Engagement during reading instruction for students who are deaf or hard of hearing in public schools

An observational study of reading instruction was conducted in general education, resource, and self-contained classrooms, grades 1-4, in public schools. Participants included students who were deaf or hard of hearing and their reading teachers. Results indicated that time engaged in reading and/or academically responding varied significantly by grade level enrolled, reading curriculum grade level, and instructional setting, but not level of hearing loss or presence or absence of concomitant conditions. Students working with reading curriculum one grade level below spent significantly less time in reading instruction and reading than students working on grade level or two levels below. Students in general education settings spent significantly more time in reading instruction and reading silently than students in self-contained settings. The probability that students would engage in reading was significantly increased by several teacher and ecological conditions more likely to be observed in general education settings.     

Mothers’ Depressive State ‘Distorts’ the Ratings of Depression they give for their Sons with an Autism Spectrum Disorder

Depression is highly prevalent in children who have an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), potentially confounding accurate diagnosis and treatment planning. Although information about the depressive status of a child is often collected from parents, there is evidence of distortion in parental assessments of their offspring’s depression. This distortion was investigated in a sample of 132 mothers of boys with an ASD. Results indicated that, as predicted from previous studies, there was a significant correlation between the depressive state of the mothers and the ratings they gave for their sons’ depression. However, in contradiction to the expected influence direction, mothers who were minimally depressed under-estimated their sons’ depression when cross-validated by structured clinical interviews for depression conducted by a third party, rather than mothers who were more severely depressed exaggerating their sons’ depression. Implications for clinical assessment of the presence of depression in boys with an ASD are discussed.     

Within the New Moment--An Interview with Judith Halberstam

In April 2002 Judith Halberstam, academic, cultural critic and author of Female Masculinity, toured Australia giving public and academic lectures about her recent work on sub-cultures, the Brandon Teena archive, representations of the transgender body and her notion of female masculinity. The interview is introduced through a brief sketch of her argument for female masculinity. The interview pursues three elements of her work. First, Halberstam's reflections on the implications that female masculinity and transgender have for teaching and pedagogy; second, the issue of humanism and post humanism as a site of concerted challenge and intervention; and finally, the interview turns to Halberstam's thoughts on an often overlooked area of sexualities--the relationship between queer theory and postcoloniality. Halberstam's responses are located amid what she sees as an era of new experimentalism. This era of experimentalism is perhaps an era where transgenderism acts as some kind of reorganizing of gender norms in which gender differences instantiate themselves as the baseline from which gender-sex-sexualities are understood and experienced. It is an argument positioned beyond binaries where multiple bodily aesthetics and practices collude and collide in the practice of displacing of singularity and authenticity.     

A national study examining the impact of SEVIS on international student and scholar advisors

The purpose of this research is to examine the impact that Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) is having on the professional worklives of international student and scholar advisors (ISSAs) on U.S. college and university campuses. ISSAs are clearly satisfied with their work and hold their institutions in high regard. However, SEVIS is having a profound effect on their morale, satisfaction, and their likelihood to leave the field. That is, SEVIS (i.e., reporting, training, time) and the quality of worklife (i.e., professional activities and career development, recognition for competence and their expertise, external and intra-department relationships, perceptions of discrimination) are important to ISSAs, and thus have a strong effect on their level of satisfaction and/or morale, and their subsequent intentions to stay or leave their career/profession.     

An Institutional Repository Experience at a Large Health Care System

Institutional repositories (IRs) collect, preserve, and disseminate the scholarly output of an organization. Though common in academic settings, they are less so in hospitals or health care systems. The librarians for Aurora Health Care decided to create a primarily citation-level IR to organize and promote the scholarly output of Aurora faculty, residents, and fellows using the proprietary software Digital Commons, a product of the company bepress. The repository also hosts a newly published peer-reviewed journal and includes digitized historical images and institutional memorabilia. Suggested alternatives are given for hospitals or health care systems that may not currently be able to pursue a full-fledged IR.     

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.