Social‐environmental characteristics (family climate) and sense of coherence in kibbutz families with disabled and non‐disabled children

ABSTRACT

Family climate and sense of coherence were studied among two groups of Israeli kibbutz families: (a) 67 pairs of parents of disabled children and (b) 60 pairs of parents of non‐disabled children. Significant differences were found between the two groups concerning profiles of family climate and the sense of coherence. Parents of the disabled children demonstrated a lower sense of coherence than the control group, were less satisfied with their lives and experienced more conflict. Family systems were less cohesive, and less encouraging of personal growth. Sense of coherence related to the familial quality of relations for all parent groups, although fathers of disabled children were particularly aware of reduced opportunities for personal growth. Findings suggested when major resources were provided by the community, the ‘tragic crisis’ was expressed in two aspects of the family climate: interrelations within the family system; and opportunities for personal growth. Intervention planning should consider these aspects.     

Hope as a Mediator of Loneliness and Academic Self‐efficacy Among Students With and Without Learning Disabilities during the Transition to College

The transition to college often occasions excitement as well as elevated stress for students. The latter may be especially the case for those with learning disabilities (LD), who can encounter problems both socially and academically. This study follows students both with and without LD during the first month of college to explore the relationships between LD status and two outcomes: loneliness/social distress and academic self‐efficacy. In particular, we hypothesized that hope and optimism would mediate the relationship between LD status and these outcomes. The sample consisted of 344 first‐year undergraduates at the beginning of the academic year (Time‐1) and a month later (Time‐2). Results showed that LD status predicted Time‐2 levels of academic self‐efficacy and loneliness only indirectly, demonstrating that relationships between LD and loneliness as well as between LD and academic self‐efficacy are mediated by hope.     

Second‐Generation Research on Resilience: Social‐Emotional Aspects of Children with Learning Disabilities

The goal of this commentary is to focus attention on the various protective factors examined by the four studies of this special issue, in order to predict resilient functioning. These factors include internal factors (cognitive information processing, affective information processing—the attachment/proximity conceptualization) as well as external factors such as teacher perceptions and classroom ecology. By bringing together major themes from these studies, this commentary aims to explicate core elements of resilience in order to enhance the conceptual clarity of the construct within empowerment models, and to point out major directions for future research. Questions emerging from the results yielded by these studies will also be presented.     

The Attitudes of Israeli Adolescents Toward Handicapped People

The attitudes of adolescents toward handicapped people were investigated with the long‐term goal of maximizing the effective mainstreaming of handicapped teeangers. Analysis of the attitudes of 262 Israeli high school students showed a generalized accepting tendency. Significant differences emerged, not with regard to the type of handicap as had been expected, but for three content areas defined as limitations of the handicapped, feelings of reservation and shame, and the rights of the handicapped. There were significant differences between the sexes in general acceptance and in two of these content areas. Implications of the results in terms of intervention programming are discussed.     

Computer‐assisted Social Skills Learning for Adolescents with Mild Retardation and Social Difficulties

The aim of this study was to evaluate an intervention model for computer‐assisted social skills learning. The integration of technology enables experimentations within a controlled, structured, and easily changeable mini‐environment, emphasising four critical aspects of social learning: active learning, controlled and fluent processing, structure and schema organization and strategy training. Twelve adolescents with mild retardation and social difficulties were trained on “I Have a Problem” social conflict scenarios, integrating the software with strategy training. The results demonstrated that the children increased their understanding of the social conflict situations as expressed on the software measures and on paper and pencil questionnaires. Three case studies were provided to demonstrate the students’ individual learning styles, assessed through students’ reports and teachers’ ratings.     

Generating connections and learning with SemNet,a tool for constructing knowledge networks

In this paper we examine the impact of using a Macintosh-based knowledge organization toll SemNet, with prospective elementary and middle school teachers enrolled in an upper division biology course. The course models for students the ways in which they will be able to teach hands-on, minds-on science in K-8 classrooms and provides them with an in-depth understanding of a relatively small number of biology topics. This study examines changes in learning habits, metacognitive processes, retention, retrieval, and learring among students enrolled in this course. Students using SemNet tend to exhibit a significant increase in deep processing as measured by self-report. Also on the basis of self-report, SemNet students appear to acquire some cognitive skills that transfer to other courses, such as identifying main ideas and tying ideas together. SemNet students retained and retrieved nearly twice as much information about a topic, the digestive system, as a reference group. Although neither the SemNet nor the reference group exhibited transfer skills as we meansured them, there is evidence that SemNet student changed their thinking strategies.     

Social Competence of Learning Disabled Children: Cognitive and Emotional Aspects

The aim of the study was to investigate the structure of social competence among learning disabled children, as reported by themselves and their teachers, and the cognitive and emotional aspects that mediate its level. The sample consisted of 40 learning disabled children and 37 matched nondisabled children. Within Harter's competence model and Schaefer's spherical model, the learning disabled group demonstrated lower levels of competence and adjustment and a less mature concept of competence than did their peers. The social competence of the learning disabled children was accounted for by emotional and physical aspects of competence, similar to that found in younger and in children with an intellectual disability, whereas the social competence of the nondisabled peers was accounted for by a combination of academic, cognitive and self‐esteem aspects. Teachers rated the social competence of both groups of children as mediated by introversion and general competence. However, teachers added physical competence to the explanation of the learning disabled group's social competence, whereas they added task orientation to the explanation for the nondisabled group. Intervention planning should be geared toward increasing the social competence of LD children, through alerting teachers to their less mature self‐competence concept, with its special emphasis on nonacademic aspects.     

Loneliness,Coherence and Companionship among Children with Learning Disorders[1]

This study investigated children's perceptions of themselves and their social world when experiencing academic failure. Three groups of 7‐10‐year‐old students were examined: 94 children with learning disorders who received remedial learning in resource settings, 65 low achievers and 71 average achievers. Results demonstrated that both groups who failed in school and their teachers rated them as demonstrating higher levels of disruptive and hyperactive behaviours, reported more loneliness, less coherence, lower peer acceptance and different patterns of friendship qualities than average‐achieving peers. Examination of the subgroup demonstrated that these results were consistent through three assessments. Findings were discussed in terms of the salutogenic model and empowering intervention planning.

     

The Facilitation of Information Processing in Learning Disabled Children Using Computer Games

Abstract The aim of the study was to improve the information processing and concentration skills of learning disabled (LD) children by using computer games in a procedure that enhances self‐verbalisation and mediated learning. Of the 21 LD children who participated in the study, 14 were trained in the specific procedure, while at the same time the seven children in the control group participated in regular tutorial activities in small groups. Subsequently, in the second training period, the control group was instructed to play commercial strategic games, with no stress on self‐verbalisation procedures and the experimental group participated in regular classroom tutorial activities, without computers. The following measures were used to assess the effect of the training: MFFT, Progressive Matrices and three subtests of the WISC‐R. The results demonstrated that the computer games presented within the framework of self‐verbalisation procedures and peer‐interaction facilitate the information processing of LD children. The interactions of passive and impulsive LD children with computer‐related activities should be examined in future research within the context of their ecological environment.