MSc, Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand / The effect of assistive devices on the speed and legibility of a child’s writing is not fully understood in the literature. This study therefore investigated the effects of Stetro pencil grips, soft splints and inclined surfaces on handwriting speed and legibility in order to better guide occupational therapists with regard to handwriting intervention. A writing legibility score sheet was developed to measure the factors of handwriting requiring assessment in this study namely: letter formation, spacing between words, letter spacing between lines, accuracy and general appearance. The study also compared the handwriting speed and legibility of grade two learning disabled learners with grade two mainstream learners. In analysing the results, letter formation and general appearance were the two areas where the learning disabled sample scored significantly worse than the mainstream sample. The various assistive devices were shown to have different impacts on writing speed and the five areas of legibility.

The purpose of this research is to explore the aspects of abilities of mathematics communication of grade two students in the elementary school, including spoken understanding and as well as written and figural understanding. This researcher adopted action research, having the investigator implemented two months teaching. After referring to mathematics teaching materials grade two, the researcher designed four units. During the period of research, the teacher utilized a variety ways to collect data, such as; video recording, audio recording, questionnaires, reflective notes, observation records and student activities sheets. Eventually, the teacher made qualitative analyzes and explored methods of improvement on her ways of teaching. The results of this research illustrated seven aspects of spoken language expression of understanding. The students were weak in listening; dare to express their opinions; put forward queries regarding teacher's or schoolmates¡¦ questions; some were unable to raise conceptual related questions; when students made exchanges they needed help from the teacher, students spoke with low or vague voice; and, finally, students replied intermittently or silently. Besides the above seven findings on spoken language, there are four findings of phenomena in written and figural understanding. First, students were able to examine mistakes or others¡¦ mistakes according to the record on blackboard. Moreover, the students even can put forward the queries on others¡¦ problem solving records. Yet, they were capable of understanding others¡¦ mathematics records and explained others¡¦ ideas.

The main purpose of this study is to understand the possible effects of the problem-posing teaching technique in an elementary school, grade-two class. With problem-posing teaching technique of twenty-four classes within 12 weeks, the experimenter first used the problem-posing texts to ask students to formulate mathematical problems. After reviewing the problems formulated by students, the necessary interviews were done. The statistical analysis is done on pre-tests and post-tests of mathematical-solving ability. Students¡¦ feedbacks about problem posing teaching technique are collected. There were four stages in this experiment: (1) oral presentation of problem-posing, (2) written presentation of problem-posing, (3) written presentation of problem-posing and problem-solving by the same person, (4) wiitten presentation of problem-posing by one and problem-solving by another. The experimenter explored the following themes during these four stages: (1) the process of problem-posing learning, (2) the characteristics and erroneous types of the students¡¦ opus, (3) the differences on the problem-posing abilities when students faced formulas, pictures and written contexts, (4) the behaviors of the high problem-posing ability group and the low problem-posing ability group, (5) the enhance of problem-solving abilities due to problem-posing teaching technique. From this study, the experimenter found that the majority of the students participated in this study interesting in this teaching technique, and students¡¦ gained confidence in posing and solving mathematical problems. Besides, the experimenter also found that: (1) the students¡¦ ability in posing and solving problems progressed gradually in speed and correctness, (2) the characteristics and erroneous types of the students¡¦ opus were diverse, which included relativeness of situations, students¡¦ interests, school lives, and daily lives, correctness of mathematical logic, ambiguity of language, (3) students were better to pose problems from pictures and written contexts than from formulas, but there was no difference between from pictures and from written contexts, (4) the high problem-posing ability group performs better in speed and correctness to solve problem than the low problem-posing ability group, (5) Comparing the controlled and non-controlled groups, problem-posing teaching technique seems to helpe students to enhance their problem-solving ability.

The increasing awareness about the important role that fathers play in their daughters’ lives, have lead to the undertaking of this study. The goal of this study was to determine whether there is a specific parenting style of fathers that will contribute to the achieving of a higher level of emotional intelligence in grade 2 daughters. Quantitative research with an exploratory and descriptive nature was used. Data were collected with the use of the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire (PSDQ) as well as the Cilliers Emotional Intelligence Test. The sample consisted of 24 Grade 2 girls and their parents. The conclusion was that the relationship between parenting style dimensions and emotional intelligence was not showed through the parenting style or dimension mostly used, but through the parenting style dimension that was used the least. / Thesis (M. Diac. (Spelterapie))

The increasing awareness about the important role that fathers play in their daughters’ lives, have lead to the undertaking of this study. The goal of this study was to determine whether there is a specific parenting style of fathers that will contribute to the achieving of a higher level of emotional intelligence in grade 2 daughters. Quantitative research with an exploratory and descriptive nature was used. Data were collected with the use of the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire (PSDQ) as well as the Cilliers Emotional Intelligence Test. The sample consisted of 24 Grade 2 girls and their parents. The conclusion was that the relationship between parenting style dimensions and emotional intelligence was not showed through the parenting style or dimension mostly used, but through the parenting style dimension that was used the least. / Thesis (M. Diac. (Spelterapie))