gateway networks, information resource facilities, health care institutions, and medical schools throughout the world. The center and the network are intended to facilitate and improve the education of health professionals, the delivery of health care to patients, the conduct of research, and the implementation of administrative management approaches that should provide more efficient utilization of resources and save dollars. A model and scenario show how health care delivery and health care education are integrated through better use of information transfer technologies by health information specialists, practitioners, and educators.     

Students' expressed and actual preferences for counsellor race and sex

This study analysed secondary school students' expressed and actual preferences for counsellor sex and race and also investigated the influence of type of problem on these preferences. A sample of 430 fifth form (15–16 years old) students including 74 Maori/Polynesian males, 109 Maori/Polynesian females, 90 pakeha (European) males, and 87 pakeha females from six schools in two cities completed the Choosing a Counsellor questionnaire. Half the sample were asked to assume they had a vocational problem while the remainder assumed they had a personal problem.     

American schools and the uses of shame: an ambiguous history

This article traces the uses of and attacks on shame in classroom discipline, in the United States, from the nineteenth century to the present. Shame was once routinely used in the classroom. In American society generally, the emotion came under new attack from the early nineteenth century onwards, as demeaning and contrary to human dignity; the attack played out particularly in penology and in childrearing advice. In the classroom, however, shame’s disciplinary role if anything increased for several decades, in part as an alternative to corporal punishment. The larger cultural disapprovals of shame began to be applied to the schools by the late nineteenth century, but with inconsistent results. A more consistent attack emerged after the Second World War, and several traditional disciplinary ploys were dropped as a result. Parental disapproval of shaming rose as well. However, milder forms of shaming persist to this day, as shame continues to be a rather contested emotion in the school setting.     

Exertional Heat Stroke of Max Gilpin; A Preventable Death

ABSTRACT

Exertional heat stroke (EHS) is a medical emergency whose likelihood in sport settings is often contingent on environmental factors, team policies, coaching strategies, and broader cultural expectations. Moreover, when it occurs, it requires immediate recognition, proper management, and care to optimize chances of survival or recovery without long-term sequelae. Max Gilpin, a secondary school American football player from Louisville, Kentucky, suffered an EHS during a football practice in August 2008, an event that resulted in his death. The purpose of this article is to use interdisciplinary methods to identify key factors that contributed to this tragedy so that similar situations do not happen again. It concludes that within a culture of inclusive gender norms and care, efforts should be made to have appropriate onsite medical expertise available to develop and implement best practices for the prevention, management, and treatment of EHS, along with coaching education specific to medical emergencies in sport and physical activity (such as EHS). This will create an environment that promotes health and safety for all student athletes participating in sport at the secondary school level.