Experiences of Autism Diagnosis: Parental Experiences and Interpretations of the Process of Having a Child Diagnosed with Autism

The experience of having a child diagnosed with ASD is known to be challenging for parents, and research on this has been increasing over the past decade. This study provides a thematic analysis of the lived experience of having a child diagnosed with ASD, based on interviews with seven parents (aged 35 to 52 years) of six children (aged 7 to 13) who had received a diagnosis of ASD within five years of starting primary school. Parents described the experience of having a child diagnosed with ASD as raising questions and issues in four interconnected areas of concern: “seeing the child”, “navigating the professional system”, “accommodating the needs of the child in balance with the needs of the whole family” and “helping the child find a way of being in the world”. For parents, receiving a diagnosis of ASD involved a challenge of “meaning” – a challenge of integrating the information about their child provided in the diagnosis with their sense of who their child is. Parents were particularly appreciative of professionals who assisted them with this task and who showed an appreciation of the unique qualities of their children. The experiences of these parents have implications for how professionals might communicate with parents and families, as well as how they can provide clear and definite information, address some core practical concerns of parents and families and at all times show an appreciation of the child

Steeped in History: Afternoon Tea at Vaucluse House

Immersed in notions of modernity and tradition, this dissertation will offer an insight into the transformations and tensions that arose as Australia evolved into a modern nation. By using the Vaucluse House Tearooms as a springboard, it will present an argument surrounding the interactions between the two concepts through the unique lens of afternoon tea. In doing so, the author contends that despite tensions between modern and traditional ideals, both concepts co-exist, shattering the notion that contemporary societies ‘weaken’ tradition (Gross 1992). Furthermore, this paper draws upon the work of Dugalic (2011) in suggesting that although the nature of afternoon tea is inherently traditional, it could be seen that Vaucluse House Tearooms have transformed this concept over time in order to create better relevance in contemporary society. This has led to the site’s core enterprises incorporating modern functions and a variety of foreign tea. Ultimately, it will argue that an understanding of contemporary society enables Vaucluse House Tearooms to embrace and harness modernity, which in fact, preserves and reinvigorates traditions. This will seek to demonstrate how contemporary society is structured and progressed through the fusion of both tradition and modern frameworks (Dugalic, p. 1) and promote a deeper meaning to the Tearoom’s complex, and enriched history

Impaired glucose and nutrient absorption in critical illness: is gastric emptying only a piece of the puzzle?

This commentary highlights the contribution of the article by Chapman and colleagues assessing the relationships between glucose absorption, glycaemia and gastric emptying during critical illness. In addition to several more expected findings, their data suggest that factors other than slow gastric emptying may limit glucose absorption during critical illness. This hypothesis has received little attention so far, although numerous small intestinal abnormalities possibly interfering with absorption are known to occur in intensive care patients. Future work should focus on further validation of tools to assess nutrient absorption in the critically ill, before defining the precise causes and mechanisms that are involved

The Direct Approach from Kosovo: Mine Awareness Education

HMO Response\u27s Philip Dive sees the inherent value in the direct approach in mine awareness training and urges the mine action community in Kosovo not to look past this approach

Autonomy, information and paternalism in clinical communication

While their paper does not explicitly define the concept of autonomy, the way Ubel et al describe clinicians’ failures to enhance their patients’ autonomy reflects a broader understanding of autonomy than the default account as free and informed choice. In this OPC I would demonstrate that the communication strategies the authors recommend reflects a more sophisticated conception of autonomy than the understanding that typically prevails in bioethics. I will also distinguish between weak and strong forms of paternalism, and argue that a weak paternalistic approach is not only defensible but also aligns with the strategies the authors propose. Thus, by clarifying the concept of autonomy we can show how it can be enhanced in practice

Some Reflections on Developments in German Employee Codetermination Since 1976

The latest German law on the codetermination of Supervisory Boards came into effect in July 1976. In one sense it was a major advance in the development of codetermination which some argue began 128 years previously when in 1848 the Constitutional National Assembly first established factory committees with certain rights of worker participation. It was also a compromise result of intensive political discussion and activity particularly in the period after Willy Brandt declared in 1973 that codetermination would be one of the 'main tasks' of his government. Germany industry has had a two-tier Board system since the 1880s. Under the provisions of the 1976 Act companies with more than 2,000 employees (481 enterprises in 1980) must have a Supervisory Board ('Aufsichtsrat') with equal representation for labour and capital, and an Executive Board ('Vorstard'). Under previous legislation (1952, 1972) the labour representation on the Supervisory Boards of joint stock companies (AG) had been limited to one third. The duties of the Supervisory Board include the appointment of the members of the Executive Board, one of whom must be a Labour Director (' Arbeitsdirektor')

An Epistemic Structuralist Account of Mathematical Knowledge

This thesis aims to explain the nature and justification of mathematical knowledge using an epistemic version of mathematical structuralism, that is a hybrid of Aristotelian structuralism and Hellman’s modal structuralism. Structuralism, the theory that mathematical entities are recurring structures or patterns, has become an increasingly prominent theory of mathematical ontology in the later decades of the twentieth century. The epistemically driven version of structuralism that is advocated in this thesis takes structures to be primarily physical, rather than Platonically abstract entities. A fundamental benefit of epistemic structuralism is that this account, unlike other accounts, can be integrated into a naturalistic epistemology, as well as being congruent with mathematical practice. In justifying mathematical knowledge, two levels of abstraction are introduced. Abstraction by simplification is how we extract mathematical structures from our experience of the physical world. Then, abstraction by extension, simplification or recombination are used to acquire concepts of derivative mathematical structures. It is argued that mathematical theories, like all other formal systems, do not completely capture everything about those aspects of the world they describe. This is made evident by exploring the implications of Skolem’s paradox, Gödel’s second incompleteness theorem and other limitative results. It is argued that these results demonstrate the relativity and theory-dependence of mathematical truths, rather than posing a serious threat to moderate realism. Since mathematics studies structures that originate in the physical world, mathematical knowledge is not significantly distinct from other kinds of scientific knowledge. A consequence of this view about mathematical knowledge is that we can never have absolute certainty, even in mathematics. Even so, by refining and improving mathematical concepts, our knowledge of mathematics becomes increasingly powerful and accurate