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This inquiry into narrative explores the often-silenced migration narratives of three refugee students from Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq. It is centered around two particular wonderings based in a critical literacy framework. First, what tenets of critical literacy seem most prominent in the narratives of refugee students from the Middle East? Second, what critical understanding of their migration experience do refugee students bring to the classroom? The conceptualized framework is understood as "The Centrality of Experience in Critical Literacy," wherein experience is central and valuable. This study applies the framework using stories as the source from which to better understand how individuals make sense of their worlds. Through a five-phase analysis, which included: free coding, literature derived coding, analysis of time and sequence, narrative pattern coding, and analysis of language, I find rich understandings of 1) the political, non-neutral nature of the world, 2) a fight for access to knowledge, and 3) a hope for envisioned future possibilities as the students seek belonging, refuge, and dreams, reclaiming the power of their own narratives. This inquiry into narrative additionally contributes the three stories and two audio recordings as a cultural data set, which can be used in the classroom.

Purpose: This study aims to explore the stories of two young refugee women, Sue Mar and Amora, and how their adolescent identities, experiences, and beliefs, partially shaped by their English teacher, helped pave their paths to higher education. Design/methodology/approach: This study is guided by the lens of critical literacy as "a way of being and doing" (Vasquez et al., 2019). The authors chose portraiture, a participant-centered methodology, as a response to the historical marginalization of refugees, to bring their voices to the forefront (Lawrence-Lightfoot and Davis, 1997). They draw from interviews conducted with Sue Mar and Amora, document analysis, and an interview with the English teacher. Findings: In Sue Mar and Amora's portraits, aspiration and determination are seen as primary factors in their college-going. In addition, Sue Mar and Amora were propelled by their English teacher's support through the cultivation of a loving relationship, high expectations, and critical pedagogical practices. Their family and community fostered beliefs about the power and potential of education, and other refugees served as important role models. Research limitations/implications: Researchers should explore refugee students' experiences accessing higher education. Practical implications: English educators should connect literature to the lived experiences of their students to show that they value their students' knowledge and past experiences. Social implications: Policymakers should consider the role that community colleges play in the lives of refugee students and should support programs including tuition reduction for refugee students. Originality/value: As only 6% of refugees currently attend college (UNHCR, 2023), it is essential to understand factors that contributed to students' college-going.

Male spotted bowerbirds perform vigorous courtship dances to visiting females on elaborate display arenas. Each arena is built and defended by one dominant male, which commonly tolerates one or more subordinate males. These non-territorial “auxiliary” males are thought to be inexperienced sub-adults. The skills hypothesis suggests that auxiliaries attend established bowers to practice their courtship skills, but little is known about the development of courtship motor performance and which courtship properties are refined with experience. Here we investigate whether auxiliaries are as proficient as bower owners in performing courtship. First, we investigate whether specific courtship moves are used in different contexts within a courtship routine and whether such flexible use of courtship elements is shared both by bower owners and auxiliaries. Second, we examine other fine-scale parameters of courtship dances, in order to further test for possible differences in courtship properties depending on dominance status.

Differences in prosody behavior between individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their typically developing peers have been considered a central feature of ASD since the earliest clinical descriptions of the disorder (e.g., Kanner, 1943/1973). Prosody includes pitch and volume among other dimensions of vocal-verbal behavior that discriminate responses of the listener; thus, people with ASD whose prosody has confusing or off-putting effects may have fewer social opportunities at work, at school, or in the community. The purpose of this review is to examine the state of the literature intervening on prosody with individuals with ASD and to provide recommendations for researchers who are interested in contributing to the scientific understanding of prosody.

Better conversational skills correspond to a higher quality of life for adults diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this study, we taught vocal--verbal responses discriminated by compound arrangements of concealed conversation partner mands to two college students with ASD. Participants learned to engage in self-questioning about their conversation partner's behavior and to reinforce three concealed mands for termination of an aversive conversation scenario. We assessed generalization to conversation probes with trained confederates and to interactions with untrained conversational partners (e.g., peers, professors). Finally, we collected peer ratings of the social validity of changes in conversational behavior as well as participants' ratings of study goals, procedures, and outcomes.

Employing an explanatory design, this study set out to investigate the morphosyntacticstructures of the SMS language of Communication English I students, and the types of SMSlanguage features used in their written work at a university of technology in South Africa. Thestudy randomly sampled 90 undergraduate students (M = 40; F = 50) enrolled for a nationaldiploma programme during the first academic semester in 2013. Their ages ranged from 19-22years; they all spoke English as a second language, whilst having one of the five black SouthAfrican languages as their home language. The study had two types of data: participants' mobilephone text messages (in two sets), and their writing samples. Two of the findings of the studyare: the morphological structure of the textisms used in the participants' text messages deviatedfrom that applicable to formal, standard English, whereas much of their syntactic structure didnot; and, the frequency and proportion of textisms in participants' writing samples were lowerthan that reported in studies by Freudenberg (2009) and Rosen et al. (2010).

Mathematics anxiety is a global phenomenon that has generated research interest over the past four decades. Many researchers have suggested that girls display higher levels of mathematics anxiety than boys. This article explores that conjecture in the New Zealand context. It reports on the prevalence of mathematics anxiety in adolescents and investigates the factors that influence students' mathematics anxiety in mathematics classrooms. Participants in the study were Year 9 students (N = 415) from seven secondary schools in New Zealand. Students were asked to indicate their levels of mathematics test anxiety and mathematics learning anxiety. Statistical analyses confirmed that girls report higher levels of mathematics anxiety than boys. Findings revealed that girls' mathematics anxiety increased with school decile, and was higher in single-sex girls-only schools. Mathematics test anxiety was a major contributor to levels of mathematics anxiety. The article offers a number of strategies that schools might put in place aimed at reducing mathematics anxiety.

Recommendations for surgical repair of a congenital heart defect in children with trisomy 13 or trisomy 18 remain controversial, are subject to biases, and are largely unsupported with limited empirical data. This has created significant distrust and uncertainty among parents and could potentially lead to suboptimal care for patients. A working group, representing several clinical specialties involved with the care of these children, developed recommendations to assist in the decision-making process for congenital heart defect care in this population. The goal of these recommendations is to provide families and their health care teams with a framework for clinical decision making based on the literature and expert opinions. This project was performed under the auspices of the AATS Congenital Heart Surgery Evidence-Based Medicine Taskforce. A Patient/Population, Intervention, Comparison/Control, Outcome process was used to generate preliminary statements and recommendations to address various aspects related to cardiac surgery in children with trisomy 13 or trisomy 18. Delphi methodology was then used iteratively to generate consensus among the group using a structured communication process. Nine recommendations were developed from a set of initial statements that arose from the Patient/Population, Intervention, Comparison/Control, Outcome process methodology following the groups' review of more than 500 articles. These recommendations were adjudicated by this group of experts using a modified Delphi process in a reproducible fashion and make up the current publication. The Class (strength) of recommendations was usually Class IIa (moderate benefit), and the overall level (quality) of evidence was level C-limited data. This is the first set of recommendations collated by an expert multidisciplinary group to address specific issues around indications for surgical intervention in children with trisomy 13 or trisomy 18 with congenital heart defect. Based on our analysis of recent data, we recommend that decisions should not be based solely on the presence of trisomy but, instead, should be made on a case-by-case basis, considering both the severity of the baby's heart disease as well as the presence of other anomalies. These recommendations offer a framework to assist parents and clinicians in surgical decision making for children who have trisomy 13 or trisomy 18 with congenital heart defect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reciprocal conversations, instructional activities, and other social interactions are replete with multiply controlled intraverbals, examples of which have been conceptualized in terms of conditional discriminations. Although the acquisition of conditional discriminations has been examined extensively in the behavior-analytic literature, little research has evaluated procedures to establish multiply controlled intraverbals. Thus, the purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the effects of procedures based on conditional discrimination training on the acquisition of multiply controlled intraverbals with 7 participants who had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. We evaluated the effects of prompt delay with error correction, a differential observing response (DOR), and a DOR plus blocked trials on the acquisition of intraverbals using a multiple baseline design. Accuracy of intraverbal performance increased for at least 1 set of stimuli for all participants under prompt delay with error correction conditions; however, 4 participants required additional teaching (i.e., DOR, modified DOR, modified prompt delay with error correction). Based on these findings, when prompt delay with error correction is not sufficient to establish multiply controlled intraverbals, prompted DORs may be an effective alternative.

The purpose of this study is to explore how one community-based organization supports adolescents through the transition from high school to college, specifically looking at the experiences of three late-arriving refugee-background students who successfully gained access to higher education. Through the critical conceptual framework of community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005), we present this case study in hopes of ultimately sharing what community-based organizations can do to support schools and refugee-background students in their transition to higher education. We found that this organization helps refugee youth to (1) build social connections and a sense of community through mentoring and networking; (2) navigate a new environment by “walking alongside” students; and (3) bolster aspirations to go beyond by celebrating their successes. Additionally, we describe how the support is perceived by the students and how the support impacts them. Finally, we share implications for practice for the focus organization, other community-based organizations, and educators of refugee-background students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Late-onset hyponatremia (LOH) frequently affects premature infants 2 or more weeks of age due to inadequate sodium intake and excessive kidney loss. Late-onset hyponatremia typically occurs in infants who are physiologically stable and is defined as serum sodium of 132 mEq/L or less or between 133 and 135 mEq/L if receiving sodium supplementation. Recent evidence suggests that spot urine sodium levels may improve the recognition of LOH, as low levels of excreted urine reflect a total body sodium deficit and negative balance. Untreated LOH may result in poor somatic growth, neurodevelopmental delay, higher incidence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia, and more severe retinopathy of prematurity. The primary prevention of LOH is to maintain serum sodium between 135 and 145 mEq/L; however, there are currently no formal protocols guiding sodium supplementation. The purpose of this article is to present on overview of LOH pathophysiology and its effect on somatic growth, neurodevelopment outcomes, and other related sequelae. We further discuss general management strategies and describe a protocol for sodium supplementation that is presently undergoing an evaluation for effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Axe (2008) speculated that some instances of intraverbal responding might be associated with limited or delayed acquisition because they require discrimination of multiple components of verbal stimuli. Past studies suggest that acquisition of responses under control of complex, multicomponent antecedent stimuli (e.g., conditional or compound stimulus control) can be facilitated with the introduction of a differential observing response (DOR; Dube & McIlvane, 1999; Gutowski, Geren, Stromer, & Mackay, 1995). The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effects of a DOR (i.e., repeating the question) on intraverbal responding with six neurotypical preschool children. Findings included that (a) accuracy of intraverbal performance increased when the experimenter prompted a DOR; (b) 1 of 6 participants overtly emitted the DOR for a second relation in the absence of prompts, which was correlated with increased accuracy; and (c) following mastery, response accuracy was variable for 3 participants. Based on these findings, prompted DORs may offer an effective, if temporary, aid to intraverbal instruction for neurotypical preschool children.

This article focuses on the experience of "Desirae," a young mother who participated with her children in services at The Children's Ark, an attachment-based intervention for families in foster care. The story of Desirae and her children highlights both the sometimes paradoxical truths about families fractured by addiction, abuse, and neglect and the nature of lasting change that challenge the current child welfare system. Informed by attachment theory and other psychodynamically oriented perspectives as well as Buddhist psychology and mindfulness, the authors stimulate further thinking about how professionals can manage challenges with creativity and compassion, by keeping relationships at the center of care for families in crisis.

Nearly 14% of people over age 71 have some form of dementia, with prevalence increasing to nearly 40% of those over age 90. As dimentia progresses, it impacts a person's independent functions and can increase the burden on caregivers. The use of assistive devices can help individuals with dementia live more independently. However, older individuals with cognitive impairment have difficulties using assistive technology devices because the devices are not designed to address their needs. The development of "smart devices" has potential in assisting older adults with cognitive impairment. Eleven community-dwelling seniors with moderate cognitive impairment (Mini-Mental State Examination scores ranging from 12-20) participated in this study. The Functional Independence Measure scores of participants were also collected to determine participants' current level of independence on selected tasks. Three tasks were selected to represent three levels of complexity: drinking water, brushing teeth, and upper body dressing. Participants were prompted through these tasks with simulated smart machine-based prompting. The need for prompts was highly individual, but given appropriate machine-delivered messages, participants completed the tasks an average of 86% of the time across the three self-care tasks. Machine-based prompting devices could aid caregivers as well as increase independence in some tasks. (Contains 5 tables.)

Suggests that, rather than the electronic book, the technology that is most likely to transform reading and writing will be electronic paper (e-paper). Traces the evolution of e-paper from its prototype created by Xerox PARC's Nick Sheridon in 1975 to the E Ink/Lucent e-paper made from e-ink and plastic transistors. Highlights future possibilities. (AEF)

Using Anglo-Nigerian Pidgin as an illustration, this article demonstrates that there may be a need to broaden the scope of ethnolinguistic vitality to take cognizance of languages such as Pidgins and Creoles that may not be categorizable as ethnic languages or languages of any particular social group. (Author/VWL)