Skills for Independence for Children with Cerebral Palsy: a comparative longitudinal study

Thirty‐six children with cerebral palsy, aged 3.5 to 4.5 years were compared on their skills for independence. Of the 36 boys and girls, 19 children were enrolled in a Conductive Education Program in Birmingham and 17 were enrolled in British special education programs in the Greater Manchester area. Skills for independence were measured with the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales via teachers’ responses, once a year on three occasions. Parents were interviewed using the Developmental Profile 2, once a year on three occasions. The results of two‐way ANOVA with one repeated measure on both teachers’ and parents’ responses indicate that there was no significant difference between the two groups in their skills for independence. However, both groups performed significantly better as they were getting older. Despite the strong emphasis on independence in Conductive Education, the children's level of independence was no different from their counterparts. Thus, the claim for the effectiveness of Conductive Education is not supported by the study.     

Non-traditional higher education: An “outsider's” view

A rank-and-file professor's attendance at a non-traditional higher education conference led to some salient observations: (1) Contrary to the odd-ball image they may have on some campuses, non-traditional programs can trace their lineage back to the very origins of Western universities; (2) At the same time, they represent a break with recent American University history, in that they appear to serve adult needs more than adolescent/young adult needs; (3) They are able to recognize true learning as occurring outside the parochial boundaries of grades, semester hours, etc; (4) They not only can individualize education, but they can make it an active (rather than passive) process; (5) These programs apparently strive to teach judgement and understanding,not just information; and (6) Such programs may be a functional arm of the so-called women's movement.     

Addressing the Need for Management Processes for Higher Education Accreditation

The accreditation standards of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International) ask business schools to describe consistent processes that provide for operational consistency and continuous improvement in support of the schools' stated missions. Such practices are beneficial to all institutions of higher education seeking accreditation or reaffirmation. This article addresses the identification of requisite processes, describes an approach for defining them, and suggests a format for documenting their essential elements. We discuss the value of quality management practices to higher education and present caveats and considerations for successfully implementing this methodology.     

Use of place information for improved event tracking

The main purpose of topic detection and tracking (TDT) is to detect, group, and organize newspaper articles reporting on the same event. Since an event is a reported occurrence at a specific time and place and the unavoidable consequences, TDT can benefit from an explicit use of time and place information. In this work, we focused on place information, using time information as in the previous research. News articles were analyzed for their characteristics of place information, and a new topic tracking method was proposed to incorporate the analysis results on place information. Experiments show that appropriate use of place information extracted automatically from news articles indeed helps event tracking that identify news articles reporting on the same events.     

Mandated team participation: Implications for psychologists working in the schools

Public Law 94-142, Education for All Handicapped Children Act, has had a dramatic impact on the schooling of exceptional children. Yet, rather limited attention has been directed to the one section of the law that mandates a particular decision-making approach for both the diagnosis and intervention tasks. The implications for the training and practice of applied psychologists who work with school-age children could be significant. This paper examines three areas of concern that impact the psychologist's role in working with exceptional children: (a) conditions that are considered crucial for the development of teams, (b) the literature regarding psychologists' input to school-based teams, and (c) reactions of school-based team members to such an approach. Related issues of importance to both trainers and practitioners in the field of psychology are then presented.     

Preparing Performance Technologists: The Role of a University

It has been several years since the concept of performance technology was introduced in the literature. This article describes how the Instructional Systems program at Florida State University has responded to the changes that are required to expand its orientation from instructional technology to performance technology. Gradual changes in several existing courses and the implementation of two new courses in performance systems analysis and electronic performance support systems are described. In the new courses, students interact with clients to determine needs, examine processes, design solutions, and determine returns on investments. Consideration is also given in the article to ways other universities might respond to the changes in the direction of the field.     

Reflections on obesity,exercise,and musculoskeletal health

Obesity is a disease that has become an epidemic in economically developed countries,and manifests itself at increasing rates in economically developing countries.Obesity is associated with a variety of comorbidities,such as metabolic disease,diabetes,cardiovascular diseases,and musculoskeletal disorders,all resulting in tremendous costs to health care systems around the world,a reduced capacity for work,and reduced quality of life for people with obesity,coupled with physical inactivity,thereby producing a vicious circle of inactivity-induced diseases that enhances obesity.