Typically Developing Preschoolers’ Behavior Toward Peers with Disabilities in Inclusive Classroom Contexts

This study aimed to investigate typically developing preschoolers’ behavior toward peers with disabilities in inclusive classrooms, focusing on the co-occurrence of the interactions between children with and without disabilities with various classroom contexts. Behaviors of 22 typically developing preschoolers were observed and coded on two different days in both indoor and outdoor classrooms during free play, small group activities, transitions, and meals/snack. Typically developing children interacted with peers with disabilities for a small amount of time; the interactions were significantly more likely in the outdoor classroom, in either child- or teacher-directed activities, and in play activities. There was a lack of adults’ intentional scaffolding for social interactions between children with and without disabilities even when they were near the children. Activity contexts contribute to children’s social behavior, and teachers need more support and training with inclusive and collaborative practices

The Development of a Communication Assessment Paradigm for use with Traditionally Underserved Deaf Adults

Within the congenitally deaf population there exists a sizeable number of individuals who are considered to be traditionally underserved. These individuals are characterized by severe communication deficits irrespective of modality (e.g., speech, sign language, reading, writing). Unfortunately, there are few evaluators, and fewer assessment protocols, available to assess the communication skills of this population. Addressing this issue, this paper will describe this population, discuss limitations associated with current communication assessment strategies, and subsequently provide a model to structure communication assessment built upon a functionally based, ecological perspective

A Comparison of Sex-Role Attitudes of Hearing and Deaf Young Men and Women

Legislation in recent years has provided unparalleled opportunities for the vocational development of deaf persons. Previous studies conducted in the early 1980\u27s indicated that deaf men and women hold much more traditional views of their sex roles than their hearing peers. The purpose of this study was to examine whether deaf adolescents still hold significantly more traditional sex-role attitudes than their hearing peers. A 25-item survey scale was administered to hearing and deaf high school students replicating studies conducted by Anderson and Krueger (1982) and Kolvitz and Ouellette (1980). Results indicated that deaf young men and women are still significantly more conservative than their hearing peers, with deaf males tending towards more liberal attitudes than in previous studies. Discussion is also offered regarding the implications of these findings for career awareness and vocational opportunities of young deaf adults

Access for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing People in the Public Domain: Where are We?

The enactment of disability-related legislation does not, unfortunately, guarantee compliance. This is particularly problematic for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. These individuals are most often handicapped not by their disability but rather by the unavailability of appropriate accommodations and technology. To address the impact of accommodations within the public domain two studies were conducted. The first study investigated telecommunication accessibility across government, emergency and private business numbers. Results indicated that these entities failed to answer their TTY calls almost 60% of the time. The second study assessed the availability of assistive technology for deaf and hard-of-hearing hotel guests. Hotels were subdivided on the basis of cost (expensive, moderate, and budget). As would be expected, hotels within the expensive category (i.e., $100+/night) had a significantly greater prevalence of assistive technology for their guests. There were no differences between the moderate and budget-priced hotels. Results from both studies are discussed in terms of their implications for independence, safety, and community participation

Manure management education and demonstration project

Proper methods and rates for applying livestock manure to crop land are critical to preserve water quality. The growth and concentration of Iowa\u27s swine production facilities in recent years pose environmental concerns in terms of manure application to agricultural land. This project demonstrated a feasible, economical testing program to evaluate the nutrient content of livestock wastes. A portable kit was used that can test for ammonia nitrogen and phosphorus in both liquid and solid manure, facilitating on-site, immediate testing. The results of this on-farm testing kit, which is currently available to producers, were then compared with laboratory analysis to determine the kit\u27s accuracy. By analyzing the nutrient value of manure immediately prior to land application, producers can make more environmentally sound manure management decisions

Identifying Independent Living Skills Needs of Traditionally Underserved Persons who are Deaf

Deafness rehabilitation literature has documented the need to develop independent living skills training for traditionally underserved persons who are deaf. Prior to developing training programs, it is necessary to identify the priority needs areas of the target population. A survey was conducted with deafness rehabilitation professionals to identify the priority needs of the traditionally underserved deaf population. Respondents were asked to evaluate independent living skills areas for importance and observed competency among the target population. Based on responses to this survey, eleven priority independent living skills needs areas were identified. This information will be used as a guide to collect, review, and compile relevant curricula that can be used effectively to teach the identified priority areas

Examining the Educational Benefits of and Attitudes Toward Closed-Captioning Among Undergraduate Students

Closed-captioning technology has been available for decades and is often used by individuals with disabilities to access video-based information. Course-related videos are routinely shown in college classrooms throughout the United States, however it is unknown if closed-captions are educationally beneficial for all students. The purpose of this study was to examine the educational benefits of closed-captioning among undergraduate students without disabilities and their associated attitudes toward the technology. The use of closed-captions adheres to the principles of Universal Design that encourages stakeholders to build environments and products that are accessible to all individuals. However, more evidence-based research is needed on the utility of this technology in college classrooms. Two separate video-based studies were conducted at one university and groups were randomly assigned to “caption” or “no caption” conditions. It was hypothesized that exposure to closed-captions would increase students’ recall and understanding of video-based information and improve attitudes toward the technology. Results suggested that participants who were exposed to closed-captions scored significantly higher on the subsequent assessment. Participants who already used closed-captions in their daily lives had significantly more positive attitudes toward the technology. Recommendations for further study are provided

Multi-source data fusion of optical satellite imagery to characterize habitat selection from wildlife tracking data

This work was supported by CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel) [BEX-13438-13-1].Wildlife tracking data allow monitoring of how organisms respond to spatio-temporal changes in resource availability. Remote sensing data can be used to quantify and qualify these variations to understand how movement is related to these changes. The use of remote sensing data with concurrent high levels of spatial and temporal detail may hold potential to improve our understanding of habitat selection. However, no current orbital sensor produces data with simultaneous high temporal and high spatial resolution, therefore alternative methods are required to generate remote sensing data that matches the high spatial-temporal resolution of modern wildlife tracking data. We present an analytical framework, not yet used in movement ecology, for data fusion of optical remote sensing data from multiple satellites and wildlife tracking data to study the impact of seasonal vegetation patterns on the movement of maned wolves (Chrysocyon brachyurus). We use multi-source data fusion to combine MODIS data with higher spatial resolution data (ASTER, Landsat 4-5-7-8, CBERS 2-2B) and create a synthetic NDVI product with a 15 m spatial detail and daily temporal resolution. We also use the higher spatial resolution data to create a multi-source NDVI product with same level of spatial detail but coarser temporal resolution and data from MODIS to create a single-source NDVI product with high temporal resolution but coarse spatial resolution. We combine the three different spatial-temporal resolution NDVI products with GPS tracking data of maned wolves to create step-selection functions (SSF), which are models used in ecology to investigate and predict habitat selection by animals. The SSF model based on multi-source NDVI had the best performance predicting the probability of use of visited locations given its NDVI value. The SSF based on the raw MODIS NDVI product, one which is commonly employed by ecologists, had the poorest performance for our study species. These findings indicate that, in contrast with current practice in movement ecology, a detailed spatial resolution of contextual environmental variable may be more important than a detailed temporal resolution, when investigating wildlife habitat selection regarding vegetation, although this result will be highly dependent on species. The choice of data set should therefore take into account not only the scale of movement but also the spatial and temporal scales at which dynamic environmental variables are changing.PostprintPostprintPeer reviewe