Early Intervention,Families, and Adolescents With Down Syndrome

Developmental assessments are reported for two cohorts of Brisbane children with Down syndrome at chronological ages from 11 to 14 years. Cohort 1 was born during 1973 to 1974 while Cohort 2 was born from May 1976 to December 1978. These cohorts provided an opportunity of studying the long‐term effects of early intervention as a history‐graded influence on development; one cohort was born before early intervention became widely available whereas by the time the other children were born, a variety of programs were being offered children with disabilities. No significant cohort differences were found in MA at 11 years, 12 years and 14 years CA, in non‐verbal scores at 11 years and 12 years CA, or in adaptive behaviour scores near 13 years CA. There was no evidence of a final plateau in MA. When the cohorts were divided on the basis of early intervention commencement age, frequency and duration of attendance, there were again no group differences. SES, mothers’ education, and gender were significant predictors of MA but gender did not add significantly to non‐verbal scores. Cognitive function was strongly associated with adaptive behaviours. It was concluded that early intervention studies need to investigate social disadvantage and biological impairment not only as separate issues, but as a combination of the two. There is also a continuing need to identify the specific elements associated with SES and maternal education that influence development in children.     

Social relationships and friendships among young people with Down's syndrome in secondary schools

More young people with Down's syndrome are being taught in mainstream schools and interest in the educational aspect of inclusion has grown over the last few years.
In this article Pat Cuckle, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Leeds, and June Wilson, a support teacher working for Education Leeds, explore patterns of friendship and social relationships among teenagers with Down's syndrome. The young people who took part in the study either attend mainstream schools or resourced provision in mainstream schools. The enquiry provides fascinating insights into the participants' views of friendship and into the range of their social experiences. Pat Cuckle and June Wilson conclude their report with a set of recommendations focusing on the need to create more opportunity for social interaction for young people with special needs.     

Education of infants with down syndrome

The early education of infants with Down syndrome has been strongly influenced by studies highlighting the importance of the environment. These studies encouraged the belief that intelligence is not fixed and that early experience is critical to the course of development. Since the origins of a decline in IQ for Down syndrome had been traced to early infancy, it was hoped that early intervention programs might halt or even reverse this decline. The de-institutionalization movement converged with these studies to emphasize the home as a teaching environment and to view the mother as a teacher. It is suggested that the concept of the environment should expand beyond the family and that professionals should consider their own role in terms of the social ecology of the family. The programs need also to address the specific arousal needs of the infant with Down syndrome and to include motivational aspects in addition to cognitive measures when evaluating the effects of infant education.     

Investigating Sociability and Cooperation in Four and Five Year Olds in Reception Class Settings Une E´tude de la Sociabilite´et la Cooperation des Enfants Age´s de Quatre ou Cinq Ans dans le Cadre des Cours Pre´paratoires Investigacio´n sobre la Sociabilidad y la Cooperacio´n en Nin ¨ os de Cuatro y Cinco An ¨ os en el Grado de Recepcio´n

The second part of a three-phase study is reported here. Phase one had focused on nursery settings (Broadhead, 1997). This second phase reports on a study in two reception classes (a reception class is the first class in an English primary school where children may be 4 or 5 years old). It has formed the basis for a more extensive third phase of data collection, recently completed in five reception classes. The research is not concerned with teacher-pupil interaction, rather it seeks to describe the language and actions children use when being sociable and cooperative with peers. It gathers data through observations of interacting peers as they play in five areas of provision: water, sand, role play and large and small construction/small world (three of these areas are drawn upon in this paper). In this second phase of research, a Social Play Continuum, developed in the nursery phase and described in Broadhead (1997), was used to collect data. It was subsequently refined to support the more extensive third phase. This paper presents the revised Continuum and describes the refinements. The Continuum may be a potential tool for observing, better understanding and more appropriately intervening in children's play in order to promote the growth towards cooperation. During this second phase a new method of data collection, the use of photography, was incorporated and this is described. Both Vygotsky's and Piaget's work offer underpinning theoretical frameworks as the research seeks to better understand how young children learn to initiate and sustain sociable and cooperative interactions in schools settings. Il s'agit d'un rapport sur la deuxième partie d'une étude de trois phases. La premiôre phase s'était concentrée sur les pouponniôres (Broadhead, 1997). Cette deuxième étape fait un rapport sur une étude dans deux classes préparatoires (c'est-à-dire la premiere année dans une école primaire en Angleterre, oil les enfants ont entre 4 ou 5 ans). Elle a fourni la base d'une troisie ¤ me phase de recherche plus e´tendue dans cinq classes pre´paratoires, et qui est actuellement presque termine´e. La recherche ne se concerne pas de l'interaction e´le ¤ ve-institutrice; elle cherche plutot a de´crire le langage et les actions utilise´s par les enfants quand its agissent d'une manie ¤ re sociable et cooperative. Elle recueillit de l'information en observant ce que font les enfants entre eux pendant qu'ils jouent dans cinq domaines: avec de l'eau, avec du sable, pendant des jeux de roles, et pendant qu'ils construisent de petites choses et aussi des choses plus grandes (cet article se reporte a trois de ces domaines). Dans cette deuxie ¤ me phase de la recherche, on a utilise´un continuum de jeux sociaux, de´veloppe´ dans la premiere phase et deja de´crit (Broadhead, 1997) pour recueillir les donne´es. On l'a perfectionne´ pour mieux convenir a la troisie ¤ me phase plus e´tendue. Cet article pre´sente le continuum re´vise´et de´crit les perfectionnements. Le continuum pourrait etre un outil possible pour observer, mieux comprendre et s'interposer plus convenablement dans les jeux des enfants afin de favoriser le de´veloppement de la cooperation. L'article de´crit egalement une nouvelle me´thode pour recueillir les donne´es (l'usage de la photographie) qu'on avait incorpore´e pendant cette deuxie ¤ me phase. L'oeuvre de Piaget et de Vygotsky contribue une structure the´orique pendant que la recherche essaie de mieux comprendre comment les jeunes enfants apprennent a initier et soutenir des interactions sociables dans le cadre de l'e´cole. En este art´ L culo se presenta la segunda parte de un estudio realizado en tres etapas. La primera etapa se enfocóen el nivel de guarder´ L a (Broadhead, 1997). Esta segunda etapa tiene como propósito informar sobre un estudio realizado en dos clases de recepción (la clase de recepción es el primer an~o que se cursa en las escuelas primarias inglesas cuando los nin~os tienen de 4 a 5 an~os). Esta segunda etapa formólas bases para una tercera etapa de investigación más extensa, la cual está llegando a su culminación en cinco clases de recepción. La investigación no estáenfocada a la interacción maestro-alumno sino que busca describir el lenguaje y las acciones que utilizan los nin~os cuando se vuelven sociables y cooperativos. Esta investigación reúne datos que se han obtenido observando a los nin~os mientras juegan en cinco áreas estipuladas: agua, arena, actuación de personajes y la construcción a grande y pequen~a escala (tres de estas áreas son tratadas en este art´ L culo). Para recolectar datos en esta segunda etapa de investigación se utilizóel Cont´ L nuo del Juego Social, desarrollado en la etapa de guarder´ L a y descrito en Broadhead (1997). El Cont´ L nuo del Juego Social subsecuentemente fue depurado para apoyar la tercera etapa que es más extensa. Este art´ L culo presenta la versio´n revisada del Cont´ L nuo y describe los puntos depurados. El Cont´ L nuo puede ser una herramienta potencial para observar, comprender e intervenir apropiadamente en el juego de los nin~os para promover su crecimiento hacia la cooperación. Durante esta segunda etapa se incorporóel uso de la fotograf´ L a como nuevo método de recolección de datos, el cual también se describe. Tanto el trabajo de Vygotsky como el de Piaget ofrecen marcos teóricos de sustento a medida que la investigación busca entender de una mejor manera cómo los nin~os pequen~os aprenden a iniciar y a mantener interacciones sociales y de cooperación en las escuelas.     

Teaching like an artist: the pedagogic identities and practices of artists in schools

This article reports findings from an ethnographic study of the arts curriculum and pedagogy in a British primary school. The policy context for the study is the school's involvement in promoting creative partnerships between teachers and artists. The pedagogies of three different artist‐led projects are analysed, using a Bernsteinian framework, and are characterised in relation to notions of ‘competence’ and ‘performance’ pedagogies. These characterisations are then used to consider the impact of the artists' pedagogies on teachers in the school, and the extent to which the different pedagogies promote inclusion. Broad conclusions are drawn about the relative difficulty of adopting competence pedagogies in the current educational culture of British schools; more specific conclusions are drawn about the importance of time, text, discourse and interpretation in arts pedagogies.     

Attitudes of Parents and Teachers toward Mainstreaming

A questionnaire measuring attitudes toward mainstreaming was completed by teachers and parents at two primary schools, one of which had initiated a mainstreaming program in Year 1 classes. Results indicated that attitudes of parents and teachers at this school were more negative than those of their counterparts at the school with no mainstreaming program. Despite this apparent relationship between contact with disabled children and a negative attitude towards mainstreaming, a significant association was found between amount of experience with disabled children and a positive attitude towards mainstreaming. Among explanations proposed for these discrepant findings is the suggestion that attitudes expressed prior to experience with mainstreaming may not be an accurate guide to views held after its implementation.     

Can political inequality be reduced in the classroom? Testing the compensation hypothesis and the BFLPE on youth civic competence

This study examines the general question of how classroom characteristics are linked with differences among students in civic competence, which is seen to be an important basis for political inequality. A resource-mobilisation account of youth civic competence is presented, and this is tested using hierarchical linear modelling and International Civic and Citizenship Study 2009 data. The determinants of youth civic competence are explored at the individual, family, and classroom levels, where resource and mobilisation factors at each level are examined. Evidence for classroom effects are tested using Campbell’s compensation hypothesis and insights derived from Marsh’s big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE). This case study of the Czech Republic shows limited evidence for an open classroom climate reducing civic competence differences between low- and high-SES students, and no evidence of BFLPE increasing such differences among youths.