The effects of daily reading opportunities and teacher experience on adolescents with moderate to severe intellectual disability

The purpose of this study was examine the effect of providing daily access to a wide variety of age and ability appropriate texts to adolescents with moderate to severe intellectual disability. Forty-three adolescents were assigned to 2 groups based on their teachers' exposure to 40 comprehensive literacy lessons used in a previous study. Literacy gains were measured on an assessment of emergent literacy skills. A standardized reading measure was also used for 5 of the students who read at an early conventional reading level. Additionally, the number of different books that students read throughout the intervention was tracked using a student book log and compared to performance on a proxy measure of wide reading, a title recognition test. Paired samples t-tests yielded statistically significant gains on the posttest performance of emergent literacy skills for all students and on a standardized reading assessment for the 5 students who read at an early conventional level. To further examine student performance between the 2 groups, effect sizes were calculated. Results indicated that while both groups achieved a small effect, students whose teachers had exposure to the comprehensive literacy lessons received nearly twice the effect (d = .36) as students whose teachers had not been exposed to the literacy lessons (d = .19). Furthermore, when students read at an early conventional level and were taught by teachers who had been exposed to the comprehensive literacy lessons, the effect of the intervention was even greater (d = .47). With regard to the number of different books that students read, results from a simple regression indicated that this variable was not predictive of student performance on the emergent literacy measure nor was it significantly correlated with performance on the title recognition test. Results of this study suggested that adolescents with moderate to severe intellectual disability benefit from daily access to age and ability appropriate books. When combined with instruction provided by teachers who had experience with comprehensive literacy instruction, the effect was even stronger. Furthermore, students who entered the intervention with early conventional reading skills made the greatest gains

Enhancing Classroom-Based Communication Instruction for Students with Signifificant Disabilities and Limited Language

Many students with significant disabilities have complex communication needs and are not yet able to express themselves using speech, sign language, or other symbolic forms. These students rely on nonsymbolic forms of communication like facial expressions, body movements, and vocalizations. They benefit from responsive partners who interpret and honour these forms and teach symbolic alternatives. The purpose of this article is to describe ways in which classroom teachers and other classroom staff can be responsive partners using three targeted teaching practices: (a) attributing meaning and honouring early communication behaviours, (b) giving students personal access to aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems with a core vocabulary, and (c) using aided language input strategies to show students what is possible and how to use graphic symbols on aided AAC systems. These teaching practices are discussed using scenarios to illustrate how each can be integrated into typical academic and non-academic classroom activities

Seroconversion for infectious pathogens among UK military personnel deployed to Afghanistan, 2008-2011.

Military personnel are at high risk of contracting vector-borne and zoonotic infections, particularly during overseas deployments, when they may be exposed to endemic or emerging infections not prevalent in their native countries. We conducted seroprevalence testing of 467 UK military personnel deployed to Helmand Province, Afghanistan, during 2008-2011 and found that up to 3.1% showed seroconversion for infection with Rickettsia spp., Coxiella burnetii, sandfly fever virus, or hantavirus; none showed seroconversion for infection with Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus. Most seroconversions occurred in personnel who did not report illness, except for those with hantavirus (70% symptomatic). These results indicate that many exposures to infectious pathogens, and potentially infections resulting from those exposures, may go unreported. Our findings reinforce the need for continued surveillance of military personnel and for education of health care providers to help recognize and prevent illnesses and transmission of pathogens during and after overseas deployments

Enhancing Classroom-Based Communication Instruction for Students with Significant Disabilities and Limited Language

Many students with significant disabilities have complex communication needs and are not yet able to express themselves using speech, sign language, or other symbolic forms. These students rely on non-symbolic forms of communication like facial expressions, body movements, and vocalizations. They benefit from responsive partners who interpret and honour these forms and teach symbolic alternatives. The purpose of this article is to describe ways in which classroom teachers and other classroom staff can be responsive partners using three targeted teaching practices: (a) attributing meaning and honouring early communication behaviours, (b) giving students personal access to aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems with a core vocabulary, and (c) using aided language input strategies to show students what is possible and how to use graphic symbols on aided AAC systems. These teaching practices are discussed using scenarios to illustrate how each can be integrated into typical academic and non-academic classroom activities