Supporting Educators to Implement Mand Training for a Student with Multiple Disabilities

ABSTRACT

The purposes of the study were to assess the effects of an online learning module on the implementation of mand training by a classroom team and determine whether training improved manding for a student with multiple disabilities. The classroom team utilized the Support Needs Assessment and Planning (SNAP) process to identify supports and guide implementation of the mand training procedures. The results indicate that both the special education teacher and paraprofessional were able to implement the mand training strategy with fidelity after completing the online module and student manding increased. The classroom team reported that both the online learning module and SNAP process were valuable for planning and implementing research-based supports. Limitations, implications for practice, and future research considerations are addressed.     

Early childhood arts curriculum: a cross-cultural study

Many countries, including Australia, China, the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, have included art subjects in their core curriculum. Using the theory of governmentality as a critical lens to investigate the intricate power–knowledge system in relation to curriculum, arts and pedagogy, this paper makes a comparative document analysis of two contemporary arts curricula for children aged 5–6 years—the Beijing Kindergarten Happiness and Development Curriculum in the arts learning area (upper class in kindergarten), and the Australian Curriculum: The Arts (Foundation level). Curriculum is best understood as a multi-faceted phenomenon and this paper draws from research which categorized curriculum into three phases: the intended (or planned) curriculum, the enacted (or implemented) curriculum and the experienced (the learner experience) curriculum. By focusing on the first phase: the intended curriculum, this paper compares the documents that comprise the planned curriculum from two very different contexts, and thus makes a contribution to cross-cultural understanding of early childhood arts curriculum in ways that may lead to social change.     

Communication Correlates of Perceived Machiavellianism of Supervisors: Communication Orientations and Outcomes

This paper reports the development of the Perceived Supervisor Machiavellian Measure (PSMM) for use in the organizational communication context. Data were drawn from full-time employees who were part-time graduate students in a corporate and organizational communication program. Employees' perceptions of supervisor Machiavellianism were negatively related to employees' perceptions of supervisor credibility (competence, caring, and trustworthiness), employees' attitudes toward the supervisor, employee motivation, and employee job satisfaction. Supervisors' perceived communication behaviors (nonverbal immediacy, responsiveness, and assertiveness) accounted for a significant amount of variance in perceived supervisor Machiavellianism. The results support a general model of supervisor behavior and provide a foundation for future research in organizational communication.     

Leadership Perception

Multirater feedback, often called 360‐degree feedback, is a popular development and assessment tool, especially for organizational leaders. Raters from different organizational levels, including subordinates, boss, peers, and self, rate the leader's performance. However, there seldom is strong agreement across rater groups. This study used the data from a commercially available 360‐degree leader development feedback instrument and a second‐order confirmatory factor analysis model to try to explain the differences in ratings between the groups. Rather than an explanation of the differences, what was found were two second‐order factors that may be the underlying elements that all raters consider when observing leader performance.     

A new instrument for measuring pre-service biology teachers' pedagogical content knowledge: The PCK-IBI

Teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is highly important for effective design and implementation of school teaching. Thus, the current status, development and efficacy of this knowledge, its relationships with teaching quality parameters, and its impact on students' learning processes and success, require rigorous examination. Thoroughly validated, objective and reliable test instruments that are highly sensitive to changes in variables of proven knowledge-related relevance in teacher education are also required. Previous attempts to design such instruments for assessing science teachers' PCK have largely focused on mathematical content. Therefore, here we present an instrument (the pedagogical content knowledge in biology inventory, PCK-IBI), based on conceptualizations of teachers' professional competence, for assessing secondary school pre-service biology teachers' PCK. In a series of three evaluations and refinements it was tested with samples of N = 274 and N = 432 German pre-service as well as one sample of n = 65 German pre-service and n = 35 German in-service biology teachers. Item analysis, scale analysis and empirically obtained indicators of validity suggest that the final 34-item-version of the PCK-IBI is unidimensional, provides objective test scores and enables reliable and valid registration of pre-service biology teachers' PCK. Thus, hypotheses regarding specific aspects of the model on which the PCK-IBI's construction is based on are empirically supported. The results of our study provide empirical support for the instrument's potential utility.