Perceptions of Bilingualism and Home Language Maintenance and Loss: A Study of Latino Parents at a San Francisco Bay Area Elementary Charter School

There is limited research that investigates parent perceptions with respect to their early elementary school children\u27s home language use. To fill the gap in research, this study explores the relationship between first generation Latino parent perspectives of bilingualism, home language maintenance and loss, and the intersection of culture and identity in an elementary school community. It also investigates how parents create an additive bilingual environment in the home. This participatory action research (PAR) study involved group dialogue sessions and individual interviews in order to engage co-researchers and participants. PAR provided this study with the structure and tools to change and improve upon the current problems that some of the participants were experiencing, while capitalizing on ways in which other participants were successfully maintaining the home language. The findings included dialogue transcriptions and summaries organized within generative themes. The participants perceived home language maintenance as an important goal regarding family communication and relationship building, cultural preservation, and a better future in the professional world. Their perceptions of bilingualism and attitudes did influence their children\u27s Spanish maintenance or loss. In addition, the participants\u27 ethnic and social identities had an impact on their own language choice, but not necessarily on that of their children. Finally, the group shared home language maintenance strategies that contributed to an additive bilingual environment in the home, highlighting the Spanish Only rule within the home space, which was perceived to be the most effective method. This study illustrated the complexity of language maintenance and its relationship to the following components: perceptions and attitudes; personal histories, or counterstories; personal paradigms; and social, cultural, and economic factors. The research concluded with an action plan to share findings with school staff and other Latino parents interested in home language maintenance

Collaboration in Social Hobby Groups: Transferring Qualities of Teamwork from the Social Sphere to the Professional Sphere

Workplace collaboration has been the subject of much research and writing. Social collaboration can help inform our understanding of how people prefer to work together and should be studied for its aspects that could be transferred to the professional sphere. This research examines how members in social hobby groups collaborate with each other and what aspects of that collaboration can be applied to the workplace. I observed and surveyed five local hobby groups to better understand how the members worked together and what made this type of socializing appealing to members. One of the primary aspects of this social collaboration is a feeling of belonging in a social sphere. This can be brought into the professional sphere by allotting more time for employees to socialize in non-work capacities and through business leaders promoting a positive working atmosphere

Normative Percent Differences between Inter-day and Inter-Limb Upper Extremity Volume in Healthy Adult Females

Current diagnostic thresholds vary, but a 5% volume difference between limbs is generally accepted to diagnose lymphedema. Newer research among women with breast cancer-related lymphedema established a 3% threshold for diagnosis of preclinical lymphedema. Understanding normal limb volume fluctuations and side to side differences is important to determine whether this 3% cut point for diagnosis of subclinical lymphedema should be made compared to same or contralateral limbs.https://ecommons.udayton.edu/dpt_symposium/1029/thumbnail.jp

Consistently estimating graph statistics using Aggregated Relational Data

Aggregated Relational Data, known as ARD, capture information about a social network by asking about the number of connections between a person and a group with a particular characteristic, rather than asking about connections between each pair of individuals directly. Breza et al. (Forthcoming) and McCormick and Zheng (2015) relate ARD questions, consisting of survey items of the form "How many people with characteristic X do you know?" to parametric statistical models for complete graphs. In this paper, we propose criteria for consistent estimation of individual and graph level statistics from ARD data

Effectiveness of Functional Cognition Intervention for Adults with Traumatic Brain Injuries: A Systematic Review

Purpose: An estimated 5.3 million Americans are living with a permanent disability due to having a traumatic brain injury (TBI) (CDC, 1999). A common deficit seen in this population includes impaired functional cognition, which is the ability to use and integrate thinking and processing skills to complete complex instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) (Giles et al., 2017). Occupational therapy practitioners support individuals post-TBI by creating and implementing occupation-based interventions during rehabilitation to optimize functional cognition and improve individuals\u27 ability to complete IADLs. This study aims to identify the effectiveness of interventions within the scope of occupational therapy practice to improve functional cognition in adults with post-TBI. Design: This systematic review included randomized controlled trials published in peer-reviewed journals between 2010 and 2022, which addressed adults with TBI, and implemented functional cognition interventions which were within the scope of occupational therapy practice. Method: Results from four literature databases produced 1154 articles. Duplicate articles were removed (n=19). Teams of two researchers screened the titles and abstracts of each of the remaining 1135 articles to determine eligibility for full-text review. Next, the full text of 289 articles were reviewed to determine if they met the study’s inclusion criteria; eight articles were included in the systematic review. The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force levels of certainty and grade definitions were used to describe the strength of evidence. Results: The eight studies included in this systematic review were categorized into two themes: simulated electronic-based interventions and metacognitive strategy training. Three articles addressed simulated electronic-based interventions, which examined the effectiveness of Cognitive Symptom Management and Rehabilitation Therapy (CogSMART) and virtual reality training (VTR). All three articles supported the use of simulated electronic-based interventions, though the strength of evidence is classified as moderate, given their methodological limitations, which included small sample sizes and differences in participant characteristics at baseline. Five articles addressed metacognitive strategy training, of which four supported its effectiveness. This evidence is classified as moderate, in light of methodological limitations, including small sample sizes and heterogeneity of the interventions. Conclusion: Occupational therapists have a critical role in selecting and implementing intervention strategies that will aid in rehabilitating functional cognition. Based on the findings of this review, occupational therapy practitioners should consider routinely implementing metacognitive strategy training and simulated electronic-based interventions to enhance functional cognition in adults following a TBI. Occupational therapy educational programs should address these interventions in occupational curricula. Additional research is warranted to address the heterogeneity of outcome measures and interventions. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (1999). Report to Congress: Traumatic brain injury in the United States. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/ Giles, G. M., Edwards, D. F., Morrison, M. T., Baum, C., & Wolf, T. J. (2017). Screening for functional cognition in postacute care and the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation (IMPACT) Act of 2014. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 71(5), 7105090010. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2017.715001https://digitalcommons.unmc.edu/cahp_ot_sysrev/1002/thumbnail.jp