Inclusive education and best practice for children with autism spectrum disorder: an integrated approach

Many parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have reported general discontent with the services offered by the education system and have advocated for increased ASD‐specific services to better meet their children’s educational needs. The elements of best practice offer an ideal model for educational support. There are, however, limitations to advocating ASD‐specific services. This paper describes how best practice for ASD as an educational model fits within what is described as authentic inclusion. Further, it is suggested that the ASD community align with the greater inclusive education reform movement. With the use of this unified model of education, all children will receive the educational support they require.     

Listening to children’s views of spiritual and metaphysical concepts: A new dimension to educational psychology practice?

Educational psychologists (EPs) have for many years been developing techniques for listening to children. The aim of the present research was to investigate ways of listening to the “spiritual” views of children in order to develop questions that educational psychologists might use as part of the assessment repertoire. The study explored children’s spiritual concepts such as their purpose for “being on the planet” and the “meaning of their life”. The findings suggest that primary and secondary school children from mixed religious backgrounds can respond to spiritual questions in a clear way. In addition, most children believed that spiritual views influence how children behave. Further research is required to explore whether children’s views of spiritual concepts are linked to learning and progress in school and in life.     

Pupil involvement in special educational needs disagreement resolution: some perceived barriers to including children in mediation

Recent legislation in England has encouraged the use of disagreement resolution and mediation and emphasised the need to involve pupils in their own schooling. These policies apply in the educational system generally, but are particularly significant in the area of special educational needs (SEN). Kirstie Soar, a lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of East London; Katie Burke, a PhD student at Salford University, Manchester; Katia Herbst, an independent researcher offering research and development services to the not-for- profit sector; and Professor Irvine Gersch, Director of the MSc educational psychology programme at the University of East London, set out to examine how pupil involvement in informal disagreement resolution has developed across 11 English regions since its introduction. The research consisted of 12 in-depth interviews with local education authority (LEA) SEN officers, mediators and parent partnership officers (PPOs) involved in informal special educational needs disagreement resolution. The aims of the study were to determine how far children were actually involved in mediation and what, if any, barriers existed which were seen to restrict such pupil involvement. A thematic analysis of interview content was conducted. Four major themes emerged, including: the distinction between direct and indirect pupil involvement; the importance of the child's view and how it is elicited; the role of other agencies; and other barriers to pupil involvement in informal disagreement resolution. Direct pupil involvement was found to be limited and variable, but indirect pupil involvement was more prevalent. In this article, the authors note a series of recommendations concerning pupil involvement in the mediation process and, in conclusion, put forward the implications of their work for future policy, practice and research.     

A positive future for educational psychology – if the profession gets it right

Recent Annual Courses of the Association of Educational Psychologists (2006–2008) have each focused on aspects of positive psychology either in keynote speeches or in workshops. This paper argues that whilst educational psychologists (EPs) are right to be positive about the future, the profession is currently undergoing a period of rapid change and uncertainty that will likely bring its own discomfort and challenges. EPs will not be immune from the emotional impact of change and stress and it is imperative to be positive, forward looking and skilled at scoping the evolving environment in order to take advantage of developing opportunities. Additionally, practising professionals should not underestimate the importance of individual casework, assessment and therapeutic interventions and ensure they are sufficiently skilled to be able to undertake this work in conjunction with their existing activities. It is argued that although the profession does have the potential for a vibrant future, it is incumbent upon participating professionals to get it right by being seen as relevant to the current challenges.     

A support group for parents of children on a waiting list for an assessment for autism spectrum disorder

Parents of children waiting for a diagnostic assessment for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience distress and anxiety while they wait. The present small-scale study took place in a multi-disciplinary therapeutic service in Ireland for children with ASD and was run between April and September 2011. The first author, an educational psychologist on a multi-disciplinary team, designed a qualitative, three-staged study to look at ways of supporting parents of children on the waiting list for assessment. Focus group discussions were analysed using thematic content analysis to identify themes to facilitate the development and evaluation of a pilot parent education group. Findings suggested that the ASD “journey” begins when the disorder is first raised as a possibility. Parents want information about ASD and the diagnostic process at this point. Parents reported benefits from the pilot group through meeting professionals involved in assessment, being supported by other parents, and learning strategies to help their children.     

What Are the Barriers to Mobilizing Intensive Care Patients?

Purpose

Recently there has been increased interest in early mobilization of critically ill patients. Proposed benefits include improvements in respiratory function, muscle wasting, intensive care unit (ICU), and hospital length of stay. We studied the frequency of early mobilization in our intensive care unit in order to identify barriers to early mobilization.

Methods

A 4-week prospective audit of 106 patients admitted to a mixed medical-surgical tertiary ICU (mean age 60 ± 20 years, mean APACHE II score 14.7 ± 7.8) was performed. Outcome measures included number of patient days mobilized, type of mobilization, adverse events, and reasons for inability to mobilize.

Results

Patients were mobilized on 176 (54%) of 327 patient days. Adverse events occurred in 2 of 176 mobilization episodes (1.1%). In 71 (47%) of the 151 patient days where mobilization did not occur, potentially avoidable factors were identified, including vascular access devices sited in the femoral region, timing of procedures and agitation or reduced level of consciousness.

Conclusions

Critically ill patients can be safely mobilized for much of their ICU stay. Interventions that may allow more patients to mobilize include: changing the site of vascular catheters, careful scheduling of procedures, and improved sedation management.Key Words: intensive care units, mobility, physical therapy     

Confronting relativism

Conclusion After dealing with student relativism for decades, I have come to the conclusion that it is a view students can fairly easily be talked out of. It is not at all difficult to reveal to students the extent to which they are closet absolutists. It is also not difficult to reveal to them that their fondness for relativism is in large part due to their misunderstanding the nature of absolutism. A number of misconceptions surround absolutism, and students fall victim to these misconceptions. It doesn’t help matters that many of their college professors have fallen victim to these same misconceptions and as a result encourage student relativism. In their minds, by encouraging relativism, they are encouraging tolerance in the classroom. As we have seen, though, absolutism is not synonymous with intolerance. Morality allows us to be tolerant in some cases, but requires us to be intolerant in others. By confronting relativism in the classroom—by correcting students' mistaken beliefs about absolutism—college professors are taking an important step in fostering their students' development as moral beings. Editor’s Note: This essay by William B. Irvine and the subsequent article by Charles Landesman are loosely tied by subject matter. They both address academic dimensions of morality. The former charts from its author’s experience in the classroom a landscape of the relativism that prevails among today's undergraduates. The latter explores the realm of the academic moralists, where we find scholars and philosophers projecting their political longings as unconditional imperatives for a just society. The two territories trade on each other's needs. The dreams of the moralists for diversity or multiculturalism provide alternatives to genuine ethical deliberation in a packaged philosophy that affords students the luxury of never having to formulate their own moral framework. William B. Irvine is an associate professor in the Department of Philosophy at Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio. Paragon House is to release his Doing Right by Children: Reflections on the Nature of Childhood and the Obligations of Parenthood in 2001.     

Taking an evaluative stance to decision-making about professional development options in early childhood education and care

This article builds on our ongoing work in conceptualising an ‘evaluative stance’ framework to assist in understanding how leaders in the field of early childhood education and care (ECEC) make decisions about the selection of professional development options for themselves and their staff. It introduces the notion that evaluative mindsets can be considered in terms of attitudes towards decision-making that are based on personal epistemologies. Drawing on data from semi-structured interviews, it explores the mindsets of six experienced leaders in two long-established ECEC organisations in Australia with respect to their decision-making about professional development. The article concludes with a consideration of the potential utility of the framework and the coding template used in this exploratory study.