Teachers and the Inclusive Classroom: A Meta-Synthesis

This meta-synthesis of teachers and inclusive classrooms examines the relationship between the inclusive classroom and teachers that feel successful at teaching in an inclusive classroom. Teachers of inclusive classrooms have expressed how they feel more successful after having training and support in relationship to having an inclusive classroom. However, without training and support by their administration, teachers do not feel prepared to teach in an inclusive classroom due to the extra time and support students with disabilities may require. Inclusive classrooms could be very successful if all teachers felt as though they had the tools, education, and support needed to teach an inclusive class

Informing early intervention: preschool predictors of anxiety disorders in middle childhood

Background: To inform early intervention practice, the present research examines how child anxiety, behavioural inhibition, maternal overinvolvement, maternal negativity, mother-child attachment and maternal anxiety, as assessed at age four, predict anxiety at age nine. Method: 202 children (102 behaviourally inhibited and 100 behaviourally uninhibited) aged 3–4 years were initially recruited and the predictors outlined above were assessed. Diagnostic assessments, using the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule, were then conducted five years later. Results: Behavioural inhibition, maternal anxiety, and maternal overinvolvement were significant predictors of clinical anxiety, even after controlling for baseline anxiety (p,.05). No significant effect of negativity or attachment security was found over and above baseline anxiety (p..1). Conclusions: Preschool children who show anxiety, are inhibited, have overinvolved mothers and mothers with anxiety disorders are at increased risk for anxiety in middle childhood. These factors can be used to identify suitable participants for early intervention and can be targeted within intervention programs

Risk-taking and inhibitory control in behaviourally inhibited and disinhibited preschool children

The temperament style Behavioural Inhibition (BI) has been implicated as a risk factor for the development of internalising disorders such as anxiety. Of interest is what factors influence the developmental trajectories of both inhibited and disinhibited children and the development of psychopathology. One such factor is risk-taking behaviour. Using the computer based Balloon Analogue Risk Task, we assessed risk taking behaviour in behaviourally inhibited (n = 27) and behaviourally disinhibited (n = 43) children. This is the first study to examine the relationship between BI, executive functioning and risk-taking. The results indicated Behavioural Inhibition was not related to risk-taking but that inhibitory control predicted reward focused results. These findings illustrate how inhibitory control affects risk-taking and risk avoidance in both inhibited and disinhibited children

Are different reading problems associated with different anxiety types?

There is a reliable association between poor reading and anxiety, but we do not completely understand the specifics of this relationship. The current study included a sample of children (N = 284; Mage = 9.30, SDage = 1.31) who completed a reading (word, nonword, and text reading accuracy, word, nonword, and text reading fluency, passage reading comprehension) and anxiety (social anxiety, generalized anxiety, separation anxiety, physical injury fears/phobias, panic, obsessive compulsive symptoms) assessment. Analyses included bivariate and partial correlations, principal components analysis, and hierarchical clustering. We found a very tentative suggestion in the data that there may be a specific yet weak association between reading accuracy and social anxiety. The clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed

Longitudinal investigation of the role of temperament and stressful life events in childhood anxiety

The current study investigated the longitudinal relationships between BI, life events, and anxiety in a sample of 102 behaviourally inhibited (BI) and 100 uninhibited (BUI) children aged 3 to 4 years. Children’s parents completed questionnaires on BI, stressful life events, and anxiety symptoms, and were administered a diagnostic interview three times in a 5-year period. In line with our hypotheses, negative life events, and negative behaviour- dependent life events (i.e. life events that are related to the children’s own behaviours) in particular, and the impact of negative life events, were predictive of increases in subsequent anxiety symptoms, the likelihood of having an anxiety disorder, and increased number of anxiety diagnoses over the five year follow-up period. Experiencing more positive, behaviour-independent life events decreased the risk of being diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Furthermore, differences were found in life events between BI and BUI children. That is, BI children experienced fewer positive and specifically positive behaviour-dependent life events, and the impact of these positive life events was also lower in BI children than in BUI children. However, BI did not interact with life events in the prediction of anxiety problems as hypothesized. Therefore, this study seems to indicate that BI and life events act as additive risk factors in the development of anxiety problems

Early Maladaptive Schemas as Predictors of Child Anxiety: The Role of Child and Mother Schemas

This study investigated the relationship between symptoms of anxiety in children and early maladaptive schemas in children and their mothers. Early maladaptive schemas are dysfunctional ways of thinking, feeling and behaving that develop as a result of adverse experiences with significant others in childhood, and lead to a higher risk of psychopathology. A sample of 200 non-clinical children (aged 9-13 years) completed the SCARED (Birmaher et al., 1997) and SIC (Rijkeboer and De Boo, 2010), their mothers completed the YSQ-SF (Young 1998). The psychometric properties of the SCARED separation anxiety and social phobia scales were inadequate. Regression analyses found that child anxiety scores were mainly predicted by the child schemas of loneliness, submission and vulnerability, which are similar to the anxiety predictors identified in adult samples. The failure schema was strongly related to anxiety symptoms in girls. Differences in schema predictors were found between girls and boys, and between different anxiety scales. Mother schemas were generally poor predictors of child anxiety symptoms. Support was found for the proposal that the schemas of self-sacrifice and enmeshment may not be maladaptive in children. This study identified several early maladaptive schemas that are significantly related to child anxiety symptoms, but further research is required to establish the causal direction of these relationships. Research in clinical samples is recommended to determine whether specific child schemas can differentiate between different types of psychopathology. The reliability and validity of the SCARED in Iranian children is questionable, and requires further examination.

Chapter 3: General Interviewing Techniques: Developing Evidence-Based Practices for Standardized Interviewing Appendix 3

Table A3A.1 Summary of Basic Techniques of Standardized Interviewing (adapted from Fowler and Mangione 1990, pp. 35-53) Table A3A.2 Basic Question Forms (Response Formats

Men and Women in Space: Bone Loss and Kidney Stone Risk after Long-Duration Space Flight

Bone loss on Earth is more prevalent in women than men, leading to the assumption that women may be at greater risk from bone loss during flight. Until recently, the number of women having flown long-duration missions was too small to allow any type of statistical analysis. We report here data from 42 astronauts on long-duration missions to the International Space Station, 33 men and 9 women. Bone mineral density (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry), bone biochemistry (from blood and urine samples), and renal stone risk factors were evaluated before and after flight. Data were analyzed in two groups, based on available resistance exercise equipment. The response of bone mineral density to flight was the same for men and women, and the typical decrease in bone mineral density (whole body and/or regional) after flight was not observed for either sex for those using an Advanced Resistive Exercise Device. Bone biochemistry, specifically markers of formation and resorption, generally responded similarly in male and female astronauts. The response of urinary supersaturation risk to space flight was not significantly different between men and women, although risks were typically increased after flight in both groups and risks were generally greater in men than in women before and after flight. Overall, the bone and renal stone responses of men and women to space flight were not different