Children with reported histories of sexual abuse: utilizing multiple perspectives to understand clinical and psychosocial profiles

OBJECTIVE: The current study examines multiple empirically based perspectives (i.e., child, caregiver, and clinician) of behavior and functioning as they contribute to the clinical and psychosocial profile of children (aged 5 to 17.5 years) with reported histories of sexual abuse.METHOD: A large, multi-site data set of children referred into Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services both with and without reported histories of sexual abuse, was examined. Seven hundred and fifty-nine children with a reported history of sexual abuse were compared to 2722 without such a history on caregiver and child reported behavior, clinician rated functioning, diagnosis, demographic variables, and life challenges.RESULTS: The multiple perspectives contributed unique and specific information to regression models: caregiver-reported behavior contributed information about externalizing behavior while child-reported behavior added information about internalizing behavior and clinician ratings about self-harmful behavior. Children with reported histories of sexual abuse were also more likely to be female, Caucasian, and have reported histories of life challenges (e.g., physical abuse, substance use, running away). Child sexual abuse was associated with higher rates of depression and anxiety diagnoses, and lower rates of substance abuse, conduct, and attention deficit disorder diagnoses.CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that the profile of children entering into Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services with reported histories of sexual abuse, as compared to those without such histories, is complex and best understood via multiple perspectives. Caregiver, child and clinician rated information, when taken together, provide a comprehensive clinical and psychosocial profile around which to plan and implement individualized service plans.     

Understanding the Relationship Between Latino Students’ Preferred Learning Styles and Their Language Spoken at Home

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between Latino students’ learning styles and their language spoken at home. Results of the study indicated that students who spoke Spanish at home had higher means in the Active Experimentation modality of learning (M = 31.38, SD = 5.70) than students who spoke English (M = 28.08, SD = 5.36) or both languages (M = 30.79, SD = 5.93) at home. Students in all 3 groups—students who spoke Spanish, English, and both languages at home—had similar means and standard deviations in the Reflective Observation modality of learning.     

What catches the eye in class observation? Observers’ perspectives in a multidisciplinary peer observation of teaching program

Peer Observation of Teaching has raised a lot of interest as a device for quality enhancement of teaching. While much research has focused on its models, implementation schemes and feedback to the observed, little attention has been paid to what the observer actually sees and can learn from the observation. A multidisciplinary peer observation of teaching program is described, and its data is used to identify the pedagogical aspects to which lecturers pay more attention to when observing classes. The discussion addresses the valuable learning opportunities for observers provided by this program, as well as its usefulness in disseminating, sharing and clarifying quality teaching practices. The need for further research concerning teacher-student relationships and students’ engagement is also suggested.     

Sport education-based irregular teaching unit and students’ physical activity during school recess

Abstract

The aim of the study was to compare the effect of a Sport Education-based irregular teaching unit on the high-school students’ physical activity (PA) during school recess. A sample of 91 adolescents (45 girls) aged 13–16?years old met the exclusion criteria. The six classes were cluster-randomly assigned to the Irregular Sport Education group (Sport Education methodology with competitions in recess), Traditional Sport Education group (Sport Education methodology with competitions in Physical Education lessons), or to the control group (non-intervention). The students’ PA during school recess periods were objectively assessed by GT3X accelerometers. The results of the repeated-measures nested analysis of variance showed that the Sport Education-based irregular teaching unit significantly improved the students’ PA during recesses (p?<?0.001). The competitions phase of the Sport Education model performed at school recesses seems to be a valuable strategy for increasing students’ PA contributing to the achievement of the daily recommendations.     

Tackling inequality? Teacher effects and the socioeconomic gap in educational achievement. Evidence from Chile

Although teacher quality is usually signalled to be the most relevant school-level factor impacting students’ learning, little is known about the relevance of teacher effects explaining educational inequality. By using a value-added model for a cohort of 10th graders, in this work we examine the socioeconomic gap in teacher effects across Chilean secondary schools, and its importance in explaining socioeconomic inequality in students’ achievement in math and language. We found an important proportion of highly effective teachers in low-socioeconomic-status (SES) schools, but also much bigger variation in teacher effects across those schools. Variability in teacher effects decreases when moving towards higher SES schools, where there is also a smaller proportion of low-performing teachers. All in all, teacher effects have a levelling impact for students in low-SES schools when compared to those in middle SES schools, but no significant impact when compared to students in high-SES schools.     

Pre-service Teachers’ False Beliefs in Superstitions and Pseudosciences in Relation to Science and Technology

Science & Education - In order to increase scientific competence within the general population, it is important that teachers and educators have a realistic image of science and scientists,...     

The Sources of Error in Spanish Writing (Research Note)

The main aim of this study was to determine the pattern of errors in Spanish spelling. Specifically, we were interested in discovering if all Spanish words have similar levels of spelling difficulty or whether there are types of words that cause a high percentage of spelling errors. 972 children aged between 8 to 10 years were requested to write a short spontaneous story. Our objective was to analyse and to propose a classification system for the errors made by children in the initial stages of the acquisition of spelling skills. The results indicate (a) that the diverse forms of only 20 Spanish words produce 36 per cent of the spelling errors in Spanish, and (b) that substitution is the most frequent type of error (68 per cent of total errors), which occurs as a consequence of an inadequate knowledge of the rules of phoneme-grapheme correspondence. These findings have relevance for the teaching of writing in Spanish.     

Fourteen Things to Look for When Hiring New Staff in Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery

As library employees retire or move on to other positions, library managers can take advantage of these opportunities to assess how well the vacant job's duties mesh with current organizational goals and needs. Positions in interlibrary loan and document delivery services (ILL/DDS) are no different. They should be evaluated and reviewed each time a vacancy needs to be filled to ensure that the expectations of the position are in line with the goals of the ILL/DDS department and the library.