Community is integral to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge, and faculty must constitute the heart and soul of the community. Faculty values and community, and faculty relationships with administrators and students are discussed. Ways administrators and faculty can promote community are offered. (MLW)

Discusses two of the most formidable bioethical challenges over the next decades which relate to disabilities and aging: elders' exercise of autonomy and the just allocation of resources to older patients. Offers suggestions for developing principles for the treatment of elders. (Author/ABL)

The school life of American students is characterized by powerlessness, boredom, and futility. This article discusses several factors which contribute to this situation and offers an alternative direction for American education. (IAH)

Discussion of how learner and teacher communicate in distance education focuses on Morre's concept of transactional distance in light of recent developments in telecommunications. Integrated telecommunications systems are described, adult learning and instructional transactions are discussed, and system dynamics are presented as a tool for…

Compared 76 reentry working women with 78 career women. Found reentry women held lower-level jobs and scored lower on measures of assertiveness and autonomy than did career women. Reentry women did not score lower on self-esteem measures or dominance measures, and did not score higher than career women on either conflict or need for achievement…

Drawing upon the works of Paulo Freire and Lev S. Vygotsky, this paper argues that the institution of special education inculcates helplessness rather than autonomy, discusses the cognitive behavior modifications that enable self-control and self-mediation of learning, and proposes the educational ideal of student empowerment and autonomy. (JDD)

A creative writing program for disadvantaged women in Chicopee, Massachusetts, is described. The program's effects in empowering the women resulted in the women making a number of specific changes in their lives. Reasons for the workshop's success are discussed, as is the power of the arts to effect social change. (DB)

This paper examines policy underscoring the importance of choice and self-determination in physical environments of children with disabilities; reviews research in this area; and discusses four laws which address opportunities for choice and self-determination, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, Individuals with Disabilities Education…

A theory of self-determination is presented in which concepts of intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation are explicated and the innate psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness are discussed. A review of laboratory and field studies indicates the importance of social contexts that facilitate satisfaction of these basic…

Three teenagers with autism, who relied on verbal prompts from the teacher to switch activities, were trained to independently identify transition times and to contingently self-reinforce the verbal identification of transition times. Accurate identification of transition time and self-reinforcement were maintained at one-month follow-up.…

Choice making in leisure-activity preferences was studied with a woman (age 27) with profound mental retardation in a residential setting. Results suggest the participant could express distinct musical preference when given choice-making opportunities, and preference patterns varied with the activity partner and/or the locale. (Author/SW)

It is important for early childhood professionals to learn about childhood fears so that they can help children cope with them. Children's fears are normal, the nature of preschoolers' fears is related to their cognitive development, and a child's temperament and sense of autonomy may influence the extent of and manner of reaction to a fearful…

Uses writing of Maslow and Erikson to design set of intervention strategies aimed at promoting personal and educational growth of homeless children. Presents this theoretical model in hopes that it will help elementary school counselors gain better understanding of how personal needs of homeless students affect behavior and provide counselors with…

Asked 15 couples who had been married at least 30 years to give their perceptions of qualities that had sustained their relationship in times of closeness and relational strain. Key characteristics identified were intimacy balanced with autonomy, commitment, communication, religious orientation, and congruent perceptions of the relationship.…

This paper uses an ethnographic orientation to contrast trainer-oriented intervention practices with more client-centered or naturalistic practices in speech therapy. Specific ways that control is established and sustained are outlined. Use of an ethnographic perspective is recommended to create intervention contexts that allow children to be…