Five stages parents go through in gifted/talented education

Conferences for parents of gifted children help parents be better understand the world of the gifted child and how to be a less frustrated participant in that world.     

On‐screen print: the role of captions as a supplemental literacy tool

Children living in poverty are 1.3 times as likely as non‐poor children to experience reading difficulties and lack key oral experiences that contribute to early literacy development. The purpose of this research was to study the effects of viewing commercially available educational television with closed captions. Seventy second‐ and third‐grade economically disadvantaged children living in urban locations participated in this experimental research design. Children were randomly assigned to view videos with or without closed captions. Captions helped children recognise and read more words, identify the meaning of those words, generate inferences regarding programme content and transfer these skills to a normative code‐related skill task. Risk status moderated word recognition performance: those at risk benefited from captions while those who were not at risk recognised more words when captions were absent.     

THE CHURCH AT WORK

Continuing the series of succint and practical accounts of the plans of churches employing Directors of Religious Education, we are glad to print this account with its emphasis on the Episcopal viewpoint and its statement of service with limited income and equipment.     

Learning Strategies Training

A learning strategies program emphasizing primary (text-oriented), and support (affective) strategies was evaluated. Participants were given training in one of two sequences: primary-support or support-primary. A no-treatment group served as a control. In general, the results revealed that strategy training significantly improved performance on both text-processing and self-report measures. The primary-support group typically scored higher than the support-primary group on the text-processing measures. Conversely, the support-primary group reported more positive responses on the self-report measures. Long-term follow-up results are also presented.     

Teaching Philosophy and Methods of Restorative Care to Assisted Living Owners and Staff

To implement restorative care in assisted living facilities, staff need to understand the philosophy and learn methods to help residents maintain optimal function. In this study, the researchers developed a multimedia training program designed to teach staff how to encourage residents to increase their participation in dressing themselves. Researchers conducted a pilot test to measure the short-term effects of the training on 40 staff from two states. Program effects were measured by completing a survey developed by the researchers. Pretest scores were significantly related to gender (women as a group had higher scores than men). Results indicated significant gains in knowledge at posttest. In addition, 93% of participants described positive changes related to restorative care that they planned to make at their facility as a result of the training.     

Book Reviews

Open Access: Key Strategic, Technical and Economic Aspects Edited by Neil Jacobs Chandos Publishing, 2006. 250 pp. ISBN 1‐84334‐203‐0, £39.95, pbk ISBN 1‐84334‐204‐9, £57.00, hbk Selling Rights, 5th edn Lynette Owen Routledge, 2006. 384 pp. ISBN 978‐0‐415‐36280‐1, £75.00 hbk ISBN 978‐0‐415‐38652‐4, £29.95 pbk Bound by Law? Tales from the Public Domain by Keith Aoki, James Boyle and Jennifer Jenkins Duke Law School Center for the Study of the Public Domain, 2006. 76 pp. ISBN 0‐974‐15531‐4, $5.95, pbk. Freely available online at http://www.law.duke.edu/cspd Digital Preservation Marilyn Deegan Simon Tanner Facet Publishing, 2006, Digital Futures Series. 288 pp. ISBN 978‐1‐85604‐485‐1, £39.95, hbk.