The mother of all inventions

Crusty childbirth educator humorously reflects upon the conveniences of modern-day parenting.     

The use of visual schedules and work systems to increase the on‐task behaviour of students on the autism spectrum in mainstream classrooms

Apparent differences in executive function can lead to challenges for students on the autism spectrum in mainstream settings. Difficulties with staying on‐task and transitioning between tasks and task elements can interfere with students’ participation in educational activities and lead to stress and anxiety. While the use of visual supports, such as visual schedules and work systems, has been shown to be effective in supporting students to stay on‐task in special education and autism‐specific settings, there is little research to support the use of these strategies by teachers in mainstream classrooms. This study evaluated the use of visual schedules and work systems in supporting four students on the autism spectrum to stay on‐task and work independently in a mainstream setting. These strategies were implemented by teachers as inclusive practices, and evaluated using observations within the natural classroom environment to examine their feasibility in mainstream settings. All participants demonstrated improvements in on‐task behaviours. Results for other, secondary, dependent variables were mixed, with some students showing reduced off‐task behaviours and increased productivity. The implications for clinical practice and future research directions are discussed.     

Electrons in molecules

The electron density distribution in a molecule determines its stability, geometry and reactivity, in short its chemistry.     

Teacher self-report on learner engagement strategies in the early years classroom

Effective engagement of young children in the classroom is a critical step toward achieving positive learning outcomes. The Learning and Engagement Questionnaire (LEQ) was developed by the first two authors to identify ways in which teachers strive to engage learners in the classroom. In this study, the factor structure of the LEQ is examined. Participants were 274 teachers of children in their first 3 years of formal schooling. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted and supported a five factor solution: Goal Directed Learning; Task Selection; Teacher Responsiveness; Intensive Teaching; and Planning the Learning Environment.     

A new set of orthogonal functions and its application to the analysis of dynamic systems

The present work proposes a complementary pair of orthogonal triangular function (TF) sets derived from the well-known block pulse function (BPF) set. The operational matrices for integration in TF domain have been computed and their relation with the BPF domain integral operational matrix is shown. It has been established with illustration that the TF domain technique is more accurate than the BPF domain technique as far as integration is concerned, and it provides with a piecewise linear solution.As a further study, the newly proposed sets have been applied to the analysis of dynamic systems to prove the fact that it introduces less mean integral squared error (MISE) than the staircase solution obtained from BPF domain analysis, without any extra computational burden. Finally, a detailed study of the representational error has been made to estimate the upper bound of the MISE for the TF approximation of a function f(t) of Lebesgue measure.     

Reactions to “barriers to the implementation of career education for special education”

Journal of Career Development -     

Just the Facts, Ma'am

In this column, the author humorously relates how a childbirth educator transporting medical antiques caused a stir in airport security.     

Finding humor in the mundane

In this column, the author encourages everyone to find humor in the daily routine...and to use more lotion.