Guidelines for Selecting Professional Development for Early Childhood Teachers

Engaging teachers of young children in effective in-service professional development is a critical component of establishing high quality early childhood education. However, not all professional development offerings are effective in imparting new knowledge, enhancing teacher practice, or improving child outcomes, making it difficult for teachers and directors to select professional development that will benefit their centers. This paper critically reviews the research literature on professional development for early childhood education to identify what features of professional development make a difference for teacher interactions and children’s learning and development. Guidance is provided for selecting professional development opportunities which meet the needs of children and teachers. Recommendations for how to create an ongoing professional development program within an early childhood center by creating a professional learning community are also made. Such an approach supports the center to become a place that values learning and continued education for all professionals

The Experiences of School Counselors with Court Involvement Related to Child Custody

Professional school counselors are often confronted with a myriad of legal and ethical challenges when working with students and their families. While school counselors are discouraged from becoming involved in child custody matters, many are unable to avoid the process for a variety of reasons. This qualitative phenomenological research inquiry explored professional school counselors\u27 experiences with court involvement in child custody matters and sought to understand how such experiences may have affected how they perceive their role in assisting children and families who are undergoing divorce, separation, or child custody disputes. A series of semi-structured interview questions and a written reflection were utilized with a random purposeful, convenience, and snowball sample of nine professional school counselors from a school division in Virginia. Findings suggest that experiencing court involvement for child custody matters presents various concerns for school counselors including uncomfortable feelings and interactions, personal and professional inconveniences, unpreparedness, and ethical dilemmas. These concerns subsequently impact the work of school counselors with children and families. Implications for school counselors, parents and guardians, legal personnel, counselor educators, supervisors, and professional associations are discussed

Atmospheric Pollution and Child Health in Late Nineteenth Century Britain

Atmospheric pollution was an important side effect of coal-fired industrialisation in the nineteenth century. In Britain emissions of black smoke were on the order of fifty times as high as they were a century later. In this paper we examine the effects of these emissions on child development by analysing the heights on enlistment during the First World War of men born in England and Wales in the 1890s. We use the occupational structure to measure the coal intensity of the districts in which these men were observed as children in the 1901 census. We find strong negative effects of coal intensity on height, which amounts to difference of almost an inch between the most and least polluted localities. These results are robust to a variety of specification tests and they are consistent with the notion that the key channel of influence on height was via respiratory infection. The subsequent reduction of emissions from coal combustion is one factor contributing to the improvement in health (and the increase in height) during the twentieth century

Pathways to social well-being of children with intellectual disability: testing the Family Investment Model

BACKGROUND: Social well-being, including prosocial and peer relationship skills, independence and co-operation, is a particularly important developmental outcome in intellectual disability (ID). The present study investigated pathways to social well-being through the early years' family environment, particularly the role of parental investments in mediating the path from family poverty to child social well-being. METHODS: In line with the Family Investment Model (FIM), we tested whether parental investments between 3 and 5 years of age mediate the impact of family poverty at 9 months of age on children's social well-being at 7 years. Structural equation models were fitted to data from 555 children with ID identified from a UK population-based cohort. RESULTS: Findings indicated that home learning investments and the structural home environment (though not play) significantly mediated the effect of family poverty on children's social skills, albeit in different directions. While all parental investments reduced in the presence of poverty, the home learning environment appeared to promote social well-being, whereas the structural home environment did not. Sensitivity analyses controlling for co-occurring autism confirmed the pattern of findings. Child gender, ethnicity and parental educational qualifications did not moderate the mediational relationships, suggesting that FIM pathways to social well-being were relevant to all families. CONCLUSIONS: The FIM provides a helpful framework to map developmental pathways for children with an ID. Parental investments related to home learning, the structural home environment and play are reduced in the presence of poverty although their impact on child social well-being appears to differ

The mental health and well-being of adolescents with/without intellectual disability in the UK

Aims To estimate the self-reported and parent-reported mental well-being of adolescents (aged 14 and 17) with/without intellectual disability in a sample of young people representative of the UK population. Methods Secondary analysis of data collected in Waves 6 and 7 of the UK's Millennium Cohort Study. The analytic sample consisted of 10,838 adolescent respondents at age 14 (361 with intellectual disability and 10,477 without) and 9,408 adolescent respondents at age 17 (292 with intellectual disability and 9,116 without). Results Parental reports of adolescent problems on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) indicated that adolescents with intellectual disability at ages 14 and 17 were more likely to have problems than those without intellectual disability across all SDQ domains. Adolescent self-report data at age 17 indicated that adolescents with intellectual disability were more likely to (self)-report that they had problems than those without intellectual disability on all but one SDQ domain. The magnitude of relative inequality between those with and without intellectual disability was consistently lower for self-report than parental report. On indicators of depression, mental well-being, self-harm, positive mental health, happiness and general psychological distress at ages 14 and 17, we found no self-reported group differences between adolescents with and without intellectual disability. Conclusions Further research is needed to understand: (1) why the magnitude of mental health inequalities between those with and without intellectual disability on the SDQ may be dependent on the identity of the informant; and (2) whether such differences are also apparent for other measures of mental health or well-being

The mental health and well-being of adolescents with/without intellectual disability in the UK

AIMS: To estimate the self-reported and parent-reported mental well-being of adolescents (aged 14 and 17) with/without intellectual disability in a sample of young people representative of the UK population. METHODS: Secondary analysis of data collected in Waves 6 and 7 of the UK's Millennium Cohort Study. The analytic sample consisted of 10,838 adolescent respondents at age 14 (361 with intellectual disability and 10,477 without) and 9,408 adolescent respondents at age 17 (292 with intellectual disability and 9,116 without). RESULTS: Parental reports of adolescent problems on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) indicated that adolescents with intellectual disability at ages 14 and 17 were more likely to have problems than those without intellectual disability across all SDQ domains. Adolescent self-report data at age 17 indicated that adolescents with intellectual disability were more likely to (self)-report that they had problems than those without intellectual disability on all but one SDQ domain. The magnitude of relative inequality between those with and without intellectual disability was consistently lower for self-report than parental report. On indicators of depression, mental well-being, self-harm, positive mental health, happiness and general psychological distress at ages 14 and 17, we found no self-reported group differences between adolescents with and without intellectual disability. CONCLUSIONS: Further research is needed to understand: (1) why the magnitude of mental health inequalities between those with and without intellectual disability on the SDQ may be dependent on the identity of the informant; and (2) whether such differences are also apparent for other measures of mental health or well-being

MicroRNAs as Biomarkers for Predicting Complications Following Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) is a high mortality hemorrhagic stroke that affects nearly 30,000 patients annually in the United States. Approximately 30% of aSAH patients die during initial hospitalization and those who survive often carry poor prognosis with one in five having permanent physical and/or cognitive disabilities. The poor outcome of aSAH can be the result of the initial catastrophic event or due to the many acute or delayed neurological complications, such as cerebral ischemia, hydrocephalus, and re-bleeding. Unfortunately, no effective biomarker exists to predict or diagnose these complications at a clinically relevant time point when neurologic injury can be effectively treated and managed. Recently, a number of studies have demonstrated that microRNAs (miRNAs) in extracellular biofluids are highly associated with aSAH and complications. Here we provide an overview of the current research on relevant human studies examining the correlation between miRNAs and aSAH complications and discuss the potential application of using miRNAs as biomarkers in aSAH management