Search

A meeting organized under the auspices of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disabilities (IASSID) Academy on Education, Teaching and Research was held in March 2011 at the India International Centre in New Delhi, India, with the explicit purpose of helping establish a road map for future research in intellectual disabilities (ID) in India and to forge alliances among like-minded researchers and practitioners to move forward on countrywide research. The participants were drawn from nongovernmental and governmental groups, private consultancies, psychology, researchers, and policymakers, and they were interested in research dissemination, research methodologies, and research ethics. The participants developed a framework for research strategies and defined important areas for further research in ID for India. Based on the discussions, the following research strategy areas were identified: prevalence studies, human ethics, human rights, prevention, interventions, research syntheses of existing research that has been conducted in India, dissemination of existing research, building research capacity, and disaster preparedness. As each priority area required further discussion and feedback, agreement was achieved that such further discussions and collaborations would follow. The follow-up is a process which involves the simultaneous and synergistic development of policies and practices at the application and governmental levels.

Case studies of students enrolled in a specialized secondary school in Singapore describe the experiences of flow among 14 teacher-nominated adolescents talented both in the arts and in academics. Individual in-depth interviews were conducted with the respondents to discern whether they experience flow as they each engage in their respective art forms (visual arts, dance, music, and theater). Qualitative analysis of the interview transcripts reveals elements of the flow state (clear goals, intense concentration, enjoyment, loss of self-consciousness, transformation of time) highly evident among the talented teenagers. Environmental supports that enable expressions of artistic inclinations and identities within the Singapore context were likewise in conjunction with implications for arts-educators and artist-practitioners. (Contains 1 table.)

Assistive technologies are essential enablers for individuals with visual impairments, but although Singapore is technologically advanced, students with visual impairments are not yet full participants in this technological society. This study investigates the barriers and challenges to the use of assistive technologies by students with visual impairments in Singapore in a special school context. Findings reveal limited content knowledge amongst teachers in assistive technology resulting in inconsistencies and inadequacies in the delivery of instruction. Students also display a mixed range of abilities ranging from little to basic knowledge. Where formal channels fail to impart knowledge, family and external influences are found to feature as potentially important contributors to skill acquisition in assistive technology and access. The evidence highlights an urgent need to equip teachers with training in assistive technology and to strengthen collaboration between school and stakeholders.

This paper considers the circumstances under which science teachers can respond positively and productively to educational policy reforms in the area of science practical assessment. To understand what might be involved in linking science teachers' assessment capacities and their professional development, we present illustrative data from recent research studies conducted in Singapore and Hong Kong showing contrasting approaches taken in the implementation of reforms in science practical assessment. In Singapore, teachers worked together to select, discuss, clarify and refine their practices as they made decisions about what to teach and assess. In Hong Kong, teachers took a critical stance towards the new policy and learnt from their own experiences in order to build their confidence. With the same policy initiative, one group of teachers focused more on the technicalities of complying with requirements imposed on them while in the other group had their professional consciousness of what they thought was best for their students provoked so that their practices would be transformed. In an attempt to draw lessons for other contexts in supporting the implementation of assessment policy reforms through professional development work, we identify and discuss a range of factors in science teachers' professional development that arise once "in situ" professional development work has started. Overall, our intent in this article is to recast assessment reform as a driver or pivot in teachers' professional development and learning. To do this it is necessary, we argue, to afford teachers' experiences and the processes involved in learning from them greater emphasis in order to ensure the continuance of innovation in the assessment of laboratory-based work.

Creating inquiry- and standards-based science curricula that meet wide-ranging learner needs and preferences requires strategic planning and organization. The common practice of retrofitting or modifying existing instructional and curriculum materials to accommodate individual learner needs too often overshadows the concept of designing universal learning experiences, which aim to minimize the need for accommodations and modifications. Universal design is a framework for integrating flexible, usable, and accessible teaching and learning technologies with inquiry- and standards-based science curricula. This article presents an overview of how universal design and technology can advance science for all and provides scenarios of universal design in practice. (Contains 2 figures and 10 online resources.)

Describes research in progress that examines the personal and professional experiences of faculty from colleges and universities in North America and abroad after they engage in academic visits and exchanges at other higher-learning institutions. The research goal is to improve the quality of faculty visits and exchanges. (CDS)

This article reviews the current literature on the assessment of students with disabilities with emphasis on evaluating student needs and preferences for transition services as required by federal legislation. Analyses of studies reported in 11 articles are summarized. The review indicates a lack of consensus on the most appropriate ways to assess transition needs and preferences. (CR)

This overview of recent developments in redefining attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder summarizes articles about assessment instruments and procedures and identifies important issues, including the construct of hyperactivity as it relates to attention, classification systems, and the lack of technical adequacy of many assessment instruments being used. Direct observation using multiple instruments and methods is recommended. (DB)

The Wechsler Individual Achievement Test assesses achievement in students in grades K-12, with subtests in reading, mathematics reasoning, spelling, reading comprehension, numerical operations, listening comprehension, oral expression, and written expression. The test was developed to assist in identification of students with learning disabilities. This review discusses administration, interpretation of scores, standardization, reliability, and validity. (JDD)

Three Maine studies examined the school-to-work transition of special needs students, focusing on (1) transition-related programs, policies, and practices in Maine secondary schools; (2) educator attitudes toward and opinions about transition services; and (3) employment outcomes of special education high school graduates. (SV)

As Ziegler and Phillipson discussed in their article "Towards a systemic theory of gifted education," various paradigms, models and theories have been described in the extensive literature on giftedness. According to Ziegler and Phillipson, there is a pressing need for new models of giftedness--they call for a paradigm shift. The actiotope model is advanced as a way to move the field forward. In this peer commentary, the author affirms Ziegler's and Phillipson's call for new models and paradigms of giftedness. While Ziegler and Phillipson and others are critical of research in the field of giftedness, they advance a paradigm that has not been fully tested. Kuhn's vision, which has influenced researchers world-wide, offers a pathway to get "unstuck" from the insular, fractured, and contested state of gifted education (Ambrose et al., 2010). Kuhn's emphasis on the importance of rigorously testing paradigms and models should be heeded. Ziegler and Phillipson could focus on the steps and processes, as beautifully described by Kuhn, and identify specific evidence, support their paradigm through substantiation, formulate and reformulate the paradigm in order to advance gifted education so that the research literature matures and deep knowledge can influence practices.

Legal rights of the fetus and selective abortion are the major focus of a review of legal cases and educational literature concerning fetuses that may be handicapped or have the potential to be handicapped at birth. Related issues include parental immunity, protection of an unborn child, and quality of life. (Author/JW)

The article compares the roles of remedial reading specialists and learning disability specialists with children with reading problems. To foster a working relationship between the two specialties, such recommendations as inservice programs for all professionals working with disabled readers are offered. (DB)