Emeritus Professor Phil Foreman

This paper reports the results of an analysis of trends in the placement of students with intellectual, physical, sensory, or behavioural disabilities in New South Wales for the period 1986 to 1994. Although there was a general trend of movement of students from special schools to support classes, there were some major differences across disability groups. The results are discussed in relation to current special education policy in New South Wales and the philosophy of including students with a disability in regular schools and classes. © 1997, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Empowerment has been used widely in the professional literature in recent years to describe both a desirable process, and a desirable outcome, from human service provision. Despite its widespread use, systematic definitions of the term in this literature are not common. This paper provides a conceptual analysis of empowerment as a psychological construct, by reviewing the relevant literature with an emphasis on disability issues. Several key components of empowerment are identified and described, and recommendations for further research to advance empowerment theory are made. © 1997 Carfax Publishing Ltd.

The familial incidence of Scotopic Sensitivity/Irlen Syndrome was investigated using parents of 751 children identified with symptoms. Children were identified by methods independent of their parents' symptoms or lack of symptoms. For these children, there was an 84% chance of either one or both parents showing similar symptoms, with similar numbers of mothers identified with symptoms as fathers. The data suggest that Scotopic Sensitivity/Irlen Syndrome may be a genetically based deficit in visual processing, but the simplest genetic models do not appear to fit.

This study reports the views of 123 parents of children with intellectual disability concerning the way they were told about their child's disability, the services recommended at that time and subsequently, the usefulness of services and the empathy of the providers. Results suggest a lag between the time at which some parents suspect that their child has a disability, and the time this suspicion is confirmed. Most parents indicated that they received factual information when first told of their child's disability. There were no significant differences between parental perceptions of the information given at disclosure of disability between the 1970s and the 1980s. The services most frequently recommended initially to parents were medical specialists, followed by early intervention and therapy services. Services which became significantly more likely to be recommended over the last two decades were physiotherapy and early intervention. The most useful services were ranked as the special school, pediatrician, early intervention program, regular preschool and other parents. The majority of children with moderate to severe disability were being educated in a special school or a special unit/class in a regular school. Approximately 25 per cent of parents commented on deficiencies in the co-ordination of services and in parental access to services. © 1991 Informa UK Ltd All rights reserved: reproduction in whole or part not permitted.

This case study describes a boy diagnosed at the age of three as having Asperger syndrome, an early age for such a diagnosis to be made. The study focuses on the behavioural and developmental problems associated with the syndrome and discusses the way in which these were managed in order to help the child function within normal educational settings. The debate about the distinction between Asperger syndrome and high-functioning autism is briefly addressed. © 1989 Informa UK Ltd All rights reserved: reproduction in whole or part not permitted.

This paper reviews research into treatment approaches in Down's syndrome. A major focus for study has been the search for a pharmacological treatment, a potentially important search which to date has had limited success. Drug treatments which have been used extensively include thyroid therapy, 5-hydroxytryptophan, vitamin therapy and cell therapy, all of which are reviewed in this paper. Other forms of treatment reviewed are movement patterning, early intervention and facial surgery. © 1986, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

A comparision was made of the predictive efficiency of each of two tests in the diagnosis of reading failure over a period of from one to four years. A direct test of reading potential in the form of a word recognition test was shown generally to be more efficient than an indirect test based on neurophysiological indicants. The finding that self concept measures were not consistently related to reading performance was interpreted in terms of the biassing effect of a particular response style. © 1973, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.