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This paper reports on a survey of 1,718 school-based speech language pathologists in 1995. Survey questions addressed such topics as caseload characteristics, service delivery, bilingual/bicultural services, supervision, support personnel, shortages of speech-language pathologists, substitutes, and demographic characteristics, and activities. (DB)

This overview of resources includes: (1) a description of a new report on technology services and devices for students in schools; (2) questions and answers concerning the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA); (3) information on American Speech-Language-Hearing Association teleseminars; and (4) excerpts from the early childhood and IDEA law reports. (CR)

This column about federal government actions impacting school services for students with communication disorders examines concerns related to billing by schools providing Medicaid services, summarizes federal Medicaid regulations, and discusses ethical considerations and suggested actions for speech-language pathologists and audiologists. The article also discusses changes in Congressional committees and legal decisions concerning special school services. (JDD)

Collective memory can be used conceptually to examine African-American perceptions of wildlands and black interaction with such places. The middle-American view of wildlands frames these terrains as refuges--pure and simple, sanctified places distinct from the profanity of human modification. However, wild, primitive areas do not exist in the minds of all Americans as uncomplicated or uncontaminated places. Three labor-related institutions--forest labor, plantation agriculture, and sharecropping--and terrorism and lynching have impacted negatively on black perceptions of wildlands, producing an ambivalence toward such places among African Americans. ... acknowledging the ambiguous legacy of nature myths does at least require us to recognize that landscapes will not always be simple 'places of delight'--scenery as sedative, topography so arranged as to feast the eye. For those eyes, as we will discover, are seldom clarified of the promptings of memory. And the memories are not all of pastoral picnics.

We use national-level data to test a modified version of Stern, Dietz, & Guagnano's causal model of environmental belief and behavior. We focus mainly on ethnic variation in environmental belief, as measured by the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP), and ethnic variation for four environmental behaviors: environmental reading, household recycling, environmental group joining, and participation in nature-based outdoor recreation. Blacks and foreign-born Latinos were less likely than Whites to score higher on the NEE Any behavioral differences between Whites and the respective minority groups were expected to diminish with the inclusion of the NEP as an intervening variable in the model between ethnicity and behavior. However. ethnic differences remained stable and strong even when environmental belief was added. Overall, Asian American and U.S.-born Latino environmentalism was most similar to Whites. African American concern and behavior was least similar to White environmentalism. Gender, age, and liberal political orientation were also consistent explicators for both environmental concern and behavior. Keywords: environmentalism; ethnicity; New Ecological Paradigm

Previous studies have shown that African Americans have less favorable impressions about wildlands and recreate on wildland areas less frequently than do whites. However, most of these investigations have been conducted on non-rural populations. Rural perceptions of wildlands and visitation to such areas have received relatively little attention. In this exploratory study, we propose that race operates on wildland recreation visitation through the different meanings rural blacks and whites attribute to wildlands. We examine this hypothesis with a structural model which specifies wildland meaning as an intervening factor between race and visitation. Single equation results show blacks visit wildlands less, and have less favorable definitions of wildlands, compared to whites. However, when wildland meaning is included in the structural model, racial differences become insignificant. This suggests that the meanings different racial groups attach to wildlands help explain visitation. Both sex and age are also significant predictors of both wildland meaning and visitation.

Background: Physical activity (PA) is linked to many health benefits. However, many children and adults do not meet PA recommendations. Specifically, Mexican-heritage (MH) families are less physically active and at greater risk for obesity and related co-morbidities than the general population. Culturally-tailored programs are needed to support MH families in healthy PA behaviors. Purpose: This article describes creation and pilot testing of ¡Haz Espacio para Papi! (Make Room for Daddy!), a PA curriculum tailored for MH families. Methods: Academic-based and promotora-researchers developed a six-week curriculum including weekly interactive lessons provided on weekends and take-home challenges focused on father-child co-participation in light-to-moderate PA. Participating families consisted of child (aged 9–11), mother, and father. Weekly telephone calls were placed to adult participants to secure qualitative evaluation data. Results: Most families reported trying program activities at home between sessions. Families reported spending time together as the most valuable part of the program, specifically engaging in father/child activities. Very few families reported suggestions to change program. Discussion: Positive responses by families speak to the success of culturally and contextually tailoring this curriculum to MH families. Translation to Health Education Practice: This curriculum provides evidence of a culturally and contextually tailored program for MH families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Introduction Mexican-origin women in the U.S. living in colonias (new-destination Mexican-immigrant communities) along the Texas-Mexico border suffer from a high incidence of food insecurity and diet-related chronic disease. Understanding environmental factors that influence food-related behaviors among this population will be important to improving the well-being of colonia households. This article focuses on cultural repertoires that enable food choice and the everyday uses of technology in food-related practice by Mexican-immigrant women in colonia households under conditions of material hardship. Findings are presented within a conceptual framework informed by concepts drawn from sociological accounts of technology, food choice, culture, and material hardship. Methods Field notes were provided by teams of promotora-researchers (indigenous community health workers) and public-health professionals trained as participant observers. They conducted observations on three separate occasions (two half-days during the week and one weekend day) within eight family residences located in colonias near the towns of Alton and San Carlos, Texas. English observations were coded inductively and early observations stressed the importance of technology and material hardship in food-related behavior. These observations were further explored and coded using the qualitative data package Atlas.ti. Results Technology included kitchen implements used in standard and adapted configurations and household infrastructure. Residents employed tools across a range of food-related activities identified as forms of food acquisition, storage, preparation, serving, feeding and eating, cleaning, and waste processing. Material hardships included the quality, quantity, acceptability, and uncertainty dimensions of food insecurity, and insufficient consumption of housing, clothing and medical care. Cultural repertoires for coping with material hardship included reliance on inexpensive staple foods and dishes, and conventional and innovative technological practices. These repertoires expressed the creative agency of women colonia residents. Food-related practices were constrained by climate, animal and insect pests, women’s gender roles, limitations in neighborhood and household infrastructure, and economic and material resources. Conclusions This research points to the importance of socioeconomic and structural factors such as gender roles, economic poverty and material hardship as constraints on food choice and food-related behavior. In turn, it emphasizes the innovative practices employed by women residents of colonias to prepare meals under these constraints.

Abstract Background Food insecurity among Mexican-origin and Hispanic households is a critical nutritional health issue of national importance. At the same time, nutrition-related health conditions, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, are increasing in Mexican-origin youth. Risk factors for obesity and type 2 diabetes are more common in Mexican-origin children and include increased intakes of energy-dense and nutrient-poor foods. This study assessed the relationship between children's experience of food insecurity and nutrient intake from food and beverages among Mexican-origin children (age 6-11 y) who resided in Texas border colonias. Methods Baseline data from 50 Mexican-origin children were collected in the home by trained promotora-researchers. All survey (demographics and nine-item child food security measure) and 24-hour dietary recall data were collected in Spanish. Dietary data were collected in person on three occasions using a multiple-pass approach; nutrient intakes were calculated with NDS-R software. Separate multiple regression models were individually fitted for total energy, protein, dietary fiber, calcium, vitamin D, potassium, sodium, Vitamin C, and percentage of calories from fat and added sugars. Results Thirty-two children (64%) reported low or very low food security. Few children met the recommendations for calcium, dietary fiber, and sodium; and none for potassium or vitamin D. Weekend intake was lower than weekday for calcium, vitamin D, potassium, and vitamin C; and higher for percent of calories from fat. Three-day average dietary intakes of total calories, protein, and percent of calories from added sugars increased with declining food security status. Very low food security was associated with greater intakes of total energy, calcium, and percentage of calories from fat and added sugar. Conclusions This paper not only emphasizes the alarming rates of food insecurity for this Hispanic subgroup, but describes the associations for food insecurity and diet among this sample of Mexican-origin children. Child-reported food insecurity situations could serve as a screen for nutrition problems in children. Further, the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs, which play a major beneficial role in children's weekday intakes, may not be enough to keep pace with the nutritional needs of low and very low food secure Mexican-origin children.