Pediatric Developmental Screening: Understanding and Selecting Screening Instruments

Based on a review of research on developmental screening instruments, provides a manual for selecting and applying tools for screening for both general and specific problems. Includes an interactive questionnaire that links to the recommended instrument

Safeguarding in schools : best practice

"This report illustrates and evaluates the features of best practice in safeguarding, based on inspection evidence from the 19% of all maintained primary, secondary and special schools, residential special schools and pupil referral units inspected between September 2009 and July 2010 where safeguarding had been judged outstanding. It also draws on a more detailed analysis and evaluation of safeguarding practice in a small sample of outstanding schools visited by Her Majesty’s Inspectors" -- front cover

Iowa Public Television’s Planning Targets 2011-2014

Agency Performance Plan, Iowa Public Televisio

Systems Theory in Special Education

In this review I looked at 22 articles that explored two of the primary interventional perspectives used when addressing the needs of exceptional students. A number of the articles elucidate the present prevalence of student based practices in U.S. schools, administration, and legislation. The body of the literature surveys how family centered interventions can be, and are used, to better serve students by integrating the needs and concerns of the family, as well as those of the student. The review was concluded with a discussion of the importance of finding a balance between the current legislative trend which emphasizes a student's needs based on an annual standards driven success model, versus a model which emphasizes the development of the whole child at home, and in the school, during all educational and developmental stages

Website Blocked: Filtering Technology in Schools and School Libraries

This paper investigates the impact of filtering software in K-12 schools and school libraries. The Children\u27s Internet Protection Act, or CIPA, requires that public schools and school libraries use filtering technology in order to receive discounted rates on technology. As a result, nearly all public elementary and secondary schools today use filtering technology. While the provisions of CIPA narrowly define the content to be blocked, filters are often set to block much more than is required. Filtering technology is often ineffective, and many unobjectionable sites end up being blocked, including Web 2.0 sites and tools needed to educate students in a 21st century learning environment. Filtering software raises other issues as well, such as First Amendment implications, a possible digital divide between students that have unfiltered access to online content at home and those that do not, and the loss of opportunity to educate students on how to be good digital citizens. These issues should be acknowledged and addressed. There are many options available to librarians, educators, administrators, and other stakeholders that can increase students\u27 access to online information and educational tools while still protecting children from inappropriate online content and complying with the requirements of CIPA

Finding the Most Uniform Changes in Vowel Polygon Caused by Psychological Stress

Using vowel polygons, exactly their parameters, is chosen as the criterion for achievement of differences between normal state of speaker and relevant speech under real psychological stress. All results were experimentally obtained by created software for vowel polygon analysis applied on ExamStress database. Selected 6 methods based on cross-correlation of different features were classified by the coefficient of variation and for each individual vowel polygon, the efficiency coefficient marking the most significant and uniform differences between stressed and normal speech were calculated. As the best method for observing generated differences resulted method considered mean of cross correlation values received for difference area value with vector length and angle parameter couples. Generally, best results for stress detection are achieved by vowel triangles created by /i/-/o/-/u/ and /a/-/i/-/o/ vowel triangles in formant planes containing the fifth formant F5 combined with other formants