Collaborating and Managing Tension Within Multi-Professional Teams Supporting Children With Autism at Risk of Exclusion

Multi-professional collaborative working is central to developing effective solutions that support children with autism who are at risk of exclusion. This article explores and presents the tensions and collaborative processes present within multi-professional collaborative working. The study took a two-phased approach to understand the contextual and professional issues affecting multi-professional collaborative working. Four professional groups participated: educational psychologists (EPs), special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCos), communication and interaction team workers (CIT) and speech and language therapists (SALT). Phase one used within-profession focus groups to explore the contemporary, contextual and professional issues that affect the identity and application of one’s professional role. Phase two used cross-professional discussion groups to document the collaborative practices that navigate professional roles and contextual tensions. The findings identified key issues that affect professional identity, role and practice. The study also unveiled how professionals manage tensions and professional roles to maximise their capacity in developing an intervention to support children with autism who are at risk of exclusion

Population connectivity among Dry Tortugas, Florida, and Caribbean populations of mutton snapper (Lutjanus analis), inferred from multiple microsatellite loci

Determining patterns of population connectivity is critical to the evaluation of marine reserves as recruitment sources for harvested populations. Mutton snapper (Lutjanus analis) is a good test case because the last known major spawning aggregation in U.S. waters was granted no-take status in the Tortugas South Ecological Reserve (TSER) in 2001. To evaluate the TSER population as a recruitment source, we genotyped mutton snapper from the Dry Tortugas, southeast Florida, and from three locations across the Caribbean at eight microsatellite loci. Both Fstatistics and individual-based Bayesian analyses indicated that genetic substructure was absent across the five populations. Genetic homogeneity of mutton snapper populations is consistent with its pelagic larval duration of 27 to 37 days and adult behavior of annual migrations to large spawning aggregations. Statistical power of future genetic assessments of mutton snapper population connectivity may benefit from more comprehensive geographic sampling, and perhaps from the development of less polymorphic DNA microsatellite loci. Research where alternative methods are used, such as the transgenerational marking of embryonic otoliths with barium stable isotopes, is also needed on this and other species with diverse life history characteristics to further evaluate the TSER as a recruitment source and to define corridors of population connectivity across the Caribbean and Florida

An Exploration of the Use of Collective Preferences When Making Joint Decisions as Part of a Multi-Professional Team That Supports Children With Austism, Who Are at Risk of being Excluded.

Multi-professional collaborative working is central to developing interventions for children with autism who are at risk of exclusion. This thesis aims to explore how professionals working as part of a multi-professional group develop interventions for children, who have autism spectrum condition and are at risk of exclusion, from the perspective of inter-professional collaboration and the theoretical framework of Collective Preferences. Collective Preferences (Gilbert, 2001; Rose, 2011) suggests that professionals experience tension relating to control, role and identity when working collaboratively with other professionals. The research is designed to explore the range of factors that may impact on how multi-professional teams make decisions in support of a child with autism. My thesis is an interpretivist study using semi-structured focus group interviews (Phase One) and discussion groups (Phase Two). Phase one aims to explore the perceptions that professional groups hold regarding the purpose of multi-agency working and the tensions they encounter when working as part of a multi-professional team developing an intervention for a child with autism who is at risk of exclusion. Data were transcribed and analysed using an abductive thematic analysis approach. Emergent themes are discussed in the context of relevant literature. Participants hailed from four professional groups within a single local authority in the South West region of England, educational psychology, special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCos), Communication and Interaction Team workers and speech and language therapists. Phase one consisted of 12 participants across four data collecting sessions. The focus groups were organised based upon their professional occupation. Each focus group consisted of participants from the same profession. Phase two consisted of mixed-profession discussion groups. The participants were tasked with developing an intervention for a hypothetical child with autism and at risk of exclusion, using a vignette. Phase two consisted of four data collecting sessions, with 15 participants spread across them. The analysis revealed themes relating to the breadth of experience and views participants had regarding multi-professional collaborative working. The findings identified strategies that school-based professionals used that incorporated and moved beyond the theoretical principles of Collective Preferences when working collaboratively. Further to this, my study identified themes that impacted upon a professional’s Scope of Practice when working collaboratively to support a child with autism at risk of exclusion. Such themes outline the behaviour and experiences of professionals when collaborating as part of their role. The study also identified strategies that multi-professional teams will use when interacting with one another and the interventions that may be put in place to support children with autism, at risk of exclusion. Commissioning practices were also identified as critical areas that impacted upon a professionals Scope of Practice and subsequent interactions during multi-professional collaborative working. The implications of the findings for educational psychology practice are discussed. These explore how educational psychologist can navigate areas of tension during multi-professional collaborative working. Furthermore, a framework of interventions that support the child is outlined. Additionally, the on-going role of educational psychologists within a quasi-market context is considered. Exploring, how educational psychologists can organisationally position themselves to advocate for the values of the profession, and the role they may adopt to work alongside commissioners of psychological services such as schools

Agricultural water management in a water stressed catchment: Lessons from the RIPARWIN Project

irrigation management / water stress / river basins / water rights / water fees / water allocation / irrigation efficiency / economic aspects / decision support tools / wetlands / water use / water users associations

A Study of the Current Trends of Teaching Distributive Education to Students with Special Needs

The purpose of this study was to identify distributive education programs for students with special needs. The identity and study of the programs would provide guiding principles for the organization, and administration of the programs. The study could provide basic information which would assist in planning the curriculum and initiating distributive education programs in school districts where the need to train the disadvantaged is a problem. This study could also aid in meeting one of the objectives of vocational education

Child Prodigies Exploring the World: How Homeschooled Students Narrate Their Literacy in the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives

Approximately 1.8 million students in the United States are homeschooled, according to 2012 data from the National Center for Education Statistics (Redford et al.). However, researchers have only begun to examine how these homeschooled students reflect on their own literacy development, especially once they have entered college. Using the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives (DALN), I gather and analyze eighteen literacy narratives of currently and formerly homeschooled students, exploring how these students reflect on their own developing literacies, especially as they contrast their experiences with those of their traditionally-schooled classmates. The results of this study reveal, first, that these homeschoolers participate in a wide variety of literacy practices that both respond to and redefine those of the “traditional” classroom. Second, many of the narratives tend to embrace the “child prodigy” literacy structure, as identified and defined by Kara Alexander (2011) and Stephanie Paterson (2001). Third, four narratives reveal problems that can occur in homeschooling: namely, a parent-educator’s perceived lack of authority, and, in two cases, a tendency to trap students in unhealthy family environments. Despite these exceptions, most narratives reveal their family network as a place of vibrant literary sponsorship; and a few students narrate the “pedagogic violence” that may occur when they transition from this warm family environment into traditional secondary schools (Worsham 121). Overall, I argue that as participants in a non-dominant mode of education, these homeschoolers feel the need either to justify or to repudiate their literacy acquisition process against the dominant group. More quantitative research is needed to understand whether these experiences represent trends across the homeschooling movement

Evaluation of current and future water resources development in the Lake Tana Basin, Ethiopia

Lakes / Weirs / Environmental flows / Water resources development / Models / Ethiopia / Lake Tana Basin / Chara Chara Weir

Working wetlands: classifying wetland potential for agriculture

Wetlands / Ecology / Natural resources / Social aspects / Case studies / Zanzibar / Tanzania / Zimbabwe / Swaziland