Special Education Advocacy in the Juvenile Justice System: Perspectives from Probation Officers

Although students with disabilities are over-represented in the juvenile justice system and frequently receive poor educational services, few studies have examined strategies to increase compliance with student needs and individualized education programs. In this study, we conducted interviews with eight probation officers in the Advocacy Unit of a juvenile justice system in a large Midwestern city. We examined the advocacy strategies used by the probation officers as well as the barriers they faced in ensuring court-involved youth received appropriate educational supports. Advocacy strategies included: documentation, collaboration with other stakeholders, and assertive but not aggressive communication. Probation officers also mentioned more creative advocacy strategies. Barriers to effective advocacy included: poor working relationships with schools, older age of youth, and obstacles to parent involvement. We discuss implications for research and practice.     

The effects of background television on the toy play behavior of very young children

This experiment tests the hypothesis that background, adult television is a disruptive influence on very young children's behavior. Fifty 12-, 24-, and 36-month-olds played with a variety of toys for 1 hr. For half of the hour, a game show played in the background on a monaural TV set. During the other half hour, the TV was off. The children looked at the TV for only a few seconds at a time and less than once per minute. Nevertheless, background TV significantly reduced toy play episode length as well as focused attention during play. Thus, background television disrupts very young children's play behavior even when they pay little overt attention to it. These findings have implications for subsequent cognitive development.     

Further abuse of sexually abused children

OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence of re-abuse in children known to have been sexually abused and to find factors that increase the risk of re-abuse. METHOD: The study group consisted of 183 children with substantiated sexual abuse who presented to two children's hospitals' Child Protection Units in Sydney, Australia during 1988 through 1990. At intake, when the children were aged between 5 years and 15 years, data about the child, the family, and the nature of the index sexual abuse were collected. Six years after presentation for the abuse, records of the Department of Community Services were checked to see if any of the young people had been the subject of substantiated notifications for abuse/neglect before and after intake to the study. Predictors of notifications for abuse/neglect after presentation for the index sexual abuse were identified. RESULTS: Of the sexually abused young people, nearly one in three were the subject of subsequent substantiated notifications to the Department of Community Services for some form of child abuse and neglect or behavior which placed them at risk of harm. Later notifications for abuse/neglect were predicted by notifications for emotional abuse before the index sexual abuse (adjusted RR = 4.88, CI: 1.43 to 16.65), severity of the index sexual abuse (p = .03), and the number of changes in the child's primary caregivers before intake (p = .03). Approximately one in six of the sexually abused young people were notified for sexual abuse after intake to the study. One in 10 also had prior notifications for sexual abuse. Sexual abuse notifications after study intake were predicted by caregiver changes before intake (p = .01) and whether or not there were notifications for emotional abuse before the index sexual abuse (adjusted RR = 3.40, CI: 1.05 to 11.02). CONCLUSIONS: Revictimization of children appears to be a marker of ongoing family dysfunction. Intervention in child sexual abuse needs to consider a range of risk factors associated with re-abuse and, in particular, should focus on family functioning if further abuse is to be prevented.     

“Asking,Learning, Seeking Out”: An Exploration of Data Literacy for Teaching

Abstract

The current study explored preservice and inservice teachers’ perspectives on data literacy for teaching. Semi-structured interviews were employed with 12 teacher candidates in elementary and special education. The findings revealed participants’ misconceptions regarding formative and summative data; their understanding of the value of formative data; perceptions of challenges related to data literacy for teaching including time, making sense of data, and reliability and validity; and candidates’ preferences for authentic data literacy instruction.     

LEARNERS' EMOTIONAL AND PSYCHIC RESPONSES TO ENCOUNTERS WITH LEARNING SUPPORT IN FURTHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING

ABSTRACT:   This article investigates the experience of individual learners who have been allocated learning support in the further education system in England. The particular focus is on interviewees' constructions of their emotional and psychic experiences. Through the adoption of a psycho-social perspective, learners' tendency to 'idealise' their learning support workers is understood as a strategy for coping with the anxiety generated by a range of previous experiences. The implications for policy-makers are discussed.     

Children with asthma: Assessment and treatment in school settings

Asthma is a chronic disease of the airways. It affects approximately 12% of American children, and it appears that that incidence is increasing. Asthma in children negatively influences school‐based outcomes such as absenteeism and friendship formation. Potential triggers of asthma include environmental allergens, exercise, weather, and emotional states. These lead to airway swelling and muscle constriction, which ultimately block airflow and impede breathing. In addition to medical treatments, the implementation of psychologically based interventions has been efficacious in school settings. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The 'empowerment' of students: a contribution from systemic functional grammar

Since there is no single pedagogical theory that may provide all necessary strategies for the successful teaching of academic essay writing at senior levels, this paper makes a small but hopefully interesting contribution from the basis of Systemic Functional Grammar. It is intended to supplement teachers’ insights into the linguistic characteristics of academic writing considered ‘Excellent’, as much as to offer strategies for empowering students with a clearer idea of what is expected of them in academic writing. It attempts this by making explicit some of the grammatical choices made by successful writers, and how those choices facilitate the presentation of knowledge and ideas in ways that fulfil the expectations readers (and examiners) have of merit‐worthy writing.     

The Disruptive Qualities of Linked Data in the Library Environment: Analysis and Recommendations

Libraries are looking for a better way to encode and share their data. Christensen's disruptive technologies theory provides a framework for evaluating linked data and thinking about future uses of library technology. Because of its lack of use and technical weaknesses, linked data is not yet poised to emerge as a disruptive innovation. It has the potential, however, to become disruptive and should be explored first in spin-offs that supplement library data or provide access to other electronic content. Library systems under development should focus on remaining nimble and open to unforeseen future technologies and uses.     

Rogues of the Racecourse

This article focuses on the reporting of racecourse crime, exploring the shifting cultural contexts in which the press constructed outbreaks of metropolitan gang-related crime. The first part of the article looks at the extended coverage of what became known as the ‘racecourse wars’, concentrating on three key themes which permeate the accounts of racecourse crime between 1920 and 1925: the organisation of crime, the use of firearms and the mobility of criminals. The coverage of these events, which can be traced across a number of different newspapers, was often described in ways that reflected concerns about the organisation and professionalisation of crime. After 1925, despite continuing outbreaks of violence and racecourse-related crime, the press coverage subsided. However, in 1936 the racing men once again became ‘folk devils’, and the final part of the article explores the re-emergence of press reportage by considering the responses to the Lewes Racecourse Affray in June 1936. In this latter period, the rising influence of the American gangster film (as well as coverage of events in American cities such as New York and Chicago) meant that a newer language of gangsterdom would become increasingly embedded in British cultural forms.