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Bullying is an issue in all schools, colleges and work places throughout the world. It is in the national news constantly. The media typically reports on bullying and harassment when it involves non-disabled children, mostly high school and college aged students. Very little attention is given to bullying and harassment of children with disabilities. Children with disabilities are being bullied at an alarming increasing rate. Bullying involving children with disabilities is much more complex as these children do not have the ability or coping skills to deal with the stress and anxiety that results from being bullied. Proactive strategies are needed in order to meet the needs of victims of bullies.

The difficulties and the advantages of giving oral critiques of student speeches are discussed. The advantages of using oral critiques are such that many speech teachers will want to include them. It is argued in this paper that the difficulties associated with oral critiques can be overcome by using communication messages that are intended to reduce defensiveness and create supportiveness. Jack Gibb's model of defensive and supportive communication climates is used to discuss the characteristics of messages that promote supportiveness and assure that oral critiques of student speeches can be more useful and growth promoting rather than hurtful and problematic.

North Americans' fear and preoccupation with safety and security as a result of the September 11 attacks is similar to that felt by gays and lesbians in daily life. Queer persons are not part of the Christian family, according to Jerry Falwell and other rightist Christian fundamentalists, including those involved in transformative ministry and reparative therapy. Transformational ministry is aimed at elimination of same-sex desire and intimacy and conversion to a heterosexual lifestyle. Reparative therapy is orthodox psychotherapy which, unlike current American Psychiatric Association practices, classifies homosexuality as a mental disorder. A politics of conversion, characterized by self-worth and concern for others, would argue against such exclusionary practices. Cornell West locates heterosexism in power intersections with white supremacy and patriarchy. His vision of a popular struggle for liberation incorporates queer people into a vision for cultural democracy. Democratic transformative learning is the responsibility of educators in order to eliminate not only homophobia but also racism and patriarchy from both curricula and campus activities. Exemplars of this goal include The Diversity Conferences of Alberta Society (DCAS), which worked to build understanding and create social justice while providing space and a place for gay and lesbian students and adults to deliberate issues of sexuality and spirituality; and Agape, which investigated sex-and-gender differences in education. (12 references) (AJ)

This article discusses the themes of individual and group processes, on the conscious level, as well as the main purpose of a work group, and asserts that psychoanalytical theory and knowledge are a tool for educators. The two problems studied are motivating student teachers to creative action within the small group structure and dealing with student anxiety created by uncertainty and worry about whether the group will allow room for members' personal thoughts and by one's overly self-critical attitude regarding the worth of one's own thoughts to the group. The focus of this paper is the development and formation of one small group (3-8 members) into a work group (a group of members interacting to support the work of the whole group) via individual and group processes. The preconditions of group process are motivation, distance, finding of joint limits, clarifying the basic task, commitment, and a well-qualified tutor to intervene when obstacles arise. The task of this particular workgroup came into existence through discussion of the group's own needs. The psychoanalytical theory of Dewey presented maintains that an individual interprets his outer world through his inner one, formed by previous events. Group activity provides an opportunity for conscious reevaluation of one's understanding and facilitates reflective thinking. (CK)

This paper suggests that collegiate and professional athletes preparing to retire should be provided with preretirement and postretirement rehabilitation counseling. The counseling should involve a preventative approach centered around self-acceptance, to enhance the athlete's performance before and after retirement. The development of self-acceptance in an athlete helps him or her to experience less competitive cognitive anxiety. A model for performance enhancement links self-acceptance to cognitive anxiety and cognitive anxiety to performance. Questions are presented that athletes can ask themselves to examine their level of self-acceptance and that coaches can ask themselves to determine their enhancement of athletes' self-acceptance. The issue of retirement for professional athletes is compared to the psychological stages of someone who is dying. These stages include denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Counseling an athlete as he or she goes through these stages involves listening/confrontation, cognitive therapy, and vocational guidance. Counselors are encouraged to provide empathy and support, break the problem into manageable parts and develop a plan to tackle those parts, and determine the athlete's internal and external strengths and resources. An appendix presents a self-concept diagram. (Contains 12 references.) (JDD)

Group identification is a major cause of religious, racial, and international conflict. Many forms of group identification are fantasy bonds, imagined connections with others offering security at the expense of individual self-realization. The fantasy bond forms in childhood in response to inadequate parenting. Human beings are not inherently aggressive, but interpersonal tension in families leads to hostile and defensive behaviors first acted out on family members and later extended to outsiders. These bonds become reinforced as the child becomes aware of death's inevitability. Social systems represent a pooling and projection of individual defense mechanisms into a cultural framework as mores, traditions, and secular religious beliefs. These traditions and beliefs become imaginary survival mechanisms for the individual, a way to deny death's finality. Since they represent immortality, these world views are strongly defended by their adherents, who feel threatened by groups with other beliefs, and will fight to defend their point of view. The outgroup is seen as peculiar, impure, or evil. Outbreaks of violence will continue to be a problem until destructive child-rearing practices and social processes fostering aggression change, and death is accepted as the natural end of life. (Contains 109 references.) (CC)

The use of assessments in public schools in the United States to link student test scores to school performance has arguably transformed assessments into accountability tools. Dennis S. Rosemartin, a former elementary classroom teacher, is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Arizona. His area of specialization is teacher preparation and his interests include assessment practices and curriculum theory. In this article, Rosemartin theorizes that there appears to be a need to shift toward assessment for learning practices, and focuses on four areas to support that argument. This focus begins with an examination of the negative effects of using high-stakes assessments as the main accountability system for schools. The article then discusses the underlying assumptions of learning that are inherent in different types of assessments. What follows is a comparison of the purposes of formative and summative assessments. The conclusion provides a framework and some examples to help teachers develop and implement assessment for learning practices. (Contains 3 tables.)

To reduce risk factors for adult disease in our society, we must tackle the problem of toxic stress in early childhood. This condition is associated with the excessive release of a stream of hormones whose persistent elevation can disrupt the wiring of the developing brain and the functioning of the immune system. Children who experience toxic stress in early childhood may develop a lifetime of greater susceptibility to stress-related physical illness, such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and diabetes, as well as mental health problems, including depression, anxiety disorders, and substance abuse. Reliable, nurturing relationships with adults buffer children from the adverse effects of toxic stress and are essential for healthy brain development. These protective influences can be provided by families, child-care facilities, libraries, schools, neighborhood support networks, and family-friendly places of employment--each of which has a role to play in supporting the healthy development of all children.

Research by Nathan Fox and other scientists shows how changes in environmental conditions can help temper the negative effects of a child's predisposition toward fearfulness and anxiety. If certain negative triggers are eliminated or modified, a child's genetic tendency toward inappropriate fearfulness and anxiety may be overcome--or not expressed in the first place--resulting in long-term benefits for the individual and society. These children can benefit greatly through positive early intervention by parents, health care providers, teachers and others. [The interviewer for this report was Richard Louv.]

In many classrooms, the issue of emotional legitimization is often forgotten, but in the distance education setting, two limitations highlight this issue even more. The distance education classroom lacks proximity and eye contact, which are pedagogically important as they prompt anxiety in students and draw them into learning. Rather than leading students toward active engagement, the distance education classroom leads them to a state of emotional paralysis. Distance education is not necessarily a total failure. Rather, it prompts the question: What type of inquiry is legitimized in education which reinforces emotional acquiescence at best or induces emotional paralysis at worst? Teachers should acknowledge and work through anxiety, because legitimizing anxiety can keep students from becoming paralyzed or entrenched in dominant definitions of subjectivity. (EF)

"Math anxiety" can be a lifelong stumbling block affecting the student's level of performance and willingness to go beyond the minimum courses required, and hindering career change or advancement. The cumulative nature of math learning, early insistence on the right answer with reasonable speed, paranoia that not understanding will result in ridicule, the mystique of the genetically-predisposed mathematical mind, and inability to handle frustration when dealing with math are a few sources of math anxiety. Women are further handicapped by the stereotype that they are unable to excell at math because of their sex. A math anxiety clinic at Wesleyan University helps students reduce anxiety and increase self-confidence. A non-threatening environment is set by an initial interview which examines the student's degree of fear and his or her goals for the future. In class, individual strengths are stressed, and the fact that there is no best way to work a problem is repeatedly demonstrated. Problem-solving in small groups is extensively utilized to make math a social experience. The students evaluate their progress at mid-semester. The final exam is a standardized multiple-choice form to give the students practice for various standardized placement tests. A similar program has been implemented in developmental mathematics classes at Middlesex Community College. (DD)

For American Indian students, math anxiety and math avoidance are the most serious obstacles to general education and to the choice of scientific careers. Indian students interviewed generally exhibited fear and loathing of mathematics and a major lack of basic skills which were caused by a missing or negative impression of the mathematics capabilities of Native Americans, a generally negative image of mathematicians and scientists, dislike and fear of math forms without visible application to daily life and which require abstraction as a major tool, a perception of math courses and requirements as rigid, and a self-perception, often fostered by school couselors, of hopeless inadequacy in math skills. Because most of the students interviewed had attended public schools the implication is that public school math and science preparation is lacking for all, but especially for minority students. Changing math instruction can help remedy the situation. Some successful attempts at math instruction for Indian students employ a supportive atmosphere for math learning; individualized, non-competitive programs, tutorials, math anxiety clinics, exposure to Indian role models, courses with an applied focus directly related to a career or community need, and initial math skills education based on everyday mathematics. (SB)

Agoraphobia is an increasingly common, often chronically incapacitating anxiety disorder. Both behavior therapy and pharmacotherapy can be effective in reducing the intensity of agoraphobic symptoms. There are promising new developments, however, from a family systems perspective. Researchers are finding that an agoraphobic's marriage and family relationships are profoundly relevant to understanding this disorder and the long-term results of treatment. Four empirically supported propositional statements are relevant to the role of family interactional factors in agoraphobia: (1) agoraphobia occurs in highly complementary relationships, particularly marriages organized according to traditional sex-roles; (2) close relatives of agoraphobics, particularly their spouses, often are reported to have equally serious problems; (3) agoraphobic symptoms arise in response to real or anticipated changes in vital relationships and function to preserve former patterns; and (4) symptomatic improvement may have negative repercussions in the family system. Two interactional systems models which most readily accommodate these findings are the functional/structural view and the accidental/sequential model. Therapists must address the question of which levels of system-individual, couple patient-family, or patient-family-helpers, have priority for intervention under what circumstances. Implicit in the interactional systems view is the idea that broader levels of context are most relevant. (NB)

Although the use of video playback of classroom assignments for students who are communication apprehensive, shy, or unassertive has received widespread adoption, a review of the literature suggests that its use is potentially harmful. Typically, those with high anxiety about communication are characterized by excessive fear of evaluation, irrational beliefs about being the focus of attention, low self-esteem, negative expectations of success, inability to accept success evaluation, tendency to negatively interpret their own actions, and unwillingness/inability to self-disclose. Video feedback focuses attention on self and magnifies communication performance difficulties and so might increase fear of communication, reinforce negative self-perceptions, and further reduce self-esteem and expectations of success in communication. Stress reactions to video feedback have been found in a few studies. Research has also shown some practices of video feedback to be successful, such as the use of self-modeling, using video models of others, preparing the students for videotaping, focusing feedback, and using several videotaped exercises to reduce novelty effects. The report includes a substantive bibliography. (HOD)

Discussed are adults' egocentric attitudes about children, particularly toddlers, and ways in which such attitudes can creat unnecessary stress in the caregiver and toddler. Emphasis is given to: (1) hostile myths about toddlers that obscure reality and muddy relationships; (2) misunderstandings about ways in which toddlers think; (3) young children's need to develop embryonic feelings of competence or self-esteem; and (4) toddler behaviors that adults view as undesirable. The section on hostile myths about toddlers discusses power, discipline, and ways of coping with anxiety. The section on toddlers' thinking explores physical activity as the basis of mental development, perspective taking, concepts, pretending, fantasizing, and language. The section on toddlers' development of self-awareness deals with toddlers' limited objectivity, growing self-image, sensuality, gender development, will and competence, use of possessions to promote the sense of individuality, negativism, aggression, and need for clear-cut guidelines. The concluding section explores aspects of toddlers' play, social relations, sibling rivalry, toilet training, and parents' mental health. (RH)

Factors affecting the motivation of high school students to learn to use computers were examined in this study. The subjects were 160 students enrolled in a large city high school, 89 females and 71 males who represented five ethnic groups--White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian. The majority of subjects had prior computer coursework or other computer-related experience. A Computer Attribution Scale and a Computer Attitude Scale were developed to examine the use and study of computers in this population by modifying the Mathematics Attribution Scale of Fennema, Wolleat, and Pedro, and the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitude Scale, respectively. Two separate path analyses were performed on the data in the current study, one model using the variable "coursework" and the other using the variable "proficiency" as the sole endogenous variables. In both cases, eight attribute variables and four attitude variables served as precursor or exogenous variables. All calculations were completed using the SPSS-X Regression procedure. Findings indicated that both models showed redundancy, and two reduced models were developed through theory trimming; for the variable "coursework," the reduced model showed an excellent fit to the data, but for the variable "proficiency," three of the retained paths were positive and one path was negative. Two major conclusions of the study are that early exposure to computers should take place in a high success environment, and that it should stress both the enjoyment and utility that one may experience with computers. One table and four figures are provided. (24 references) (CGD)

The attitudes of high school students toward the use of microcomputers were examined in terms of causal attributions, i.e., student perceptions of the causes of academic performance. The subjects for the study were 171 male and female students, representing 102 white and 69 minority students who were enrolled in a large city high school. The majority of these students had already completed computer coursework or had other previous computer experience. Two scales, the Computer Attitude Scale and Computer Attribution Scale, were developed from the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitude Scale and the Mathematics Attribution Scale of Fennema, Wolleat, and Pedro, respectively, in order to examine the use and study of computers in this population. The primary focuses of this study--sex and ethnic differences in computer attitudes and computer attributions--were investigated using the multivariate analysis of variance technique. Results indicated that: (1) while there were no ethnic group differences in high school students' attributions of success or failure in using computers, there were significant sex differences in computer attributions, with males attributing their successes in using computers to their own abilities, and females attributing their success to uncontrolled environmental factors; (2) all groups involved had fairly positive attitudes toward computers; (3) both sex and ethnic group differences existed in computer attitudes, with white students perceiving computers as more enjoyable and challenging than minority students, and male students and white students tending to have a more positive attitude toward learning computer skills than female and minority students. Three tables are appended. (39 references) (CGD)

Duty related separation for military family members demands family support programs to help alleviate the stresses produced by separation. Not only is performance of the military member affected, but so is the emotional stability of the spouse and children. Three phases of emotion and behavior can be delineated in the sequence-reaction to the loss or change of separation: (1) protest; (2) despair; and (3) detachment. This sequence can lead to generalized anxiety and significant depressive symptoms. Adequate preparation for the stages of separation (the notification of separation, the actual departure, and the resulting difficulty of coping alone) will help the spouse adjust to the new roles and life style. The waiting spouse must also adapt to the new emotions and behaviors of reunion when the military spouse returns. This final stage of separation adjustment, integration and reorganization, is made difficult by individual growth and change in the waiting spouse and other family members. Crisis intervention, prior preparation, and sustained support enable the waiting spouse to cope more effectively with all stages of separation. Family counseling, financial and legal counseling, education, support groups, individual counseling, and crisis hot lines can all contribute to the family's successful adjustment to the military members' separation and return. (ABB)

In vivo exposure is the most commonly used and generally the most effective behavioral treatment for agoraphobia. Follow-up studies are difficult to interpret because additional treatment does not necessarily indicate relapse and non-treatment does not necessarily indicate non-relapse. Relapse rates are difficult to estimate because of lack of consensus on the definition of relapse. Relapse factors include reliance on anti-depressant medication and such measures of personality and psychopathology as marital status, locus of control, social anxiety, depression, and early compliance with treatment. Other variables are work satisfaction, negative thinking, socioeconomic status, and frequency of panic attacks. Maintenance of agoraphobics has been shown to be enhanced through the use of the following techniques: (1) marital therapy for disstressed couples; (2) maintenance homework including exposure and applied relaxation; and (3) panic reduction, especially methods not using medication such as reducing marital conflict and increasing problem solving skills. Finally, agoraphobics need to be encouraged to adopt a healthy life style and to be self-nurturing. (ABL)

Discusses the Montessori method. Evolves a new vision of the school based on Montessori principles and addresses the anxieties felt during times of transition as part of the natural growth process. Claims that these transitions are cyclical, and affect more than just the children--they also create concern for teachers, parents, and administrators. (MOK)

Discusses the prevalence of castration anxiety in Clint Eastwood's film "Unforgiven." Describes the situations in which the castration theme is presented, and the inherent symbolism in each situation. Points out that castration does not have to be physical, citing incidents from the film as proof. (PA)

Uses work with anxiety-disordered youth as an example of potentially transportable manual-based treatment. Examines client factors, service-clinic therapist factors, and researcher factors that may contribute to the reported gap between research and practice outcomes. (JPS)

This article responds to Sparks and Ganschow's (1995) defense of their Linguistic Coding Differences Hypothesis (LCDH), arguing that the LCDH ignores the context in which language learning occurs. It asserts that LCDH is so focused on the learning of the sound system of language that it ignores affective variables. (22 references) (MDM)

This article responds to MacIntyre's (1995) critique of the Linguistic Coding Differences Hypothesis (LCDH), which posits that language aptitude is the primary source of individual differences in foreign language (FL) achievement. It defends the LCDH and suggests that difficulties exist with theories that attribute affective and social context variables in FL learning to causal factors. (39 references) (MDM)

Examines the effects of physical activity on depression and anxiety, discussing the scientific strength of studies on physical activity, depression, and anxiety against the standards of science accepted in epidemiology with a focus on the independence, consistency, dose-response gradient, and biological plausibility of the evidence. (Author/SM)

Suggests that, although stresses in the classroom are unavoidable, they may offer optimal opportunities for effective early childhood education. Such education requires work with the child's feelings and cooperative work with the child's parents. Offers different ideas that can be used by teachers to help young children and their parents to cope with and grow from stresses in their lives. (AA)

Describes one approach to supervising novice clinical supervisors. The central feature is eight recurring issues: (1) supervisor anxiety; (2) intervention choices; (3) group cohesion; (4) responsibility; (5) parallel process; (6) power struggles; (7) individual differences; and (8) sexual attraction. Suggests that assessing and confronting these issues is integral part of supervisor supervision. Offers suggestions for addressing these issues. (CRR)

Reviews articles on stress and exercise. After defining stress, the paper analyzes competition as either eustress or distress, provides evidence for Berger's taxonomy of stress and exercise, examines Type A behavior, discusses multidimensional anxiety and stress management, describes the inverted-U hypothesis and task characteristics, and explains exercise and psychological health. (SM)

Considers those defenses against anxiety and frustration on the part of parents and day-care workers which impede the provision of high-quality day care for young children. Uses observations of infants and children to show how attachment theory can provide a structure for thinking about children's experiences in day care. (MDM)