Georgette Goupil

Focus on Practice: Parent and Teacher Perceptions of Individualised Transition Planning

This article presents the results from a pilot study of individualised transition planning (from school to adulthood) for students with learning disabilities in Quebec, Canada, an area in which there is currently no requirement to undertake individual transition planning. The authors, Georgette Goupil, of the Universite du Quebec a Montreal, Marc J. Tasse, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Nathalie Garcin, of Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario and Catherine Dore, of the Universite du Quebec a Montreal, discuss the content of the plans; the process of preparing them; and the perceptions of parents and school personnel who participated in the study. The results, based on the preparation of 21 individualised transition plans (ITP), indicate that while students had limited participation in their own ITP, parents were pleased with the ITP process. Parents, however, reported several concerns about their child’s transition towards the assumption of adult roles and responsibilities. Analyses of the ITP objectives revealed that few ITP objectives focused on work and leisure skills. Parents and school personnel reported having little knowledge of community options available for the students with respect to residential settings. Finally, parents acknowledged that they had little knowledge and understanding of potential employers’ expectations in relation to work for adults with disabilities. These results are discussed with respect to factors that may facilitate the transition from school to adulthood for students with learning disabilities and will provide interesting points of comparison for those involved in transition planning in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In order to support these comparisons, the authors have used the term ‘learning disabilities’ throughout this article to describe those students who would be identified in the United States as having ‘mental retardation’.

Élèves en difficulté d'adaptation et d'apprentissage

L’intégration scolaire désigne le fait qu’on place un élève ayant des besoins particuliers dans un environnement scolaire adapté à ses besoins, par exemple une classe spéciale dans une école régulière. Quant à l’inclusion scolaire, elle réfère plutôt au fait qu’on place cet élève, quelles que soient ses difficultés, dans une classe ordinaire correspondant à son âge et située dans l’école de son quartier (1, 2).

Fear and Depression in Patients with Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia

Abstract This study compares a group of 75 patients presenting panic disorder with agoraphobia according to DSM-III-R diagnostic criteria with a group of 75 normal subjects (15 men, 60 women) on the Fear Survey Schedule (FSS-II) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The results showed a correlation between the fear scores and depression scores. Patients with a panic disorder with agoraphobia diagnosis reported anxiety and depression levels that were higher than those reported by the normal subjects. The discussion concerns the correlations obtained from the two populations for both questionnaires, the relationships between panic disorder, phobias and depression, the methodological limits of this study and future perspectives for correlational and descriptive studies.

Pratiques et Perceptions des Psychologues Scolaires Face à l’Évaluation des Élèves en Difficulté d’Apprentissage au Québec

This article explores the assessment practices of Quebec school psychologists in the evaluation of elementary school students referred for suspected learning disabilities as well as their perceptions of these practices. The purpose of this study is to identify the ratio of learning disabled students within the school psychologist’s clientele, the time spent assessing these students, the learning disabilities definition used by psychologists, the most frequently used assessment tools, and the psychologist’s role in the diagnosis of learning disabilities. Seventy-six school psychologists participate in this research. The majority of participants estimates that learning-disabled students represent more than 50% of their clientele. Seventy-two percent of the time they devote to these students is spent doing assessments. Results show that all participants use the Wechsler Scales. However, their assessment practices vary greatly, as they use a variety of other tests. They deplore the lack of consensus over assessment and identification procedures.