A Child Serving Time on the Outside

Hogg Foundation for Mental Healt

Supporting siblings of children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs)

Section A: A review of current research literature relating to the impact of child ASD upon non-affected siblings and the utility of sibling group interventions. The first section summarises and critiques studies relating to the social, emotional and behavioural adjustment of siblings, including consideration of potential mediating factors and discussion of methodological issues. The second section considers evidence for one intervention for this group, ASD-specific sibling support groups. The review suggests that inconsistencies remain within the sibling research literature and that there is a clear need for UK-based outcome research. Section B: Background: Having a brother or sister with an ASD can be challenging for non-affected siblings. These children may experience reduced parental attention, isolation from peers and difficult sibling behaviours. This pilot study aimed to investigate the utility of support groups for siblings of children with ASDs. Methods: A within group, mixed methods design was used with a pre-intervention baseline. Participants were 35 children, aged 7-15 years, with an ASD sibling. All were attending ASD-specific sibling group interventions across the South East of England. Sibling rated self-concept, anxiety and anger and parent-rated emotional difficulties were collected at pre group, post group and follow up. One group also participated in a focus group. Results: Results indicated significant improvements in self concept and significant decreases in anger and anxiety following participation in an ASD-specific sibling group. Anxiety continued to decrease at 3 month follow up. Parent-rated sibling emotional difficulties did not change. All siblings valued the groups. Four main themes were identified from qualitative data: Siblings valued the opportunity to meet similar others, have fun, learn new information about ASD and apply this knowledge to their own situation. Conclusions: The present pilot study extends existing literature on ASD-specific sibling groups. This is one of the first studies to combine qualitative data with standardised outcome measures. Participation in an ASD-specific support group may be associated with more positive self concept and decreased anger and anxiety. Given inherent study limitations, further, controlled research studies are warranted. Section C: A critical appraisal of the study conducted in section B and a reflective account of the process. This includes consideration of research skills learnt, future adaptations, clinical implications and ideas for future research

An Understanding of Religious Doing: A Photovoice Study

The ability to participate in everyday activities that hold meaning and value is a determinant of health and wellbeing. Occupational therapists work with people when health and social barriers limit this valued participation. However a challenge persists in including religious practice or ‘doing’ within therapy, with many occupational therapists feeling ill-equipped and reluctant to address religious doing. The study reported here examines religious doing within the lives of participants from a number of faith traditions. A photovoice method is used, with participants discussing photographs that they have taken to describe their religious doing. Data are analyzed using a phenomenological reflective lifeworld approach. Findings are grouped into six themes and are explored using both verbatim quotes from transcripts and some of the photographs taken by participants. A reflective description of the core aspects of participants’ practical religious doing is constructed from the data, with the intention of providing occupational therapists with a basis from which to begin to consider practical religious doing within the lives of their clients. It is proposed that occupational therapists do not need an in-depth knowledge of theology and doctrine but rather an understanding of key and familiar occupational principles such as person-centred habits and routines, and community connectedness

Teaching assistants and support for literacy and language development

Through an examination of writing done by teaching assistants for an Open University course, this paper examines assistants’ perceptions of their role in children’s learning within the context of the Literacy Hour. There is an analysis of three themes arising from the data i.e. assistants’ practice aimed at increasing children’s participation; assistants’ pedagogic and subject knowledge; and the nature of assistants’ team working with teachers. The data suggests that teaching assistants are very involved in working with the most vulnerable and ‘difficult to teach’ children and that they use a range of intermediary techniques and pedagogic strategies to enable these children to participate in the Literacy Hour. The data lends support to the official view of the role of teaching assistants i.e. that, guided by teachers, they ‘enable the teacher to teach’ and ‘support children’s learning’. However, the data also suggests that teaching assistants teach too, sometimes with a degree of independence. Indeed, the variety (and in some cases sophistication) of ways in which teaching points are developed by them with children appears to signify a clear pedagogic role in terms of extending children’s knowledge of literacy

Is there a class issue at LSE?: Episode 4

In the fourth blog of a series this week at Researching Sociology @ LSE, this blog will discuss second year sociology undergraduate Tallulah Eyres’ views. This is part of the LSE Social Mobility Society’s panel discussion, which involved student and staff speakers. To view all blogs so far, and to find out more about the panellists, click here

The sub-millimetre evolution of V4334 Sgr (Sakurai's Object)

We report the results of monitoring of V4334 Sgr (Sakurai's Object) at 450 microns and 850 microns with SCUBA on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. The flux density at both wavelengths has increased dramatically since 2001, and is consistent with continued cooling of the dust shell in which Sakurai's Object is still enshrouded, and which still dominates the near-infrared emission. Assuming that the dust shell is optically thin at sub-millimetre wavelengths and optically thick in the near-infrared, the sub-millimetre data imply a mass-loss rate during 2003 of ~3.4(+/0.2)E-5 for a gas-to-dust ratio of 75. This is consistent with the evidence from 1-5micron observations that the mass-loss is steadily increasing.Comment: 5 pages, 4 eps figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Horizontal gene transfer and the unusual genomic architecture of bdelloid rotifers

Bdelloid rotifers are microscopic aquatic animals, notable for their ancient asexuality and their extreme desiccation tolerance. In the absence of sexual reproduction, bdelloids have persisted for over 40 million years, diverging into >450 morphologically distinct species. Despite the two-fold cost of sex, asexual lineages tend to be short-lived and species poor. Many theories exist to explain the success of sexual reproduction, and in the light of these, ancient asexual lineages are an evolutionary paradox. Understanding the persistence and speciation of ancient asexuals may provide clues to factors underlying the success of sexual reproduction. Bdelloid rotifers have unusual genomic features that may have provided some compensation for their long-term absence of sexual reproduction. Here I focus on two: multiple gene copies and horizontal gene transfer (HGT). Bdelloids have multiple copies of many genes, and are considered degenerate tetraploids. In genomes influenced by the opposing forces of gene conversion and divergence of former alleles, I examine the relationships between, and biochemical implications of divergence of a multi-gene family of alpha tubulin. Horizontally acquired genes were initially identified in sub-telomeric regions of two species of bdelloid rotifer. In order to understand what role foreign genes might have played in bdelloid evolution we need to examine the extent, frequency and mechanism of HGT. Here I develop a bioinformatics pipeline for identifying horizontally acquired genes in transcriptomes. By comparing HGT in a number of bdelloid species I demonstrate that the majority of transcribed foreign genes were acquired before the divergence of extant bdelloid species, but the presence of more recently acquired genes implies that HGT is ongoing. By comparing the extent of HGT in closely related species with different desiccation frequencies I provide initial support for the hypothesis that bdelloid HGT is facilitated by DNA breakage and repair during cycles of desiccation and rehydration.Open Acces