An investigation of listening and listening‐while‐reading accommodations on reading comprehension levels and rates in students with emotional disorders

Researchers used alternating treatment designs to investigate the effects of listening‐while‐reading (LWR) and listening interventions on comprehension levels and rates in four middle school students with emotional disorders. During LWR, students were instructed to read passages silently along with experimenters. During the listening condition, we did not give students a printed copy of the passage but merely instructed them to listen as an experimenter read the passages aloud. The control condition consisted of students reading passages silently. After each condition, students answered 10 comprehension questions without referring back to the printed passage. Although neither intervention resulted in comprehension levels consistently superior to those of the silent reading control condition, LWR and listening resulted in higher rates of comprehension than the silent reading control condition across all four students. However, listening appeared to improve reading comprehension rates in only two students. These results suggest that LWR may be an efficient procedure for enhancing comprehension across content areas with groups of students who have heterogeneous reading skills. The discussion focuses on future applied research with students with disabilities. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 42: 39–51, 2005.     

Enhancing science performance in students with learning disabilities using cover,copy, and compare: A student shows the way

A student who participated in a previous study where he was trained to use a self‐managed academic intervention known as cover, copy, and compare (CCC) to enhance his mathematics performance developed the specific intervention used in the current study. Without prompting, this student adapted and employed this procedure to learn bone in the human body. In the current study a multiple baseline across tasks design was used to determine if CCC could be used to enhance accuracy in identifying parts of the human heart in three students with learning disabilities. Three students learned how to perform the self‐management procedures during one session that lasted less than 15 minutes. Results showed that immediately after implementing the CCC intervention students' accuracy improved. Following 11 brief sessions, students were able to identify 15 parts of a human heart with an overall accuracy of 80% over 2 consecutive days. Discussion focuses on limitations and implications of this study and school psychologists' and students' contributions to the development and empirical validation of academic interventions. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Puberty Predicts Approach But Not Avoidance on the Iowa Gambling Task in a Multinational Sample

According to the dual systems model of adolescent risk taking, sensation seeking and impulse control follow different developmental trajectories across adolescence and are governed by two different brain systems. The authors tested whether different underlying processes also drive age differences in reward approach and cost avoidance. Using a modified Iowa Gambling Task in a multinational, cross‐sectional sample of 3,234 adolescents (ages 9–17; M = 12.87, SD = 2.36), pubertal maturation, but not age, predicted reward approach, mediated through higher sensation seeking. In contrast, age, but not pubertal maturation, predicted increased cost avoidance, mediated through greater impulse control. These findings add to evidence that adolescent behavior is best understood as the product of two interacting, but independently developing, brain systems.     

Early Care and Education Choices of Women in a Parent Support Group in a Working Class Neighborhood: Three Women Coconstruct Notions of Appropriate Settings

In the process of choosing early out-of-home care and education for their young children, 3 mothers living in a working class neighborhood in New York City coconstructed understandings of care and education settings and practices offered within their community. A feminist-pragmatist framework guided the analysis of data that highlighted the processes by which they sought information and support to make those choices. Data indicated that their appreciation of child development theories and educational practices arose from experiences derived from their active participation in the development of a parents network. This grassroots network acted as an invaluable source of childrearing information, supported reflection on identity formation, and prompted political participation at varying levels. These 3 women coconstructed knowledge of early care and education settings by bringing thought to action—from inception, to development, and culminating in fulfillment.     

Social Participation of Children with Disabilities in Inclusive Preschool Programs: Program Typology and Ecological Features

The purpose of this study was to examine the social participation of young children with disabilities in inclusive preschool programs. One hundred forty-three preschool-aged children with disabilities were observed in classrooms representing four organizational contexts: community-based, Head Start, public school, and blended. Children's and adults' social behavior was positive across settings, and children in blended programs engaged in significantly more positive social behavior with adults. Peer social engagement did not differ across organizational contexts. Activity initiator was an ecological variable that affected children's social engagement in that children engaged in significantly more interaction with peers in child-initiated activities and significantly more interaction with adults in adult-initiated activities.).     

Teachers who abuse: the impact on school communities

This paper addresses issues that may arise of a teacher or school employee is abusing pupils within the school community. Interviews were conducted with a number of respondents who had experienced situations of abuse within the school context. The incidents used, as case examples, all concern sexual abuse, although the framework developed could be used to examine different types of abuse. The paper concludes that changes in legislation and guidelines can improve practice, but that less tangible issues will continue to be involved when dealing with abuse, and that raising awareness of the issues is a key factor.