Is dyslexia a form of specific language impairment? a comparison of dyslexic and language impaired children as adolescents

Two groups of adolescents with a childhood history of language impairment were compared with a group of developmentally dyslexic young people of the same age and nonverbal ability. The study also included two comparison groups of typically developing children, one of the same age as those in the clinical groups, and a younger comparison group of similar reading level to the dyslexic students. Tests of spoken and written language skills revealed that the adolescents with dyslexia were indistinguishable from those with resolved language impairments on spoken language tasks, and both groups performed at age-expected levels. However, both dyslexic readers and those with resolved specific language impairments showed deficits in phonological awareness. On written language tasks, a different pattern of performance was apparent. In reading and spelling, adolescents with dyslexia performed only as well as those with persistent oral language impairments and younger controls. However, their reading comprehension was better. The theoretical and educational implications of these findings are discussed.     

The Journey Project: a case study in providing health information to mitigate health disparities

The Journey Project, part of the Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries' Social Work Information Specialist in Context Fellowship, was designed to merge social work and consumer health librarianship skills in order to improve the provision of health information to patients. A resource notebook was created encompassing the many dimensions of cancer health information. A social work informationist distributed the notebooks and provided individualized consultations with respect to patients' health information needs. Areas of congruence as well as key differences between social work and consumer health librarianship emerged during the course of the project. Merging the two professions into the role of a social work informationist increased the ability to attend holistically to clients' health information needs.     

Not Babysitting: Work Stress and Well-Being for Family Child Care Providers

Family child care providers contend with a number of work stressors related to the dual roles of operating a small business and providing child care in their home. Research has documented many sources of work related stress for family child care providers; however, research examining family child care providers’ experiences outside of the lens of quality of care and child outcomes is dated and scant. This study consisted of three focus groups of 11 family child care providers who shared their perspectives on work related stressors and well-being. Many of the study findings were congruent with previous research in the field; however, a key finding in this study was the importance of family child care providers to assert and establish a professional identity to mitigate work related stress. Recommendations and strategies to assist family child providers in constructing a professional identity are discussed.     

When children die: death in current children's literature and its use in a library

Death and dying are dealt with realistically and sympathetically in current children's literature. Books can play an important role in helping children suffering from catastrophic illness by showing how other children have coped with similar situations; they can also form a basis for bibliotherapy with patients. This paper examines current trends in children's literature and describes how these books have been incorporated into a patient library at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.     

How Residential College Students Adjust Socially and Emotionally to First Year University

In this longitudinal study at the University of Wollongong, a model of social and emotional adjustment to first year university was developed. For the study sample of 126 late‐adolescent, non‐local college students it was found that social and emotional adjustment to university was only partly a function of the new, “objective” circumstances that confronted them. Most important was their outlook: feeling positive from the beginning about the transition, believing they had sufficient friends to rely upon, experiencing intimacy and not worrying about whether they were independent enough. Unexpectedly, membership of a particular college predicted more positive emotional adjustment. Differences between the colleges are discussed to help explain this desirable outcome. Interactions between sex and several other factors indicated that male and female students adjusted in different ways. Suggestions are made for how these findings would be very useful for those engaged in counselling students, for professional staff in houses of residence, for university administrators and for academic staff.