Action on Autism Research in Scotland. Final Report

An advanced international multidisciplinary, multi-agency research seminar series held between November 2013 and November 2014

Action on Autism Research in Scotland : an advanced international multidisciplinary, multi-agency research seminar series held between November 2013 and November 2014

This publication reports the context, contributors, topics and outcomes of a five event (4x2days & end point conference) seminar series which acknowledged the need for an autism research strategy for Scotland and to relate this to international knowledge and current research in Scotland. The report calls for an Independent Autism Research Consultative Body, the Scottish Autism Strategy Governance Group to meet research relevant Recommendations 7 & 8 of the Autism Strategy and to maintain strong links with the proposed independent body so that research can inform the direction of the Strategy in its second 5 years of implementation, and for researchers in Scotland to make their work widely known for maximum impact in meeting the many issues facing autistic people, their families, carers and the professionals who work with them

Examining the impact of forest protection status on firewood sufficiency in rural Africa

Millions of people living in poverty depend on non-timber forest products (NTFPs), yet forest protection causes displacement, replacement or reduction of NTFP extraction activities, with implications for human welfare. Here, we assess the impact of forest protection on a novel measure of wellbeing that incorporates both objective and subjective components of people's lives. In five villages near forests with mixed protection status in Tanzania, household perceived need for firewood is compared with actual consumption in order to provide a simple metric of firewood sufficiency. Firewood sufficiency varied with forest protection status, with non-compliance inferred by household ability to meet firewood needs despite forest access restrictions. Fuel-efficient stove ownership improved the perceived ability to meet firewood needs; however, actual consumption remained unchanged. Firewood sufficiency was significantly lower for those sourcing firewood outside forests, and increased household awareness of the management authority significantly reduced firewood consumption. In a forest landscape of mixed protection status, pressure will likely be displaced to the forest with the least active management authority, affecting their efficiency as non-extractive reserves. Our findings reinforce the need for a landscape approach to forest management planning that accounts for local needs, to avoid leakage to other less well-protected forests and detriment to household welfare

Action on Autism Research in Scotland. Final Report

An advanced international multidisciplinary, multi-agency research seminar series held between November 2013 and November 2014

Romancing the family in the Middle English Breton lays

This dissertation employs Lacanian psychoanalysis and feminist theory to consider five of the Middle English Breton lays, Sir Gowther, Sir Degaré Sir Launfal, Sir Orfeo, and Chaucer\u27s Franklin\u27s Tale, all of which express a concern with the fragility of paternal authority. Using the family as a model through which to explore authority, these poems suggest first that family roles, maternal and paternal, are functions rather than gender determined roles. They go on to identify failings in the paternal function, gender paternal authority as male, and validate it by yoking it to an external source of power. ^ These poems are deeply concerned with the dissonance between he who is named the father and his actual capacity to govern the family, to represent the law that controls its behavior. The first two chapters, on Sir Gowther and Sir Degaré respectively, consider these poems\u27 representation of paternity as split between its status as “law” and as “name.” Both poems show that the father is not inevitably the bearer of the law but resolve this bifurcation in the son. Chapter three is on Sir Launfal, a poem that also identifies this paternal split, but resolves it through Launfal\u27s access to a fairy lover, a woman whose other-worldly powers and position as stand-in for the king enable Launfal to usurp the failing king\u27s status. Chapters four and five, addressing Sir Orfeo and the Franklin\u27s Tale respectively, consider their representations of female agency within this struggle to consolidate paternal authority. ^ As a genre, the Middle English Breton lays scrutinize the father, as symbolic function and as person, both as the site of social failings and as the promise of their resolution. They seek to stabilize patriarchal power, but they also insist that paternal authority is not by itself enough to guarantee its own existence. Rather, these poems suggest that paternal authority can only be maintained through vigilance, through yoking it to external, less fallible sources of power.

The attitudes of teachers in Scotland to the integration of children with autism into mainstream schools

Around 4600 school-age children in Scotland fall within the spectrum of autistic disorders, of whom 780 have been identified in schools. This study sought the views of 23 specialist and 49 mainstream teachers, 22 with experience of autism, 27 without. They were questioned about the advantages and disadvantages of integration into mainstream for autistic children, their own ability to cope and predictors of success. Questionnaires were issued to special units and to mainstream primary and secondary schools. A minority of mainstream respondents believed children with autism should be integrated where possible. Mainstream teachers with experience of autism showed more confidence to deal with the children than those without experience. Many expressed concerns about effects on mainstream pupils but most were willing to undertake more training. Specialist teachers were more positive, although they acknowledged possible disadvantages for both groups of children and stressed that the success of integration depends on the individual child.</p