<p> Research confirms that dyslexia is the most common form of learning disability that exists in schools today. Continuous dyslexic research has narrowed in on specific characteristics of the disability, yet many dyslexics still struggle academically. The need for additional literature resides within the success stories of dyslexic individuals who have overcome their educational deficit and have persevered in academic arenas. This study examined factors contributing to the academic success of students With dyslexia and their ability to transcend academic barriers as they continue the journey into post-secondary education. Additionally, this study explored the influences of the educational methods, support structures such as family, peer and school mentorship, and coping strategies that might have affected the dyslexic learner&rsquo;s academic performance. This phenomenological qualitative study utilized semi-structured interviews to capture the lived experiences of eight high-achieving students With dyslexia who have recently graduated or are on track to graduate from a post-secondary university. Interview questions were piloted and checked for validity. To ensure information-rich data, purposeful sampling was implemented to create a pool of participants that fit the phenomenon of high-achieving students With dyslexia through dyslexic organizations and the snowballing effect of participants.</p><p>

<p> Adolescents involved in child welfare systems have a greater risk of sexual victimization than their general population peers as well as a greater prevalence of intellectual disabilities. This study uses complex survey data from the second National Survey of Child and Adolescent Wellbeing to examine risk and protective factors associated with sexual assault and transactional sex among older adolescents involved in the child welfare system. This research examines the potential role of intellectual ability as a risk factor for these forms of victimization and social support and community environment as protective factors. Using a subset of data from older adolescents between ages 18 to 19.5 years, this study focuses on the period when adolescents transition from the child welfare system to become independent adults. Bivariate logistic regression models were used to examine these relationships. Results indicate 2.5% of the adolescents experienced a sexual assault in the past 12 months and 3.9 % had engaged in transactional sex in the past 6 months. The mean intelligence score for this group of adolescents is one standard deviation below average. Being female was associated with experiencing a sexual assault or rape in the past 12 months. Lower intellectual ability scores were associated with greater odds of engagement in paid sexual activity in the last 6 months. This study highlights the vulnerability of adolescents to sexual victimization as they transition from child welfare systems involvement and the need for enhanced supports and community connections as they exit child welfare services. </p><p>

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston University

<p> There are currently an estimated 93 million children with disabilities in the world. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report each year that 1 in every 700 babies is born with Down syndrome. Yet in spite of the enormity of numbers, they remain one of the most marginalized groups in society. Discrimination, negative attitudes, inadequate healthcare, and segregated education systems effectively bar differently abled children from realizing their full potential. This study uses a single-subject case study of one spectacular sport event involving one child with Down syndrome. It is framed by Vygotsky&rsquo;s "zone of proximal development" (ZPD) theory, which suggests that social interaction, adult guidance, and peer collaboration, can support development that exceeds what can be attained alone. A thematic analysis was used to measure differences in recurring themes among three separate sources of data including (1) online YouTube video comments, (2) written correspondence, and (3) focus group interviews. Four emerging themes including servant leadership (31%), happiness (27%) inclusion (20%), and community (17%), were most frequently identified. However, significant differences in frequencies of thematic responses were noted between the three sources of data. Findings support past research that has found comparative differences between participants and observers in how one relates to people and scenarios. Observers are likely to remove themselves from &ldquo;understanding&rdquo; an experience, and may be less likely to feel the full spectrum of human emotion and character. This unintentional yet impactful event points to the power and mystery of how a person&rsquo;s influence can extend much further than their immediate community, but to external observers from the wider world. Findings also confirm the role of Servant Leadership, Community, and Inclusion as critical for reshaping attitudes and assuring equity across policies and programs so that children who are differently abled can reach their full potential. </p><p>

This study explored the ways in which the type of language used can influence attitudes about people with disabilities. The extent to which positive, neutral, or negative language about different disabilities influences able-bodied people's attitudes about those with disabilities was tested. This study examined the impact of language on the ways that different types of disabilities are perceived by exposing participants to one of three different language types about the disabled through vignettes. Participants were then asked to rank their preferences for roommates based on the person having one of five different disabilities. Overall attitudes towards the disabled did not differ based on the type of language participants were exposed to, but the Behaviors sub-scale of the Multidimensional Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons Scale (MAS; Findler, Vilchinsky, & Werner, 2007) showed significantly different scores for the negative (M = 19.79) and positive (M = 23.00) language conditions. Preferences for roommates were ranked differently based on the type of disability described in the vignette. The types of disabilities were ranked in the following order, from most to least preferable: (a) health condition (diabetes), (b) learning disability (dyslexia) (c) mental illness (PTSD), (d) deafness, and (e) mobility impairment (cerebral palsy).

While there has been an increase in the numbers of students studying abroad each year, the participation of students with disabilities remains low. As internationalization of higher education takes news steps, bringing along with it the myriad benefits of intercultural exchange, study abroad becomes an important and often required component of educational experience. This study explored the current practices and experiences of the inclusion of students with disabilities in study abroad programs. The interviews with 10 study abroad professionals, 5 students with disabilities, and 1 faculty reveal discrepancies in the perceptions of the current practices. In light of the findings of this research, I argue that the study abroad experience promotes higher levels of identity development for students with disabilities. I also propose recommendations to ensure the positive experience for both study abroad professionals and students with disabilities.

Pain is a physical experience that is often imbued with metaphorical significance. Understanding better how pain operates as a cultural signifier can reveal assumptions about the status of different bodies and subjects. Even though pain is a nearly universal phenomenon, there is currently a dearth of sustained inquiry into pain as a literary, physical, and social phenomenon. What critical analysis there is about pain often metaphorizes the experience and forgets the lived, material realities of pain. At the same time, pain is a factor in virtually all cultural and social interactions, influencing everything from medical care to community acceptance. Thus, uncovering the functions of pain is a necessity. This dissertation reads for the ways pain forges intercorporeal relationships between bodies through the process of co-suffering, offering a new way of looking at the grotesque body. Using examples from a broad range of science fiction texts, from popular non-fiction science writing to superhero comics to novels to television, this dissertation explores the various ways that normative and non-normative pain response is witnessed and perceived. Putting forth a theory of co-suffering as a form of attention to and embodied translation of pain language, this dissertation examines the various ways in which listening to the voice of pain creates intercorporeal kinship between bodies. Through this kinship, bodies become subjects and gain access to community. Ultimately, this dissertation shows that, while pain can foster such kinship, predictable and standard pain responses are necessary for creating co-suffering. Thus co-suffering can be emancipatory, as it helps marginalized bodies gain subjectivity, but it can also be a way for cultures to enforce rigid behaviors on subjects, as it requires that bodies conform to those standard pain responses.

To date there have been few studies that have explored the relationship between life events and challenging behaviour( CB) in people with intellectual disabilities (ID). The present study is preceded by a literature review that first introduces the literature devoted to the understanding of risk factors associated with the development and maintenance of CB in people with ID. It then provides a flavour of the extensive venereal life events literature, by presenting meta-analytic and review studies that examine how life events impact on psychological well-being. It finally reviews life event studies that have so far occupied ID research. The literature review concludes with implications for future research and clinical interventions. This is followed by a research study that aims to explore the range of life events encountered by people with ID residing in a long stay residential hospital and ii. explore potential associations between life events and CB. To do this a correlational design was employed. Key respondent(nursing staff) well known to the participants provided information on known correlates of CB and life events experienced by the service-user over the previous 12 months. Results suggest that for the study population the life event domains of relationship issues and staff change provided a significant additional contribution to the prediction of CB once known 41 correlates of CB were controlled. The results are discussed in light of the findings. Limitations of the study are also discussed together with the future clinical and research implications of such findings. Finally the research paper is followed by a critical review that outlines the strengths and weaknesses of the study, as well as the process issues arising during the course of the research. Clinical implications and future directions are further discussed.

This research explored inter-professional collaboration amongst professionals involved in meeting the special needs of pupils with physical impairment in special schools. The principle of adopting a multi-professional approach for assessing and meeting special needs is enshrined in much recent social and educational legislation. However, its implementation has been acknowledged as presenting a challenge to professionals who each have their own professional culture, values and expertise; and who are employed by different agencies with their own priorities, funding, and organisation. Services offered to 'clients' by this multi-professional team are the outcome of the interaction between both social and psychological factors which exist amongst professionals in particular social contexts. Three social psychological theories were used to develop a framework which offered possible explanations of inter-professional behaviour in the special school context. The three approaches were Realistic Conflict Theory(R.C.T.) developed by Sherif(1966), Social Identity Theory(S.I.T.) developed by Tajfel(1978) and the Contact Hypothesis based on the work of Gordon Allport(1954). Both qualitative and quantitative techniques were adopted for data collection. In the first phase of the research an interprofessional collaboration scale was developed. It was validatd by members of seven professional groups identified as being involved, to varying degrees, with pupils with physical impairment. The collaboration scale was incorporated into a postal questionnaire in the second phase of the research. The questionnaire sought professional views relating to professional identification, perceived goal conflict, in-group favouritism and differentiation against out-groups and involvement in collaborative activities. Data were gathered from 263 members of seven different professional groups, working in 53 special schools. Finally qualitative data were gathered, using semi-structured interviews, from 12 respondents, 6 teachers and 6 physiotherapists, working in 3 special schools. The research resulted in the validation of an interprofessional collaboration scale which was shown to have high internal reliability. Professionals perceived themselves as being involved in the activities described in the scale, and indicated that collaboration was both desirable and beneficial. The identification scale, used to measure professional identification, was shown to have high internal reliability in accordance with the findings of previous studies in which it had been used. It revealed that respondents identified positively with their professional group, but this identification was not associated with inter-group differentiation as predicted by social identity theory. Multi-variate analyses identified contact to be the best predictor of in-group favouritism and differentiation. This was in contrast to the findings of previous studies in which conflict and identification had been identified as the best predictors of inter-group differentiation. Contact was also shown in this study to be the best predictor of collaboration. Interview data added to these quantitative findings revealing the purposes of contact and sources of conflict to be linked to involvement in collaborative activities. A link between identification and self-esteem, as predicted by social identity theory, was also in evidence in the interview data. Professional perceptions of parents' views relating to collaboration indicated little progress towards partnership with parents. It was concluded that future research should investigate in greater detail the relationships between inter-professional contact, conflict and collaboration, and develop the use of social identity theory in a professional context. Finally it was concluded that investigating the relative value of a collaborative approach as opposed to other multi-professional approaches, may be beneficial in informing the planning and organisation of special provision for pupils with physical impairment.

<p> <i>Enabling Geographies: Neurodivergence, Self-Authorship, and the Politics of Social Space</i> examines and co-documents the political relevance of alternative educational, vocational, and community-living strategies developed and implemented by autistic grassroots educators serving autistic and otherwise neurodivergent youth in Berkeley, California. These educators reject the conceptualization and treatment of neurodivergent embodiment and expression as a medical pathology or a charity case and, in concert with grassroots disability justice initiatives, reclaim it instead as a vibrant cultural and political experience. They so do while simultaneously calling for the emancipation and collective liberation of all disabled people. More specifically, our collaborative inquiry documents the role of autistic educators in the visioning of strategies designed to enable a creative opening of differential social spaces wherein to freely and fully embody neurodivergence. Neurodivergence is an umbrella term covering a wide range of alternative individual neurocognitive styles. </p><p> One of the main arguments of this dissertation is that disabled service providers are uniquely positioned to intervene and unsettle institutionalized ableism vis-&agrave;-vis &ldquo;safety-net&rdquo; programs, especially against the historical backdrop of traditional community (care) services. The term &lsquo;transition services&rsquo; means a coordinated set of activities to facilitate a disabled person&rsquo;s movement from school to post-school activities. To document these strategies, the autistic leaders in question and myself co-designed the line of inquiry, methodology, and goals of this dissertation. We held collaborative meetings, interviews, and group conferences for almost two years. Our findings are presented through activist ethnographic vignettes, oral narrative analysis, and historical-analytical frameworks emerging from disability studies, activist anthropology, critical sociology, postmodern philosophy, and critical human geography. Overall, our methodology aims at capturing the program&rsquo;s dynamics and philosophy, its gains and successes, as well as the institutional barriers and limitations to developing and sustaining autistic leadership roles in disability service provision.</p><p>