Looked after children have been identified by successive governments as a vulnerable group who have persistently demonstrated poor outcomes across a range of measures, including educational attainment and social inclusion (DfE, 2012a). The 2010 Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition government has identified narrowing the gap between this group and their peers as a key priority, and Paired Reading is one intervention that has been shown to improve literacy levels when implemented with looked after children (Osborne et al., 2010), with further potential value in strengthening the adult-child relationship through their shared engagement in the reading process (Topping, 2001). A mixed methods design measuring reading across three time points was used to assess the impact of a Paired Reading intervention with looked after children and their carers on the children’s reading levels. Although a significant difference was found for two of the measures of reading progress, a more detailed analysis of the data suggests that there was wide variation in both pre- and post- intervention scores. The results from this research suggest that Paired Reading may be an effective intervention for some looked after children, but that a differential analysis of individual child needs is required prior to implementation, taking into consideration children’s previous life experiences, literacy performance and relationship with their carer.

The need for cost-effective interventions for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and related conditions is growing rapidly. Recent research suggests that only a limited number of individuals who are eligible for intervention are actually receiving such services. This thesis first discusses the current evidence-base for interventions aimed at young children with ASD. It then outlines a frequent oversight in the literature regarding motor development and resonance difficulties in this population, which forms the basis for developing motor-based interventions for these individuals. Two large-scale experimental school-based studies are then presented which examine the effects of an ABA-based high-intensity physical exercise as an effective intervention for children with ASD and other Special Educational Needs (SEN). In one study, this intervention is compared with a low-intensity exercise program. Results indicate that high-intensity physical exercise results in significant short-term (0-to-90 minute), but not long-term (24 hours+), improvements in cognitive/behavioral flexibility (executive functions) in students with ASD and students with SEN. Furthermore, both high-intensity and low-intensity exercise resulted in significant reductions in stress, in both the short-term and long-term in students with ASD and students with SEN. These findings provide direct evidence for the effectiveness of physical exercise as a school-based intervention.

In the context of growing concerns about the mental health of children and adolescents in the United Kingdom, it is recognised that social support offered by parents, peers and teachers plays an important role in the emotional and psychological well-being of young people. This thesis (Volume One) was produced as part of the written requirements for the Doctoral training in Educational Psychology. It contains four chapters. Chapter One provides an overview of the volume of work and foregrounds my identity and epistemological position. Chapter Two provides a critical review of the theoretical and research literature on social support for children and young people. Chapter Three reports on findings from a small-scale study carried out with adolescent girls within a friendship group at a secondary school. The research employed qualitative methods to explore participants’ lived experience of social support, and data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Chapter Four comprises final reflections on IPA as a methodology and the contribution of the study to my practice as an educational psychologist (EP).

This research investigates how a comprehensive understanding of teacher-pupil relationships can enhance our insight into classroom life. The study focuses specifically on the individual pupil differences and experiences, and how the teacher perceives these differences in terms of the relationship that develops. The study also considers the effects, if any, that changes in educational policy over the last decade have had on the opportunities to form and develop positive teacher-pupil relationships. The dominant theoretical and methodological model of studying classroom relationships has been the cognitive-developmental model, which mainly employs interviews with teachers and children in order to account for qualitative differences in the nature of the relationships in different age groups. There is only a limited amount of research based on contextual (symbolic interactionist) case studies of teacher-pupil relationships which present a description of these relationships as they develop in a natural setting. The two research models arrive at different results about the characteristics, however, common in both models is an emphasis on the need for studies that would a) account for both verbal and non-verbal behaviour, b) explain micro-developmental changes and reasons for these changes, and c) provide a specific ground-based model of teacher-pupil relationship development. This research employed a contextual (symbolic interactionist) approach. The fieldwork was conducted in two primary schools, focusing on a Year 3 and a Year 6 class in each case study school. Variation in the teaching style/educational organisation, teacher and pupil expectations and pupils’ individual differences accounts for differences and similarities in the formation and development of teacher-pupil relationships. Methods used to triangulate the data about the nature and quality of the relationships include: observations of daily interactions in each classroom during one academic year, as well as specific observations of the pupils in the sample; interviews with the teacher and pupils at the beginning and end of the year; and pupil diaries which were used by the children in the sample for their own thoughts about the relationship with the teacher. The theoretical and methodological research implications support the study of teacher-pupil relationships in context because it provides and in-depth and detailed description and understanding of the characteristics and development of these complex relationships.

No description available.

A small scale, case-study evaluation was carried out on a pilot training programme for early years practitioners. The programme used was the ‘Communicating Matters’ materials, published by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES 2006), which was designed to support the development of practitioners’ understanding and skills in relation to children’s speech, language and communication. Effective skills in the area of language and communication are considered critical to academic achievement and later life chances. The evaluation aimed to highlight issues of programme implementation and practitioner learning. The objectives of the study were related to identifying whether practitioners had gained knowledge about key areas of language and communication development and whether they were able to reflect on and identify how they would implement knowledge and skills gained from the programme. In addition, the evaluation sought to understand the process of implementation and identify issues to be considered in future delivery. A mixed methods approach to the evaluation was used to obtain data through questionnaire feedback from participants and interview data from programme trainers. Results indicated that practitioners had benefitted from the programme, at least in the short-term. Participants reported improved knowledge about the development of speech, language and communication and many identified key changes that they planned to make to their behaviour, in addition to strategies that they intended to use to support children. Further longer-term investigation is required in order to make more comprehensive claims about the success of the programme with respect to the retention and application of learning and outcomes for children. The implementation of the programme was examined and difficulties with the length and expectation of the training programme were identified along with other issues related to professional development for early years practitioners.

No description available.

This thesis describes a biographical research study in which eight educational psychologists took part in interviews with the researcher, who is also an educational psychologist, on the subject of 'reliable evidence'. As part of this process participants were asked to discuss the personal and professional influences that have shaped their epistemological positioning and practice as applied psychologists. The research is located within broader themes in the literature that encompass debates about the relative merits of qualitative and quantitative approaches, the scientific tradition in psychology, evidence based practice, and the turn towards standpoint perspectives in the social sciences. It is argued that a broadly positivist epistemology remains dominant within psychology as a professional discipline and that this creates tensions for many practitioner-psychologists who find its assumptions incompatible with the majority, if not all, of their work. Thematic analysis of the interviews reveals that the participants see only a very blurred boundary between their personal and professional lives and that this influences their positioning on questions of methodology and the establishment of knowledge claims. There is scepticism amongst the participants about the value of concepts such as 'reliable evidence', and concern that 'science', as the British Psychological Society has defined that term, is of relatively limited use to them and their colleagues in educational psychology. Participants feel that the generic practice of educational psychologists - work that is principally with individual children and young people, parents, teachers and other professionals - is not valued as highly within their profession as research and systemsbased work that seeks to bring about change at an organisational level. This is because the generic practice of an educational psychologist requires a highly pragmatic 'real world' approach, whereas research and systems-based work are widely perceived to offer more opportunities to implement a rigorous and scientific methodology capable of generating 'reliable evidence'. The thesis concludes by proposing that a pragmatic epistemology can be applied to the research and generic practice elements of the work of educational psychologists through the adoption of the 'bricoleur' model, which could help address the disjuncture that educational psychologists perceive between those two aspects of their role.

Emotional difficulties in children and young people are associated with poor behavioural, social and educational outcomes (Kern, Hilt-Panahon & Sokol, 2009). A systematic review was carried out to explore the effects of therapeutic writing interventions on students’ emotional and academic outcomes and to develop an understanding of the underlying mechanisms that might help to explain these effects. Therapeutic writing interventions were found to be effective in reducing symptoms of stress, depression and anxiety and were related to improvements in academic performance. Underlying mechanisms that were associated with positive outcomes included changes in cognition, improvements in coping strategies and improvements in working memory capacity. The review highlighted a lack of research exploring the effects of therapeutic writing techniques on academic outcomes with younger students. The empirical paper sought to address some of the gaps in the existing research highlighted in the review. The research utilised a sequential explanatory mixed methods design to investigate the effects of a therapeutic storywriting intervention on children’s writing. The first quantitative phase consisted of two studies. The first study investigated the effects of a therapeutic storywriting intervention on children’s writing achievement in comparison to a matched control group. The intervention group (n=28) made significantly greater academic gains compared to the control group (n=28). The second study examined to what extent the intervention facilitated cognitive changes through exploring changes in children’s use of written language during the therapeutic storywriting intervention. There were some significant changes in children’s use of emotional and causal words; however these did not significantly predict greater academic gains. In the second qualitative phase, narrative analysis was used to explore and compare the stories written by children who had made the most and least gains. There were a number of similarities between both groups’ stories; however more of the stories written by children who had made the least gains ended negatively and lacked helpful secondary characters. The quantitative and qualitative findings are discussed with reference to prior research.

This research study set out to describe the impact of the working memory system and other cognitive processes related to dyslexia difficulties in writing performance in students with dyslexia. Twenty dyslexic and twenty non-dyslexic students have participated in this study. The Working Memory Test Battery for Children (WMTB-C) and the Test of Written Language (TOWL-3) were administered to the subjects. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that the central executive component of the WM system significantly predicted higher-order writing skills (structural level) and that the phonological loop predicted vocabulary in text generation for students with dyslexia, whereas the visuo-spatial sketchpad did not influence written production for students with dyslexia. The texts produced by students with dyslexia were poorer than the controls on both sentence and structural levels. The analysis suggested the interdependence of a variety of cognitive processes in influencing written productivity in students with dyslexia. More importantly, this study has underlined the unique contribution of vocabulary knowledge on both sentence and structural levels; it was found to be the variable mediating the links between central executive (WM) and text generation in students with dyslexia. Finally, the analysis yielded that there was no interactive effect between central executive (WM) and dyslexia-related difficulties in writing performance of students with dyslexia. In the light of the findings implications for practice are considered and recommendations of future research are discussed.