Daryl Greaves

The Effect of Rational-Emotive Parent Education on the Stress of Mothers of Young Children with Down Syndrome

Parents of children with disabilities are likely to experience more stress than parents of normal children. This study assessed the effectiveness of a Rational-Emotive Parent Education Program (REPE) in reducing parental stress. The REPE program focused only on core irrationalities to determine the efficacy of elegant disputation. Mothers of young children attending an early intervention centre for Down syndrome were randomly allocated to three groups, experimental, REPE, n = 21; a comparative-treatment control, Applied Behaviour Analysis, (ABA) n = 17; and a no-treatment control, n = 16. A pretest post-test design was used with there being eight seminars of both the REPE and ABA programs. On both the Profile of Mood States and the Parenting Stress Index (Parent Domain) totals the REPE group showed significant reductions in stress compared with both control groups. The results from some subscales and single items suggested that the early intervention centre program also reduced stress. The REPE program using elegant disputation reduced parental stress.

How are pre‐service teachers in Australia being prepared for teaching literacy and numeracy to a diverse range of students?

Abstract An Australia‐wide project gathered beginning teachers’ and experienced teachers’ views on how well preservice teacher education courses had prepared them to teach literacy and numeracy. One focus was how well prepared the beginning teachers felt to teach students who had diverse learning needs. It was found that a good percentage of teachers did not feel adequately prepared to teach students with diverse learning needs. In particular, knowledge to teach phonics and spelling was a concern. A highly regarded model for preservice teacher training was a placement in a clinical setting where individual assessments and programs were written and implemented.

Perceived Control and Adaptive Coping: Programs for Adolescent Students who have Learning Disabilities

This study explored the effect of a coping program and a teacher feedback intervention on perceived control and adaptive coping for 98 adolescent students who had specific learning disabilities. The coping program was modified to build personal control and to address the needs of students who have specific learning disabilities. The teacher feedback program emphasized use of effort and strategy in the face of difficulty. Oneway analyses of covariance of student responses indicated a greater perceived control of external situations and increased use of productive coping strategies for the group who received the coping program. There was no change in internal control of feelings or of use of non-productive coping. These results were maintained over the two-month follow-up period. The study provides preliminary evidence that it is possible to facilitate positive change in both sense of control and coping patterns for students who have learning disabilities.

Coping Styles and Strategies: A Comparison of Adolescent Students With and Without Learning Disabilities

In this study, the authors compared the results of a coping measure completed by 98 seventh through ninth grade students who were assessed as having learning disabilities with published means from the general Australian student population. The Adolescent Coping Scale was the measure used. The results suggested higher use by students aged 12 to 13 years who had learning disabilities of an overall nonproductive coping style and in particular of the nonproductive strategies of ignoring the problem and not coping. Although there was no difference in overall productive or nonproductive coping style for 14- to 15-year-olds, the students in this age group who had learning disabilities reported higher use of the strategies of not coping and ignoring the problem. These findings are discussed in relation to a need for interventions that give students who have learning disabilities strategies that address the risk of a passive coping style.

Mapping the diversity of services and interventions for students with learning difficulties

(2000). Mapping the diversity of services and interventions for students with learning difficulties. Australian Journal of Learning Disabilities: Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 34-38.

The contribution of phonological processing skills to reading comprehension in grades one and three.

Abstract During the last decade, the importance of the relationship between phonological processing skills to reading performance has been highlighted. The aim of this study was to examine differences between above average and below average readers (determined by a reading comprehension test) on phonological processing skills at grade one and at grade three. There were 35 grade one, and 34 grade three students from two primary schools. Data from phonemic awareness and phonological awareness tests were subjected to t‐tests. The below average readers in both grade one and three had fewer phonological processing skills than the above average readers. The importance of students’ cognitive functioning to reading comprehension appeared more important at the grade one level than at the grade three level. The study indicated that below average readers, particularly at grade one, would benefit from explicit teaching in both phonemic and phonological awareness skills.

The educational uses of the WISC‐III

Abstract In practice, the WISC‐III is the foundation of a thorough assessment of a child with a learning difficulty. The interpretation of its scores provides suggestions for further confirmatory assessments and suggests the nature of educational interventions. On the other hand, while there is general agreement the WISC‐III provides a sound assessment of general intelligence, there is little support from psychometric analyses of both the WISC‐R and the WISC‐III for the use of factor scores and profiles such as ACID in the interpretation of the scores. This paper supports the continued interpretation of WISC‐III scores to provide hypotheses regarding the nature of learning difficulties experienced by children. When interpreting the results from a WISC‐III or a similar assessment, it is essential to keep the following caveat in mind, that “those who are responsible for interpreting the results of intelligence testing must be careful to distinguish between test scores or IQs on the one hand and intelligence...

Mothers' Observations of Children with Down Syndrome Coping with Demands to Adapt.

Fifty-five mothers of young children with Down syndrome completed the Parenting Stress Index. A low internal reliability coefficient for the Adaptability/Plasticity Child Domain subscale raised questions regarding the validity of this scale for these children. A factor analysis of the scale itself found that the Adaptability/Plasticity factor did not perform as a uni-dimensional structure, providing instead information on the types of coping strategies used by these children when they are required to adapt.