This thesis is a contribution towards the subtitling practice of audiovisual programmes for deaf children. It starts by offering an overview of relevant research on Subtitling for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing (SDH), conducted both in the UK and abroad. A descriptive and comprehensive study on how children’s programmes broadcast in British television are subtitled for deaf children constitutes the starting point of the project. In an attempt to gain an understanding on how deaf children read subtitles, the linguistic difficulties encountered in the acquisition of a spoken language as well as their reading characteristics are examined. In doing so, contributions from both Deaf Studies and Audiovisual Translation are considered. Deaf children are placed in their social context and the different types of hearing loss, prelingual and postlingual deafness, and cochlear implantation are discussed. Education for the deaf is also tackled, encompassing the history, philosophies and current trends. The ultimate aim of the project is to contribute to the subtitling practice of deaf children by conducting empirical analysis. Hands-on research is conducted with a group of deaf children recruited from a mainstream school. Case studies are used in the piloting leading to the main experiment, which consists of exploring techniques to enhance word recognition and content comprehension. The findings of the main experiment, analysed using statistics, and the children's feedback, obtained orally at the end of the main activity and presented in a narrative form, are discussed as a contribution towards future research.

The current study took a systemic perspective to explore how secondary schools promote emotional wellbeing and learning in their dyslexic pupils through the development of self-efficacy. Developmental dyslexia is a reading ' disability of neurological origin that persists throughout life despite adequate education, intelligence and socioeconomic background (Snowling, Bishop, & Stothard, 2000). It is well documented that the lived experience of pupils with learning difficulties can be a painful one and has implications on school attainment daily. Willcutt and Pennington (2000) suggest that the academic under achievement associated with dyslexia may predispose children to become more withdrawn, anxious and depressed than children without dyslexia. In addition, there seems to be a growing body of evidence on the serious short and long-term effects of dyslexia. In particular the British Dyslexia Association (2012) draw attention to the relationship between crime and illiteracy. The county who commissioned this research recognizes the need for dyslexic pupils to have individualised teaching that suppOlis their learning and emotional wellbeing. The study used a sample of foui' students, four parents and four teachers, across two secondary schools, who were interviewed to gain a richer understanding of the research topic. These interviews were analysed using grounded theory and guided by a critical realist perspective. The results highlighted the importance of the environment surrounding the student in the development of a positive identity as a learner (which included their self-efficacy belief). It was vital for students to experience enjoyment and success in learning. The , factors within their environment that facilitated this success and enjoyment were peer and teacher awareness of dyslexia, positive family views of dyslexia and ICT access. All of this was supported by a strong, positive home-school relationship.

This study examined the impact of dyslexia and cognitive style upon the study skills and learning experiences of students in higher education. It aimed to investigate whether there are any significant differences in cognitive style between students with and without dyslexia and whether style has a significant part to play in a student's levels of success in learning from lectures. Increasing numbers of students with dyslexia are studying at degree level and Part IV of the Disability Discrimination Act (2001) has led to the introduction of a range of support services in Higher Education. The research therefore also sought to investigate the particular difficulties posed by study at degree level for learners with dyslexia, the extent to which they have utilised and benefited from support measures currently in place and the effect of dyslexia upon their experience of higher education. Its emancipatory aim was to contribute to the ways in which barriers within higher education might be removed and students enabled to fulfil their potential. Accordingly the project took a multi-method approach to investigate the experiences of 137 male students, sixty with dyslexia and 77 without, in 17 higher education institutions. Cognitive style did not differ significantly between students with and without dyslexia nor was it implicated in the students' performance in the lecture based tasks. However, the students with dyslexia, completed these tasks less successfully and were slower to process the tasks involved in the cognitive style analysis than the controls. Dyslexic students also reported significantly more difficulties with study skills across their education than the non-dyslexic group and significantly higher need and utilisation of learning support. However, many needs have yet to be met. The academic success achieved by students with dyslexia masks concerns about difficulties across the range of academic skills, tasks and activities which impact upon their relationships with peers and lecturers and their sense of their identity as students. The findings are discussed in the light of the impact of dyslexia upon the individual and the position of dyslexia within current models of disability. Suggestions are offered as to how policy within higher education institutions could be developed to individualise support and broaden access.

This thesis is an extensive analysis of the records of the Cambrian Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, Wales' first institution for boarding and educating deaf children, from 1847 to 1914. The Institution opened in Aberystwyth in 1847, moving to Swansea in 1850. The study explores the institutional sources, asking what can they can show the historian about public attitudes to disability and deafness, and what can be learned about the everyday lives of those who attended the Institution. The thesis will examine the major discourses in special education such as the rise of oralism and the increasing role of the state through the 1893 Elementary Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act, arguing that the Institution's response illustrates the complexity of their application in Wales and Britain. However, equal emphasis will be played on the routines, backgrounds and leisure lives of the pupils themselves. It will be suggested that the melodramatic and tragic imagery projected in public by the Institution differed greatly from daily life. The work is placed firmly in its historical and social context. It challenges historical frameworks which rightly explain the construction of attitudes to disability and deafness, but leave little room for individual variation between pupils and institutions. Likewise, the problematic notion of experience will be explored, questioning the extent to which the voice of the pupils can be found using sources almost exclusively written by the Institution's staff. Finally, the thesis will argue that wider contemporary issues are reflected in the Institution's records, not those exclusive to deaf children. These include the spread of Victorian philanthropy, the changing social role of education, and the impact of family lives and leisure time for children. It is argued that disabled and deaf children in institutions were not passive victims but active agents, participating in all of these discourses.

Background: Policy and practice in early years provision in education, health and social care has advanced in recent times to emphasise parents as partners in supporting children’s learning. Speech and language therapists (SLT) work closely with parents of pre-school children with language learning difficulties to enable them to promote language development in the home. There is growing evidence that indicates that parents can be taught how to become effective facilitators of language skills. Nevertheless, little is known about parents’ or SLTs’ conceptions of their roles when working together, and how these may change during intervention. Aims: To explore parents’ and SLTs’ conceptions of their respective roles in intervention for pre-school children with primary speech and language needs and to determine the extent to which parents’ conceptions of roles change whilst working with SLTs . Methods: A two phase, mixed methods study was conducted using semi structured interviews and questionnaires, with parents and SLTs in England. A smaller subset of parents participated in a longitudinal study to track any changes in their conceptions during intervention. The data were analysed using thematic network analysis for first level themes, framework analysis for comparing themes over time and statistical analysis for the questionnaire responses. Over 65 parents and 70 SLTs participated in the study during both phases, providing the perspectives of a wide range of participants. Results: Findings suggested that before involvement with speech and language therapy, parents had a clear conception of their advocacy role, which prompted them to secure help. However, they did not have a firm conception of their role in supporting their children’s language learning and did not anticipate adopting an intervener role. Parents expressed considerable variation in their conception of their intervener role. During intervention, some parents described changing this conception and adopting an increasingly involved role as implementer and adaptor of intervention. Moreover, in some cases, they described substantial changes in their approach to parenting, suggesting wider changes in their conception of role. SLTs had clearly formulated conceptions of their own roles as assessor, intervener and negotiator, but varied in the extent to which they involved parents as co-workers in intervention. SLTs had two conceptions of their own role as intervener: treat and plan and advise/coach. SLTs expressed intentions to help parents change their understanding of their role, but the parent education role remains largely implicit in SLT practice. Conclusions and implications: Parents described conceptions of their roles as advocate, intervener and taking responsibility. They described important changes in their conceptions of roles, suggesting that a process of conceptual change occurred associated with greater involvement in intervention. SLTs varied in their own role conception, with intervener roles that related to lower or high level of parent involvement. Implications for the SLT practice include developing a more explicit role as parent educators, in order to enhance parental understanding as well as behaviour in supporting their children’s language development. This report presents independent research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) reference number RP-PG-0109-10073. The views and opinions expressed by author in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the NHS, the NIHR, NIHR CCF, the Programme Grants for Applied Research programme or the Department of Health. The views and opinions expressed by the interviewees in this publication are those of the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect those of the author, those of the NHS, the NIHR CCF Programme Grants for Applied Research programme or the Department of Health.

No description available.

This thesis explores dyslexia support in higher education. The research is focussed primarily upon investigating dyslexia as a social construct, and the pedagogical strategies that are employed as part of a specialist intervention. Given the increasing numbers of students either identified with dyslexia before they enrol at university, or during their courses, the background to this thesis is the assumption amongst policy makers and funding bodies that dyslexia support, specifically that which is funded through Disabled Students Allowance (DSA), is specialised and distinct. Investigating the premise that support may be specialist, this research has drawn its findings from analysing the shared understandings of dyslexia, and the social processes that contribute to how specialists respond to it. The findings reveal that how dyslexia specialists have arrived at their understanding of the conditions is as much based on social circumstances and shared assumptions, as it is anything revealed in primary research. Within higher education in particular dyslexia is constructed through social processes that include psychological testing of students, assessing their needs to allocate funding, and discursively referring to dyslexia using medicalised and disabling terminology. The research concludes that the actual pedagogical interventions used by specialist tutors, and suggested in specialist literature, is not easily justified as specialist when compared against similar strategies used to develop students’ study skills.

The aim of this study was to investigate the opportunities available for participation in physical activity for children with Additional Support Needs and or disabilities in a sample of mainstream primary schools in Glasgow. Despite the voluminous amount of research that has been published in the field of physical activity there remains a paucity of information on activity patterns in exercise for children with Additional Support Needs. The research has been prompted by concerns and anecdotal stories about low levels of participation in physical activity by young children with ASN in a mainstream setting. As part of the Standards Scotland Schools Act 2000 (section 15) schools, across Scotland, will offer mainstream education to all children, including those with physical and educational special needs, other than in exceptionally circumstances. The specific aim of f 'Research was to highlight barriers against children with ASN participating in physical activity sessions to the same extent as their able bodied peers.

This research explores the concerns that parents, of children with physical disabilities, have about their inclusion in mainstream school. The research was undertaken in a climate where inclusion of children with special needs was being actively promoted by the DFEE. Previous research has shown that parents have a range of concerns about bringing up a child with a physical disability (Noojin and Wallander 1996) and they do not believe that professionals understand these difficulties (Beresford 1994). Research has also shown that children with physical disabilities are not automatically academically or socially successful in mainstream school (Center and Ward 1984). A questionnaire, which contained both open and closed questions, was sent to all the parents of children with physical disabilities in one large county authority. A similar questionnaire was sent to all the parents of pre-school children in the same authority. The same two questionnaires were also sent to parents from all over England who had sought support from Scope's Advisory Assessment Service. Grounded theory was used to generate coding schemes that made sense of the mainstream and special school parents' concerns and their views on their children's education. The research showed that mainstream parents were significantly more concerned (than special school parents) with relationships and the actual school. Special school parents were significantly more concerned about their children's physical, communicative and general development. Difficulties with interagency working were a particular issue for many of the parents. The research showed that these views developed at a pre-school age. Parents were informally planning for their child's education outside the formal Statementing system. Family and community factors influence parents' views on education - not professionals. The above results were discussed in relationship to mainstream parents using a social model of disability whereas the special school parents were using a medical model.The research highlights the importance of professionals understanding parents' perceptions and working with them at a much earlier age if they are to develop the opportunity structures required to support the inclusion of children with physical disabilities into mainstream school

This small scale, qualitative study explores the reality of the academic and social experiences of pupils with physical impairments. It focuses on one secondary school in the North West of England that has admitted disabled pupils for over twenty years. Whilst acknowledging that integration does take place, it analyses the extent to which this can be equated with inclusion. Semi-structured interviews with both disabled pupils and learning support assistants reveal that the school has experienced some success, but the degree to which the establishment encourages full participation as well as celebrating difference is seen to be affected by a variety of factors. The role of the learning support assistant together with accessibility to the physical environment, prove key features in the inclusion process. In addition, lack of proximity, restricted sporting and extra-curricular opportunity, together with the absence of a facility to discuss disability issues, prove to be discriminatory factors. An historical framework sets the institutional issues against a backdrop of successive governmental policies. Whilst the latter have published a commitment to integration - integration as opposed to inclusion -a series of qualifying clauses have led to inaction and indecision, resulting in restricted involvement for disabled pupils. Conclusions reached stress the need for future development. The importance of this school and indeed all educational establishments, working towards inclusive practice, is seen as paramount.