Pictographs and prereading skills.

This paper draws upon data collected in conjunction with the Schools Council (Great Britain) Research and Development Project in Compensatory Education to demonstrate that a picture reading task can provide a fairly good prediction of the later reading performance of 100 5-year-olds and that it is a sufficiently interesting clinical tool to merit further consideration from nursery and infant school teachers. The test's success seems to relate to its ability to measure differences in children's understanding of the nature and purpose of reading.     

Reading assessments for students with ASD: a survey of summative reading assessments used in special educational schools in the UK

Schools have an obligation to assess the literacy skills of their students, and the provision of reading instruction to students includes the ability to measure progress in this area. However, the design of reading tests includes the ability not only to read words, but also the ability to verbalise them. This presents a particular challenge for practitioners working with students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who can be nonverbal in many cases. How this issue is generally overcome is currently unknown. A survey was developed, in the form of an online multiple‐choice questionnaire, in order to determine which tests are currently being used in the UK to assess the reading abilities of nonverbal students, and to examine the opinions of the education practitioners who use them, in relation to their suitability. Using the schools web directory, e‐mail invitations were sent to 1,050 special educational needs schools across the UK, and 70 schools responded to the invitation. Respondents suggested that the majority of practitioners hold little faith in the ability of current reading assessments to provide an accurate picture of reading ability for students with ASD, and this holds particularly true for nonverbal pupils with ASD. One purpose of education assessment is to establish a baseline of students’ ability in order to plan for lifelong learning and achievement. If there is an inability on the part of schools accurately to assess the reading abilities of nonverbal students with ASD, then it would be fair to assume that this could have a negative impact on the provision of learning opportunities for this population.     

"动摇概念的根基":下一代信息服务需要将研究和技术支持相结合

近几十年里,尽管图书馆的用户需求及服务技术发生了显著变化,图书馆的很多方面都在转型,但是参考服务的基本方式并未改变。信息服务应该考虑在获取技术支持方面寻求新的伙伴,切实地承担起利用新的技术手段开展本地和网络服务的任务,更多地开展资源利用充分、复杂程度较高的多层次的试验性服务。要改变当前的处境,可以通过机构重组,将图书馆员和技术专家组合到一起,使他们在一个服务环境里共同工作,以保证信息服务机构可以更充分、更灵活地介入网络,更有效地满足用户的需要。     

Accelerating the Progress of Failing Readers: An Evaluation of the Enable–Plus Programme Pilot Study

Supporting pupils who experience difficulties with reading is a perennial concern. In this article, Phil Bowen and Jane Yeomans discuss the Enable–Plus programme, implemented in the two primary schools in Sandwell during 2000 and 2001. The authors set this initiative in the context of the National Literacy Strategy, the Additional Literacy Strategy and the revised SEN Code of Practice . The results are encouraging. Many pupils make significant progress. The programme enables other pupils, with needs that require further targeted intervention, to be identified and effectively supported. The scheme is now being expanded into further schools.
Phil Bowen is an area team and teacher manager and Jane Yeomans is an educational psychologist. They both work for Sandwell Inclusion Support, a multi–professional SEN support service. Both authors have considerable experience of working in the mainstream and special education sectors and have particular interests in reading support and the effects of reading failure on curriculum access.     

Reading and Writing: Digital Directions

The authors show that IT hardware and software are having an effect on literacy. As well as being aware of those changes, English teachers, they argue, should be exploiting IT for the development of those reading and writing skills necessary for the future. The article goes on to exemplify, through an exploration of how it came to be written, some of the processes and opportunities identified earlier.     

Publishing papers in international journals

Conclusions It is not going to get any easier to publish internationally. However, if you do good work, with new information, and can present it acceptably, then you should get published. Thus the key to getting published lies in the research more than in writing the paper. Conversely, good writing and presentation will not hide bad research in these competitive days.     

Teaching science problem solving: An overview of experimental work

The traditional approach to teaching science problem solving is having the students work individually on a large number of problems. This approach has long been overtaken by research suggesting and testing other methods, which are expected to be more effective. To get an overview of the characteristics of good and innovative problem‐solving teaching strategies, we performed an analysis of a number of articles published between 1985 and 1995 in high‐standard international journals, describing experimental research into the effectiveness of a wide variety of teaching strategies for science problem solving. To characterize the teaching strategies found, we used a model of the capacities needed for effective science problem solving, composed of a knowledge base and a skills base. The relations between the cognitive capacities required by the experimental or control treatments and those of the model were specified and used as independent variables. Other independent variables were learning conditions such as feedback and group work. As a dependent variable we used standardized learning effects. We identified 22 articles describing 40 experiments that met the standards we deemed necessary for a meta‐analysis. These experiments were analyzed both with quantitative (correlational) methods and with a systematic qualitative method. A few of the independent variables were found to characterize effective strategies for teaching science problem solving. Effective treatments all gave attention to the structure and function (the schemata) of the knowledge base, whereas attention to knowledge of strategy and the practice of problem solving turned out to have little effect. As for learning conditions, both providing the learners with guidelines and criteria they can use in judging their own problem‐solving process and products, and providing immediate feedback to them were found to be important prerequisites for the acquisition of problem‐solving skills. Group work did not lead to positive effects unless combined with other variables, such as guidelines and feedback. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 442–468, 2001     

A family service unit's approach to working with child abuse

The staff of Brent Family Service Unit, a voluntary social work agency operating in London, has developed a range of broadly based services to bring about real changes in the behaviour of families who suffer child abuse. The paper argues that integrated teams of workers containing a variety of roles, experiences and approaches is essential in responding to families who experience varying constellations of interrelated problems. Some basic principles underlying the team's work are described. Contract work with individuals, families and groups embodies some of the above principles. This approach is invaluable in bringing both structure to the work process plus enabling specific observable change goals to be negotiated. The creative use of games, exercises and materials are used to bring about changes in behaviour and attitudes. Observations that can be made regarding the value and effectiveness of this approach include a reduction in the incidence and frequency of injuries and the social isolation of families. Fewer children are received into care. Parents learn to have much more realistic expectations of their children's behaviour.