Thesis (M. Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes special report study entitled: Learning/teaching space typology : spatial features, activity patterns and its application for people with learning. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

published_or_final_version / Public Health / Master / Master of Public Health

The present study extends previous research on motoric activity and imagery production to the text processing of Native American learning-disabled students and third-grade regular-education students. Two experiments were developed to test predictions derived from Glenberg's (1997) "indexical hypothesis". Experiment 1 was performed with learning-disabled Native American students listening to narrative passages under one of three randomly assigned listening strategies: free-study, visual, and manipulate. Experiment 2 was performed with regular-education Native American third graders reading similar passages under one of three randomly assigned reading strategies: reread, observed manipulation, and manipulation. With the learning-disabled students, statistically significant improvements in memory for story events, locations, objects, and actions were observed on cued- and free-recall outcomes when toys representing story characters and settings were present during encoding. Facilitative strategy transfer was not apparent when the toys were removed. With the third-grade students, similar benefits were found when the toys were present. In addition, students who had access to the toys during a training period performed significantly better on cued- and free-recall measures relative to reread students when the toys were no longer present.

Meeting the needs of the Learning Disabled has become one of the most researched and documented areas in special education. Individualized programs which incorporate components to promote motivation, skill building, skill generalization and strategy use, and social competence have been called for in the literature (Deshler, Schumaker, Lenz, & Ellis, 1984), however, there have been remarkably few evaluations of such programs (Horn, O'Donnell, & Vitulano, 1983). / This study evaluated a multidimensional intervention program using the objectives-oriented method. The Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement and three nonstandardized measures were used to evaluate the four program objectives. Analysis of the individuals' gains indicated that objective achievement was idiosyncratic. Group gain analysis indicated significant gains only in English class marks, F(7,1) = 7.40, p =.3. The results are discussed and implications for future research are outlined.

A forced choice reaction time (RT) task was used to examine the relations between covert orienting (shifts in attention independent of eye movement) and filtering (the inhibition of processing of irrelevant stimuli) components of attention in persons with autism (n = 12) and developmentally disabled persons without autism (n = 20). Conditions varied with regard to the validity of the cue (related to covert orienting) and presence of distractors (related to filtering). ?'he RT/p(correct) scores of both groups were longer in the distractor-present conditions and in conditions when a cue provided incorrect information regarding the location of the subsequent target (invalid cue). The RT/p(correct) scores of persons with autism as compared to developmentally disabled persons without autism were slower overall. However the pattern of performance of persons with autism was not significantly different from that of the developmentally disabled persons without autism. These results are inconsistent with the notions of specific deficits in covert orienting and filtering among persons with autism and indicate that certain attentional difficulties may not be unique to autism. Alternatively, they may also reflect differences in the specific mechanisms assessed in different studies. Findings are discussed in terms of the specificity of visual filtering and covert orienting impairments in autism.

This qualitative descriptive inquiry investigates the perceptions and uses of social support of a selected group of adolescents who attended an English school for students with learning disabilities in Montreal, Quebec. I draw on Vygotskian socio-cultural theory as a framework for understanding how the participants access and use people for social support and how these adolescents provide others with social support. I use three Vygotskian concepts, the zone of proximal development, self-regulation and internalization to examine the differences between those who use support well and those who do not. Data collected and analyzed includes audio taped interviews with focus groups, students, parents, teachers and professional staff, school based and classroom based participant observations. A major finding to emerge is that adolescents in this inquiry use or do not use support well based on what they have internalized through previous experiences and social interactions in their home contexts. The students who use support well appear to have had positive demonstrations of social support within their zones of proximal development, thus enabling them to internalize and self regulate how to access and use social support in other contexts. The students who do not use support well do not appear to have experienced positive demonstrations of social support within their zones of proximal development. This latter group experience difficulties in accessing, accepting and using social support both in home and school contexts. However, these adolescents can learn to self regulate, access and use social support when adults, their peers or significant others listen and validate their concerns and move into their zones of proximal development. Implications for teachers include; (a) Creating open and trusting environments in which students feel comfortable in risk-taking and self-disclosure; and (b) Implementing mentoring programs in which a collaborative environment is created and

This study is an exploratory piece of research into the question of attitudes towards the process of integration. A socio-political approach to attitudes is used as a theoretical framework for exploring and understanding the meanings and the complexities involved in the formation of attitudes. The study considers the case of one primary school in particular, Yorkshire School, that had a policy of integrating, in a cross sectional way, forty pupils identified as having special educational needs, including six pupils with Down's Syndrome. The research involved extensive participant observations within the school, semi-structured interviews and informal discussions with nineteen (19) teachers as well as individual and group discussions with the use of a picture with a hundred and three (103) pupils. The findings of this study show that integration has become a contentious term. Teachers' attitudes are conflicting and often confusing while the directives embedded in the teaching act, especially after the introduction of the Educational Reform Act, render the commitment of inclusive education more difficult to maintain. Further, the exploration of the meanings children ascribe to their interactional and perceptual patternings with disabled peers revealed the ways that "handicapped" identities are being socially created. The value conflicts and ethical dilemmas in which both teachers and pupils are becoming enmeshed as well as the structural conditions within which integration is implemented are discussed in an attempt to show that integration must become a policy oriented towards its own destruction. The findings also confirm the necessity of a socio-political approach in the study of attitudes by revealing that any serious attempt of exploring and understanding the complexities involved in the formation of attitudes towards the integration process cannot be divorced either from the wider set of social formations or from the educational context within which attitudes have been developed in the first place.

Abstract The Tyne and Wear Metro is a modern light rail transit system which was opened in stages from 1980 onwards. Provision for disabled people has been made so that the system is intended to be fully accessible throughout. This thesis comprises an evaluation of these facilities for disabled people and the main findings are as follows: i) The system was not originally intended to incorporate facilities for disabled people, but a gradual change of policy resulted in the provision of full access; ii) Surveys of disability indicate that about 7% to 8% of the population of the Tyne and Wear area suffer from some disability. However, those disabled people most likely to use Metro and benefit from its facilities (i.e. non-housebound, physically handicapped or visually impaired people) together comprise only about 2% of the Tyne and Wear population; iii) Only a minority (perhaps one-third) of local disabled people use the system and disabled people account for only about 0.5% of Metro passengers. However, the facilities for disabled people are also used by non-disabled passengers, such as people with prams, pushchairs, luggage, shopping, and so on. In fact, these non-disabled users considerably outnumber disabled users; iv) The ergonomic performance of the facilities for disabled people was varied. Provision at new purpose-built stations was generally more satisfactory than at older stations taken over from British Rail, even where the latter had undergone some modernisation; v) Among disabled people who had not been on Metro, non-use appeared to be mainly due to poor overall mobility rather than any specific problems with Metro; vi) A social cost-benefit analysis nevertheless suggests that the total value of all benefits likely to accrue from the facilities for disabled people will, over time, offset the capital cost and also provide a social return on investment. This is mainly due to the large number of non-disabled, but "legitimate" users of these facilities. Costs per trip also compare very favourably with other forms of transport for disabled people.