Identifying instructional practices employed by Massachusetts Special Olympics Hall of Fame coaches

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston UniversitySpecial Olympics athletes may experience unique learning needs not seen among many mainstream athletes. Consequently, research-based coaching practices recommended for coaches of mainstream teams may not be appropriate for Special Olympics coaches. With this in mind, the importance of establishing a research-based knowledge bank of coaching practices to use with athletes who have intellectual disabilities comes to light. Identified coaching practices can benefit coaches of Special Olympics teams, as well as coaches of mainstream teams who may work with athletes who have intellectual disabilities. This first-of-its-kind empirical research study sought to identify instructional practices demonstrated by Massachusetts Special Olympics Hall of Fame coaches (n = 8). Specifically, this study aimed to discover what instructional practices were most commonly used among the participant group; what these instructional practices looked like; and what instructional practices may have contributed to supporting a positive learning climate. A framework for instructional practices set by the National Council for Accreditation of Coach Education (NCACE) was used to assist with the identification of instructional behaviors employed by study participants. A second purpose of this study was to use the NCACE (2006) Domain Five Observation Instrument (DFOI), a competency-based observation tool developed for this study, to collect data on study participants' instructional practices. Each study participant was observed coaching a practice three times during their sport season. Using the DFOI, observed instructional behaviors were quantified via event recording procedures and described by recording descriptive field notes. To triangulate data collected on the DFOI, coaches were audio-recorded with a wireless lapel microphone during practice observations. Following each coach's third practice observation, audio-recorded interviews were conducted to gain further insight into demonstrated instructional practices. Participants were observed performing 2,157 instructional behaviors during 1,080 minutes of observation, averaging 1.99 behaviors per minute and 89.87 behaviors per practice. Based on data analysis, encouragement, positive correction, and tactical and technical cues were the three instructional practices most commonly employed by study participants, accounting for 68.33% of all recorded behaviors. Data also show that participants engaged athletes in sport-specific activities during 63.15% of the total observation time, and spent only 5.95% of the total observation time delivering instruction to their teams. While speculative, data suggest that participants' emphasis of initiative, choice, excellence, and interpersonal relationships may have contributed to the support of positive learning environments. Additionally, the DFOI proved to be a useful observation tool for collecting competency-based quantitative and qualitative data, and is recommended for use during future replications of the current study, as well as future assessments of sport coaches' instructional practices. Based on data collected in this study, 14 recommendations are presented for Special Olympics, community-based, and school-based coach education programs. These recommendations include: promoting the importance of weaving encouragement into coaching practices, using a feedback model to facilitate delivery of positive corrections, and prioritizing use of instructional tools using a "tools in hand, tools in the tool belt, and tools in the toolbox" model

Brief for the Weymouth School Committee (Weymouth, Massachusetts), as Amici Curiae supporting respondents, Algonquin Gas Transmission, LLC and Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline, LLC v. Fore River residents against the compressor station, et al.

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The BCH-SBPR: A Multi-disciplinary Registry Collecting Longitudinal Data on Patients with Spina Bifida

Introduction. In the U.S. alone, approximately 1500 infants are born with SB each year. An estimated 166,000 individuals with SB live in the United States. Background. The BCH-SBPR was established in August 2015 to help increase knowledge about new procedures, surgeries and treatment options, growing up with Spina Bifida, and to guide healthcare practices by prospectively studying a cohort of children born with this condition. Objective. The objective of this project is to collect comprehensive longitudinal clinical data (demographics, treatments, and outcomes) from a multi- disciplinary clinic on patients with SB. Design: Prospective longitudinal design. Data collection will occur every six months. Methods. Study subjects include children whose ages range from birth to 35 years with one of the following six SB diagnoses: Myelomeningocele, Meningocele, Lipoma of Spinal Cord, Fatty Thickened Filum, Split Cord Malformation, and Terminal Myelocystocele will be eligible to participate. Results. 653 patients were enrolled in this registry. 635 patients were enrolled in this registry. 66 patients were randomly selected to conduct a descriptive analysis. The mean age was 9.7 (7.63 SD). The majority of the patients\u27 age were between 5 and 13 years old (40 %). The female participants (58.3 % ) were slightly more than male participants (41.7%). The majority was white (56.7%) and None-Hispanic or Latino. 40% of the patient relaid on public insurance. 70% had an MMC and 30 non-MMC diagnoses. The majority of the patients were geographically located in Massachusetts (63.2.%). Therefore, further analysis of descriptive and inferential statistics will be conducted early August 2017. Conclusion. This Registry will provide valuable longitudinal clinical data from approximately 700 patients with SB conditions. The collected data will be used for quality improvement and research projects

An Innovative Nurse-Managed Transition Clinic for Adolescents and Young Adults with Spina Bifida: A Pilot Study

Background. Transition from pediatric to adult care for patients with complex illness is challenging. The Spina Bifida Center at Boston Children’s Hospital (SBC) has approximately 650 patients, of which 25% (N=162) are ≥ 18 years of age. The SBC has not had a structured paradigm for successful transition. A first transition clinic with our pediatric and adult care urology partners was initiated in August 2016. Methods. A 20 question (TRAQ: Transition Readiness Assessment Questionnaire) paper survey was distributed to patients in the first Spina Bifida Transition Clinic at Boston Children\u27s Hospital. TRAQ is a validated, patient-centered questionnaire which providers and families can use to assess youths\u27 readiness to transition to adult care. Results. Seven young adults participated in the Spina Bifida Transition Readiness Assessment Questionnaire (TRAQ). Of the seven patients who took part in the TRAQ survey, 85.7 % (n=6) were males and 14.3% (n=1) were females. 85.7% were white-non-Hispanic or Latino, and 14.3 % were white-Hispanic or Latino. The participants\u27 mean age was 28.1. Of the patients who completed the questionnaires, 61.4 % reported a positive response ( Yes, I have started doing this, or Yes, I always do this when I need to. ) related to their ability level regarding managing medications, appointment keeping, tracking health issues, talking with providers, and managing daily activities. 16.4% reported a negative response ( No, I do not know how, ) related to the domains mentioned above, and 22.1% had a negative response but were either willing to learn or already learning how to manage and develop skills needed for the transition to adult care. Conclusion. Transition is a multi-step process. We found that successful transition for the patient and family requires investment from pediatric and adult providers, involvement of social work and the support of local spina bifida association

Antenatal diagnosis of intrauterine infection with coxsackievirus B3 associated with live birth.

BACKGROUND: Prior reported cases of stillbirth and neonates infected with enteroviruses suggest transplacental infection. We present a case of fetal infection with coxsackievirus B3, diagnosed antenatally and resulting in live birth. CASE: A pregnant woman presented at 26 weeks with fetal tachycardia and non-immune hydrops fetalis. Coxsackievirus B3 was cultured from amniotic fluid. Maternal antibody to coxsackievirus B3 was positive at 1:512. At 32 weeks, the fetus deteriorated and was delivered. Cord blood antibody to coxsackievirus B3 was positive at a higher titer. Following neonatal death, brain and placental tissues were positive for enterovirus ribonucleic acid by polymerase chain reaction. CONCLUSION: Intrauterine infection by enteroviruses should be considered in the differential diagnosis of non-immune hydrops fetalis. Antenatal diagnosis of coxsackievirus B3 infection is associated with poor outcome

Care Coordination Guidelines for the Care of People with Spina Bifida

Care coordination is the deliberate organization of patient care activities between two or more participants (including the patient) involved in a person’s care to facilitate the appropriate delivery of health care services. Organizing care involves the marshalling of personnel and other resources needed to carry out all required patient care activities. It is often managed by the exchange of information among participants responsible for different aspects of care. With an estimated 85% of individuals with Spina Bifida (SB) surviving to adulthood, SB specific care coordination guidelines are warranted. Care coordination (also described as case management services) is a process that links them to services and resources in a coordinated effort to maximize their potential by providing optimal health care. However, care can be complicated due to the medical complexities of the condition and the need for multidisciplinary care, as well as economic and sociocultural barriers. It is often a shared responsibility by the multidisciplinary Spina Bifida team. For this reason, the Spina Bifida Care Coordinator has the primary responsibility for overseeing the overall treatment plan for the individual with Spina Bifida. Care coordination includes communication with the primary care provider in a patient’s medical home. This article discusses the Spina Bifida Care Coordination Guideline from the 2018 Spina Bifida Association’s Fourth Edition of the Guidelines for the Care of People with Spina Bifida and explores care coordination goals for different age groups as well as further research topics in SB care coordination

Nonsymmorphic chiral symmetry and solitons in the Rice-Mele model

The Rice-Mele model has two topological and spatial-inversion-symmetric phases, namely, the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) phase with alternating hopping only, and the charge-density-wave (CDW) phase with alternating energies only. The chiral symmetry of the SSH phase is robust in position space, so that it is preserved in the presence of the ends of a finite system and of textures in the alternating hopping. However, the chiral symmetry of the CDW phase is nonsymmorphic, resulting in a breaking of the bulk topology by an end or a texture in the alternating energies. We consider the presence of solitons (textures in position space separating two degenerate ground states) in finite systems with open boundary conditions. We identify the parameter range under which an atomically sharp soliton in the CDW phase supports a localized state which lies within the band gap, and we calculate the expectation value py of the nonsymmorphic chiral operator for this state, and the soliton electric charge. As the spatial extent of the soliton increases beyond the atomic limit, the energy level approaches zero exponentially quickly or in a manner inversely proportional to the width, depending on microscopic details of the soliton texture. In both cases, the difference of py from 1 is inversely proportional to the soliton width, while the charge is independent of the width. We investigate the robustness of the soliton level in the presence of disorder and sample-to-sample parameter variations, comparing it with a single soliton level in the SSH phase with an odd number of sites

Microbes and masculinity: Does exposure to pathogenic cues alter women's preferences for male facial masculinity and beardedness?

Women’s preferences for men’s androgen dependent secondary sexual traits are proposed to be phenotypically plastic in response to exposure to pathogens and pathogen disgust. While previous studies report that masculinity in facial shape is more attractive to women who have recently been exposed to pathogenic cues and who are high in self-reported pathogen disgust, facial hair may reduce male attractiveness under conditions of high pathogens as beards are a possible breeding ground for disease carrying ectoparasites. In the present study, we test whether women’s preferences for beardedness and facial masculinity vary due to exposure to different pathogenic cues. Participants (N = 688, mean age + 1SD = 31.94 years, SD = 6.69, range = 18–67) rated the attractiveness of facial composite stimuli of men when they were clean-shaven or fully bearded. These stimuli were also manipulated in order to vary sexual dimorphism by ±50%. Ratings were conducted before and after exposure to one of four experimental treatments in which participants were primed to either high pathogens (e.g. infected cuts), ectoparasites (e.g. body lice), a mixture of pathogens and ectoparasites, or a control condition (e.g. innocuous liquids). Participants then completed the three-domain disgust scale measuring attitudes to moral, sexual and pathogen disgust. We predicted that women would prefer facial masculinity following exposure to pathogenic cues, but would show reduced preferences for facial hair following exposure to ectoparasites. Women preferred full beards over clean-shaven faces and masculinised over feminised faces. However, none of the experimental treatments influenced the direction of preferences for facial masculinity or beardedness. We also found no association between women’s self-reported pathogen disgust and their preferences for facial masculinity. However, there was a weak positive association between moral disgust scores and preferences for facial masculinity, which might reflect conservatism and preferences for gender typicality in faces. Women’s preferences for beards were positively associated with their pathogen disgust, which runs contrary to our predictions and may reflect preferences for high quality individuals who can withstand any costs of beardedness, although further replications are necessary before firm conclusions can be made. We conclude that there is little support for pathogenic exposure being a mechanism that underpins women’s directional preferences for masculine traits

Mating strategies and the masculinity paradox: How relationship context, relationship status, and sociosexuality shape women's preferences for facial masculinity and beardedness

According to the dual mating strategy model, in short-term mating contexts women should forego paternal investment qualities in favor of mates with well-developed secondary sexual characteristics and dominant behavioral displays. We tested whether this model explains variation in women’s preferences for facial masculinity and beardedness in male faces. Computer-generated composites that had been morphed to appear +/-50% masculine were rated by 671 heterosexual women (M age = 31.72 years, SD = 6.43) for attractiveness when considering them as a short-term partner, long-term partner, a co-parent or a friend. They then completed the Revised Sociosexual Inventory (SOI-R) to determine their sexual openness on dimensions of desire, behavior, and attitudes. Results showed that women’s preferences were strongest for average facial masculinity, followed by masculinized faces, with feminized faces being least attractive. In contrast to past research, facial masculinity preferences were stronger when judging for co-parenting partners than for short-term mates. Facial masculinity preferences were also positively associated with behavioral SOI, negatively with desire, and were unrelated to global or attitudinal SOI. Women gave higher ratings for full beards than clean-shaven faces. Preferences for beards were higher for co-parenting and long-term relationships than short-term relationships, although these differences were not statistically significant. Preferences for facial hair were positively associated with global and attitudinal SOI, but were unrelated to behavioral SOI and desire. Although further replication is necessary, our findings indicate that sexual openness is associated with women’s preferences for men’s facial hair and suggest variation in the association between sociosexuality and women’s facial masculinity preferences