Language Intervention: Computer Training for Young Children with Special Needs

Three studies that explore the usefulness and effectiveness of computers for training language skills of young children with communication disabilities are reviewed. A study of eight toddlers with Down syndrome compared traditional individual language intervention with computer-based instruction for developing comprehension of vocabulary and early grammatical patterns over a period of three months. Both approaches showed a similar, highly significant effect, indicating that computer-based intervention was as successful as traditional one-to-one language therapy.
A second study used 52 children (ages 4–10) who were enrolled in special education classes for children with severe language, learning and behavioral disabilities. The effectiveness of adding twice a week, 30-minute interactive computer language training sessions to the regular classsroom language curriculum was examined. Children showed significantly more progress in vocabulary, general language ability and social communication during the 10 week period they were receiving the computer training.
Lastly, the effectiveness of using a parent volunteer to work with toddlers on computer-based language tasks was compared with language progress when these children worked with a professional speech language pathologist. Four out of five of the children showed more progress when working with the parent volunteer.
The article concludes with a discussion of educational considerations for planning computer-based language intervention and includes a sample language lesson for the computer as well as software evaluation guidelines.     

Redefining self and success: becoming teachers and doctors

This study explores how twenty‐eight women graduates of a liberal arts college renegotiate personal and professional identities over a ten year period. Approximately half of these women entered college planning to pursue a career in medicine; the other half indicated some interest in the field of education. Each participant was interviewed six times over the course of ten years. Analysis suggests that prior designations of women's careers as “traditional” (i.e. teaching) and “non‐traditional” (i.e. medicine) no longer apply as women actively reconceptualize their lives, their identities, their definitions of success, and the meaning of their chosen career. Prior studies that examine the balancing of personal and professional lives also simplify a more complicated process experienced by women who explore multiple understandings of themselves within personal and social structures. The women in this study draw on the critical perspectives learned in college as they recognize and respond to competing social and cultural definitions and discourses of success, work, and self.     

The family as a developmental system: Impact on the career development of individuals with disabilities

Conclusions The current high rates of unemployment and underemployment of individuals with disabilities is evidence that traditional approaches to career development and transitions planning have not adequately met the needs of persons with disabilities. An individual's family and significant others have been recognized as having major impact on career development, although the ongoing dynamics of family influence on career development are not fully understood (Lopez & Andres, 1987). Currently, there is a lack of a conceptual framework to guide professionals in developing programs to utilize the family as a resource in the career development of individuals with disabilities. The developmental approach, as discussed in this article, is a sound basis for developing intervention strategies designed to assist the family and the individual to promote the career development of persons with disabilities.     

Consultants and Coteachers Affecting Student Outcomes with Numbered Heads Together: Keeping All Engaged

General education teachers, special education teachers, social workers, psychologists, and a myriad of specialists are responsible for delivering content to all students within inclusive environments. These educational teams continue to search for strategies that can be recommended or used in an inclusive environment. Researchers have discovered that an instructional strategy such as Numbered Heads Together (NHT) increases both academic and behavioral outcomes for students with and without disabilities. This article provides consultants, Response to Intervention (RtI) team members, and coteaching teams with a specific strategy of NHT that can be used by two or more professionals to develop lessons or deliver instruction using a coteaching or consultant approach with both professionals (consultant and general education teacher) assessing learner outcomes after the completion of the activity.     

Teacher candidates research,teach, and learn in the nation's first net zero school

Teacher candidates conducted field hours in the nation's first net zero school, which uses the same amount of energy, measured annually, as it produces. These teacher candidates saw firsthand integration of the net zero advantages by completing a Collaborative Research Project and a Net Zero Lesson, which incorporated the use of the net zero building features as part of the lesson plan criteria. As a result, teacher candidates experienced how students can learn from their constructed environment and how that learning could contribute to a more sustainable world.     

A Case Study Exploring the Identity of an In-Service Elementary Science Teacher: a Language Teacher First

Teachers are central to providing high-quality science learning experiences called for in recent reform efforts, as their understanding of science impacts both what they teach and how they teach it. Yet, most elementary teachers do not enter the profession with a particular interest in science or expertise in science teaching. Research also indicates elementary schools present unique barriers that may inhibit science teaching. This case study utilizes the framework of identity to explore how one elementary classroom teacher’s understandings of herself as a science specialist were shaped by the bilingual elementary school context as she planned for and provided reform-based science instruction. Utilizing Gee’s (2000) sociocultural framework, identity was defined as consisting of four interrelated dimensions that served as analytic frames for examining how this teacher understood her new role through social positioning within her school. Findings describe the ways in which this teacher’s identity as a science teacher was influenced by the school context. The case study reveals two important implications for teacher identity. First, collaboration for science teaching is essential for elementary teachers to change their practice. It can be challenging for teachers to form an identity as a science teacher in isolation. In addition, elementary teachers new to science teaching negotiate their emerging science practice with their prior experiences and the school context. For example, in the context of a bilingual school, this teacher adapted the reform-based science curriculum to better meet the unique linguistic needs of her students.

     

The relationship between social support and student adjustment: A longitudinal analysis

This study is an examination of the relationship of perceived social support and adolescents' adjustment behaviors over time. The sample (n = 82) included students from two at‐risk urban middle schools. Utilizing two measures, the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale (CASSS; C. K. Malecki, M. K. Demaray, & S. N. Elliott, 2000) and the Behavior Assessment System for Children, Self Report of Personality (BASC; C. R. Reynolds & R. W. Kamphaus, 1998), data were collected at three time points. Results point to a relationship between social support and student adjustment behaviors over time. Specifically, support from parents was related to clinical maladjustment and emotional symptoms one year later. In fact, parent support was still related to clinical maladjustment one year later even after students' earlier levels of clinical maladjustment were taken into account. Parent support was also related to personal adjustment in the short term (6 months). Classmate support was related to students' emotional symptoms one year later. Finally, school support was related to school maladjustment one year later even after students' earlier school maladjustment was taken into account. Implications for school psychologists are discussed. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 42: 691–706, 2005.     

Empirically Supporting the Increasing Severity of College Counseling Center Client Problems: Why Is It So Challenging?

Since the late 1980s, college counselors have reported seeing increasing numbers of students who present with severe forms of emotional and psychological disturbance. However, little direct evidence has yet to demonstrate any trend in the level of severity of presenting problems. In this article, the authors explore methodological challenges for researchers who attempt to examine the question of increasing severity of client problems. Implications for college counseling centers are discussed.     

Immersed in Design: Using an Immersive Teaching Space to Visualise Design Solutions

A significant component of design pedagogy is the need to foster critical design thinking and to support students in understanding links between educational exercises and their potential application in professional design practice. Problem solving is central to design so it is also essential that students understand that there can be multiple solutions to a design brief, and are supported in creative experimentation and in generating imaginative outcomes. This article examines some innovative approaches to addressing these pedagogical needs. It investigates the effectiveness of pedagogical design incorporating the Immerse Lab, a three‐wall projection room at an Australian university, as a learning context for design practice, for generating ideas and for supporting learning involving the comparative display of design outcomes. Anonymous student survey results revealed that the majority of students found learning in the Immerse Lab to be beneficial; comparative review more effective than in standard tutorial rooms; that the activity generated new ideas; it encouraged students to think differently about their designs; and it inspired students to develop their existing designs or create new ones. The project demonstrated that curricula involving immersive spaces can be effective in supporting engaging and relevant design pedagogy.     

The determinants of progress to the doctoral degree

The time doctoral students expect to take to complete their degree is investigated in a model which stresses the effects of economic factors. The model also accounts for the interdependency among such variables as employment hours, study hours, household income, and part-time study. We find that field of study, amount of borrowing, household income, and study hours have direct effects on expected time to degree. Indirect effects also occur from employment hours and the amount of fellowship, scholarship, or grant aid. When the sample is separated into foreign and U.S. students, we find that U.S. students underestimate their time to degree. Also, household incomes are higher for U.S. students and increase the time to degree, while the opposite is true for foreign students. Teaching assistantships increase the time to degree for foreign students while research assistantships reduce it.