People with disabilities and the changing labor market: Some challenges for counseling practice and research on workplace counseling

Nearly a quarter of the entire population of the EU has a disability. Disabled employees have become increasingly integrated into the labor force. According to a national survey and an international literature review, disabled people's experiences enrich the cultural diversity of the workplace. The purpose of the present paper is to present current research trends and identify future research needs in terms of occupational counseling for disabled employees. Research in this area poses many challenges, and there is a clear need for an interdisciplinary approach. Counseling-oriented, work-oriented and manager-based models are discussed in this paper. Counseling can promote collaboration with various agencies, such as family organizations, educators and managers, thus laying the foundations for developing the competencies needed in the labor markets of the future. The paper goes on to discuss the role of empowerment, self-advocacy and social relations over the life span.     

Promoting vocabulary, phonological awareness and concept about print among children at risk for learning disability: can e-books help?

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of activity with an educational electronic book (e-book), as compared with adult reading of the printed version of the same book, on the vocabulary, phonological awareness as well as concept about print of preschool children at risk for learning disabilities. The study involved the participation of 110 children aged 5?C7. All participants were identified as having developmental delays placing them at risk for learning disabilities. The sample was randomly assigned to three groups: activity with the e-book, listening to the book??s printed version read by an adult (reading-as-usual) and a control group. The findings indicated that the children exposed to the e-book displayed significantly higher emergent literacy improvement (vocabulary and phonological awareness) when compared with the children who participated in the other two groups. These findings and their implications are discussed.     

Incorporating Short Term Dynamic Psychotherapy Principles into Career Counseling: A Theoretical and Practical Approach

There is wide agreement among career counselors that there should not be a dichotomy between personal and career themes in career counseling. This article offers a Developmental Career Counseling (DCC) model that incorporates Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (STDP) principles, specifically, James Mann's (1973) model, into a career counseling process. Common principles of STDP and their relation to principles of DCC are discussed: developmental life-span approach, limited time, importance of working alliance, rapid and early assessment, central focus, active and directive counselor participation, therapeutic flexibility, dealing with termination and specific criteria for client suitability to work in STDP and DCC. The model is illustrated through a DCC case of 8 sessions that focused on issues of self-esteem. The implementation of insights, techniques, and processes, borrowed from STDP and incorporated into career counseling, are demonstrated and implications for the practice of DCC are discussed.     

“From the Intuitive to the Intentional”: Designing a Constructivist Online Course

Online programs are becoming more ubiquitous in higher education; however, there has been a lack of research on the merit of this style of educating. Using the concept of constructivism as a framework, the idea that individuals construct their own understanding of world experiences, the authors generated a case study to explore the efficacy of teaching “havruta study,” text analysis in student pairs with instructor facilitation, in an online format. Findings suggest that, through careful consideration of communication styles and student needs, highly interactive in-house courses can be adapted to online settings.     

The contribution of early home literacy activities to first grade reading and writing achievements in Arabic

This longitudinal study assessed the literacy development of native Arabic-speaking children from kindergarten to the end of first grade, focusing on the role of home literacy activities (mother–child shared book reading and joint writing). The contribution of these activities in kindergarten to children’s reading and writing at the end of first grade were evaluated, controlling for family SES and children’s early skills (vocabulary and letter naming). Eighty-eight Arabic-speaking children and their mothers participated in the study. Results revealed that family SES, children’s early skills and home literacy activities in kindergarten correlated with children’s achievements at the end of first grade. Joint writing contributed significantly to children’s literacy in first grade and the contribution of shared reading was almost significant. Joint writing was found to contribute to children’s literacy achievements in first grade beyond book reading. The study extends our knowledge on literacy acquisition in Arabic, highlighting the significance of early parent–child literacy activities as a predictor of Arabic-speaking children’s literacy achievements in school.     

Bringing the Text to Life and Into Our Lives: Jewish Education and the Arts

This article explores how arts-based learning can facilitate understandings of Jewish religious texts. Through practical examples drawn from our own research, from the worlds of dance, drama, and the visual arts in education, we demonstrate the ways in which arts can allow for the transmission of information and knowledge, as well as offer a “transformative” learning experience; a student can bring the text to life while bringing the text into his or her life. We stress the primary importance and centrality of sacred text within Jewish tradition and assert that the written text should serve in Jewish education as the starting point. The ultimate goal, however, is to enable learners' personal connection with texts. We argue that learning through the arts opens up opportunities for multiple shared interpretations of text, as well as accentuation of the “affective” dimensions of Jewish textual learning. By becoming more aware of the varied possible paths for generating learning activities, educators might choose learning strategies that enable an integration of both the cognitive and affective domains. The examples of Arts Reflective learning demonstrate possibilities for the structuring of “teaching towards transformation.”     

E-books as support for emergent writing with and without adult assistance

The question posed in the current study is whether software alone is a sufficient tool for supporting young children’s emergent writing. We researched the effect of reading an electronic book (e-book) on kindergarten children’s emergent word writing with and without adult support. Ninety-six 5 to 6 years old children from low socioeconomic status (SES) families were randomly assigned to one of three groups (32 children each): (1) independently reading the e-book; (2) reading the e-book with adult support; (3) receiving the regular kindergarten program (control). Each intervention group received four e-book reading sessions. The children’s emergent literacy was assessed before and after the intervention and included letter-name recognition, phonological awareness and emergent word writing. Reading the e-book with adult assistance supported the children’s phonological awareness and emergent word writing more significantly than reading the e-book without support and more than the control group. Reading the e-book without adult support did not differ from the control group. Furthermore, the children’s initial emergent literacy level and reading the ebook with adult assistance contributed the most to the children’s emergent word writing. Educational implications are discussed.     

Weaving the Arts into Jewish Education: Integration at the Blossom School,an Arts‐Based Jewish Day School

The Baltimore Hebrew College

I came to the U.S. from my home town Jerusalem in 1929, when I was 16 years of age. My father had emigrated from Eretz Israel in 1921 because of the severe economic conditions that prevailed after World War I. Gradually, he brought over all the members of his family. He hoped that he and his sons would save enough money in the New World to establish a vital profitable enterprise in Eretz Israel, and the family could then return to its native land. In New York, we lived at first in Brownsville, at that time the most dynamic center of Brooklyn Jewry. A year later, I moved to Baltimore where my father was employed.     

The effects of CD-ROM storybook reading on Israeli children’s early literacy as a function of age group and repeated reading

The effects of reading a CD-ROM storybook on children’s early literacy were examined as a function of their age group and the number of times they used the software. The investigation was carried out on 214 children: 108 pre-kindergarten children (aged 4:2 to 5:3) and 106 kindergarten children (aged 5:3–6:4). This population included 107 girls and 107 boys. The children in each group were randomly assigned to one of three groups. The first intervention group was afforded three CD-ROM storybook reading sessions. The second group was afforded five reading sessions and the third group served as a control and was afforded the regular kindergarten program. Pre- and post-intervention early literacy measures included vocabulary, word recognition and phonological awareness. No age group differences were found between the children’s early literacy progress after using the software and no interaction was found between age group and the number of reading sessions. Children from both age groups exhibited a similar level of story comprehension. Children who used the software five times exhibited greater progress in word meaning than those who used it three times and children in both of these groups did better than the control group. Children who used the software five times exhibited greater progress in word reading and phonological awareness than children in the control group. Implications for future research and education are discussed.