Influence and adaptability in families with deaf parents and hearing children

This study assessed the influence of individual family members in functional families, primarily to determine whether hearing children of deaf parents have more influence than do hearing children of hearing parents. Eight families with deaf parents and a hearing child and eight all hearing families were videotaped while planning a family meal together. It was found that deaf-parented families share many traits with hearing families. However, there were some differences. The hearing children of deaf parents had a greater number and percentage of their ideas accepted than did the hearing children of hearing parents. Differences were also noted between the deaf fathers and the hearing fathers. The deaf-parented families were more adaptable, as measured by the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale. The observed difference in child influence, in and of itself, is neither good nor bad. Deafness of one family member, in an auditory dependent environment, may require a more flexible family power structure. Professionals assessing deaf-parented families should be sensitive to the special adaptive needs required for healthy functioning of the family.     

The adaptation of hearing parents of hearing-impaired youths

This study evaluated the emotional and marital adjustment of hearing parents of hearing-impaired youths. Participants included mothers and fathers of hearing-impaired youths and mothers and fathers of hearing youths. In contrast with expectations based on clinical impressions reported in the literature, parents of hearing-impaired youths reported less symptomatology than did parents of hearing youths, and there were no differences in the marital satisfaction of parents in intact families. Moreover, parental adjustment was not associated with the duration of time since the child was diagnosed as hearing impaired. In addition, hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that family cohesion was associated with low maternal symptomatology and high marital satisfaction for both spouses. For mothers, low symptomatology was associated with low stress and female gender of child; high marital satisfaction also was linked with a less severe degree of hearing loss in the youth.     

Developing guidelines for HIV antibody testing among victims of pediatric sexual abuse

The incidence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection acquired by children through sexual abuse is presently unknown. A telephone survey of 63 practitioners of pediatric sexual abuse (PSA) assessment in the five U.S. regions with highest prevalence of HIV infection was conducted to determine the present status of guidelines for HIV antibody testing of PSA victims. No formal protocol was used by any of those surveyed, and a literature review found no existing guidelines for HIV antibody testing of PSA victims. A standard set of clinical situations was presented to practitioners to assess whether a consensus exists of indications for HIV antibody testing of abused children. Seven clinical profiles with 12 criteria were presented including HIV antibody status, AIDS/ARC clinical profile, and behavioral profile of the assailant; clinical profile of the victim; pre-assault victim behavioral profile compatible with high risk of HIV infection (exclusively adolescents); parent/guardian anxiety/psychosocial profile; and profile of the assaultive act with respect to potential transmissibility of HIV. We found an 85% or greater consensus for 6 testing criteria, and based upon these propose an interim set of HIV antibody testing guidelines for PSA victims. There was no consensus about five testing criteria, but their frequent citation merits further consideration. Clinical application of interim guidelines and design of prospective studies to quantitatively evaluate them are reviewed.     

Special Education in Singapore

THE NEW EDUCATION SYSTEM was implemented in 1980 with the objective of arresting the high attrition rates of premature school leavers by providing a differentiated curriculum to suit the needs and abilities of different learners in Singapore. As a result, streaming was introduced into schools to bring out the best in every child regardless of ability. Against such a background, health, welfare and special educational services and programs for disabled people are discussed. To support the changes and improvements recommended for disabled people as contained in the Report of the Advisory Council on the Disabled(1988), the training of teachers and other rehabilitative staff are highlighted. From 1988, opportunities for the disabled have increased tremendously and the enthusiasm and efforts put in by all parties concerned with the welfare of the disabled which have greeted these recommendations thus far, augurs well for special educational development in Singapore.     

Long-term Practicals in Chemistry in the First-cycle Engineering Curriculum

In 1974–75 at the K.U.Leuven Project Work as Practicals was started in the first-cycle engineering curriculum aiming at (1) the integration of separate teaching items and 7lpar;2) the integration of theoretical and practical or numerical aspects of those items. After 4 years the evaluation of it was more than satisfactory. The teaching team of the Chemistry course has integrated this system of practicals into their normal chemistry practicals. In this way more students 7lpar;currently only 20%) would be able to profit from the new education curriculum, now called ‘Long-term Practicals’. About 20%of the sophomore student volunteers are working for about 15 hours spread over 5 weeks at a mini-research subject in close contact with the members of the teaching team, using the instruments of the Chemistry Division, reading the literature, writing a report after the practical work, with discussion and evaluation of the work with their team-leader. To make it possible that all the sophomore students (400 students in 1987)could profit from this new education system, the physics, mechanics, mathematics, etc. practicals have to adapt to the same integrated practical system.     

The digit naming speed test: Its power and incremental validity in identifying children with specific reading disabilities

This paper presents two studies, both of which address the question of whether a test that measures the automaticity with which digits can be named could be useful as part of a diagnostic battery to assess reading disabilities. In the first study, the Digit Naming Speed Test significantly differentiated elementary-school boys who were disabled readers from age-matched boys reading at appropriate grade levels, correctly classifying 83.3% of the children. In the second study, the Digit Naming Speed Test accounted for a significant portion of the word recognition variance of nondisabled readers over and above that portion accounted for by general intelligence as measured by the WISC-R. Taken together, these studies indicate that the Digit Naming Speed Test has the potential to contribute significantly to the diagnostic process.     

Feminist issues in development

The United Nations Decade for the Advancement of Women, from 1975 to 1985, leaves a legacy of a deeper understanding of the issues, and the emergence of new networks with the experience and commitment to work for further changes. However, the role and status of women did not improve. There is a new commitment to struggle for the ending of all oppression, injustice and violence of all kinds at all levels. Feminism is a consciousness of all forms of women's oppression and a commitment to work against them. Feminist critiques illuminate the larger structures that oppress both women and men. New development theories embracing feminism are necessary to understand how patriarchy and economic systems propogate oppression. The production-oriented approach to rural development is flawed n failing to address women's lack of access to land, credit, training and new technologies. Overwhelming household tasks, cultural norms, and traditional attitudes limit women's involvement in training programs and other development activities. The basic needs approach to rural development provides access to vital services to meet a family's basic needs for nutrition, housing and clothing, and allows people's participation in decision making. However, women have little actual role in decision making so their needs, concerns and perspectives are not taken into account. Women are treated as instruments to achieve goals without appreciating their perspective. Project-based approached emphasize short term goals rather than laying the foundation for longterm changes. Few projects address structural issues or empower women. Projects must include education to increase personal growth and self reliance. Development planning can be enormously enhanced by taking gender differences into account and recognizing that people, specially poor women, can promote their own devleopment. Longterm strategies that challenge existing structures, address the existing economic order, and, most of all, recognize women's voices are needed.     

A new look at learning-disabled and normal-achieving children's word-pair memorization ability

An 11-parameter Markov model of stages of learning, which was developed by Brainerd et al., will be presented. The focus will be on parameter interpretation in terms of long-term memory (LTM) processes. Next the model will be used to examine the contribution of these various LTM processes to Schooltype and Age differences in a word-pair memorization experiment. Subjects were 8 and 11-year-old normal-achieving (NA) children from regular elementary schools and 8 and 11-year-old children from special schools for learning disabled (LD) children. One of the main conclusions is that the Schooltype × Age interaction which was demonstrated for traditional performance measures, can be explained by LD children's little developmental progress in storage processes and deviations from normal development in aspects of the acquisition of retrieval algorithms. No deficiences were, however, detected in the LD children's rerention ability early in the task, and in the so-called heuristic retrieval operations.