Understanding the dynamics between preterm infants and their families

The high‐tech environment of the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) may seem a million miles away from the classroom, but the baby who has been born prematurely, wired up in an incubator in the former, will in five years' time be a learner in the other. The journeys through our education system of children who have survived premature birth to become learners are causing teachers, psychologists, therapists and carers to explore innovative learning pathways, new psychological and therapeutic interventions, and creative care approaches to meet their needs. While much is known about the serious physical and sensory problems of preterm babies, less is known about their psychological, educational and socio‐emotional difficulties. This article attempts to identify key targets for holistic intervention with families of premature infants. An approach used at the Champion Early Intervention Centre (Burwood Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand) is described, from which practitioners of school‐aged children can draw teaching and learning implications.     

A NOTE ON THE POWER OF STATISTICAL TESTS IN THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT

The power of statistical tests recently appearing in the JEM was determined using the power calculation guidelines proposed by Cohen (1969). All the articles containing tests of significance were surveyed. The results indicated that power was generally below .50 for small effect sizes and above .50 for medium and large effect sizes. A suggestion for reporting statistical results to include power of the tests was made.