Development of School Attendance Difficulties: An Exploratory Study

This article discusses aspects of school attendance difficulties, focusing on why a minority of children decide to miss school. It is an exploratory study representing a developmental approach that aims to establish the immediate determinants of school absence to gain more understanding of the nature of attendance difficulties and eventually inform practitioner methods. Questionnaires, designed to measure attitudes, perceptions and parent–child interaction over school absence were administered to two hundred and nine 12–13 year olds attending a comprehensive school. Thirty-five individual interviews were carried out with good and poor attenders to clarify the questionnaire responses. It was concluded that school attendance difficulties develop like other defiant behaviour problems, with parental reaction playing a major role. Government policies encouraging the use of punitive measures with parents of poor attenders do not provide practitioners or pastoral staff with the sophisticated working methods necessary to help poor attending children achieve an education.     

New walkers with Down syndrome use cautious but effective strategies for crossing obstacles

Perception of affordances research in children with developmental disabilities has only examined well practiced skills. Ten toddlers with Down syndrome and 10 with typical development walked across a GAITRite mat, with and without an obstacle. We coded the toddlers' behaviors after 1 and 3 months of walking experience when they encountered the obstacle (avoid, crawl, error and walk successfully) and calculated gait parameters (step length, width, and velocity). Both groups actively explored their affordances. Despite similar decreases in step length and velocity when approaching the obstacle, toddlers with Down syndrome were more likely to select successful but conservative crawling strategies that minimized balance requirements and reduced risk of falling. Group differences were due to risk management rather than difficulty perceiving affordances.     

Morningness–Eveningness and College Advising: A Road to Student Success?

In addressing the challenges faced by E‐type (evening‐type) students, researchers have pointed to the need for school schedules that reflect chronotypic concerns and the recognition of the importance of sleep for academic achievement and well‐being. One approach to dealing with this issue for adolescent students has been to move the start of the school day later. In college, however, schedules become more varied and the social context in which these challenges occur differs requiring more individualized approaches to scheduling. In spite of this, morningness–eveningness is rarely considered by college administrators, advisors, or individuals involved in student services. It is important that faculty and staff who work with students be aware of chronotypical influences on classroom performance and other aspects of student life so that they can help them succeed in college and beyond.