This diploma thesis is concerned with the subject of inaccessible social services for people suffering from autism spectrum disorders (hereinafter ASD) and associated challenging behavior. Emphasis is placed on the social care and services in terms of settings of the social system in the Czech Republic. The theoretical part of the thesis aims on bringing a comprehensive view of the current availability of social services for people with ASD and associated challenging behavior. Especially the definition of basic concepts along with introduction of individual actors throughout the system and a description of the current situation in the Czech Republic and in the world. The description of possible causes of the unavailability of social services for persons with ASD and associated challenging behavior is at the core of the empirical part. Data gathering and analysis are based on methods of Grounded theory. The semi-structured interviews with representatives of regions and with the social service providers are used as data sources. Conclusions of the thesis include, in particular, extreme cost and long-term staff shortages, weak legislative support, and fragmented network services planning at the county level. These are the roots of the social services unavailability. These should be resolved during the...

Title: Implementation of Challenging Tasks in Mathematics Education Author: PhDr. Lucie Růžičková Department: Department of Mathematics and Mathematics Education Supervisor: RNDr. Alena Kopáčková, Ph.D. ABSTRACT The thesis deals with practical implementation of challenging tasks in mathematics education. The methodology for examining "the fidelity of implementation of mathematical tasks" is being designed to describe whether the task is used according to the original intention of the teacher or according to the intention of its author. This methodology is employed in the analysis of four experiments to examine mathematical tasks and task environments. Then, based on the experience with the analysis, the methodology is adapted to the needs of both the teaching practice and educational research. The main result of the thesis is the creation of the methodology for examining the fidelity of implementation of mathematical tasks which is based on contrasting the descriptions of four general elements of the mathematical task at different phases of its implementation. KEY WORDS: mathematics education, mathematical task, challenging task, implementation of tasks

This article explores how teachers can foster an environment that facilitates social problem solving when toddlers experience conflict, emotional dysregulation, and aggression. This article examines differences in child development and self-regulation outcomes when teachers engage in problem solving for toddlers and problem solving with toddlers. It also reviews teacher practices aimed at preventing problems. The article suggests a paradigm shift from perceiving social challenges as toddler problems to viewing such situations as problem solving opportunities. The article concludes by applying these principles to an actual classroom dispute among toddlers.

Det finns lite forskning kring personalens upplevelse av att använda metoden lågaffektivt bemötande där personalens uppfattning och beteende spelar en central roll i användandet av denna metod. Metoden används främst i arbetet för att bemöta problemskapande beteende varav personer med neuropsykiatriska funktionsnedsättningar är de som löper större risk för uppvisande av denna typ av beteende. Syftet med vår studie är att undersöka personalens upplevelse av att använda metoden lågaffektivt bemötande i arbetet med personer med neuropsykiatriska funktionsnedsättningar. Semistrukturerade intervjuer har utförts med sju informanter som använder lågaffektivt bemötande och arbetar i boende- och skolverksamheter som riktar sig till personer med neuropsykiatriska funktionsnedsättningar. Resultatet visar att personliga egenskaper är en central del i att kunna använda lågaffektivt bemötande. Detta är intressant då vi även funnit ett behov av att träna sig i metoden och få mer tid för reflektion för att bli bättre i att använda metoden. Reflektionen i sig har också stor betydelse för personalen ur ett terapeutiskt syfte där kollegor sinsemellan stödjer varandra efter uppkomna situationer samt ger feedback. Resultatet visar även att det förekommer otydligheter angående om det finns krav från högre chefer att använda lågaffektivt bemötande i verksamheterna, men som inte ansågs påverka den trygghet personalen upplevde i att använda metoden. Vi fann också relationen mellan personal och brukare som en viktig del i användandet av metoden. Nyckelord: Dramaturgiskt perspektiv, emotionsteorin, lågaffektivt bemötande, metod, neuropsykiatrisk funktionsnedsättning, personal, personliga egenskaper, personalstöd, problemskapande beteende, socialt arbete, verksamhetskrav / There is little research on the staff's experience of using the low arousal approach, of which the staff's perception and behavior play a central role in the use of this method. The method is mainly used in the work to deal with challenging behavior of which persons with neuropsychiatric disabilities are those who are at greater risk of exhibiting this type of behavior.The purpose of our study is to investigate the staff's experience of using the method of low arousal approach in the work with people with neuropsychiatric disabilities. Semi-structured interviews have been conducted with seven informants who use low arousal approach and work in housing and school activities aimed at people with neuropsychiatric disabilities.The result shows that personal qualities are a central part of being able to use low arousal approach. This is interesting as we also found a need to train in using the method and get more time for reflection to become better at the method. The reflection in itself also has great significance for the staff from a therapeutic purpose where colleagues support each other after emerging situations and provide feedback. The results also show that there are uncertainties as to whether there are requirements from senior managers to use low arousal approach in the operations, but which were not considered to affect the confidence the staff experienced in using the method. We also found the relationship between the staff and the client as an important part in practicing the method. Keywords: Business requirements, dramaturgical perspective, challenging behavior, emotion theory, low arousal approach, method, neuropsychiatric disability, personal qualities, social work, staff, staff support

This study aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the CPS model in the perspectives of special education discourse.The purpose of this study is to analyze how Ross Greenes way of describing students with challenging behavior in the CPS-model are interpreted by special education teachers and correlated with special education discourse. The studies questions are:•How does Ross Greene describe students with challenging behavior in the CPS-model?•How do special education teachers interpret these descriptions?•How do these descriptions correlative with perspectives of special education discourse?This study uses discourse theory as a framework, and Faircluoghs (1992, 2001) model which highlights how text, discursive practice and social practice altogether create social change as the method for the discourse analysis. Four special education teachers were interviewed and the ALSUP guide (Assessment of lagging skills and unsolved problems) and the Plan B Cheat Sheet, both important texts in the CPS model, were used for the discourse analysis.This study concludes that the categorical medical discourse is salient in CPS. It seems as this way of describing students with challenging behavior in the model has made a great impact on the special education teacher way of talking about the students. The pathogenic perspective dominates the discussions around the ALSUP-guide and the informants talk more about how to deal with students challenging behavior and solving their problems, than how to create a school organized for meeting all students learning needs by supporting teachers in their daily educational work. This creates dilemmas. The categorical way of describing the students seem to challenge teacher’s authoritarian way of describing students though, and that is considered by the informants in this study as a good thing. Plan B is a humanistic way of talking to students with challenging behavior and addresses both teachers and students concerns. It makes the special education teachers talk about students with challenging behavior from a relational perspective.The study implies that special education teachers need to be critical to the way they use models based on the medical discourse, so that their working practice includes both students, teachers and the school as a system with its norms and values.

School principals lead and manage schools to achieve success. However, some schools are located in multiple deprived contexts, which affect the school internally and externally. Little is known about how principals in well-performing schools manage teaching and learning despite the contextual challenges. This study explored the role of successful school principals managing teaching and learning in schools in multiple deprived contexts in Gauteng Province. A qualitative case study within a constructive / interpretivist paradigm was adopted for the research. The theoretical framework of this study is grounded in the Context-Responsive Leadership theory by Bredeson, Klar and Johansson. Eleven secondary schools performing well in the Senior Certificate Examination in Tshwane North District were purposefully selected for the study. The school principals were the participants in this study. The data was obtained from different sources which include semi-structured interviews, observations and documents review. The data was thematically analysed and the results were categorised according to themes and sub-themes. The findings of the study highlight the economic and social factors used by the principals to describe the context of their schools as well as other external and internal factors that affected teaching and learning. Collaborative leadership, as well as instructional leadership of the school principal, seem to be a common strategy used by the principals of successful schools to overcome the contextual challenges. The principals also applied other relevant context-responsive leadership practices in their multiple deprived schools. The study concluded that leadership practices of school principals seemed to be based on an understanding and interaction of self and the context in which the school operates. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Education Management and Policy Studies / PhD / Unrestricted

Individuals who suffer from depression can be stigmatized by labeling and resort to negative stigma coping orientations such as secrecy and withdrawal, resulting in internalized self-stigma. Self-stigma can have negative effects such as low self-esteem, low self-efficacy, isolation, and feeling like a failure. Guided by modified labeling theory, the purpose of this study was to fill a gap in the literature on predictors of two orientations (challenging and deflecting) of positive stigma coping. Challenging stigma involves taking action, and deflecting is a cognitive strategy; both are used to positively cope with the stigma of mental illness. Predictors included symptom severity, depression literacy, stereotype awareness, treatment seeking, social support, and stigma sentiments in a sample of undergraduates (N = 195). Results from a canonical correlation found that individuals with high scores on deflecting and, simultaneously, low scores on challenging tended to have high scores on stigma sentiments and low scores on both symptom severity and treatment seeking. Analyzed in independent regressions, challenging was significantly predicted only by symptom severity (+), while deflecting was predicted by symptom severity (-), depression literacy (+), and stigma sentiments (+). These findings reinforce the potential for individuals who suffer from depression to address stigma using healthier and more affirming coping orientations. Implications for positive social change include a decrease in self-stigma regarding depression, less negative stigma coping, an increased awareness of how depression stigma affects individuals who suffer from the disorder, and a decrease in the social stigma of depression. Educators and practitioners can apply this information in academia, counseling, and clinical practice.

The deinstitutionalization of the intellectually disabled (ID) and their transition to community living in New York State necessitated training initiatives for staff to manage challenging behaviors safely and humanely. However, the use of physical interventions to control self-injury and physical aggression may have become organizationally habituated, and limited research has compared programs that use physical versus nonphysical interventions. This mixed-method, comparative case study compared a restraint-free day habilitation program with one that used physical interventions, examining the differences in reducing self-injury, aggression, and types of interventions applied. Qualitative differences in philosophical approach to behavior intervention strategies and staff training protocols were examined using semi-structured interviews with employees (n -¬=11). Insufficient sample size precluded inferential analyses, but descriptively the results revealed more incidents of physical assault and self-injury in the program that used physical interventions. Further, behaviors ceased without intervention more frequently than they did in the restraint-free program. Qualitative results revealed shared qualities of person-centered organizational culture across both programs. These results suggest that an organizational culture that incorporates training and staff support in the use of restraint-free strategies may influence the type and frequency of challenging behaviors in this population. This study promotes positive social change by providing information that the Office of Persons with Developmental Disabilities can use to inform the development of ID-serving agency policies and staff training protocols to promote safety, respect, and well-being in ID persons who access community learning services.

No description available.

After a review of the literature on Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) in young children with developmental delays, less was known on its effects on challenging behavior and functional communication in preschool age children receiving services in a traditional public school. A multiple baseline design across three participants was used to evaluate the effects of PRT on the functional communication of three preschool students with developmental delays. Based on a functional analysis, we also observed the effects of PRT on challenging behavior. A visual analysis of the data revealed a functional relation between PRT and functional communication and provided promising evidence regarding the effectiveness of function aligned mands in reducing problem behavior. Brief surveys and interviews revealed that the intervention was feasible and effective based on staff and family reports. This research study adds to the evidence supporting the use of the intervention and expands on the knowledge base surrounding function aligned communication. Implications for research and practice are discussed.