M.Ed. / The context of South African education is undergoing change with inclusion as a nationally constitutional imperative. Both mainstream and special school teachers are the key role-players in determining the quality of implementation of this new policy, and expected to embrace and to work in a new frame of reference. The purpose of this research was to investigate the perceptions of special school teachers involved in inclusive education in South Africa. In this study, teachers play an important role, as those responsible for working towards meeting the needs of all learners in the classroom. It is important to determine their perceptions and attitudes of inclusive education. Much of the literature on inclusive education policies focuses on the attitudes of principals and teachers in mainstream schools. This study described the experiences of special school teachers providing specialised remedial education for learners within the Greater Johannesburg area. The research design was qualitative in nature and data collection methods included individuals and group interviews. Purposeful sampling was used to select the participants. The findings from the data revealed that teachers in special schools are concerned about the lack of resources, inadequate training of special schools teachers, and the need for support and collaboration. The participants realize that they need to work together with teachers in the mainstream school, teachers in training, family, the community and specialists. Teachers, training institutions and policy implementers towards the facilitation of development and implementation of inclusion in South Africa may use the findings of this research to improve the existing inclusion practices in the schools. The results of this study indicate that the teachers in special schools have enough information about the theoretical aspects of inclusion but lack resources and support.

The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of "work" as a reinforcing stimulus in a behavior modification program designed to eliminate disruptive talking. A response-cost procedure was established whereby the reinforcement was made contingent upon the behavior of eight students with learning disabilities.

The educational practice known as inclusion, which is based on values of equal opportunity and diversity, enables students with disabilities to attend the same general education classes as typically developing peers. Inclusion is a legal requirement in the United States and South Korea, but factors facilitating inclusion likely differ across countries. The purpose of the study was to examine PreK-6 school teachers' beliefs about inclusive practices in the United States and South Korea and to present a more informed direction for the future of inclusive education in both countries. Seventy-four teachers from the US and 54 from South Korea participated via email for this study employing surveys. Teachers provided their beliefs about inclusion items on the My Thinking About Inclusion (MTAI) scale, a 28-question instrument, and also provided information about their own gender, years of experience, education level, and teaching practices. A statistically significant difference was found between the teachers of the two nations for the full survey scale. The teachers' training area (i.e., general education or special education) in the US was significantly associated with the belief toward inclusion, and special education teachers in both countries were more agreeable to inclusion than general education practitioners were as shown by the MTAI scale. A strong relationship between accommodation and preparedness for disabilities was found. Most of the barrier factors to practicing inclusive education were considered substantial obstacles, but more so for South Korea teachers than US teachers. University coursework was the least preferred method for improving inclusive practices according to teachers in both countries. Based on the outcomes of the two nations' teachers' beliefs about inclusion, the author suggests that supportive practices, including collaboration between educators, professional development, partnerships with parents and families, and peer supports, be implemented within the two countries for the upkeep of inclusive practices.

No description available.

Thesis advisor: Penny Hauser-Cram / This study involves secondary analysis of data from the Early Intervention Collaborative Study (EICS; Hauser-Cram, Warfield, Shonkoff, & Krauss, 2001), a longitudinal investigation of children with disabilities and their families. Presented is a mixed methods investigation of the relationship between future planning issues and sibling relationship quality when the teen with a disability (DD) was in adolescence (15 and 18 years old). First, future planning issues were examined contemporaneously with sibling relationship quality using hierarchical regression. Second, future planning issues from when the teen with DD was 15 years old were investigated in their relation to change in sibling relationship quality from ages 15 to 18 using lagged OLS regression. Third, qualitative content analysis was used to analyze sibling responses to a series of open-ended questions concerning the future at age 15 (1 question) and age 18 (4 questions). Siblings were asked "what have you learned by living with your brother or sister?" at both time points. In the first set of analyses, discussion of the teen's needs with parents, teen functional skills, sibling gender match, and sibling expectation of future roles were found to significantly relate to sibling relationship cooperation when the teen was 18. Additionally, sibling birth order was related to sibling conflict at age 18. In the second set of analyses, sibling relationship closeness was found to decrease over adolescence and sibling pessimism at age 15 was found to negatively relate this decrease. Finally, in the results for the qualitative analysis, various themes in sibling responses are discussed. More specifically, patterns arose in the change of sibling responses: trends reflecting a decrease in sibling relationship closeness, trends reflecting increasing role asymmetry in the sibling relationship, and trends reflecting sibling development. Future research must further examine the sibling relationship by using a developmental perspective and by taking into account the dynamic nature of sibling roles. The findings support the design of family-based interventions that address future planning explicitly with siblings and parents. Finally, improving the current resources and support for siblings may potentially increase siblings' perception of sibling relationship quality in these sibling pairs. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology.

Master of Arts in Psychology by coursework and research report Department of Psychology University of the Witwatersrand 2017 / In South African communities, especially rural societies, people have little or no knowledge about intellectual disabilities (ID), their causes and how they affect specific individuals. Societies which are governed by cultural and religious norms have different perspectives with regards to ID, which can result in different experiences because of fear and/or negative attitudes towards a particular phenomenon frequently caused by a lack of information. In most societies, the key focus is on the child who is intellectually impaired in terms of his/her psychological wellbeing and little consideration is given to the wellbeing of the caregiver. This study aimed to explore the lived experiences of caregivers of intellectually impaired children in Mpumalanga Province, Bushbuckridge region taking into consideration the multiple factors which are involved when caring for children with intellectual disabilities. The study therefore aimed at discovering primary caregivers’ experiences, how they react to such experiences, as well as whether culture has an impact in the understanding of intellectual disabilities and attitudes towards individuals with intellectual disabilities. This study was qualitative utilising a phenomenological research design and interpretive phenomenological analysis to analyse the data collected. A purposive sample of nine primary caregivers whose children attended a special school in Bushbuckridge was interviewed. The primary caregivers were all females between 31 and 77 years of age. Only one primary caregiver had higher education and the other eight participants either did not have any basic education or did not complete matric. Semi-structured interviews which consisted of 22 questions about the demographic information of both caregiver and child, background, knowledge/awareness of intellectual disability as well as the psychological well-being of primary caregivers were conducted. Most caregivers indicated that they had experienced or are still experiencing psychological strain due to caring for a child with an intellectual disability. Despite this, some found the experiences fulfilling rather than a burden. The majority of primary caregivers had no knowledge of the appropriate professionals to consult who could help their children and themselves. The caregivers had very little knowledge about intellectual disabilities and their meaning in their different cultures. Most participants emphasised religion as some took their children to church for healing and some regarded their children as gifts from God. Participants reflected about the silence around ID in their communities. All participants mentioned their uncertainties with regard to their children’s education and their lives indicating that they would be open to help and guidance with this. Primary caregivers also expressed their financial strains. Overall, the study indicated that ID awareness in the rural areas must be conducted in terms of education and to support primary caregivers of children with ID. / MT2018

MArch (Professional), Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand

No description available.

Research suggests that individuals with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and learning disabilities (LD) experience difficulties in developing meaningful intimate relationships, and mainstream sex education is not adapted to meet their needs. However, ASD and LD frequently co-occur (ASD-LD), and findings suggest this population have unique needs, compared to those with ASD and LD. There is a paucity of research on how sex education should be adapted for individuals with ASD-LD. This study aimed to explore the views of 21 health and social care professionals, experienced in delivering sex education for adults with ASD-LD, on which characteristics of adults with ASD-LD should be considered when providing sex education, and what adaptations to sex education are thus required. To seek whether a group consensus between professionals could be gained, an electronic, three round, Delphi method was used. Findings showed that professionals agreed on the unique characteristics of adults with ASD-LD, and the various adaptations to sex education required, which differed for adults with ASD and LD. The most important characteristics and adaptations primarily related to; communication needs, cognitive and executive functions, social impairments, and sensory needs. The clinical and research implications of the findings are presented.

Staff perceptions of challenging behaviour and other "challenging problems" in their work with people with learning disabilities are likely to have a significant influence on how they respond to clients and to interventions by Clinical Psychologists. However, accounts of staff perceptions have failed to produce a coherent theory grounded in the experience of staff themselves. The aim of the present study was to develop a theory of how staff describe and explain challenging problems. Grounded theory methodology was used. Ten Support Workers and eight Home Managers in residential learning disability services described their understanding of a challenging problem in relation to a client during senustructured interviews. Client behaviour was the most commonly cited problem. Results suggested that staff face dilemmas concerning whether to see behaviour as communication or a behaviour problem, how to balance firm responding with kindness, and how to deal with their unpleasant feelings evoked by the work. A theoretical account of the results suggested that staffs' emotional distance from or closeness to a client determines how they resolve the dilemmas. The theoretical account should be subjected to further testing. It implies that staff need to be aware of their emotions and personal motivations in their work if they are to resolve the work dilemmas in the best interests of clients. Clinical Psychologists may be well placed to facilitate personal development programmes for staff to foster this awareness.