The role of student support workers from external organisations in Alternative Provision; a case study involving ‘School-Home Support’ practitioners

Students excluded from mainstream schooling and referred to alternative provision (AP) often present with complex support needs. However, the quality of provision in this sector varies hugely, and there remains a pressing need to develop policy and models of good practice. Although emerging data indicates there may be added value from embedding student support practitioners from external organisations such as ‘School-Home Support’ (SHS) into AP, this study sought to address the paucity of research exploring how these practitioners work in AP and the factors facilitating or impinging upon their role in supporting these students. The role of SHS practitioners (SHSPs) in AP was explored using a multiple-case study approach. Observations of SHSP practices using ethnographic principles and semi-structured interviews with SHSPs, senior leadership team staff, and students were conducted across two AP settings. Using reflexive thematic analysis, unique as well as shared patterns of meaning were interpreted within and across the different sources; providing rich insight into the systems, nuanced interactions, and challenges faced by these practitioners. SHSPs were perceived to provide holistic support across multiple systemic levels in order to promote improved attendance, engagement and behaviour. They were seen to bridge gaps between the school, students, families, and agencies, particularly where other staff lacked time, resources and expertise. Underpinned by a focus on developing secure relationships with students and their parents, they were seen to break down barriers of epistemic distrust, and fostered student and parental autonomy and independence in order to have wider-reaching and more sustainable impact. In an education system that presses towards the exclusion of some of our most vulnerable young people, the findings provide pivotal insight into the additionality and inclusive practices that specialist practitioners in AP can offer, and has implications for other professionals such as Educational Psychologists working with these students

Large-scale visuospatial cognition in Williams syndrome and typically developing children

Williams syndrome (WS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder of known genetic origin. A characteristically uneven cognitive profile in WS, with a marked contrast between poor small-scale visuospatial ability relative to stronger verbal ability, is well documented. Recent findings demonstrate visuospatial deficits pervade to large-scale navigation abilities in this group. Experimental studies presented in this thesis investigate the nature of large-scale visuospatial impairment in WS at the level of behaviour, as well as the genetic contributions to the WS visuospatial profile. As an important basis on which to understand the nature of atypical development in WS, the thesis also examines the development of large-scale spatial cognition in typicallydeveloping (TD) children. Developmental changes in the use of different spatial frames of reference to mentally represent spatial information both on small-scale tasks and during navigation in large-scale virtual environments were observed in TD children between 6 and 8 years of age, with an adult-like pattern of performance acquired between 8 and 10 years. The findings in TD children provide novel insight into the nature of processes underlying the use of different aspects of spatial knowledge for navigation. In WS, impairments in both egocentric and allocentric spatial reference frames result in severe detriment to spatial processing at both small- and large scales. However, the data suggest that not all aspects of large-scale spatial knowledge are equally impaired in WS, highlighting the multifaceted nature of visuospatial cognition, and extending our understanding of the profile of relative strengths and weaknesses within the visuospatial cognitive domain in this disorder. An examination of the genetic contribution to the WS visuospatial phenotype from two individuals with partial WS\ud genetic deletions further highlights the diverse nature of visuospatial cognition. These findings provide insight both into the dynamic development of visuospatial cognition in\ud typical development, and the atypical visuospatial phenotype in WS

Incidental category learning and cognitive load in a multisensory environment across childhood

Broadbent, H.J., Osborne, T., Rea, M., Peng, A., Mareschal, D., and Kirkham, N.Z. Multisensory information has been shown to facilitate learning (Bahrick & Lickliter, 2000; Broadbent, White, Mareschal, & Kirkham, 2017; Jordan & Baker, 2011; Shams & Seitz, 2008). However, although research has examined the modulating effect of unisensory and multisensory distractors on multisensory processing, the extent to which a concurrent unisensory or multisensory cognitive load task would interfere with or support multisensory learning remains unclear. This study examined the role of concurrent task modality on incidental category learning in 6- to 10-year-olds. Participants were engaged in a multisensory learning task whilst also performing either a unisensory (visual or auditory only) or multisensory (audiovisual) concurrent task (CT). We found that engaging in an auditory CT led to poorer performance on incidental category learning compared with an audiovisual or visual CT, across groups. In 6-year-olds, category test performance was at chance in the auditory-only CT condition, suggesting auditory concurrent tasks may interfere with learning in younger children, but the addition of visual information may serve to focus attention. These findings provide novel insight into the use of multisensory concurrent information on incidental learning. Implications for the deployment of multisensory learning tasks within education across development and developmental changes in modality dominance and ability to switch flexibly across modalities are discussed. Keywords: Multisensory Integration; Cognitive Development; Incidental Learning; Cognitive Loa

Genetic contributions to visuospatial cognition in Williams syndrome: insights from two contrasting partial deletion patients

Background Williams syndrome (WS) is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder arising from a hemizygotic deletion of approximately 27 genes on chromosome 7, at locus 7q11.23. WS is characterised by an uneven cognitive profile, with serious deficits in visuospatial tasks in comparison to relatively proficient performance in some other cognitive domains such as language and face processing. Individuals with partial genetic deletions within the WS critical region (WSCR) have provided insights into the contribution of specific genes to this complex phenotype. However, the combinatorial effects of different genes remain elusive. Methods We report on visuospatial cognition in two individuals with contrasting partial deletions in the WSCR: one female (HR), aged 11 years 9 months, with haploinsufficiency for 24 of the WS genes (up to GTF2IRD1), and one male (JB), aged 14 years 2 months, with the three most telomeric genes within the WSCR deleted, or partially deleted. Results Our in-depth phenotyping of the visuospatial domain from table-top psychometric, and small- and large-scale experimental tasks reveal a profile in HR in line with typically developing controls, albeit with some atypical features. These data are contrasted with patient JB’s atypical profile of strengths and weaknesses across the visuospatial domain, as well as with more substantial visuospatial deficits in individuals with the full WS deletion. Conclusions Our findings point to the contribution of specific genes to spatial processing difficulties associated with WS, highlighting the multifaceted nature of spatial cognition and the divergent effects of genetic deletions within the WSCR on different components of visuospatial ability. The importance of general transcription factors at the telomeric end of the WSCR, and their combinatorial effects on the WS visuospatial phenotype are also discussed

Target Cueing Provides Support for Target- and Resource-Based Models of the Attentional Blink

The attentional blink (AB) describes a time-based deficit in processing the second of two masked targets. The AB is attenuated if successive targets appear between the first and final target, or if a cueing target is positioned before the final target. Using various speeds of stimulus presentation, the current study employed successive targets and cueing targets to confirm and extend an understanding of target-target cueing in the AB. In Experiment 1, three targets were presented sequentially at rates of 30 msec/item or 90 msec/item. Successive targets presented at 90 msec improved performance compared with non-successive targets. However, accuracy was equivalently high for successive and non-successive targets presented at 30 msec/item, suggesting that–regardless of whether they occurred consecutively–those items fell within the temporally defined attentional window initiated by the first target. Using four different presentation speeds, Experiment 2 confirmed the time-based definition of the AB and the success of target-cueing at 30 msec/item. This experiment additionally revealed that cueing was most effective when resources were not devoted to the cue, thereby implicating capacity limitations in the AB. Across both experiments, a novel order-error measure suggested that errors tend to decrease with an increasing duration between the targets, but also revealed that certain stimulus conditions result in stable order accuracy. Overall, the results are best encapsulated by target-based and resource-sharing theories of the AB, which collectively value the contributions of capacity limitations and optimizing transient attention in time

Effect of Information and Telephone-Guided Access to Community Support for People with Chronic Kidney Disease: Randomised Controlled Trial

Background: Implementation of self-management support in traditional primary care settings has proved difficult, encouraging the development of alternative models which actively link to community resources. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a common condition usually diagnosed in the presence of other co-morbidities. This trial aimed to determine the effectiveness of an intervention to provide information and telephone-guided access to community support versus usual care for patients with stage 3 CKD. Methods and Findings: In a pragmatic, two-arm, patient level randomised controlled trial 436 patients with a diagnosis of stage 3 CKD were recruited from 24 general practices in Greater Manchester. Patients were randomised to intervention (215) or usual care (221). Primary outcome measures were health related quality of life (EQ-5D health questionnaire), blood pressure control, and positive and active engagement in life (heiQ) at 6 months. At 6 months, mean health related quality of life was significantly higher for the intervention group (adjusted mean difference = 0.05; 95% CI = 0.01, 0.08) and blood pressure was controlled for a significantly greater proportion of patients in the intervention group (adjusted odds ratio = 1.85; 95% CI = 1.25, 2.72). Patients did not differ significantly in positive and active engagement in life. The intervention group reported a reduction in costs compared with control. Conclusions: An intervention to provide tailored information and telephone-guided access to community resources was associated with modest but significant improvements in health related quality of life and better maintenance of blood pressure control for patients with stage 3 CKD compared with usual care. However, further research is required to identify the mechanisms of action of the intervention

Workplace-Linked Pensions for an Aging Demographic

Pensions and population aging intersect in two ways. First, demographic change threatens the sustainability of traditional pay-as-you-go social security pensions, leaving workplace-linked pensions with a greater role in retirement provision. Second, as the Baby Boom generation enters retirement, new challenges arise around its retirement support. This chapter reviews some of the implications of population aging for workplace pensions in this new environment, outlines market considerations important for workplace-related pension design for the future, and discusses how governments can create an environment supportive of workplace-related pensions, should they wish to do so. We conclude that workplace-linked retirement saving systems will be asked to do even more than in the past, given the financial stress that pay-as-you-go governmentrun Social Security plans are confronting in the face of an aging demographic. This will require further product innovation and additional research