Teachers' behavioral intention and acceptance of technology-based intervention among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)

The fourth pillar of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals is 'Quality education' to provide peace and prosperity to the world population; in addition, Special Education Reforms under the Malaysian government scope are influenced by the 'Shared Prosperity Vision 2030'. Special needs education underlines the importance of technological integration in the learning environment to support the communication, teaching, and learning needs of neurodiverse learners. The teachers are an intermediatory link between the learners and their parents and caregivers. Technological advancements assist educators in transforming the educational needs of neurodiverse learners at all academic levels. The early intervention-based teaching and learning process is advocated worldwide, as it has shown positive cues toward neurodiverse learners, especially those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Yet very little is known about the perception and behavior of teachers towards acceptance of technology-based intervention. Therefore, to bridge the identified gap in academic literature, this study explores the teachers' behavioral intentions concerning technology for teaching children with ASD. A conceptual framework has been developed based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 model (UTAUT2) and other recent studies to address the problem and identify possible solutions for the stakeholders. The developed hypothesis will be tested later through a survey-based self-administered questionnaire among the special education teachers in different parts of Malaysia and after the data analysis is performed using SmartPLS 3.2.6. The pre-test and pilot study results affirm the positive viability of the study for continued future work

Democracy’s Fourth Wave? Digital Media and the Arab Spring

Did digital media really "cause" the Arab Spring, or is it an important factor of the story behind what might become democracy's fourth wave? An unlikely network of citizens used digital media to start a cascade of social protest that ultimately toppled four of the world's most entrenched dictators. Howard and Hussain find that the complex causal recipe includes several economic, political and cultural factors, but that digital media is consistently one of the most important sufficient and necessary conditions for explaining both the fragility of regimes and the success of social movements. This book looks at not only the unexpected evolution of events during the Arab Spring, but the deeper history of creative digital activism throughout the region.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/117564/1/Democracy's Fourth Wave.pdfDescription of Democracy's Fourth Wave.pdf : PD

Is a School Based Educational Program Effective in Changing Knowledge Regarding the Prevention of Shaken Baby Syndrome?

Shaken baby syndrome (SBS) involves physiological and neuropsychological sequelae secondary to parental or caregiver handling of an infant or young child (Goldberg & Goldberg, 2002). According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (APA) (2001), non-accidental head injuries are the leading cause of traumatic death and cause of child abuse fatalities. The prognosis is extremely poor with a death rate of 26-36% and up to 78% of the survivors suffer long-term disability (Barlow & Minns, 2000). According to Prevent Violence Against Children Act, 2005 Wisconsin Act 165; SECTION 7.121.02(1)(L)6 educational SBS requirements are mandated, effective school year 2007-2008. Two instrument development studies were completed to examine reliability and validity of the USBS-13 instrument. Tenth grade students (N=260) were randomly assigned by classroom to intervention and control groups. The intervention included a 50 minute interactive class with a SBS SimulatorTM developed by Realityworks® (2009). The intervention group had significantly higher knowledge on post-test compared with the control group (p=.000). The intervention was found to be equally effective with males, which is of importance, since they are more often the perpetrator in SBS (Lazoritz, Baldwin & Kinney, 1997; National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome, 2009)

Exploring Inclusion, Disability and the Label of Intellectual Disability: Saudi Teachers’ Experiences and Perspectives

This study aims to critically explore how Saudi teachers understand the phenomena of inclusion, disability and the label of intellectual disability. It also seeks to research the extent to which the two implemented models of inclusion/special education in Saudi mainstream schools respond to the academic and social requirements of disabled learners, to uncover the disabling barriers and to offer suggestions for ending or, at least minimising, inequalities and exclusion of children labelled disabled from and within Saudi mainstream schools. Drawing on theories from a range of disciplines, including educational psychology, critical disability studies and education theory, I explored these issues through conducting in-depth semi- structured interviews with 31 participant teachers on an individualised basis. My thematic analysis has generated four key findings. First, the vast majority of participant teachers have misconceptions around inclusion, disability and the label of intellectual disability. They conflate integration and inclusion, locate ‘the problem’ of disability within-child and view people labelled with intellectual disabilities as ‘unable’ thus less than human. Second, participant teachers have different views about the two models of inclusion/special education implemented in schools where they teach. They have positive viewpoints about the mainstream classrooms model but negative perspectives about the self-contained classrooms model. Third, the analysis also uncovers that mainstream schools where participant teachers teach are fettered with disabling barriers and practices and that the Saudi education system are bound up with ableism. Fourth, to eliminate or, at least reduce, inequalities and exclusion of people labelled disabled from and within Saudi mainstream schools, participant teachers suggest raising awareness, creating an inclusive space for all, reviewing, enforcing and developing inclusive policies and regulations and promoting the core values of inclusive education. I also offer further recommendations for the Saudi Ministry of Education to take into consideration in Chapter 8 (section 8.5)

How does access to Assistive Technology mediate recourse to Disability Justice for urban poor people? A study centring the experiences of disabled slum dwellers in Freetown, Sierra Leone

This thesis addresses the central question of the role of Assistive Technology (AT) in mediating recourse to disability justice, centring the experiences of disabled slum dwellers in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Taking evidence from six datasets collected across four years, the study maps the local experience to the national and global picture offering a strategic reflection on the current state of work in the sector. The evidence from Sierra Leone (SL) reveals that quality AT is missing for almost all poor, disabled people. A novel finding from the research is that the lack of AT is most apparent for those who live in mainstream mixed urban settlements where disability identity is stigmatised and often hidden. Disabled people living together in an autonomously-organised settlement did – mostly - have AT, indicating further investigation into the role of collective action and autonomous organisation would be fruitful. Picking up themes emerging from the SL evidence globally, the study reveals that the AT interventions of core actors do not align with a single common operational framework. Borrowing from Amartya Sen’s seminal provocation Equality of What? (Sen, 1980), AT for what? becomes a pertinent question in the face of this dissensus. The study finds that the provision of AT within an operational framework of Disability Justice would better ensure the needs and aspirations of poor disabled people were prioritised in investment and priority setting. The thesis proposes, and tests, the potential configuration of a disability justice framework, as a basis future work can build from. Taken as a whole, the evidence presented in this study suggests that the claims for disability justice (including access to AT) of urban poor disabled people are often subjugated to background conditions, sitting behind the life-and-death claims for the basic need of life for the whole community (water, shelter, food). Therefore, any framework for disability justice must itself be linked to a broader push for justice for all poor people to be meaningful and impactful. Similarly, any broad social justice movement should place disability justice at its heart if it intends to drive for progressive change that benefits all. Finally, this study finds that AT is more than a commonplace element of the struggle for justice due to its fundamental necessity as an enabler of participation. The evidence suggests that AT can be viewed as a transitional demand of Disability Justice

Realities and Anxieties to Live With: An In-Depth Inquiry of the Experience of Internationally Educated Professionals in the Bridging Programs at Universities in Ontario

Researchers have identified a trend of brain waste, brain abuse and brain drain on the part of internationally educated professionals (IEPs) after they immigrate to Canada. University-based bridging programs have been implemented in the past decade to meet the need of this population to integrate to the new society. My dissertation attempts to inquire into the experiences, emotional experiences in particular, of the IEPs who studied in the university-based bridging programs in Ontario. I raised four questions: First, how do the IEPs perceive their new realities? Second, what are the anxieties of the IEPs? Third, what realities lead them to those anxieties and how do their anxieties affect their perception of the challenges they face? Fourth, what role does higher education play in mirroring and shaping the way the IEPs perceive and feel the realities? Using in-depth interviewing as the research method, I had three one-hour interviews with each of the five research participants who volunteered in this study. When analyzing the five cases, I focused on the conflicts, contentions and contradictions that the interview transcripts revealed of the participants experiences in relation to others. I resorted to theories in psychoanalysis in order to understand the IEPs anxieties when they encountered various challenges both internally and externally. I find that the IEPs anxieties are partly inherent in the process of immigration, partly reflective of their own modes of learning and the need of external support and partly the side effect of higher education which, questionably, attempts to reproduce the correlation between knowledge and privileges. I argue that the bridging programs and the IEPs need to learn from their anxieties and the social anxieties and engage in a critical exploration of the difficult knowledge of the-self-in-the-changing-world

I. In the time of the others : a novel ; II. Out of east Pakistan : postcolonial colony Bangladesh as a case study of postcolonial state and postcolonial nation-state from east Pakistan to independence through the liberation war of 1971 : a critical analysis.

This dissertation is a combined creative and critical project consisting a novel and a theoretical component. The novel entitled In the Time of the Others is a fictional account set during the true event of the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. Using the war as a backdrop, the novel tells the story of one man trying to manage his family, marriage, and financial situation by returning to an inheritance he never claimed. The journey brings him from his home in southern East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) to the capital city Dhaka, to the home of his maternal uncle and aunt under whose charge his mother had left the inheritance. Within days of his arrival the military regime of West Pakistan declares a crackdown on Dhaka, and East Pakistan, and the war that will eventually bring about the new independent state of Bangladesh begins. The novel encompasses the nine-months of the war, showing through the various journeys of its main and supporting characters a people and their identity and culture seeking to establish an independent country the making of a postcolonial state and the emergence of a postcolonial nation-state from Bengali nationalism to Bangladeshi sovereignty. The critical analysis uses postcolonial theory to frame the creation of Bangladesh as a case study in postcolonial state and nation-state formation. In sections that examine the background of events from the end of British rule in the Indian Subcontinent in 1947 to Bengali identity and Bengali nationalism, fundamental European theories of nation, nationalism, and sovereignty that cannot be applied wholesale to the Subcontinent, to the intervention of Bangladesh and its emergence as a postcolonial state and postcolonial nation-state the theoretical and critical analyses are proposed. Also examined is the novel as the representative and chosen form of writers in postcolonial literature to imagine, re-imagine, contextualize, and decolonize the postcolonial nation through fiction

"We have not been here before": Aging and elderly women with intellectual disabilities

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston UniversityBACKGROUNDS: Adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) face important health disparities, and are underrepresented in research. There is a particular lack of research from the perspective of members of this population. However, adults with ID are living longer than ever before, and, after a long history of institutionalization, are aging in the community. Aging adults with ID face important support gaps and challenges as pioneers in aging in the community. Aging women with ID are further marginalized by gender and age. This qualitative, participatory study explores lived experiences of aging and elderly women with intellectual disabilities. METHODS: In order to maximize voice for participants with ID, this study used qualitative, participatory methods including individual interviewing and Photo Voice, a participatory technique where participants are given cameras and become co-researchers on the project as they document their worlds. RESULTS: Important themes emerged including: The experience of aging with ID is a gendered phenomenon, anticipation of increased independence and community participation as a result of aging, community inclusion and the importance of relationships and belonging. Discussion: While further research is needed to quantify the experiences described by participants, the importance of community inclusion and relationships suggests that policy level supports for aging in place and individualized planning with be important for this generation of adults with ID. This thesis concludes with recommendations as to how adults with ID can best be supported in achieving healthy aging from a systems perspective

Role of the masjid in disaster management: Preliminary investigation of evidences from Asia

The Masjid (Mosque in English) has historically played a vital role in the spiritual, moral and social upliftment of the Muslim community. Nevertheless, the role of the masjid has remained largely undocumented, and unrecognised in the development and disaster studies. Although the role of the masjid in disaster situations in many Muslim countries is evident, very little study has been undertaken to document its role as a development agent. Hence, investigating the potential of the masjid in disaster situation is an effort to describe and explore the functions and roles of a mosque in responding to a disaster. It has been remarked that the masjid has the potential to play a role in disaster management in early warning systems, as an information centre, an evacuation site and even with contingency planning. The role of the masjid during emergency response has received appreciation from the victims and the community. However, the potential has not yet been fully explored. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to explore and document the role the masjid has played in disaster management in various Asian countries and based on it develop a model of the potential role, the mosque can play in building the community resilience for disaster management in the Muslim countries

Cross-Cultural Leadership: Best Practices In Multinational Graduate Education

The international security environment depends in part on professional military leaders with the knowledge, skills and attributes to execute a broad range of leadership communication, collaboration and negotiations with counterparts in complex international and intercultural settings. If higher education is the path to cognition, metacognition, motivation and behavior, then it may be an effective instrument for developing leadership readiness for a range of international/inter-cultural tasks. This study explores US military leaders’ perceptions about graduate-level, senior professional military education alongside foreign military officers at the U.S. Army War College as an influence on readiness for decision-making, cultural adaptation, and task performance in a cross-cultural leadership context. Five findings suggest the influence of a collaborative multinational graduate education setting on US leaders’ cross-cultural competence. Best practices based on theory-based analysis of graduate interviews include institutional guidance linking cultural agility and professional purpose; direct and meaningful engagements; skillful faculty facilitation; cultural immersion-like effects through multiple cross-cultural experiences; and experiential learning that challenges and reframes mental models