Search

The increasing prevalence of Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) has led to a national response within the UK to implement ways of supporting children and families affected by these conditions. WIthin the field of education, current legislation has identified a need to consider how to incorporate parental views into policy and practice. Key transitions can be particularly stressful for children affected by ASC and their fam~s~owever, little research has explored the first major transition within the education system for children with ASC: starting school. This mixed methods sequential study explored parental experiences and perspectives of their child's transition from nursery to primary school. Based within one local authority, purposive sampling was used to select parents of children in their first year of formal school (reception year). In phase one, five parents shared their views through semi-structured interviews. The data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), and three overarching themes were identified: 'being a parent of a child with ASC', 'relationships with professionals', and 'importance of early identification'. Phase two involved using the overarching theme 'relationships with professionals' to create a questionnaire consisting of a semantic differential scale. The questionnaire was distributed to more parents, and descriptive statistics were used to analyse responses. The quantitative results indicated that the majority of parents had overall positive transition experiences. A key implication of this study is for professionals to incorporate parental views into transition policies and practice for children with ASC. The questionnaire can be used in the future to evaluate practice, and measure parental satisfaction following the transition. Limitations of this study and recommendations for future studies are discussed.

At independence in 1964, Malta's economy remained entirely dependent upon the revenue and employment provided by the British and NATO fortress on the Islands. The implications of this dependence were serious as, in 1957, the British Ministry of Defence had announced its intention to run down, and eventually to terminate its military involvement in the Maltese Islands. Faced with the imminent loss of a substantial proportion of the economy's revenue and employment, successive Maltese Governments (of both the major political parties) adopted vigorous economic diversification strategies. It was generally accepted that domestically generated economic development was impossible, and that economic diversification could only be achieved through the deliberate attraction of overseas enterprise. Multinational Corporations (MNCs) were therefore invited to participate in, and develop the three crucial sectors of the Maltese economy - the dockyards, the new manufacturing sector, and tourism. Inevitably, the attraction of MNCs into the crucial sectors of the economy ensured that control of the economy was placed in the hands of overseas entrepreneurs, whose interests were not necessarily consistent with those of the Maltese Islands. The subsequent development of strongly dependent dual structures throughout key areas of the Maltese economy had by 1980 induced extreme economic instability. Given this background, the intention of this thesis has been to evaluate Malta's post-independence development record. One of the best means of achieving this aim was seen as to be the adoption and adaption of a number of themes contained within 'dependency theory'. This avenue of enquiry has proved to be rewarding in two ways. first, the various concepts of of dependence have helped to shed light upon the development experiences of Malta. Also important, however, is the fact that the Maltese case has itself raised many relevant questions concerning the application of dependency theory in empirical studies. The thesis itself can be divided into three distinct sections. Section One briefly discusses development, and then proceeds to examine the concept of dependence Of particular interest is the degree to which dependency theory is applicable to small countries, and the role of MNCs in the generation of dependence. Section Two provides the essential historical background to Malta's current position, and Section Three sets about examining in some detail the development of the Maltese economy, with particular reference to the growth of manufacturing industry and tourism. The conclusions of the thesis again fall into two distinct groups. With respect to dependency theory, it seems that dependency themes can be of substantial use in the evaluation of a country's development process. With respect to Malta, it is apparent that Malta in the 1980s is facing a crisis of dependence that is rather more severe than that which faced the Islands at independence in 1964. The problem has clearly been that of excess dependence upon MNC subsidiaries. On the one hand, MNCs are seen as essential due to the inability of the domestic economy to generate its own industry. On the other hand, the dependent structures that have ensued have proved to be unstable and unreliable. Clearly, a compromise situation is desirable in which Government intervention ensures that foreign industries are attracted to the Islands, but that they are attracted selectively, and that their less desirable activities are meticulously restricted by the Government.