Pedagogically bereft! Improving learning outcomes for children with foetal alcohol spectrum disorders

Foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is the most common non‐genetic cause of learning disability, affecting around 1% of live births in Europe, and costing an estimated $2.9 million per individual across their lifespan. In adulthood, non‐reversible brain damage is often compounded by secondary disabilities in adulthood, such as mental health problems and drug addiction. The challenge for today's educators is: ‘How do we teach children with FASD?’ Their unusual style of learning and their extreme challenging behaviour is out of the experience of many teachers. This article, written by Professor Barry Carpenter, OBE, National Director of the Specialist Schools & Academies Trust Complex Learning Difficulties and Disabilities Research Project, considers the status of FASD in the UK, and provides an overview of the author's recent research into effective educational strategies within the framework of Every Child Matters. Only government‐led approaches can lead to improvements in the quality of teaching and learning for children with FASD and their future life chances.     

Defining the family: towards a critical framework for families of children with disabilities

ABSTRACT

Family‐centred approaches are widely recognized internationally as the most ecologically appropriate way of working with families of children with disabilities. Pivotal in this approach is its focus upon the needs of the whole family, rather than only the needs of the child (with a disability). It places a significant emphasis on flexible and responsive transdisciplinary service delivery and upon parent choice and decision‐making. For the family‐centred approach to become truly effective, then, we must define what constitutes a family. Or rather ask families how they define themselves. Alongside an exploration of traditional and non‐traditional family roles, this paper challenges stereotypical notions of the family, and seeks to establish the family as the core element in any service team.     

Multivariate analyses of individual variation in soccer skill as a tool for talent identification and development: utilising evolutionary theory in sports science

The development of a comprehensive protocol for quantifying soccer-specific skill could markedly improve both talent identification and development. Surprisingly, most protocols for talent identification in soccer still focus on the more generic athletic attributes of team sports, such as speed, strength, agility and endurance, rather than on a player’s technical skills. We used a multivariate methodology borrowed from evolutionary analyses of adaptation to develop our quantitative assessment of individual soccer-specific skill. We tested the performance of 40 individual academy-level players in eight different soccer-specific tasks across an age range of 13–18 years old. We first quantified the repeatability of each skill performance then explored the effects of age on soccer-specific skill, correlations between each of the pairs of skill tasks independent of age, and finally developed an individual metric of overall skill performance that could be easily used by coaches. All of our measured traits were highly repeatable when assessed over a short period and we found that an individual’s overall skill – as well as their performance in their best task – was strongly positively correlated with age. Most importantly, our study established a simple but comprehensive methodology for assessing skill performance in soccer players, thus allowing coaches to rapidly assess the relative abilities of their players, identify promising youths and work on eliminating skill deficits in players.     

Maximum Product,Even Less Process: Increasing Efficiencies in Archival Processing Using ArchivesSpace

As the archival profession has adapted to new challenges and adopted modern practices like More Product, Less Process, the University of Minnesota has embraced these changes. Even so, implementing new practices can take time and effort. With the adoption of ArchivesSpace in 2016, the University found itself being fast-tracked to even more efficient methods for establishing physical and intellectual control over collections. This article will examine the case studies of two large collections that were in the midst of being processed when ArchivesSpace was implemented at the University of Minnesota. How did the switch to ArchivesSpace impact the processing of these collections, and how will these experiences impact the future of archival processing at the University?     

Count us in: the role of schools and colleges in meeting the mental health needs of young people with learning disabilities

In December 2002, the Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities' Committee of Inquiry into the mental health needs of young people with learning disabilities produced its report.
Barry Carpenter, Chief Executive at Sunfield and Chair of the committee, and Hazel Morgan, head of the Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities, take this opportunity to share some insights into the workings of the committee and summarise the key findings. The committee drew evidence from a range of sources, but placed the voices and experiences of young people with learning disabilities at the centre of their proceedings. The committee's findings and recommendations were wide ranging and will have far-reaching implications, but there are immediate messages that schools and colleges should hear. It is upon these messages, taking account of pastoral provision, the curriculum, transition and inter-agency work, that Barry Carpenter and Hazel Morgan focus in this article.     

Year 5 pupils reading an "Interactive Storybook" on CD-ROM: losing the plot?

The use of "interactive storybooks" in the primary classroom may facilitate small group and individual reading with minimal teacher intervention. This small-scale study examines whether small groups of Year 5 pupils, without teacher supervision, progress linearly through an "interactive storybook" and whether such diversions as cued animations affect pupil comprehension. The study finds that more intensive choice of diversions affects some pupils' comprehension.     

The emotional labor of doing ‘boy work’: Considering affective economies of boyhood in schooling

Abstract

Internationally, the research on the education of boys has sought to understand how social practices, behaviours and rituals contribute to identity construction. We are interested in approaches to the emotional labor of doing ‘boy work’. As educators grapple with the gendered performances and subjectivities of young men, there is an imperative to engage with the affective dimensions of boyhood. We explore what theories of affect can add to our understandings of masculinities and masculine identity practices in rapidly changing affective economies of gender and, specifically, what this may mean for relationships formed between educators and students. To illustrate how theories of affect can open up new analytical spaces, we present two vignettes from a program in the United States designed to support young men and boys to gain critical awareness of restrictive ‘gender norms’. Drawing primarily upon Ahmed’s work on affective economies, we theorize how attention to affective economies of boyhood can positively influence the work of educators today.     

The Relationship Between Physical,Sexual, and Emotional Abuse and Unhealthy Weight Loss Behaviors

The authors investigated the relationship between abuse in adult relationships and the tendency to engage in unhealthy weight loss behaviors. Undergraduate women responded to questions regarding weight loss behaviors, whether or not they had recently been in an abusive relationship, and perceived body image. Results indicated that women who had recently been in abusive relationships were more likely to endorse unhealthy weight loss. Implications for college counselors are discussed.