Effects of a Cognitive Behavioral Self-help program on emotional problems for people with acquired hearing loss: a randomized controlled trial

The aim of the study was to examine whether a cognitive-behavioral self-help program was effective in improving depressed mood and anxiety in people with acquired deafness. Participants were 45 persons with acquired deafness, randomly allocated to the Cognitive-Behavioral Self-help (CBS) group or the Waiting List Control (WLC) group. Depression and anxiety scores were assessed at three measurement moments: at pretest, immediately after completion of the intervention (posttest), and again 2 months later (follow-up). To evaluate the effectiveness of the program, repeated measures analyses of covariance were performed. The results showed that depression and anxiety symptoms in the CBS group significantly improved after completion of the program, compared to the WLC group. There was no relapse from posttest to follow-up. It was concluded that a cognitive-behavioral self-help intervention could be an effective tool to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety in people with acquired deafness.     

Group counseling in the schools

Group counseling is an effective intervention when working in a school setting. In this article, the authors discuss the different kinds of groups offered in schools, types of group interventions, strategies to use in forming groups, and how to collaborate with others in the school. Because leading groups in schools is a specialized skill, the authors suggest that group leaders form collaborative relationships with others in the school, allot sufficient time for group counseling, advocate to change policies that might preclude groups in schools, and work with students and teachers to honor the time allotment dedicated to group counseling. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Civic Knowledge,Engagement, and Participation Narratives of Youth of Color in Urban Schools

The issues associated with students’ civic knowledge, engagement, and participation have been heightened in intellectual debates and public discussions. However, these discussions have not focused heavily on urban youths’ civic identities or the locations of these identities within the youths’ personal narratives of ethnicity, race, class, and gender. This article presents the narratives of four urban high school youths of color, selected from a larger study about youths’ experiences in school and society and the ways in which classroom learning encouraged their inquiry, assessment of their social worlds and personal goals, and emerging personal and civic identities. Our purpose was to gain insights regarding the youths’ sociopolitical perspectives on local educational and social issues affecting them and to understand their multiple literacies in the context of their civic engagement, increasing youth advocacy, and larger political tensions. The theoretical framing of this investigation is grounded in democratic education and sociopolitical consciousness and draws upon research that focuses on civic participation and democratic society. Four dominant themes emerged from the analysis: educational inequality, social media, schooling, and race and mass incarceration. This article contributes to an expansive framing for civic education by examining the civic knowledge of urban youths of color and offers implications for research, practice, and policy.     

Outdoor play in early childhood education settings: Is it safe and healthy for children?

Outdoor play is an important and integral part of a high-quality early childhood education curriculum. Outdoor play environments should have equipment that is safe and developmentally appropriate for the children served. The appropriate adult-child ratio should be maintained to prevent unnecessary accidents as well as provide the interaction needed to assist children in developing outdoor physical, social, and language skills. Each facility should have teachers with up-to-date CPR and first-aid training to take care of emergency situations.     

Content-driven Faculty Development in Community College Early Childhood Education Programs

Community colleges are key providers of early childhood teacher and paraprofessional education, and their programs include content knowledge that helps future educators work effectively with young children with and without disabilities in inclusive environments. In this article, we describe the Advancing Community College Efforts in Paraprofessional Training (ACCEPT) Project, a multi-year collaboration to infuse special education content into four North Carolina early childhood workforce education associate degree programs. The goals of the project included creating a climate that fostered and encouraged ongoing community college and university faculty collaboration around the planning, delivery, and assessment of special education content infused within multiple early childhood program courses. Project objectives are presented within the framework employed by Murray (1995, 1998, 1999, 2000) that includes climate, structure, connections with rewards, faculty ownership, colleague support, and perceived value by administrators. Implications for practice include the importance of content, project standards, and faculty ownership.     

The Proliferation of Piracy in the Publishing Supply Chains of Emerging Countries: A Study in Vietnam

Book piracy is a significant problem throughout the world and particularly in emerging countries. Such a phenomenon is costly to all participants in the publishing supply chain. This paper aims to investigate factors that influence Vietnamese students’ purchases of photocopied textbooks. The findings reveal that students’ purchases are motivated by their perceived value, subjective norms representing social influence and the lack of regulation enforcement. Using these findings, this paper suggests interventions for policymakers, publishers, distributors and universities to limit the purchase of pirated textbooks as well as to improve the value of original textbooks.     

Reflections on infusing evidenced-based inclusion practices in early childhood community college programs through a collaborative professional development model

ABSTRACT

Inclusion means that students with disabilities have access to high-quality and effective instruction, as well as specialized services as needed, within least restrictive environments. We believe there are no limits on who can or should participate in and benefit from inclusion and we were interested in perceptions resulting from professional development designed to support including young children with disabilities in classrooms with their natural neighbors and peers. We present reflections from application of a community of practice model in which university-based faculty worked closely and collaboratively with community college instructors to infuse ideas, concepts, and content from the field of special education into associate degree early childhood education coursework.