Toward a description of deaf college students' written English: overuse, avoidance, and mastery of function words

The use of function words in 135 essays written by deaf college underclassmen in developmental and credit-bearing English composition classes is described and compared with Standard English (SE) versions of teh same essay. If student and SE version were the same, this was considered mastery; if the student omitted a word, this was considered avoidance; and if the student added a word, this was considered overuse. The deaf students varied from SE more for function than for content words. They demonstrated low mastery of independent clause markers, demonstratives, third-person singular neuter pronouns, and modals related to possibility, but had relatively high mastery of the first-person singular; and some punctuation. These students strongly avoided some dependent clause markers, some demonstratives, the indefinite article, punctuation except for periods and commas, and the modal verbs may, might and should , but greatly overused other dependent clause markers, the second person and third-person pronouns, quantifiers, the verb do, and the modals could and will. They were also more likely to produce run-ons than fragments.     

Prevalence of child sexual abuse reported by a cross-sectional sample of New Zealand women

OBJECTIVE: The objective is to describe the prevalence of child sexual abuse (CSA) among women in New Zealand, document ethnic specific rates, and outline the frequency of abuse experienced and the most commonly identified perpetrators. Associations between CSA and later adverse consequences were also explored. METHODS: Retrospective report from a random sample of 2,855 women aged 18-64 years old in two regions in New Zealand. Face-to-face interviews with one randomly selected woman from each household were conducted. RESULTS: The overall prevalence rates for CSA were 23.5% for women from the urban region and 28.2% from the rural region. In both urban and rural regions, Māori women more frequently reported experiences of CSA than women from European and other ethnic groups (urban: 30.5% vs. 17.0% and rural: 35.1% vs. 20.7%). The median age of onset of the abuse was 9 years, and the median estimated age of the abuser was 30 years. Half of those who experienced CSA reported that it occurred once or twice, 27% "a few times," and 23% "multiple times." Sole perpetrators were involved in 83% of cases. The majority of cases were perpetrated by a family member, most frequently male. Compared with non-victims, victims of CSA were twice as likely to experience later intimate partner violence and violence by others. CONCLUSIONS: This study reports on a large, population-based sample in an ethnically diverse population in New Zealand, providing the first ethnic-specific rates of CSA available. Findings suggest important priorities for prevention and intervention activities.     

Literacy,languages and development in Africa: a policy perspective

International Review of Education - In the multilingual environments of Africa, national literacy policies vary in terms of the attention they give to the roles and purposes of local, national and...     

Trends and practices in functional behavior assessments completed by school psychologists

Functional Behavior Assessments (FBAs) utilize direct and indirect methods to collect data on student behavior to generate a functional hypothesis and drive intervention development. School psychologists are trained to conduct FBAs and use them regularly in schools. However, no evidence exists describing the specific practices used by school psychologists when they conduct FBAs. In this study, 199 respondents completed a web‐based survey developed using expert review and cognitive pretesting. Most respondents reported their gender as female (87%), were between 30 and 39 years old (50%), and practiced at the Specialist level (57%). Respondents reported receiving training in FBA across multiple sources and utilizing multi‐method data collection methods when conducting FBAs. A large amount of variability was observed in the specific instruments used by school psychologists, with a substantial proportion using forms that were not standardized or pre‐constructed. Implications for current practitioners, trainers, and researchers are described.     

Developing ‘active citizens’: Arts Award,creativity and impact

Creativity has become the new watchword in UK academic and policy circles. Within this context, policy discussions about the arts and their impact emphasise economic benefits over educational value, drawing clear distinctions between quantifiable or ‘hard’ measures of impact and those described as ‘soft’, less tangible and lacking a strong evidence base. Departing from the binary logics often underpinning notions of arts impacts, this article is novel in exploring the entwined relationship between impacts seen as ‘hard’ and ‘soft’. We draw on research examining the links between arts education and young people's future trajectories and use the concept of ‘active citizenship’ to show how informal, softer skills fostered through creative learning are an important part of citizenship-making for some young people. Participants’ accounts show how improvements in soft skills can give young people opportunities for agency, which shape progression pathways leading to measurable change. This finding is directly relevant in the context of evaluations of arts impacts in the UK and abroad, and should encourage further examination of the impact of creative learning on transfer of skills as well as policy developments in this area.     

Integration or Separation? Addressing Religious and Spiritual Issues in Multicultural Counseling: A National Survey of College Counselors

Given contemporary ethical concerns, the authors conducted a national survey of 216 college counselors’ perceptions of integrating religious and spiritual issues in multicultural counseling and counselor education. Using cluster analysis, the authors identified 4 patterns of commitments to multiculturalism and religiosity. Respondents demonstrated ethical bracketing in that they considered religious and spiritual issues favorably within the framework of multicultural counseling, irrespective of their commitments to those topics. Counselors can openly address spiritual and religious diversity.     

Cardiorespiratory and perceptual responses of two interval training and a continuous training protocol in healthy young men

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) can be performed with different effort to rest time-configurations, and this can largely influence training responses. The purpose of the study was to compare the acute physiological responses of two HIIT and one moderate intensity continuous training (MICT) protocol in young men. A randomised cross-over study with 10 men [age, 28.3?±?5.5years; weight, 77.3?±?9.3?kg; height, 1.8?±?0.1?m; peak oxygen consumption (VO₂peak), 44?±?11?mL.kg^?1.min^?1]. Participants performed a cardiorespiratory test on a treadmill to assess VO₂peak, velocity associated with VO₂peak (vVO₂peak), peak heart rate (HRpeak) and perceived exertion (RPE). Then participants performed three protocols equated by distance: Short HIIT (29 bouts of 30s at vVO₂peak, interspersed by 30s of passive recovery, 29?min in total), Long HIIT (3 bouts of 4?min at 90% of vVO₂peak, interspersed by 3?min of recovery at 60% of vVO₂peak, 21?min in total) and MICT (21?min at 70% of vVO₂peak). The protocols were performed in a randomised order with ≥48 h between them. VO₂, HRpeak and RPE were compared. VO₂peak in Long HIIT was significantly higher than Short HIIT and MICT (43?±?11 vs 32?±?8 and 37?±?8?mL.kg^?1.min^?1, respectively, P?P?P?2, HR and RPE than Short HIIT and MICT, suggesting a higher demand on the cardiorespiratory system. Short HIIT and MICT presented similar physiologic and perceptual responses, despite Short HIIT being performed at higher velocities.