Looking with the head and eyes: a developmental study

From a very early age, infants use their heads, eyes and hands to explore the world of objects around them. The infant therefore has to develop a hierarchy of stabilized systems: trunk, head and eyes must work in coordination to allow effective control of the arms and hands. In particular gaze has to be stable. Previous research into the stabilization of gaze has mainly concentrated on how eye movements compensate for head movements. There is little information on the role of the head in gaze stabilization, either for adults or for infants. The head and eye coordination of a group of adults was tested under two situations; when tracking a moving target and when compensating for body movement while gaze was fixed on a stationary target. Movement of the target or subject could be either predictable or unpredictable. It was found that the head played an important role, whether the target or subject was moving. Head control was equally good under both conditions, but was superior when movement was predictable. A group of infant subjects were tested longitudinally on the same tasks in order to chart the development of the role of the head in looking. Testing was at three week intervals between the ages of 10 and 28 weeks. As with the adults, the head was found to play an important role, control improved over the tested period, showing a surge around 16-20 weeks. Unlike adults, the performance of the infants was much better when they rather than the target were moving. Deficiencies in the development of gaze stabilization would have serious implications for perceptuo-motor development. A brain-damaged infant was tested under similar conditions in an exploratory longitudinal study between the ages of 21-28 weeks. He was shown to be principally deficient in head rather than eye control, particularly in the visual tracking task

Social Work: A Profession in Flux

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the current context of social work as a profession and some of the major transition factors that are affecting social workers and social work organisations. Design/methodology/approach: The paper first explores what social work is, and how it has developed as a profession. It reflects on social work academia and the place of social work educators and researchers. It then goes on to consider three factors that are having a major influence on social work as a profession: concepts of risk; personalisation and the multi-disciplinary environment. Findings: The implications of these factors and the kind of transitions they are driving are discussed in the context of some of the potential implications for professional learning. Research limitations/implications - The paper does not aim to provide a comprehensive overview of all the factors that are affecting contemporary social work - the aim is to offer contextual information to help the reader consider some of the forces at play in social work. The paper does not introduce new empirical evidence, rather it identifies gaps in the existing evidence about these key influential factors. Social implications - The implications of social work in transition for society are that efficacy may be impeded if the profession is too inward looking. Originality/value - This paper draws from the empirical and conceptual work of others - here the aim is to provide a broad overall context within which to consider the more detailed implications set out in further papers in the present issue

Review of Child Neglect in Scotland

Neglect is damaging to children in the short and long term. Neglect is associated with some of the poorest outcomes. It affects children in the early years, but teenage neglect, often overlooked, is also damaging. Formulating an effective response to neglect still poses national and local challenges

The value of resilience as a concept for practice in residential settings

Resilience is a concept that is increasingly gaining currency as a basis for practice with children and young people. The concept, however, is not easy to define and the term is often used loosely or uncritically so that the implications for practice are unclear. This paper will give a brief overview of the concept, describe some of the pitfalls of its uncritical use and set out a framework for practice. Resilience will be described both as a concept that can help assess a child’s potential strengths and as a framework for practice. Much of what is indicated for practice is what practitioners and carers already do; however, the concept of resilience helps to set a conceptual framework around that work and provides a theoretical basis for what, in many cases, seems like common sense (Daniel, Wassell and Gilligan, 1999)

How is the concept of resilience operationalised in practice with vulnerable children?

Increasing emphasis is being placed on the concept of resilience in policy and practice relating to vulnerable children and their families yet little is known about how, and to what extent, the concept is actually being operationalised in child and family services. This article presents the findings from a study which aimed to analyse the ways in which ‘resilience' as a concept is shaping practice in settings that explicitly espouse a resilience-led framework. The study included a UKbased and an Australian component, to allow for international comparisons and contrasts in the use of resilience as a concept in practice. The findings from a survey of 201 practitioners (108 in the UK; 93 in Australia) and 32 case studies (18 in the UK; 14 in Australia) are presented and considered in the light of the existing resilience literature in order to gauge the extent of congruence between practice as described and the principles indicated by the existing literature

Key capabilities in child care and protection

These key capabilities are designed to allow students within social work degree programmes to map their specific learning in this area