Search

In February of 2009, the Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness (JVIB) published the first articles under the heading of Practice Perspectives. These articles featured work by three professionals who described how they taught reading to children or adults. Trina Brichter of West Virginia, Charla Rose Houston of North Carolina, and Lisa Serino of Arizona described how they motivated their reluctant readers. Their articles were the first of more than 65 Practice Perspectives that have been submitted for publication by practicing professionals to describe their successful practices. The feature reflects the commitment of the American Foundation of the Blind (AFB) to address the interests of professionals who work daily with people who have visual impairments. Since the inception of Practice Perspectives, JVIB has also continued to publish Practice Reports, which describe systematic exploration of a question or issue related to practice. These last few years, it has been my good fortune to be JVIB's associate editor for practice. In that role I have considered ways to encourage practicing professionals to become authors, so that these skilled professionals would share their insights into instructional practices that worked for them. Unlike many authors of full-length research articles, whose jobs require writing and research, practice authors write mainly because they have experiences or ideas to share with colleagues and the people they serve. Some authors e-mailed me or talked with me at conferences to say, "I have an idea. Do you think this would make a good article?" Others submitted their writing after reading the Information for JVIB Authors website at: . Most submissions were revised one or more times before publication, which is common for peer-reviewed professional articles. For many authors, the peer review process was daunting: most did not have prior experience with an anonymous reviewer reading their material, but they accepted and sometimes welcomed the suggestions of outside reviewers as well as my own recommendations. As a retired faculty member from The University of Arizona, now experiencing another retirement from my role as practice editor of JVIB, I sometimes reflect on the trail that our professional field has traveled since I entered the field of visual impairment in the 1970s. Topics that have been addressed by recent practice features speak to the degree to which the world of practicing professionals in visual impairment has changed since I entered it in 1972. The 1970s marked a time when legislative foundations created a new world of opportunity for people with disabilities, including those with visual impairments. Families of children with visual impairments no longer had to exert time and energy to convince their educational systems to allow their students to enter public schools and to receive an appropriate education after the passage of Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. Legislative policy established equal opportunities for individuals with and without disabilities, supported by team planning with families and individualized goals for each student. As a teacher at the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children, I remember both the anticipation and concern about the goals I recommended at those first meetings with teams and families--my first lEPs (Individualized Education Programs) were more than 20 pages long! Several recent practice authors have described the outcomes and challenges of implementing current systems of planning and service delivery, the foundations of which were created by this early legislation. Craig Phillips, Jeri Hile, and Traci Jardes described professional collaboration that effectively supported the team of a young man with deaf-blindness (2013). Superintendent William Daugherty of Texas School for the Blind (2014) described changes in their systems that created a strengthened linkage between the school and statewide educational agencies. …

Structured abstract: Introduction: The study presented here examined the learning outcomes of graduate students in visual impairment who were enrolled in an assistive technology course in three university programs. Methods: The students' perceptions of learning were evaluated using pre- and posttests administered during the course. A follow-up questionnaire was e-mailed to the participants in 2011. Information gathered in the questionnaire included the participants' demographic characteristics, perceived level of skill, training since completion of the course, frequency of use of the devices with students, and perceptions of the importance of specific devices. Variables were coded using a Likert scale, and correlations were coded using Spearman's correlation for nonparametric data. Results: Pre-posttest data (n = 97) showed the participants' improvement in the use of devices introduced during the class, with a greater increase in devices specific to visual impairment. Data from the follow-up questionnaires (n = 60) revealed a relationship between the perceived importance of the devices, frequency of use, and the participants' skills. The participants were more likely to seek additional training if they perceived that a technology was frequently used and important. Discussion: The results suggest that a formal assistive technology course can contribute to the development of skills and that the participants' initiatives in setting priorities and seeking additional training were important for their continued acquisition of technology skills. Implications for practice: Teachers can benefit from university-based training in the use of assistive technology. Also, continued development of such skills is necessary to allow the teachers to gain expertise in the use of frequently used devices and in devices that they perceive as important in educational settings. ********** More than 20 years have passed since the term assistive technology was first used in the special education law Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990 (IDEA, 1990). The term emerged from the Technology-Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities Act (1988) and was defined as "any device or service that is necessary for a child to benefit from special education or related services or to enable the child to be educated in the least restrictive environment" (34 C.F.R. [section] 300.308). Later amendments to IDEA mandated that the members of the Individualized Education Program team not only consider and assess the assistive technology needs of every child in special education (IDEA, 1997), but consider how each student can benefit from using assistive technology to access the general education curriculum (Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004). Yet, despite the endorsement of laws that stressed the importance of assistive technology, research showed that the consistent use of assistive technology is low (Freeland, Emerson, Curtis, & Fogarty, 2010), and only 59% to 71% of students who are visually impaired (that is, are blind or have low vision) who could benefit from assistive technology have opportunities to use it (Kelly, 2009). Several explanations for the surprisingly low percentage of students who use assistive technology have been proposed. Johnstone, Thurlow, Altman, Timmons, and Kato (2009) found that if teachers do not believe that technology is important, they are less likely to teach children to use it. Also, access to a plethora of highly specialized and often costly assistive technology equipment with which to assess students who are visually impaired has been limited in many school districts, where students are placed in general classrooms with support by itinerant teachers. The fact that children who attend specialized schools for students who are visually impaired are more likely to use assistive technology (Kelly, 2009) may be due to the availability of equipment. Finally, practicing teachers have stated that they do not think that they have adequate skills to integrate such technology into the curriculum and instruct students in how to use assistive technology devices (Abner & Lahm, 2002; Kapperman, Sticken, & Heinze, 2002; Zhou, Parker, Smith, & Griffin-Shirley, 2011). …

This article examines the Alphabetic Braille Contracted Braille Study in relation to the dimensions of collaborative research: extent, intensity, substance, heterogeneity, velocity, formality, and productivity. It also discusses the dimensions of financing research and researchers' attitudes. The overall consensus is that the study would not have been as comprehensive without collaboration. ********** The Alphabetic Braille and Contracted Braille Study (hereafter the ABC Braille Study) examined the early introduction of braille contractions with young braille readers. This collaborative research study was longitudinal (the data collection spanned five years from 2002 to 2007). It involved a team of 14 researchers from the United States and Canada representing a variety of professional roles, along with numerous observers and participants who assisted with short tasks for designated periods. This article briefly describes the study and examines it with respect to the dimensions of collaboration presented by Hackett (2005b). The perceptions of the participating researchers from a poststudy questionnaire helped identify the characteristics of the process that were significant to those who collaborated on a large, geographically diverse team. Description of the study The ABC Braille Study involved more than 40 students, who were studied for three to five years each, depending on when they entered the study. These students were recruited through their teachers of children with visual impairments. The criteria for participation were that the students had to be in preschool or kindergarten and have no disabilities in addition to visual impairments (that is, blindness or low vision) that might interfere with their being able to learn braille. The teachers of students with visual impairments identified their teaching methods and philosophy for using either contracted or uncontracted braille during beginning reading instruction. The students were then categorized according to their teachers' philosophies. Consent or assent forms were obtained following the protocol approved by the Vanderbilt University Human Subjects Institutional Review Board. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected on the students and reported in numerous articles (Barclay, Herlich, & Sacks, 2010; D'Andrea, 2009; Sacks, Kamei-Hannan, Erin, Barclay, & Sitar, 2009; Wall Emerson, Holbrook, & D'Andrea, 2009; Wall Emerson, Sitar, Erin, Wormsley, & Herlich, 2009; Wright, 2009, 2010; Wright, Wormsley, & Kamei-Hannan, 2009). The focus of this article is the nature of the research collaboration. Collaboration was a critical element from the conception of the study and is still evident as the researchers continue to analyze the data and report the results. The effects of contractions on braille reading have been discussed by professionals for many years, and the possibility of a broad-based study was made more compelling with the findings of Troughton (1992), which suggested some advantage to delaying the introduction of contractions for braille readers. The ABC Braille Study grew from the efforts of Anne Corn. Tuck Tinsley, president of American Printing House for the Blind (APH), was particularly interested in a study on braille reading and agreed to provide $400,000 funding for the study. Dr. Corn involved others who had specific expertise in particular areas to join the team, and was responsible for overseeing the research and finances, negotiating human subjects clearances, and supervising master's degree students from Vanderbilt University who served as support personnel each year. She organized meetings of the research team and observations and assessments of the students who were involved in the study, and recruited other researchers as members of the team as needed. Initially, all the members of the research team were volunteers who had a personal interest and expertise in the topics of early braille reading. …

This article reports the results of data from 114 writing samples of 39 children who read braille and who were included in the Alphabetic Braille and Contracted Braille (ABC) Study between 2002 and 2005. Writing characteristics, miscues, and composition characteristics are analyzed, and two case studies are included.

Children's perceptions of learning to read and write braille were measured using an open-ended 10-item questionnaire. The data were evaluated by amount of time, level of contractedness, and level of achievement. No differences were found with respect to time or the introduction of contractions. Differences were apparent between the high- and low-achievement groups.

This mixed-design investigation examined the social experiences of beginning braille readers who were initially taught contracted or alphabetic braille in literacy activities as part of the ABC Braille Study. No differences in the quality or quantity of social experiences were found between the two groups over time.

This survey examined the experiences of parents of individuals with visual impairments who acquired professional credentials in the field of visual impairment. The participants reported on such topics as the advantages and disadvantages of being a parent-professional, the types of support they seek, and advice to others who are balancing both roles. ********** The proverb "Experience is the best teacher" has been paraphrased across history and throughout cultures. If this belief is valid, then professions related to visual impairment have an important pool of potential recruits in the family members of children and adults with visual impairments who receive educational and rehabilitative services. In addition, parents who are professionals can provide unique perspectives for new professionals in the field who are working to understand the common ground between families and teachers in the learning process. A number of notable leaders in the field, including Natalie Barraga, Ed.D., professor emerita at the University of Texas at Austin, and Susan LaVenture, executive director of the National Association for Parents of Children with Visual Impairments, entered their professions because they had visually impaired children. In her autobiography, Dr. Barraga (2007, p. 52) wrote about her experience trying to gather information from Dr. Lawrence, an ophthalmologist, about her infant daughter's visual impairment: When Dr. Lawrence said that she would always be blind, I argued with him, and said that she could see light, and would reach out to pick up the soap when I bathed her.... Then he explained that he meant she would be "legally blind," which meant 20/ 200 measured acuity. That was the beginning of my concern of calling children legally blind when they had some useful vision, a challenge that has been the driving force in all my research and development of theories and materials for the past 55 years. Barraga did not intend to become a professional in the field of visual impairment, but having a daughter with a visual impairment led her to a career as an educator of students with visual impairments. Although there is little empirical literature on the specific skills acquired by parents of visually impaired students, extensive anecdotal descriptions and qualitative studies have acknowledged the parenting experience as a source of understanding visually impaired children. Examples include McHugh and Lieberman (2003), who used questionnaires and interviews to gather information from parents about the strategies they used to decrease stereotypical behaviors in children; Botting (2003), who discussed the interventions that were effective in discouraging her son's eye pressing; and Bugbee (2006), who described her increased understanding of the ways in which her daughter learned through active involvement with materials. For many parents, the logical extension of their personal learning is to become professionals who can apply the same learning with others who are visually impaired. Parents may first become interested in professional roles in the field because they have become aware of the field through their parental roles. They undertake the intensive preparation needed to be professionals because they want to improve services for their own children who are visually impaired. They then broaden their interests from parents to teachers and become highly motivated to improve the quality of services for all children who are visually impaired. The importance of personal experience as a motivator for becoming a professional in visual impairment was evidenced in Hong, Rosenblum, Petrovay, and Erin's (2000) study, which found that 9.5% of the 428 participants became aware of the field of visual impairment through a family member with a visual impairment and 17.5% entered the profession because of a family member with a visual impairment. …

In the fields of linguistics and cognitive psychology, there is a much-debated theory known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (Ash, 1999). Proponents of the theory hold that words can determine how people think about an idea. Opponents of the theory believe that there are fixed perceptual categories that are not heavily influenced by language. Perhaps the same debate is worth undertaking in special education. When a new term or phrase is introduced, does it reshape the way we conceptualize the idea? The term "primary disability" is one phrase that has the potential to influence perceptions of a child's abilities. Federal child-count data requires that states report the "primary disability" of children with disabilities, described as the "major or overriding disability condition that best identified the individual's impairment; the impairment that is most disabling" (OSEP, 1992). In a data-driven system, it has provided an orderly way of documenting and supporting needs and, in turn, funding for services to meet those needs. However, like many good ideas that have unexpected effects, this one has created artificial categories that restrict as well as enable. For students who have a disability that requires significant educational adaptation, identifying a "primary" disability may help to support their specialized needs; however, students who have several disabling conditions may be overlooked because their adaptive needs cannot be easily linked with a specific disabling condition. Federal law provides only a general definition: a primary disability is the condition that has the greatest effect on the child's learning, when a child has more than one disability. States and school districts must develop their own consistent definition of a "primary disability," and the educational team may consider one or more of the following factors in defining a primary disability: * The disability that will require the most expensive and complex adaptations * The disability that causes the greatest deviation in learning from a typical developmental pattern * The disability that has the greatest effect on academic performance For children who have multiple disabilities, there are some notable disadvantages of the requirement to identify a primary disability. IDENTIFICATION TO MEET INDIVIDUAL NEEDS Some specialized settings for visually impaired students enroll only students who have visual impairment as a primary disability. When the desired setting is seen as a high-quality educational setting, families and educational teams will often agree that the visual impairment is the "primary disability," even though other disabilities are functionally significant-sometimes even more significant than the visual impairment. Often, children with multiple disabilities and visual impairments have severe cognitive disabilities, non-symbolic communication modes, and severe physical disabilities. Many children with lifelong multiple disabilities will never make academic progress due to extensive and severe disabilities, and it is inaccurate to call visual impairment the main reason for their significant delays in learning. The requirement to identify a primary disability sometimes influences professionals and families to magnify the effects of visual impairment so that the child can receive a specialized education that will address his or her diverse needs. UNDERCOUNTING SERVICE NEEDS AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL A second disadvantage has been the restriction imposed by the term "primary disability" in counting visually impaired students for federal purposes. Although more than 60% of students with visual impairments have multiple disabilities, these students are not recognized as visually impaired because of the forced-choice classification of students as multiply disabled OR visually impaired. As a result, there are major differences between the numbers of children identified as visually impaired by various sources. …

This study compared the test scores and time required by high school students who are blind, sighted, or have low vision to complete tests administered in written and oral formats. The quantitative results showed that the blind students performed better on multiple-choice tests in braille and needed more time while taking tests in braille. The interviews revealed inconsistent relationships between the students’ preferred media and performance.

This study compared the reading and spelling skills of students who were taught to read using uncontracted braille versus those who were taught to read using contracted braille. It found no descriptive differences between initial instruction in the two types of braille.

Teachers of students with visual impairments who were visually impaired themselves were interviewed and observed to determine the strategies they have developed to address issues of transportation, access to information, assessment, and instructional responsibilities. They reported that while barriers to assessment could be overcome, transportation and planning presented the greatest challenges.

This article describes an experimental system for administering multiple-choice math tests to students who are visually impaired or otherwise print disabled. Using a new audio-tactile computer peripheral device called the Talking Tactile Tablet, the authors created a preliminary version of a self-voicing test that included 12 items, all of which referred to a graphical element. Users could take the test, working through the items at their own speed and learning about associated tactile graphic diagrams by pressing on various features to hear appropriate audio descriptions.

This article reports on a study of the effects of regular instruction and practice with prescription reading glasses with three students with low vision. The results indicated that two students demonstrated no advantage in reading large print and one student experienced a decreased reading rate using standard print and reading glasses. Furthermore, all three students preferred to read standard print with reading glasses.

This article describes the results of a qualitative study on researchers’ observations of teachers of students with visual impairments and how the teachers spend their time in the classroom. The researchers report on the types of training and services being provided to students, including instruction in areas of the expanded core curriculum, also known as disability-specific skills training.

One of the most complex decisions of the first year of teaching for teachers of students with visual impairments is how to serve children with severe and multiple disabilities effectively. These children typically have a visual diagnosis of cerebral visual impairment (CVI), but their learning characteristics and needs go far beyond their use of vision. Over the past 30 years, university students in visual impairment have needed and received increased preparation to meet the needs of children with CVI. Like other universities, the University of Arizona has steadily incorporated more information about the visual needs of children with CVI into its curriculum to prepare teachers of students with visual impairments and orientation and mobility (OM the focus has expanded from study of the optical system to providing a broader understanding of the neurological system. For Dr. Topor, the works of Gordon Dutton and Lea Hyvarinen were particularly important as she reframed our curriculum; university students must now understand not only the variability of vision, but the reasons why children with CVI are more different from one another than are those with other visual conditions. To include this area in our curriculum means that students may spend a little less time learning about the anatomy of the eye and a little more time understanding how the eye and brain connect. In our teaching methods course, the balance has shifted slightly toward the ways in which children with significant multiple disabilities learn; these students are most often those with CVI. In addition to understanding the roots of CVI, future teachers must also learn to make difficult decisions related to intervention. Studies by Christine Roman, Amanda Lueck, Mary Morse, and others have been carefully examining students' behaviors and responses in order to document effects. However, teachers in practice often find that they have limited time in which to implement a consistent program, especially if they are itinerant; the child who makes little progress may need more intense intervention and a more meaningful context, or may not have the visual ability to respond visually regardless of intervention. The decisions about the extent and type of visual intervention are not clear cut, so how can we guide future teachers to make the best decisions? …

Many readers of the Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness (JVIB) are also parents of school-aged children. As a parent, imagine for a moment that you receive a telephone call from a teacher at your child's school, who says, "We'd like to have your child go out with a trained professional to learn how to travel better in the community." You would probably have many questions: "Who is the person who will be with my child? Can that person ensure my child's safety? What if they are near busy streets and areas where there are strange people? Why does my child need this type of instruction?" You might also wonder whether your child will miss important activities in the classroom and whether learning to travel independently will encourage your child to take too many risks. Finally, you might question whether it is really the school's job to teach children to travel; as a parent, you have taught many travel skills incidentally as your child grows older and your family travels in the community or to unfamiliar places. Professionals who work with people with visual impairments understand the importance of instruction in how to travel in the community at large. Given the significance of such travel, it is easy to overlook the reality that community-based travel instruction is very different from other things taught in schools: Learning to travel requires a child to leave campus regularly with an adult who is not the regular classroom teacher, travel to some lessons by car, go to places where traffic conditions may pose risks, and learn through physical activity instead of through reading, listening, or watching. Although there is now research-based evidence of a link between competence in independent travel and future employment, gathered through analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (McDonnall, 2011; Cmar, 2015; Wolffe & Kelly, 2011), it can still be difficult to convince school administrators, parents, and sometimes students themselves of the importance of targeted instruction in community travel. This month's Practice Perspectives, "Contradictory Instruction of Orientation and Mobility within Virginia's Schools," by Valery Kircher-Herrin, describes the inconsistency of instruction in community-based travel among schools in Virginia. Although both state and federal legislation cited by the author support instruction in this area as recommended by the Individualized Education Program (IEP) team, Ms. …

A recent trend in the fields of special education, rehabilitation, and technology is the development and implementation of assistive technology (AT) devices and services to assist individuals in compensating for disabilities and/or utilizing functional capabilities to meet environmental demands. AT devices and services have major implications for individuals with learning disabilities (LD) regarding life span issues, environmental and curricular accessibility, and compensatory strategies. Faculty members in higher education who are responsible for designing teacher preparation programs in LD must explore ways to structure curricula, methodologies, and practica to better prepare teachers to work with students who use AT devices to compensate for their specific learning disabilities. The purpose of this article is to describe curriculum design steps and barriers to and solutions for infusing LD teacher preparation programs with assistive technology.

The study reported in this article explored the responses of individuals who were being served by an agency for adults with visual impairments to the increasing inclusion of people with developmental disabilities in addition to visual impairments in the agency's activities. Qualitative approaches, including observations, interviews, and a focus group, revealed frequent examples of problem-solving, and a survey administered to 24 participants found widely diverse attitudes.

Existing studies indicate that between 14% and 65% of students with visual disabilities also have learning disabilities. The similar symptoms of the two conditions and the earlier identification of a visual disability often mask the presence of a learning disability. This article addresses definition, assessment, intervention, and future implications related to educational practices with students who have both learning and visual disabilities. The definitions of the two conditions are compared, emphasizing features that make identification difficult. The article examines common assessment procedures, describing approaches that are inappropriate for students who have low vision or blindness. Intervention approaches are described, including adaptations of the environment, enhancement of vision, instruction in compensatory skills, the use of learning strategies, and the availability of learning opportunities. Future directions include refinement of diagnostic approaches, and research related to the characteristics and instructional needs of students who have both visual and learning disabilities.

There is a critical national shortage of teachers prepared to work with children who are blind and those with low vision. This article describes two federally funded projects that addressed the needs of school districts and specialized schools that were unable to locate and employ a teacher of students with visual disabilities. In the Collaborative Model 24 teacher-participants attended traditional on-campus programs 2 days per week while working in their local school districts, often hundreds of miles from campus, 3 days per week. Collaboration among educational agencies is described. Evaluations of the model using data from teacher-participants and school administrators is included along with costs for each project. Data indicate that the Collaborative-business Model is a viable, though more costly model for preparing teachers of students with a low incidence disability.

The lipophilic antioxidant U-18 from the class of hindered phenols prevents the destruction of cultured hippocampal neurons during hypoxia and also in the posthypoxic reoxygenation period, apparently by being stably incorporated into their phospholipid membranes and by safeguarding these from free-radical damage in the course of reoxygenation. On the other hand, the protection afforded to the cultured hippocampal neurons by superoxide dismutase is probably due to its ability to interfere with the posthypoxic neuron-degrading processes mediated through hyperproduction of superoxide radicals in the neuronal cytoplasm.

The current status of knowledge about the roles played by radical reactions in the pathogenesis of cerebral pathologies is reviewed, and it is shown that these reactions are of key importance to the damage sustained by cellular structures of the central nervous system. Novel approaches to the management of cerebral disorders, based on the use of antioxidants, are considered.

At an early age and at a basic level of understanding, children who are visually impaired realize that their vision is different from that of others. This article reports on a survey of 32 parents’ recollections of when their children first demonstrated an awareness that they were visually impaired.

After giving a presentation at a recent conference, I left with an uneasy feeling that some teachers in the audience were hoping to learn the one best way to teach their students. Perhaps everyone who teaches wants to discover exactly how to teach a skill, whether it be braille reading or finding a travel destination. However, this hope can obscure the reality that the best way to learn is not the same for every learner. There can be many good ways to teach a skill, and they may all be effective with different learners, under different conditions. As an example, consider the range of ways in which people typically accomplish a routine task like washing dishes. If you ask friends and colleagues how they wash dishes, you will hear many opinions. Some people wash by hand in the hottest water they can bear, and some insist on using a sponge instead of a dishcloth. Proponents of dishcloths and dishtowels swear by the fact that they wash and dry dishes as their mothers did, defending their choice by the fact that cloth can be tossed into the washer after several uses. Still others believe that only an automatic dishwasher can produce water hot enough to kill germs, and often they rinse every dish before loading the machine. In spite of these strongly-held beliefs, most of us lead full lives that are largely unaffected by our varied choices of dishwashing techniques, aside from occasional debates with family members or roommates. So it is with the methods we use as instructors. A skilled instructor recognizes that a variety of methods can be used to teach a skill. Different approaches may be used, with variations in materials, setting, physical adaptations, motivating factors, and pacing. The best teaching method may be different for individual learners and under various conditions. This issue of the Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness (JVIB) includes a triad of practice items that remind us that one size does not fit all when it comes to teaching. Two Practice Perspectives articles relate the experiences of two teachers who used Diane Wormsley's I-M-ABLE approach, which incorporates meaning and motivation into braille reading instruction. Rachel Schles, a teacher of students with visual impairments in Falls Church, Virginia, describes her successes with Ajay, a boy with autism and decreasing vision, for whom English was a second language. Her success in teaching him braille was clearly related to the use of an approach that allowed her to shape instruction around Ajay's unique characteristics and preferences: he was interested in a tape measure, which became one of his early vocabulary words, and he was motivated to write, so much of his early learning focused on writing stories that focused on meaning rather than precise spelling. Similarly, Jill McMillan, a teacher from Morrisville, North Carolina, had success in teaching her student Kay through the I-MABLE method because the approach could be adapted to the student's individual needs and interests. …

Chlamydiaceae are obligate intracellular Gram-negative bacteria found all over the world and known to cause various forms of disease in animals and humans. Urban pigeons are known to be an important reservoir of Chlamydia psittaci, the agent of human psittacosis. In this study, we examined the influence of pigeon houses used to regulate pigeon populations and of melanin-based coloration on several epidemiological parameters of Chlamydiaceae in 708 urban pigeons in Paris. We also identified species and genotypes of Chlamydiaceae present in Parisian populations. First, our results revealed that pigeons roosting and breeding in pigeon houses were equally infected by Chlamydiaceae as those that did not. Second, we found that dark melanic pigeons excreted more Chlamydiaceae than pale melanic ones. Finally, species and strain diversities were very low: all samples were of C. psittaci genotype B. Nevertheless, two atypical Chlamydiaceae were identified based on 16S rRNA and ompA sequences. Our study thus highlights the importance of considering environmental and host phenotype when investigating the epidemiology of infectious diseases.

This article presents a study of the learning and study skills of 106 high school students with visual impairments, using two instruments—the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory: High School Version and a 35-item extension of the instrument, developed by the authors specifically for students with visual impairments. The study found differences only by the students’ grade-point averages, not by their preferred reading medium, type of school placement, or plans to attend college. It also found that the strategies used by students with visual impairments are similar to those used by sighted students.

This study examined characteristics related to employment, life-style, and quality of life of 70 graduates of the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Although two-thirds of the graduates surveyed were unemployed, high levels of satisfaction, independence, and community integration were reported. Bringing forth issues related to the risk of unemployment for this group reveals the need for further research in effective programming and personal characteristics, which result in gainful employment for persons with visual impairment.

This article analyzes the changing purposes of schools for children with visual impairments in relation to their evolution, current practices, and future functions. It presents three models of future schools that emphasize that schools are becoming more heterogeneous in the orientations and services.

The power and directivity characteristics of the planar regular antenna array operating in mode of the receiving the UWB signal with uniform spectrum in frequency range of 3∶1. Expressions for calculation of the directivity and the effective area of such an antenna array are obtained. Results of computations of the 5×5 array performance are presented.