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Given the importance of work-integrated learning (WIL) for developing graduate attributes, universities must seek to reduce negative experiences associated with WIL. WIL outcomes may be enhanced by embedding the experience internally within the academic setting. This study explored the experiences of Exercise and Sport Science (E&SS) students who were concurrently engaged in embedded (on campus) and external (off campus) WIL opportunities. Specifically, we investigated if students reported a perceived difference in attaining graduate attributes when participating in one of three WIL models: (i) embedded; (ii) external or (iii) bimodal. A sequential mixed methods approach was employed, which included an initial online survey and subsequent focus groups. Students reported that WIL was generally a positive, albeit variable experience, dependent on the professional supervisor. The overwhelming consensus was that E&SS students benefited from a bimodal WIL model in the development of graduate attributes, rather than individually embedded or external WIL models.

Conversations about controversial political issues within the public-school classroom are necessary for the whole development of students as they prepare to participate fully in democracy, part of their role as conscious social reproducers of the American political regime. Effective educators train students to critically understand and analyze political conflicts pluralistically through contemporary and historical lenses. However, teachers are caught amid a conflict within the public discourse about the appropriateness of engaging in political and controversial classroom discussions. As a result, state legislatures and local school districts are defining their stances on such issues, sometimes leading to barriers in the path of educators having productive political discussions within their classrooms. This paper provides a rationale for engaging in political conversations within U.S. classrooms by understanding the legal structure and how to use state standards to examine such issues philosophically. Finally, this article provides several perspectives and methods teachers can use to have productive political dialogue within their classrooms aligned to the identified legal structure.

Despite decades of research, both understanding and availability of pharmacological interventions for autistic people are limited. We examined characteristics of pharmacological trials on ClinicalTrials.gov (N = 235) to elucidate trends, identify gaps, and suggest future research directions. We observed that trials predominantly sampled school-aged children and adolescents and focused largely on core autism symptoms, neglecting younger children and adults as well as associated symptom domains often identified by stakeholders as treatment priorities. A variety of intervention agents were trialed, with nearly 60% appearing in just one study. Notably, in line with previous research, there was little consistency in outcome measures used, with the majority (58.9%) used in only one trial. Innovation in research strategies is urgently needed; potential directions for such changes are discussed.

Background: Technology and its use within mental health services has advanced dramatically over recent years. Opportunities for mental health services to utilise technology to introduce novel, effective, and more efficient means of delivering assessment, and treatment are increasing. Objective: The current rapid-evidence paper reviews evidence regarding the introduction of novel technology to support young people's mental health and psychological well-being. Methods: A rapid evidence review was conducted. PSYCHINFO and CINAHL were searched for research articles between 2016 and 2021 that were specific to young people, mental health, and technology developments within this domain. N = 27 studies which explored the introduction, feasibility, and value of technology for mental health purposes were included in a narrative synthesis. Quality or risk of bias analyses were not completed. Results: Overall, technological advancements in young people's care were considered positive and engaging for young people. Factors including resources, efficiency of care, engagement, therapeutic effectiveness, ethical considerations, therapeutic alliance, and flexibility were considered within this review. Nevertheless, potential barriers include clinician concerns, socioeconomic factors, and motivation. Conclusion: Effective and sustained use of technology within young people's mental health services will depend on the technology's usability, efficiency, and ability to engage young people. This paper expands on existing research by reviewing a broader range of technology proposed to support young people's mental health and well-being. This will assist in the application of novel technological advancements by indicating effectiveness, preferences, potential barriers, and recommendations for the feasibility and efficacy of introducing technology into young people's services.

Psychiatric conditions are common in autism; however, a multitude of barriers exist in accessing community-based mental health care for autistic youth. Perhaps the first and most formidable barrier is identifying a provider that offers mental health treatment to autistic youth within the many service systems involved in supporting the autism community. These systems typically function independently of one another, contributing to the complexity of accessing services. To identify gaps caused by New York's multisystem care model for autistic youth, and as part of a larger quality improvement initiative to advance suicide risk management in several New York City emergency departments, we conducted a telephone survey to identify outpatient mental health service availability for autistic youth with depressive symptoms or suicidal thoughts or behaviors in New York City across the state's mental health and developmental disability systems. Results demonstrated that while a greater proportion of clinics in the mental health system compared with agencies in the developmental disability system offered outpatient mental health services to autistic youth (47.1% vs 25.0%), there is remarkably limited service availability overall. Efforts to reduce these care inequities through policy reform and improving workforce capacity are urgently needed.

Background: General practitioners (GP) report multiple challenges when treating individuals with intellectual disabilities which may influence referral rates. The study aimed to establish factors that influence GP's decision-making when referring a child with intellectual disabilities to the emergency department. Method: Discrete choice experiments (DCEs) are increasingly used in health research to further understand complex decision making. A DCE was designed to assess the relative importance of factors that may influence a GP's (N = 157) decision to refer. Results: A random parameters model indicated that perceived limited parental capacity to manage an illness was the most important factor in the decision to refer a child to the ED, followed by a repeat visit, a referral request from the parent, and a Friday afternoon appointment. Conclusion: Understanding the factors that influence referral is important for service improvement and to strengthen primary care provision for this population and their families.

What distinguishes family and consumer sciences (FCS) teachers from other teachers in a K-12 setting is the population they teach and the subject matter taught (Poirier et al., 2017). FCS teachers teach students social, emotional, and cognitive skills including cooking, sewing, finance, life/relational skills, and child development. This variety of skills is taught through courses that synthesize foundational components of science, math, reading, and communication--skills that are ideal for preparing students for careers in agriculture, architecture/ construction, hospitality management, human services, and many others (Minnesota Department of Education, 2019). FCS teachers are tasked with teaching subjects that are not strictly academic--they are life and career skills that are invaluable to their students. This responsibility has its own set of challenges, which can include scheduling difficulties, low funding, and increasing class sizes. One of the most prominent issues is the separation from other faculty that FCS teachers experience due to the eclectic nature of their courses (Godbey & Johnson, 2011). Quite often, schools have only one FCS teacher. This limited connection with colleagues can contribute to feelings of loneliness and frustration by FCS teachers.

Postsecondary institutions across the world have rapidly adapted to the need for online teaching and learning modalities as a result of the global pandemic that began in early 2020. A new dynamic has emerged with technology being the platform of the new virtual classroom, providing significant opportunities to explore internationalization. This article explores a collaborative venture between two institutions, Niagara College in Canada and Munster Technological University in Ireland, who leveraged a strong binational partnership to deliver a digital learning experience through a series of workshops delivered to human resources students. Through an action research lens, it was found that this innovative approach to teaching and learning supported students' development as human resources professionals, helped them to gain a deeper understanding of biases and how neuroscience influences decision-making, supported the development of cross-cultural competencies, and provided students with an opportunity for global mobility through a digital learning experience.

Background: The provision of unscheduled healthcare for children with intellectual disability is less researched than that focused on hospital settings or for adult services. The aim of the scoping review was to map the evidence base in this area and identify areas for future study. Method: A five-stage scoping review framework was adopted. CINAHL, PubMed, SCOPUS, PsycINFO, Embase, ProQuest Dissertation & Theses and Google Scholar were searched. Studies published in English after 1/1/2000 were considered eligible for inclusion. Results: A total of 3158 titles and abstracts were screened, 137 full-text articles were reviewed, and 25 papers met the inclusion criteria. Descriptive themes focused on inequities, needs and experiences of families', poor GP training, and limitations of existing evidence. Conclusion: Describing trends in healthcare utilisation by this population is valuable for monitoring quality of healthcare, however, addressing observed inequities will require approaches that recognise specific issues within the health system that result in inequities.

Informed by role boundary congruence, person-environment fit, and conservation of resources theories, this study tested a cross-sectional, moderated-mediation model of work-study boundary congruence in working tertiary students (N = 401). In this model, contextual supports (family and workplace) were associated with well-being, academic performance, and employability, and these relationships were mediated by boundary congruence and were conditional on level of proactivity. The study found that family support (FS) was related to better well-being, academic performance, and employability, whereas workplace support was related to better academic performance. Boundary congruence mediated between FS and the three outcomes and also mediated between workplace support and academic performance. The mediated relationships were stronger when proactivity was lower. The study demonstrated that work-study boundary congruence is a potential mechanism for explaining the relationships between contextual supports and student outcomes and showed that these relationships were conditional on the person factor of proactivity.

Under England's Children and Families Act 2014, local authorities (LAs) have a statutory responsibility to provide an independent mediation service for cases of disagreement between parents or young people and the LAs where parents or the young person are considering an appeal to the First-tier Tribunal Special Educational Needs (SEN) and DisabilityWe examined the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of mediation in resolving such disagreements without recourse to an appeal to the Tribunal. Our data comprised three national surveys, two supplementary surveys and individual interviews with LA staff and parents to explore implementation of the new mediation system and the impact on appeals and costs over 2014-16 from 109 English LAs who provided data. Our findings indicate that families who took up mediation were significantly less likely to appeal to the Tribunal, absolute risk reduction 13.58% (95% CI: 10.20%, 16.97%). The cost saving across all cases, of different complexity, was £636,462 overall, approximately £500 per case. Overall, mediation was found to be a promising method of disagreement resolution, reducing appeals and producing savings in both financial and human well-being costs. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study of both the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of mediation as a means of resolution of disputes about meeting children's SEN.

It is important for individuals to manage the boundaries between their different roles as this affects their personal functioning and wellbeing. Little is known, however, about how students manage their role boundaries between work and study. We tested a work-study boundary congruence model, in which student boundary congruence (i.e. the correspondence between students' boundary preferences and their boundary constraints) was associated with study engagement and wellbeing, and these associations were mediated by student recovery resources (i.e. work-study detachment and general self-efficacy). Hypotheses were tested using data from 402 tertiary students (mean age 20.1 years) who were working while studying. Higher boundary congruence was related to better wellbeing and more study engagement, and work-study detachment and general self-efficacy fully mediated the associations between congruence and the two outcomes. Meaningful variance was explained in both engagement (33.5%) and wellbeing (29.8%). The study demonstrated that recovery resources can enhance the positive impact of boundary congruence on wellbeing and study engagement. Thus, when considering how to improve outcomes for students who have difficulty maintaining a good balance between work and study, professionals who work with students should consider increasing recovery resources.

The article reflects on digital storytelling as an approach designed to apply the theory of authentic learning in a co-productive context. It explores the suitability of digital stories as pedagogical tools and examines the connection made between the individual and group interpretation of these stories. A participant group (n = 7) comprising family carers, people with lived experience and mental health nursing students were invited to join two facilitated workshops. The group reviewed four contrasting forms of digital stories with the aim of eliciting and sharing their perspectives. It was found that digital audio compared less well to visual media in authenticity scales. Still photobook-style images were also perceived to be less authentic than dramatic film employing professional actors. Furthermore, it was found that the essence of authenticity became richer as the process and activities of co-productive engagement developed. It is proposed that creating digital scenarios co-productively provides a relational environment in which the essence of authenticity can be felt and expressed. The article will explore the suitability of digital stories as pedagogical tools and examine the process of co-production as an approach which accentuates realism.

The 16-item Work Study Congruence Scale was developed to assess self-perceived congruence between work and study roles in university students. Items were based on student interviews and reviews by experts. Responses were subjected to Exploratory (Sample 1: N = 251, mean age 25 years) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (Sample 2: N = 260, mean age 23 years), and validated against an existing brief congruence measure. The new scale taps four domains: university demands/resources, occupational goals, family, and leisure. It has the potential to promote research on work-study congruence, which can shed light on factors that promote student engagement and well-being.

Possible gender differences in manifestations of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were examined using data on production of narratives. The Expression, Reception and Recall of Narrative Instrument (ERRNI; Bishop, Expression, Reception and Recall of Narrative Instrument, Harcourt assessment, London, 2004) was administered to a sample of matched 8-year-old intellectually able boys and girls with ASD (13M, 13F), who had been selected from a large, longitudinal study. In addition, transcripts of the narratives were analyzed in detail. Significant gender differences were found in narrative production. Girls included more salient story elements than boys. On detailed language analysis, girls were also shown to tell richer stories, including more descriptors of planning or intention. Overall, our findings suggest that subtle differences in social communication may exist between intellectually able boys and girls with ASD. If reliably identifiable in young children, such gender differences may contribute to differential diagnosis of ASD. In addition, such differences may pave the way for differential approaches to intervention when the target is effective communication in sophisticated discourse contexts.

We evaluated the efficacy of vitamin D (VID), omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3 LCPUFA, OM), or both (VIDOM) on core symptoms of ASD. New Zealand children with ASD (n = 73; aged 2.5-8.0 years) received daily 2000 IU vitamin D[subscript 3], 722 mg docosahexaenoic acid, both, or placebo. Outcome measures were Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) and Sensory Processing Measure (SPM). Of 42 outcome measures comparisons (interventions vs. placebo), two showed greater improvements (P = 0.03, OM and VIDOM for SRS-social awareness) and four showed trends for greater improvements (P < 0.1, VIDOM for SRS-social communicative functioning, OM for SRS-total, VIDOM for SPM-taste/smell and OM for SPM-balance/motion). Omega-3 LCPUFA with and without vitamin D may improve some core symptoms of ASD but no definitive conclusions can be made.

Purpose: To examine the effects on anxiety of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) among youth with anxiety disorders. Method: Systematic review and meta-analytic procedures were employed to synthesize experimental and quasi-experimental studies authored between 1980 and 2015. Results: The search yielded five studies from five countries reporting results for a total of 188 youth between the ages of 5 and 18 (mean age 13.26) who met criteria for an anxiety disorder. Risk of bias varied across studies. Meta-analytic results suggest a moderate and significant effect (g = 0.62; 95% confidence interval = [0.20, 1.04], p = 0.004). Heterogeneity was moderate (I2= 47.22) and not statistically significant (Q = 7.58, df = 4, p = 0.11), thus moderator analyses were not warranted. Discussion: The findings of this review suggest that MBIs for the treatment of anxiety in youth with anxiety disorders are effective.

Teachers and students can have ambitious educational goals, including critical reflection on the world around them, both that which is "home" and that which is "foreign." The environmental questions which face us all can be part of the elementary school curriculum, and the Foreign Language Elementary School (FLES) contribution has a particular role because it turns the learner's gaze outwards, linguistically and culturally. The creation and sharing of knowledge can occur in the target language and in combined lessons with other classroom teachers also in English. Students in FLES classrooms can develop intercultural competence, critical thinking, and tolerance for ambiguity. This article describes a project that aimed to see how the theory of ethical imperative might be realized in elementary school with younger students, and to consider what changes might be required in the theory when working in this environment. The researchers aimed to find a way of teaching that ensures that students develop aspects of Intercultural Competence/Intercultural Citizenship (ICC) and become aware of important societal issues while at the same time developing their linguistic skills, all within the overall curriculum required for the grade level.

Many students in higher education institutions present themselves as undeclared majors and over time these students become high risks for academic failure. Research has shown that the first step in any major career decision-making process is self-knowledge. The major focus of this study was improved self-knowledge for our undeclared students which would result in more carefully-focused career decisions. This study examined the relevance and success of three highly informative and career-specific workshops, based on the True Colors Model™ of personality types coupled with the Holland Scale of Career Themes, for one-hundred fifty undecided students at three different times during the academic year (September 2010, November 2010, and February 2011). Every student who attended a workshop rated it as being very informative and helpful. The workshops yielded very positive results with our students and may suggest the possible introduction of a 1 credit course as another alternative for those students who desire more engagement and additional information.

The Computer Science Department at Slippery Rock University created a laboratory for its Computer Networks and System Administration and Security courses under relaxed financial constraints. This paper describes the department's experience designing and using this laboratory, including lessons learned and descriptions of some student projects performed in the lab.

Dyslexia is a common presenting condition in clinic and educational settings. Unlike the homogenous groups used in randomised trials, educators typically manage children who have multiple developmental problems. Investigations are required into how these complex cases respond to treatment identified as efficacious by controlled trials. This study reports on a sub-lexical intervention in a student with dyslexia and Asperger's Disorder. Substantial and clinically significant gains were obtained on multiple measures of phonological decoding skill and irregular-word reading. The improvements in word-level skills were accompanied by moderate improvements in text-reading accuracy and reading comprehension. Results are discussed in the context of single-case methodology and the implications for practice and future research are discussed. (Contains 2 figures and 2 tables.)

The article aims to expand upon traditional case based instruction through role-play and to explore the effectiveness of the approach in raising students' awareness of the social dimension of the engineering profession. For this purpose, we added a contextual description to the case study "Cutting Roadside Trees" driven by a macroethical outlook. Our contribution draws on an exercise based on the contextualised case study in which 80 students at Technological University Dublin participated. The results gathered show that role-playing contributed to complex student responses to the scenario and an awareness of the social factors that are part of engineering practice and which can constrain or enable decision-making. We suggest that exposing students to the perspectives of the different stakeholders that are involved in engineering professional practice can contribute to their understanding of the social context of engineering practice.

This article presents a critique on K. Amon and A. Campbell's "Can children with AD/HD learn relaxation and breathing techniques through biofeedback video games?". Amon and Campbell reported a successful trial of a commercially available biofeedback program, "The Wild Divine", in reducing symptoms of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in a group of children with ADHD and a control group. In summary, Amon and Campbell presented a study with numerous methodological, statistical, and interpretative flaws. In carrying out evaluations of interventions, researchers have an obligation to conduct high quality studies and to present data with clarity. At the every least, the method should be replicable and the psychometric properties of the outcome measures fully described. The clinical meaningfulness of the measures used within a study is pertinent to the clinical significance of the study itself. In this study (Amon & Campbell, 2008) the ADHD questionnaire was unstandardised and the reader therefore has no way to determine the range of "normal". In the absence of this information one might assume that the control group represents "normality". In addition, measures that constitute the amount of change required from pre- to post-intervention that indicate reliable change due to the treatment program (i.e., a reliable change index) and some measure of the clinical significance of the results must also be presented. Either a quantitative approach to clinical significance by determining the proportion of children in the ADHD group who return normal function following an intervention or a measure of the social impact of change should be reported. Amon and Campbell's paper falls short of each of these criteria. The authors' aim in writing this critique is simple. Although on the face of it unlikely to cause harm, alternative treatments for all developmental disorders may give a false sense that the symptoms and impairment are being addressed, thus delaying effective intervention. Clinicians reading this research report will be unable critically to evaluate the research results so would accept the analysis of Amon and Campbell that this intervention has the potential to reduce psychological distress in both the ADHD and the control groups. The data do not support this conclusion. In addition, there are direct costs associated with the treatments as well as potential indirect costs such as loss of wages and time for working parents. In short, Amon and Campbell's data provide unconvincing evidence for biofeedback as an effective treatment for ADHD.

Daily communication journals are a powerful tool to promote communication development in children with severe disabilities. Each page of the daily journal features three parts: a print or braille label, a recording device, and a tangible symbol. Children should participate in both the preparation of the daily journal and its review, thus gaining opportunities to develop associations between important school events and the symbols that represent those events. The review of the daily journal in the home creates opportunities for children to recall school events and to share those events with family members. (Contains 1 figure.)

This study aimed to understand the process of change within Wilderness Therapy. It used grounded theory to explore development and change during the programme and relate this to theories of adolescence and engagement, particularly for adolescents in the care system. Data collected from interviews with 11 adolescents were analysed using constructionist grounded theory. The wilderness environment, the staff, and the activities were identified as interactive factors that facilitated personal development. The analysis demonstrated the influence of early engagement in overall change. Relational factors interacted with an appropriate level of support and encouragement during activities which led to the adolescents experiencing success and increases in self-worth, self-esteem and efficacy. Improvements in self-efficacy, social skills, and anger management, as well as increasingly more positive views about the world were demonstrated in all participants who completed the programme.

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Astronomy Education Research.] As part of a larger project studying undergraduate students' understanding of cosmology, we explored students' ideas about the curvature of the Universe. We investigated preinstruction ideas held by introductory astronomy (ASTRO 101) students at three participating universities and postinstruction ideas at one. Through thematic analysis of responses to questions on three survey forms and preinstruction interviews, we found that prior to instruction a significant fraction of students said the Universe is round. Students' reasoning for this included that the Universe contains round objects, therefore it must also be round, or an incorrect idea that the big bang theory describes an explosion from a central point. We also found that a majority of students think that astronomers use the term curvature to describe properties, such as dimensions, angles, or size, of the Universe or objects in the Universe, or that astronomers use the term curvature to describe the bending of space due to gravity. Students are skeptical that the curvature of the Universe can be measured, to a greater or lesser degree depending on question framing. Postinstruction responses to a multiple-choice exam question and interviews at one university indicate that students are more likely to correctly respond that the Universe as a whole is not curved postinstruction, though the idea that the Universe is round still persists for some students. While we see no evidence that priming with an elliptical or rectangular map of the cosmic microwave background on a postinstruction exam affects responses, students do cite visualizations such as diagrams among the reasons for their responses in preinstruction surveys.

In order to support children's physical health and well-being in early childhood education programmes, it is important to understand how teacher practices concerned with physical activity and nutrition can be addressed effectively. Current evidence suggests that young children's opportunities for physical activity in early childhood are increasingly limited. This study assessed how teachers' knowledge and skills changed as the result of the implementation of a 10-week physical activity intervention programme (Jumping Beans) and participation in a related professional development programme. Participating teachers in four centres were interviewed before and after the intervention. Overall, qualitative and quantitative data from teacher interview data were highly positive, as a result of their participation. However, further research about how teachers' skills can be enhanced to intentionally teach with confidence in curriculum domains related to physical health and physical literacy needs to be considered.

As astronomers further develop an understanding of the fate of the Universe, it is essential to study students' ideas on the fate of the Universe so that instructors can communicate the field's current status more effectively. In this study, we examine undergraduate students' preinstruction ideas of the fate of the Universe in ten semester-long introductory astronomy course sections (ASTRO 101) at three institutions. We also examine students' postinstruction ideas about the fate of the Universe in ASTRO 101 over five semester-long course sections at one institution. The data include precourse surveys given during the first week of instruction (N = 264), postinstruction exam questions (N = 59), and interviews. We find that, preinstruction, more than a quarter of ASTRO 101 students either do not respond or respond with "I don't know" when asked what the long-term fate of the Universe is. We also find that, though the term was not necessarily used, students tend to describe a "big chill" scenario in the preinstruction surveys, among a wide variety of other scenarios. A fraction of students describe the fate of smaller-scale systems, possibly due to confusion of the hierarchical nature of structure in the Universe. Preinstruction, students mention the Universe's expansion when describing how astronomers know the fate of the Universe but do not discuss how we know the Universe is expanding or the relationship between expansion and the fate of the Universe. Postinstruction, students' responses shift toward greater degrees of completeness and correctness.

Objective: This study examined the influence of oncology social workers' expectations regarding aging (ERA) and ERA with cancer (ERAC) on their clinical judgment. Methods: Oncology social workers (N = 322) were randomly assigned to one of four vignettes describing a patient with lung cancer. The vignettes were identical except for the patent's age and gender. Structural equation modeling served as the primary tool for testing the study hypotheses. Results: Significant differences were found in clinical judgment based on patient's age, and social workers' ERA and ERAC which affected diagnostic and treatment judgment for all patients. Lack of congruence was also found between the diagnosis and treatment phases of care for older patients. Emotional reaction was more often reported for the younger patient. Conclusion: Results suggest a barrier to "whole patient" care for all cancer patients and a need for student and practitioner training to place greater emphasis on the treatment phase of patient care.

We used two studies to evaluate, modify, and provide initial validation for a revised Academic Hardiness scale. First, 16 experts rated scale items for content validity and identified two problematic questions. Second, confirmatory factor analyses with 300 Grade 10 students (46% boys, age range 14-17) identified a 17-item version to be the best fit. Construct validity was demonstrated by testing correlations between this revised scale and academic achievement (spelling, reading, and mathematics) and student self-evaluations (competencies, self-efficacy, and self-worth). Predictive validity was supported by showing that the scale differentiated between students who enrolled in academic and nonacademic streams, and differentiated between students who completed their course and those who did not. We failed to identify a second-order factor for hardiness, suggesting (a) that hardiness should be interpreted at the subscale, rather than at the global level, and (b) that the hardiness construct might need to be reconsidered for adolescents.

Northern Ireland's well-known civil strife between Catholics and Protestants had enjoyed an uneasy peace, but a recent outbreak of new violence in 2010 caused disappointment to these authors. Bernard Conlon and Tom Anderson collaborated on creating a new children's peace mural with the Kids' Guernica Peace Mural Project in West Belfast. This Kids' Guernica-type peace mural was to become part of a civic arts project shared by both Protestant and Catholic communities. This article describes issues of social justice and civic awareness in initially planning for that mural and the potential roles for art and education in social reconstruction and peace education. What Bernard and the rest of the peace workers in Northern Ireland are trying to do is change perceptions using art and art education as a primary tool, trying to change the paradigm from one of distrust and conflict to one of trust and cooperation between the nationalist and unionist communities. This is a difficult task in a society with 40 years of sectarian hostility and isolation between one community and another but it is certainly a task in which art and education can play a central role. It is through the arts that human beings have always framed their most deeply held values and beliefs (Anderson & Milbrandt, 2005; Dewhurst, 2010), and through presenting positive images, paradigms, possibilities, and dreams for the future in community-centered art education maybe Bernard and his colleagues can indeed help to construct peace in Northern Ireland.

In April 2010, President Obama issued a directive to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) regarding patient visitation, advance directives, and other initiatives to improve the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their families. The HHS response to this directive has implications for hospital social workers. The purpose of this secondary data analysis was to explore indicators of social work readiness to support implementation of the resulting initiatives. A historical context for the changes is provided, inclusive of the cases that spurred the presidential memorandum. The findings are presented within the framework of the profession's standards for social work practice in health care and end-of-life care. Recommendations for enhancing social work readiness for a critical role in implementation of the new regulations are presented.

This study set out to examine the impact of a health and personal development programme (the Social, Personal and Health Education Programme) which had been "enhanced" by the addition of a mental health promotion component. Students aged 12-16 years attending 17 secondary schools were randomly allocated as clusters to participate in either the standard programme (SP) or the enhanced programme (EP). Both programmes were delivered over an eight-month period. Questionnaires assessing help-seeking, emotional and behavioural difficulties and students' views of school social environment were completed by students in both groups at pre-intervention, post-intervention and at six-month follow-up. One thousand and seventy-two students participated. Analyses were carried out on the 782 students (72.9%) for whom data were available at all three time points. Both groups showed improvement over time in terms of emotional and behavioural difficulties, with male students identified as "at risk" in the EP showing significantly greater improvements than males "at risk" in the SP. Although there were few differences in outcomes between the groups, males identified as "at risk" appeared to benefit selectively from the EP.

Uses a simple model of an information retrieval (IR) technology to examine performance measures for IR systems. Shows that, if a user is employing a system optimally, then reasonable performance measures will tend to be relatively robust, or insensitive, to small variations in assumptions about the user's behavior. (AEF)

Using a case-series design with double baseline and 10-week maintenance phase, 5 struggling readers from middle- to high-income families (age range 6.4-7.9 years) completed a 5-times-weekly intervention (96 sessions) administered by a parent. All participants completed the intervention with phonological decoding, text-reading accuracy and reading comprehension scores above the 30th percentile. Regular-word reading improved significantly, and 3 out of 5 participants achieved average levels at postintervention testing. Growth of 0.58 standard deviations ("SD") was seen in one participant on a test of irregular-word reading. The other 4 participants made growth of greater than 0.8 "SD." However, only 1 participant achieved average levels at postintervention testing on the irregular-word reading measure. Results provide preliminary support for the effectiveness of the intervention in improving word-level decoding and comprehension in struggling readers. Most important, the data provide preliminary evidence that some parents can function as paraprofessionals and provide effective reading intervention for struggling readers. Special education professionals may be able to work around limited funding for struggling readers by recruiting, training, and supervising parents.

Effective teaching in multicultural settings requires the awareness and ability to adapt to diverse needs and viewpoints. Teachers' multicultural efficacy may be gained from coursework or interactions within diverse communities. In this study the authors determined preservice teachers' multicultural efficacy using the Multicultural Efficacy Scale (MES) and its relationship to education and personal characteristics. Study results revealed average levels of multicultural attitudes and efficacy and no relationship to coursework and personal characteristics. The authors did find a significant relationship to political worldviews. Results suggest that other variables may be making personal characteristics less influential on views of diversity. (Contains 1 table.)

The aim of the experiments was to investigate how manipulating the contrast of the signal and noise dots in a random dot kinematogram (RDK), influenced on motion coherence thresholds in adults with dyslexia. In the first of two experiments, coherent motion thresholds were measured when the contrasts of the signal and noise dots in an RDK were manipulated. A significantly greater processing benefit was found for the group with dyslexia than a control group when the signal dots were of higher contrast than the noise dots. However, a significant processing disadvantage was found for the group with dyslexia relative to the control group when the signal dots were of lower contrast than the noise dots. These findings were interpreted as supporting evidence for the noise exclusion hypothesis of dyslexia. In Experiment 2, the effect on coherent motion thresholds of presenting a cue that alerted observers to which stimuli, high or low contrast contained the signals dots was investigated. When the cue directed attention to low contrast signal dots presented in high contrast noise, coherent motion thresholds were only enhanced for the group with dyslexia. This manipulation produced equivalent coherent motion thresholds in the reader groups. In other conditions, the group with dyslexia had significantly higher coherent motion thresholds than the control group. It was concluded that adults with dyslexia who show evidence of a coherent motion deficit (37% of the dyslexia group in each experiment), have a specific difficulty in noise exclusion. This appears to occur as consequence of a sensory processing deficit in the magnocellular or dorsal stream. (Contains 2 tables and 4 figures.)

The aim of this study was to investigate the theory that visual magnocellular deficits seen in groups with dyslexia are linked to reading via the mechanisms of visual attention. Visual attention was measured with a serial search task and magnocellular function with a coherent motion task. A large group of children with dyslexia (n = 70) had slower serial search times than a control group of typical readers. However, the effect size was small ([eta] p[superscript 2] = 0.05) indicating considerable overlap between the groups. When the dyslexia sample was split into those with or without a magnocellular deficit, there was no difference in visual search reaction time between either group and controls. The data suggest that magnocellular sensitivity and visual spatial attention weaknesses are independent of one another. They also provide more evidence of heterogeneity in response to psychophysical tasks in groups with dyslexia. Alternative explanations for poor performance on visual attention tasks are proposed along with avenues for future research.