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News Update:
July / August
2010
My new book – Meeting the Needs of disaffected Students
is now published and is available from
Continuum books (telephone: 020 7922
0916),
Amazon.co.uk or from my
publications page. Price is £19-99
(excluding p&p). 144 pages (ISBN – 9780826434654).
Initial reviews have been very good.
A new extended range of free articles from Behaviour
Solutions is available. Just click on the “articles”
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News update: July / August 2010
I do hope
that the Summer Term has gone well and that you are looking
forward to a well deserved Summer break.
I am
currently writing a follow-up to the best seller Behaviour
Solutions – A Guide to Syndromes and Conditions. This book
will contain a further range of syndromes and conditions and
will outline a whole range of strategies that we can use in
the classroom to support students with these syndromes and
conditions. Further details on how to pre-order will be
given in the September edition of the newsletter.
So here’s
wishing you a relaxing Summer break.
Bullying worse in
single-sex schools
The
National Centre for Social Research surveyed 15 500 children
and found that pupils taught in single-sex schools reported
more abuse from other pupils than those taught in
co-educational schools. Physical bullying is more prevalent
in female-only classrooms and is worse in older children. By
the age of 16 girls in single-sex schools are more likely to
suffer threats of violence and actual violence than girls in
mixed schools. Earlier studies had suggested that girls are
more likely to psychologically bully other girls, rather
than use violence.
The report
suggests that there may be a different type of pupil
dynamics in single-sex schools that lends itself to a
greater risk of bullying overall. It is encouraging to note
that over 60% of children in the survey said they felt that
their schools dealt well with bullying.
Computer
Translator used effectively
Manor Park
Primary School in Aston, West Midlands, which has 384 pupils
from 32 different ethnicities where 60% of pupils speak
English as a second language, is the first in Britain to use
computer translators for all pupils. The Talking Tutor
translator enables teachers to type messages to pupils which
are then translated. The translator can verbally translate
English into 25 languages with a further 25 languages being
translated on screen. The software claims to be 95%
accurate.
Screen Scene
Dr Sigman,
a fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine has warned, in a
keynote address at the Early Years Education Coalition
Conference, that children’s intellectual development is
suffering because they spend too long on computers at too
young an age and fail to develop spatial awareness through
working with their hands.
Gang report
Anne Owers,
Chief Inspector of Prisons, Andrew Bridges, Chief Inspector
of Probation and Sir Denis O’Connor, Chief Inspector of
Constabulary have just produced a report on how Gang Culture
is being tackled. The report states that young men described
their gang associations in terms of friendships or family
ties. Some young people felt there was a sense of
inevitability in gang membership linked with living in
certain localities. Some saw it as necessary for their
protection. The report gave a warning about the impact of
gangs on girls. In some areas they were used as a conduit
for communication. Also there was evidence of girls being
subject to sexual exploitation - girls being treated as
trophies by male gang members.
Blood test to
diagnose Autism
120
scientists and doctors from 50 universities worldwide, which
include Oxford University researchers, have developed a
blood test which can be used to decide if a child has
autism. It would help to speed up diagnosis and allow
treatment to start earlier. The researchers found that in
autism large chunks of DNA are likely to be duplicated or
erased, damaging genes and interrupting their vital work.
Autistic
children had many different DNA insertions or deletions to
each other (copy number variants).
Brains too active
in adolescents
The Journal
of Neuroscience reports on research conducted at the
University College, London, which looked at the brains of
adolescents. It found that adolescents have too much grey
matter (the cells that sort information) and a lack of
structure which leads them to have wandering minds and a
lack of concentration in class.
Brain scans
showed that the pre-frontal cortex, the decision making and
multi-tasking part of the brain was more active in teenagers
than in adults. This shows that there is simply too much
going on in the brains of adolescents. The result is that
their brain energy and resources are wasted and their
decision making process is affected. The chaotic processing
of information could make it harder for them to concentrate.
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