Second month report from Chapel-Hill, Spring 2013

Hello everybody,

More than two months have passed since I arrived in Chapel-Hill... How time flies! The spring finally arrived. Check the following pictures to see Chapel-Hill during this season.

As the city is so nice, I made a painting of the Bell Tower:

Meanwhile, I'm auditing classes, and I’m also doing an internship in the TEACCH Autism Program. This is an exceptional regional center that offers a set of services meeting the clinical, training, and research needs of individuals with Autism, their families, and professionals. Specifically, I participated in the following activities:

1) Parents of Adults Group: a support and informational group for parents whose child is 18 years or over.

2) TEACCH Early Intervention Services - In-Home TEACCHing Sessions: parents receive services in home.

3) TEACCH Social Group: targets preschool age children with emergent communication and social interest in peers.  This group meets weekly for a 2-hour session for a 9 week block of sessions, during which children participate in a range of well-structured, meaningful, and motivating group, dyad, and individual activities.

4) Supported Employment: helps individuals with ASD to become as independent as possible by assisting them in obtaining and maintaining meaningful and stable employment in predictable and rewarding work environments.

5) Also, I have observed several day of diagnostic, and these are unique opportunities to meet TEACCH staff and to learn more about the diagnostic process in autism.

Furthermore, I have been the opportunity to have meetings with professors to talk about my PhD project. Specially, I need to thank prof. Linda Watson and Dr. Gary Martin (http://comm.soc.northwestern.edu/familystudy/).

Finally, the Research Writing Course and the Writing group are being very helpful to improve my writing and language skills.

Soon, I’ll attend two conferences: 1) the 34^th Annual TEACCH Autism Program Conference:
1) ASD Interventions Across the Lifespan May 15-17, 2013, in Chapel-Hill (http://teacch.com/teacch-autism-program-at-unc-chapel-hill-lend-carolina-institute-for-developmental-disabilities-and-greensboro-ahec-present); and 2) the 25th APS Annual Convention, May 23-26, 2013 in Washington (with a poster presentation).

In sum, being at the UNC-CH has been an amazing experience.

Best,

Marisa

GEDS: News letter from Vanderbilt University, Spring 2013, Tiago Ferreira

Hi everyone.

My name is Tiago and I'm from the University of Porto, Portugal.

More than two months have passed since I arrived in Nashville. 

This international experience provided by the GEDS student exchange program has been very rich and productive.

I was warmly received by the staff of the Peabody Research Institute (PRI) at Vanderbilt University. These two months were very intensive, with lots of learning opportunities. I'm attending two courses: “The Social Context of Education” and “Practical Meta-Analysis”. 

                                                        Fig.1: Peabody Campus

The first one is focused on exploring contemporary social, philosophical, and political dimensions of education, including issues related to democracy and diversity, equity and school organization, and the ecology of schooling. The second one, “Practical Meta-Analysis”, presents the major steps involved in conducting a meta-analysis, with particular emphasis on the technical issues and statistical analyses distinctive to this form of research. 

Besides these two courses, I'm engaged in many other activities such as attending lectures, short term courses, statistical analysis training and panel discussions focused on early intervention topics. I’m also exploring one of  PRI’s data bases in order to publish a paper focused on my research field: Peer relations in early childhood.

There are always a lot of academic events going on at the Peabody College, which is the school of education and human development at Vanderbilt. Recently I had the pleasure to attend a very interesting conference with Steve Barnett, Ron Haskins and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, which the main goal was to discuss evidence about the sustainability of the effect from early intervention on later development and academic adjustment. This conference was very appropriate, considering the current public debate in the United States focusing upon early childhood education. This public debate emerged from the State of the Union speech in which the President, Barack Obama has proposed "working with states to make high-quality preschool available to every child in America...". For those who are interested, this conference can be entirely seen on the internet, using the following link:

http://youtu.be/so8-SqlFzyg

Besides all the intense academic life I still have some time for great cultural experiences. For a music lover like me, Nashville is a very special city. It is no coincidence that it is called the Music City. I had the opportunity to attend some excellent musical events. The next one will be this Friday. Chick Corea and Béla Fleck on the same stage - It couldn't be better...

                                                                              Fig.2: Next concert at the Shermerhorn Symphony Center

In summary so far my stay in Nashville has been excellent. 

I intend to keep updating this blog with some of my experiences in USA.

Best regards

Tiago Ferreira

First month report from Chapel-Hill, Spring 2013

Hello everybody,

My name is Marisa Filipe and I'm from the University of Porto. I am completely settled down in Chapel Hill. Indeed, it has now been one month since I arrived. I am also in the Global Education and Developmental Studies (GEDS) exchange program and I will share with you many experiences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel-Hill (UNC-CH).

First of all, here are some pictures of the city and campus.

There are lots of things going on at UNC-CH and I’m trying to enroll all of them.

I am attending five courses:

-       Autism Seminar: This seminar is for masters, doctoral and post-doctoral students whose career plans include autism research. Topics reflect input from active autism researchers on important content to prepare students for collaborative, interdisciplinary, and translational research related to autism. 

-       Statistical Analysis of Educational Data II: This course presents a linear model approach to the analysis of data collected in educational settings.  Topics include multiple regression, analysis of variance, and analysis of covariance; using the computer package R.

-       Functional Neuroanatomy: Functional neuroanatomy encompasses a broad range of knowledge of the anatomical structure & function of the human nervous system. The topics are explored using molecular and cell biology, physiology, medical imaging, and psychology.

-       Child Development and Disability: This course examines typical and atypical manifestations of cognitive, social/emotional and communicative development in children. The course draw on theory and contributions to the clinical and empirical literature to examine the development of infants, children and youth with sensory, motor, cognitive and/or affective impairments. 

-       Teaching in the American Classroom: This course is offered through the Graduate School at UNC Chapel Hill as part of the Preparing International Teaching Assistants Program. The course focuses on cross-cultural communication, English pronunciation, basic teaching skills, and topics necessary for effective interaction in the American classroom. 

Also, I have the opportunity to attend to several seminars and short courses about different topics. You can see the following links for details:

http://writingcenter.unc.edu/esl/instruction/esl-mini-courses/

http://www.irss.unc.edu/odum/contentSubpage.jsp?nodeid=21

http://www.med.unc.edu/ahs/events/sphs-research-series-pragmatic-language-in-children-with-fragile-x-syndrome-and-autism

http://www.med.unc.edu/ahs/events/using-aac-to-support-social-interactions-between-students-with-autism-and-their-peers

Additionally, I visited the TEACCH Autism Program (http://www.teacch.com/). Specifically, I saw the preschool intervention groups and I observed one day of diagnostic.

As I’m interested in Autism research, I think that I’m "in heaven". The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was the premier public institution in the publication of research papers on autism. http://iacc.hhs.gov/publications-analysis/july2012/index.shtml

More news soon…

Marisa

GEDS- Newsletter from Chapel Hill, Spring 2011 - YLVA STAHL

During the spring 2011 I audited classes, attended workshops, seminars and participated in fieldwork. I will also share some places I visited to enjoy and relax in my spare time. I am really glad I got the opportunity to come to the UNC at Chapel Hill and all the experiences I got. Here is my story!

CLASSES

Communication in the American Classroom is a requested course that GEDS fellows will attend. The course has been and still is a very instructive and interesting. We are a small group of students from Nigeria, Turkey, China and Sweden. The course is offered through the Graduate School at UNC Chapel Hill and serves as an introduction to teaching in the American classroom.  The course foci are to learn about cross-cultural communication, cultural differences, practice English pronunciation, improve vocabulary and basic teaching skills. It includes topics necessary for effective interaction in the American classroom.

In addition to twice- weekly class meetings, we are required to maintain an 8 hours conversation log. We observed and evaluated lectures, interviewed experienced teachers, and gave microteaching demonstrations.  

Child Development and Disabilities

The content in this course included typical and atypical manifestations of cognitive, social-emotional and communication development in children. Required texts were “Development and disability” (2002) by Vicky Lewis and “The developing mind” 1999, by D. Siegel. From Piaget, Vygotsky and Gibson, I have studied children’s typical development and how they get to know their world. It includes concepts such as representations, states of mind, self-regulation, emotional and social development. Also the lectures gave me new and deepen knowledge about children with non typical development.

We have watched several videos among which three have made a certain impact on me. The first was the film “Secret of the wild child”, a girl locked into a basement from birth until thirteen years of age. She was totally deprived of her life and we discussed her situation relating to UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

The second film was about Peter a boy with Down’s syndrome and his inclusion in the school. He had behavior problems and the film showed how his teachers and classmates cooped with this. Over the years the environment adapted to Peter’s needs in many ways but on the whole my impression is that Peter, when getting older and older, had to adapted even more (by given him drugs) to fit in during the last school years.

The third interesting film was about two families, one where all family members were deaf, and one in which all were hearing, except one of the newborn twins. There were also deaf grandmothers and grandfathers. A five to six year old girl in the deft family and the new born deft child were in focus for cochlea implants. The adults had strong opinions about pro’s and con’s for cochlea implant. The film gave me perspectives I never had thought about. There was no easy answer weather to let the daughter in the deaf family do the cochlea implant or not.

Qualitative software: ATLAS.ti

I have learned to use the software ATLAS.ti for coding and sorting notes in children’s health records to continue the qualitative analysis. Prof. Paul Mihas has provided help via a “hands- on workshop” every week at the ODUM institute. The ODUM Institute and the help from Prof. Mihas provide an outstanding opportunity every arriving coming GEDS fellow should know exist. The Institute conducts workshops and support for qualitative and quantitative methods.

Seminars at School of Nursing

The School of Nursing has several one-hour monthly seminars, at the middle of the day. Some of the most interesting seminars for me were:

“Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Nursing Research at Point-of-Care” Dr. Cheryl B. Jones talked about her role to foster research relationships between the School of Nursing and the UNC Hospitals. UNC Hospitals emphasize the importance of nurse doing in research to address critical problems in practice. She also mentors teams at the Hospitals that have research ideas or are developing ideas into research proposals. One of her purposes is to work to break down the walls between academia and practice.

Elizabeth Tornquist, MA, Editorial Consultants, talked about “Reporting Preliminary Work in Presentations, Publications and Grants Proposals”. In an amusing way no audio-visual aid, she gave stressed students good advise around issues such: How to find time to write, setting limits to your surroundings and disruption; and she had two words on how to begin and finish when writing a paper: CUT WORDS!

Another interesting seminar” at the school of Nursing was “Team-based Learning and Implementation in the Classroom”. It is a teaching strategy that allows nurse educators to provide a structured, student-centered learning environment in their courses.  It can be implemented in any size class, for active learning. The speaker, Dr. Pink, described the components of team based learning and his own experiences with it. We also participated in a readiness assessment test, a key component of team based learning.

I have also attended two lectures about Hispanic/Latino migrants who are the largest migrant group in the U.S. There are opportunities and challenges with child migration and Latino health. More than half of the Latino population is American citizens. There is a lack of documented data and many of the Latinos speak poor or no English. In addition, many professionals lack the knowledge needed about the Latino culture. The group’s health is declining including mental, asthma and obesity, although they have access to the health services. Depression and suicide are increasing among Latinos teenagers. According to Dr. Perreia, there is a high positive correlation between education and health. In addition, it is important begin working with the parents earlier then currently done.

Fieldwork

Frank Porter Graham (FPG) Child Development Institute

In the reception room, I read the history and current information about the institute. Dr.Kate Gallagher was telling us the story of FPG, showed us around in the building. We could meet the staff and the children in the school.

It began in the 1960’s when President Lyndon Johnson announced War on Poverty. Later parents of children with disabilities began advocating for inclusion in every aspect of community life, including education. A small group of scientists came together to conduct research and provide services that would make a difference in children’s lives, help families and inform policies. The Institute took its name from Frank Porter Graham, who was President of the University of North Carolina (1930-1949) and a strong advocate for children.

 The research today, provides insight into how child care experiences relate to child development. Families need access to high quality early care and education to promote children’s learning. The institute evaluates and develops approaches to ensure that culturally, linguistically and children with abilities diverse benefit from high quality experiences. The research is driven by local, state and national needs. FPG works to promote earlier identification of children with disabilities and explore ways that early intervention program can better serve communities. From social and emotional development to physical health the staff studies the lives of children as they grow. Overall the staff is highly educated. All of them have at least a master in different topics. There are many research programs.

I have been visiting schools on different levels: elementary, middle and high school. I met school nurses and nursing students in their clinical practices. Much of the school nursing and health problems are similar to those of Sweden, but there are also differences. There are no school physicians, and they don’t offer individual health dialogues with the child in specific ages. In Sweden that is recommended by our guidelines which called for curiosity from the head of the school nurses. I heard from some school nurses that can’t talk about family planning, an obvious issue for teenagers (the school can be funding of people with other opinions). Well that made me irritated and I also got that confirmed from the head of the school health services. 

Family Support network (FSN)

Prof. Irene Zipper gave us information about FSN and one day she brought me and my supervisor to Greensboro, where we met people who work with a local program. Interesting for us to see their “Children’s developmental services agency (CDSA) and how they give service to families and their children.  FSN of NC started 1985. The network has three core activities: information, connection with the local programs and matching parents (huge database).  FSN/NC offers support, free of charges to families across the state who are caring for children for special needs. For example parent to parent peer support which means supporting other families in similar situations. Examples of activities that are offered in some of the seventeen local programs are sibling groups and groups for fathers. In addition they have two ongoing projects aiming to develop models for 1) strengthening military families with children who have developmental disabilities 2) implementing strategies to support people with disabilities and their families in emergency situations.

Spare time

Fun things I have done and places I have been:

·      Weaver Street Market / The Whole Food Markets

·      Movies Friday and Saturday evening on campus are free for students, (The King’s speech, Country strong, The Fighter, The grit, The black swan)

·      Varsity Theater at Franklin Street, cheap movies

·      The Bolin Creek (walking, jogging and watching beautiful birds tracks)

·      The modern museum in Raleigh

·      Washington D.C. (rented a car, be sure to take all insurances)

·      Duke University: Chapel, Duke garden and Nasher Museum of Art

·      Eating places I like: The Forster’s, Kitchen, Mediterranean Deli, smoothies at the Lenoir, and the food at The Whole foods Market and Co op at Weavers street

·      Cooke Arboretum on campus

YlYlva Stahl

Goodbyes

Hi, everybody!

Time flies, and I am going back to Portugal in two days. Classes have already finished and all students are studying hard for the finals. Unfortunately, I won’t be here for the commencement week (May 11-13). You can get some information about this tradition in here.

Now, it’s time for a brief reflection. I couldn’t be more gratified with this four-months experience. I would like to emphasize the high quality classes I have attended, and the knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and supportive scholars I have met. Each day I was able to learn a new thing and to discover a new perspective to look into my work, to reflect on it. This stay had a very positive impact on my professional and personal growth. I am very glad I have the courage to be so many days away from home. The GEDS made it possible, and I hope it will continue to provide this kind of experience to other students.

I would like to make a special thanks to Prof. Dale Farran, Prof. Mark Lipsey, Prof. Steve Baum, Prof. David Dickinson, Prof. Amanda Goodwin, Prof. Deborah Rowe, Prof. Mark Wolery, and all those people who have made my stay at VU so interesting, remarkable, and full of learning experiences.

I hope you have enjoyed all these newsletters. For now, take a look at how green and pleasant is Vanderbilt University in the spring:

Goodbye!

March/April Visits: Two Hospitals & Two E.I. Clinics

In addition to the educational institutions I visited this past month I also had the opportunity to see two psychiatric hospitals and two early intervention services in the Porto region.

The Hospitals:

1) Hospital de Magalhães Lemos (Porto): This psychiatric hospital recently underwent a merger with a couple of other hospitals in the area, and is one of 3 with pediatric units. It is clearly betting on the full social integration of individuals with mental illness. The psychologists act as liaisons with the Health Centers and other General Hospitals, as well as the structures of social security, public and private, and the municipalities in the Porto region. The pediatric unit serves children ages 4 months to 12 years-old. The lead psychologist reported that the services are more disjointed since they were removed from the pediatric hospital. The majority of the cases seen are for custody cases, referred by pediatricians.

I observed an IQ assessment for a referral where the child was being oppositional with her father following a divorce. I was struck by the mismatch between the referral question and assessment procedures. The WISC-III was used, as I was told that the WISC-IV is still being translated/ validated. For this 7-year-old girl, a photocopies protocol was used, the girl was sitting in a chair that was very tall, behind a desk that was too high, and was forced to sit sideways to allow for space for her feet. The girl was constantly shifting in her seat as well as standing throughout the session in order to remain physically conformable (this was clearly not due to inattention). The administration was not standardized, for example, on the Picture Completion subtest, the clinician said, “this is a picture of a pencil, in this pencil, what is missing?” Strategies were also given to the child (e.g., counting, on the Information subtest). In addition, the protocol was laid in front of the child, so that she could clearly see each positive and negative strike toward her score. The rationale I was given for this was because, “if you don’t let them see, they think you are hiding something from them.” The other children scheduled for the day did not show for their appointments.

In the afternoon I sat in on Grand Rounds for the pediatric psychology section. Each psychologist presented cases they found difficult, and received feedback from the other professionals. It appeared to work well, though I believe more time could have been allocated to problem-solving, opposed to case presentation.

2) Hospital de São João (Porto): The psychiatric unit at São João appeared much better organized and effective than Magalhães Lemos. It is comprised of four sections: (1) general consultation (which includes immigration services), (2) day hospital & community psychiatry, (3) psychosomatic/inter-consultation (other departments, (4) youth & family services. The latter (4) –youth and family services, provides general psychiatric services until age 25, and specializes in eating disorders, early onset psychosis, and parent-training. The ‘team’ is comprised of 2 Adult Psychiatrists, 3 Pediatric Psychiatrists, 2 Psychologists, 1 Occupational Therapist, and 1 Social Worker. Both the psychologists and psychiatrists do consultations, while the psychologists focus mainly on competency and phobia interventions.

The main modalities of intervention include psycho drama, dance therapy, and family therapy (the first two are the main focus of eating disorder interventions). In the early psychosis groups, family therapy is undergone once-per-month in a group meeting.

In visiting the units, I not only met and spoke to the doctors, but had the opportunity (though unscheduled) to meet and talk with the patients. While waiting for a trip to the next unit, we waited in a coffee bar –frequented by the adult patients. One patient, who said she had Schizophrenia and had recently suffered a drug-induced psychotic break, said that she found the services at the hospital infrequent and inadequate, and said that she had been seeing a psychologist (for therapy) in a private clinic for years, and only went to the hospital to see her psychiatrist for drug titration. She said that the two doctors/institutions did not communicate, and she felt like she was “slipping through the cracks”. We also spoke to a psychiatrist with a university appointment in the department of nutrition, who spoke to use about hospital-based research. He explained that there is an Institutional Review Board for ethics, but that it is very complicated and time consuming, and that most times the practitioners conduct the research, and ask for permission after. He said that the doctors use their respective ‘internal moral compasses’ to tell them what it right/wrong. While I do believe that some of the ethics boards procedures are extensive, they are necessary, and something that should continue to be developed in Portugal.


The Clinics:

1) ANIP (Coimbra): Is the National Early Intervention Association (ANIP), which works in collaboration with regional health, education, and social security agencies. They are working with the Coimbra Project “Integrated Project for Early Intervention (PIIP), on which the National model was based. The early intervention practice is based on trans-disciplinary (though it sounded more like inter-disciplinary) teamwork, use of existing resources, and family-centered interventions. Through annual trainings held at the national level, as well as conferences, and resource dissemination (e.g., lending library, mailed pamphlets) the association provides training, information, and support for professionals and families involved in the early intervention process. It all started with the Coimbra project in 1989, was put into legislation in 1999, and was implemented as a law in 2009 (Law No. 281/2009).

The general aims of the PIIP project are to help families with children ages 0-6 years with disability or those who are at risk for developmental delay. The project is structured on an ecological model (á la Bronfenbrenner), with the Coordination team (physician, social worker, speech therapist, nurse, psychologist, and physical therapist) communicating with four teams (administration, supervision, training, and technical) who all communicate with five smaller service-delivery ‘supervision’ teams that each provide services to various districts (based on population size and number of professionals). The philosophy of the project is to deliver services: (1) from an ecological perspective, (2) that are family-centered and home-based, (3) strengths-based, (4) relationship-based, (5) facilitate communication between service providers, (6) are self-evaluative.

Their tag-line is “enabling and empowering families”, and I think it is truly wonderful to perpetuate the belief that all families are competent to aid in habilitation, especially on a National platform! Within the child, the teams focus on increasing abilities and monitoring development. For families, the project leaders strive to promote autonomy of the child and family unit, as well as the family’s involvement in the intervention process, and improve the family’s dynamics within their daily routines. Community-level involvement works to promote communication between service-providers, and creating access to resources. The intervention is six-pronged: (1) relationship-building, (2) input and decision-making, (3) competency-promoting, (4) parents as adult learners, (5) informal support for families, and (60 informal supports for professionals.

While the efficacy of the PIIP project is still unknown, it has been highly effective in the district of Coimbra, and I truly hope that it works for the whole of Portugal –what a wonderful program!

2) UADIP (Porto): A center for Developmental Evaluation and Early Intervention (UADIP: Unidade de Avaliação do Desenvolvimento e Intervenção Precoce), they serve children ages birth to six-years-old, from the district around Porto. In conjunction with community services, they provide evaluation for children at-risk for or with developmental disturbances. Their teams are comprised of psychologists, social workers, physical therapists, speech therapists, occupational therapist, and a special education teacher. They base their practice on Transactional Theory: the interplay between the child and the environment. The team uses objectives that provide conjunctive training and common intervention strategies, in which the families are highly involved. Specifically, the family is trained on interaction styles and the necessitated intensity of the intervention (it is important to UADIP that intensity is not as important as functionality of intervention).

They work with the families to increase the number and quality of interactions, and increase the knowledge of strengths and weaknesses in the children; all of which is done in contextualized interventions (e.g., in a classroom) at least twice per week. There are two teams: Team A (for younger children, 0-3), and Team B, (for older children, 3-6). Team A, which serves 21 children focuses on high-risk children, as well as habilitation of family. They provide interventions for 3months, re-evaluate, and then re-intervene (if necessary) –no more than 2-3 times. Team B serves 66 children at a time. In the community, children may receive therapy at Maria Ped. (Hospital); Rehabilitation Center of Gaia, or at UADIP for speech intervention in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Dependent on the family’s worries, UADIP will perform specialized assessments and/or interventions (e.g., in preschools, or work with schools for transition planning).

While UADIP has two staff psychologists, who are present throughout evaluations, it was unclear as to their role in evaluation/assessment process, other than peripheral functioning. That is to say that UADIP appears to place great emphasis on physical rehabilitation of children (only 1 psychologist per team, compared to 3 occupational therapists, and 2 physical therapists).This was also echoed in the physical structure of the building, with ample space for physical rehabilitation, including multiple Snoezelen sensory rooms (see picture). While I believe these interventions are all valuable, I think that the psychologist could make a greater impact on the children’s developmental trajectory by increase the time and methods used for intervention.

In sum, UADIP provides wonderful evaluation, training, and therapeutic technology services to children in need.

Experiences during the month of March

Hi, everybody!

Last month was a very busy and exciting one. During the week of March 5-13 we had a period of recess, known as Spring Break. As we did not have classes during this week it was a great opportunity to travel a little bit. I spent the weekend in Miami and then I went to New York where I had an amazing one-week stay. If you don’t know where to go next summer, these are two wonderful cities to visit!

Besides my tourist experience, this month was also full of other learning experiences. I have been attending some interesting seminars. The last one was about “Common capacity limits in visual selection and working memory storage”. I have also been meeting with PhD students working in the field of writing research. The courses I am attending have been very fruitful, too. I have been learning a lot about the education in US, which is a little bit different from ours, in Portugal. In another course, I had the opportunity to present the proposal of the first study of my PhD. We had a great scientific discussion and the feedback I received was very important and relevant to my work. Finally, the Academic Writing course has been surpassing my initial expectations. Besides the fantastic teacher and friendly classmates, it has been very useful to improve my scientific writing skills and to know better cultural issues related to writing. For instance, in the last class we discussed “email etiquette”, that is, how to be effective in composing emails.

Although my GEDS experience is approaching the end, I still have one more month in Vanderbilt. Until now, my experience in here has been absolutely amazing. Nevertheless, I suspect that this last month will be even more interesting because I will meet some leading researchers in the field of writing research. It will be a great opportunity to discuss my PhD and the work we are developing in Portugal.

I didn’t have the time to take some photos of the flowering trees that decorate Vanderbilt, but this beautiful dolphin can be equally inspiring! The photo was taken at the Miami Seaquarium.

Reflections on Portugal

I have really enjoyed my stay in Portugal and most of all the people. Those who I have had the privilege to interact with in Portugal have been some of the most kind, patient, and caring people I know. I have been attending a church here and was invited to one of the family's home for a house warming. I was very excited to fellowship with them and try to home-cooked Portuguese food. The food was delicious. We had roasted beef, rice and beans, and potatoes in a tomato sauce. Here are some photos:

Also, I spent a lot of time with the children during the housewarming.

They had me sit down and watch Tico e Teco (Chip & Dale for all of those who remember watching). It was in Portuguese so I did not understand it but I remembered every episode they had me watch because my brother, sister, and I used to watch the show together. They had a particular episode they really loved and I vividly remember my siblings and I having it on replay because it was so funny to us. I just thought it was interesting that a new generation of children across the Atlantic, in a different culture, are still watching the same cartoons, laughing at the exact same thing ("Apple core, Baltimore, who's your friend? Me"), and put the same episodes on repeat. In fact, I wanted to tell the kids that I used to watch it when I was a child. The children and I communicate with nonverbal gestures, some odd form of broken Portuguese on my part, and with the English words they pick up from school or their father. In my attempt to tell them that I watched it as a kid, apparently I said my children watch it. I got some odd looks, like, well where are your kids then? :)

As I mentioned earlier, everyone in Portugal has been so kind and welcoming and I feel this the most from the children I have interacted with, whether in my personal life or during site visits. One little girl, who is 7, has been an absolute joy. She is so smart, so kind, always willing to help, and always has a smile on her face. She even teaches me Portuguese and corrects my pronunciation. My heart jumps every time she calls me, " Shahnohn vem aqui!" It's the little things like this that remind me of why I want to work with children and continue to advocate for them!

She made this for me when I came to visit

March Visits: Education

My month of March has been filled with visits to educational institutions, here’s a bit about each of them:

Town Hall –Lisbon, Evaluation of Law 3/2008
I attended a summary of the evaluation of the 3/2008 Special Education Law, by the Portuguese department of education. A beautiful first-step in assessment of laws that affect children with special needs; however, it was just that, a beginning; Portugal should be commended.
The law, for those interested is: Decree-Law No. 3/2008, 7th January, which defines the specialized support provided in state, private and co-operative pre-school, compulsory and upper-secondary education with the aim of creating the conditions to adjust the educational process to the special educational needs of pupils with major limitations in terms of activity and participation in one or more areas.

Tangerina –In Porto

Tangerina’s educational platform –for children age 6-10 years-old) was described to me as preparing you children through socialization and developmentally appropriate education. This stand (school preparing you for life), while seemingly mundane, appear to work well in this small, private institution.
The educational objects include: (1) cycling children through learning, so they know a topic to the point of mastery before advancing, (2) gradual development of the child, (3) strong promotion of expressive arts: music, drama, physical education, (4) learning and language development (reading, writing), (4) math is not only the acquisition of tools and techniques for calculating, but also contributes to logical thinking, helping the child to read and interpret the world, (5)develop problem-solving skills, dialoguing capabilities, and creativity.
The founder and director of the institution adapted the curriculum from the following people/programs: Frenés (French), and CSMP (St. Louis, Belgium). To the 4th point enumerated above, we were given a tutorial on the methodology, adapted from a school in Lisbon.
The children appeared very involved, eager to participate in classroom discussions. The curriculum was very prescriptive, but well-balanced with physical activity outside.

Escola Da Ponte -Vila das Aves (30 km from Porto)
I visited an innovative school which was studnet-lead. Initially weary, and ultimatley impressed by the balance of student-directed and teacher-lead public instruction… here’s a bit about the school:
The students aren't distributed by school years, or by classes. Instead, they use a three-pronged approach: Initialization, Transition, and Development

The students that enter the first cycle in "Escola da Ponte" start by sharing a space that is called "Initialization". Here the kids learn the bases of reading and writing on a natural method approach. Here they also learn to work autonomously in diverse areas of the curriculum, working in group and being people... In the "Initialization" the children elaborate, together with a teacher, a fortnightly plan that is "negotiated” amongst them all.
In the second phase, transition, When they are able to read and write with some corrections, solve some elementary calculations, help and be helped by the others, they move on the “transaction" space, which is characterized by group work and research. The children help to elaborate their individual plan.
When children enter the final phase, development, When they are able to work in group, elaborate research work, do auto-planning and auto-evaluations, as well as dominate a determined number of goals in the different curriculum areas, they are able to autonomously manage their learning time and space in what is called " working in freedom and in great level ". The space in which is developed the “development " phase is situated in the first floor of the open-area building. Here, the students work in total autonomy. In the beginning of each fortnight they elaborate their own working plan, negotiate amongst themselves and the teachers. They elaborate individual plans every day, not forgetting the school, the groups and their own interests. At the end of every fortnight they precede in auto-evaluating their plan according to the development of the project.
Rights & Duties: Every year, the students decide democratically, which rights and duties they consider essential. This is one of the first tasks of the School Assembly. The students do the list of all rights and duties they consider to be important.
Assembly: and also know that it is where teachers and students work together in order to discuss the school problems. Children know that when they help their school mates and pick up garbage form the floor, they are in the good way to become good citizens.
Help commission: Help commission serve to solve the most difficult problems that are presented at the Assembly. It is formed by four children. Two of them, chosen by the Assembly, and the other two, by the school teachers.
Debate: Debate takes place every day, from 15:00 to 15:30. There is discussed what they have been doing during the day and they also prepare the Assemblies.
We were shown around the school by two ‘volunteer’ students, who insisted that we read the visitors rules.
While little was said, or rather skirted around, about children with mild learning disabilities, their functioning, and inclusion in the classrooms; I was impressed with the level of inclusion of children with more severe disabilities (e.g., Down’s). One of the girls giving us the tour was one of the children who volunteered to work closely with a boy with Down’s –helping him with his course work, learning sign language, etc. I observed two children wholly participating in classroom-based activities: interacting with classmates, getting help from teachers when necessary, and completed their self-chosen-tailored curriculum.

Reflections on the University of Porto

…On psychology

The Faculty of Psychology and Educational Science at the University of Porto (FPCEUP) recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, which makes me reflect on the history of a revolutionary peoples and their pursuit of education, with my chosen field. Thirty years ago they rose from the ashes of a fascist regime, and the Portuguese began to work, while few were educated. Women were given access to all professions, the right to vote, and up sprang the Faculty Psychology and Educational Science at the University of Porto, as we know it today (more or less).

In discussing the history of psychology within the public university system with many students here–I believe it central to the theoretical framework (both clinical and scientific practice) of the Portuguese.

Moreover, I find this important for me, as a foreigner studying here, to understand. Psychology in Portuguese public universities came about by support from the institute of Applied Psychology, Portuguese Society of Psychoanalysis, and the Portuguese Society of Psychology (please correct me if I am wrong!). Though they are later coming to scientist-practitioner scene than psychologists from other countries; the Portuguese’s multifaceted influences, and the sociopoliticohistorical (yes, I made that word up) milieu at the time of degree establishment may not be a short coming.

The Portuguese have a chance to learn from other nations’ successes and short comings. From my experiences here, many strive for what American students are taught in our Doctoral programs: empirical investigation and “scientific method”, in the vein of the APA.
I wish continued success to FPCEUP, and continued development of scientists and practitioners within this burgeoning faculty.


…On a lighter note

Porto is filled with medieval fountains –which once sustained the life of its people; and now sustain the life of the students: in Gomes Teixera Square.

In front of the University Rectory lies the “Source of the Lions”, where students participate in fraternal exercises –a rite of passage to a higher level of knowledge.

For a brief period I was enveloped by this culture, acting as “Godmother” to one of the pupils. Through a series of Latin phrases, swaths of water, and capes, I participated in a baptism, and watched one young man be indoctrinated into academic society. With an education which many take for granted, this ceremony –complete with traditional garb– struck me as particularly poignant in a country which so recently struggled for the right to freely learn.

Visit to The IRIS Center

Hi, everybody!

Simply stated, The IRIS Center for Training Enhancements translates research about the education of students with disabilities into practice. Based on research-validated practices the Center develops a broad array of enhancement materials in order to provide students with disabilities greater access to the general education curriculum (from PreK to High School). The IRIS Center’s work is made possible by several partnerships with professional and community organizations, public agencies, and universities whose role is instrumental in assessing the needs of college faculty and professional development providers, in determining specific topics to be explored, in validating materials, and in disseminating information about the Center’s work.

Some of the topics addressed include reading and writing, math, RTI, learning strategies, and progress monitoring. Importantly, all IRIS materials are available online through its website. In here, faculty and professional development providers can find interactive challenge-based modules, case studies, activities, and information briefs to supplement their classes and trainings. Click here and explore all the high-quality materials developed by the IRIS staff.