An independent activity engagement program, developed for institutionalized people with mental handicaps, included an adapted watch to provide auditory or visual cues at preset times, a box with pictorial cards representing familiar activities, and reinforcement. The program was suitable for the two adult participants but they continued to rely on…

Examined the connection between adolescents' expressions of negative affect and their attempts to meet the developmental task of establishing autonomy and relatedness in interactions with their parents. Longitudinal observational data and interviews of 96 adolescents and their parents revealed that difficulties establishing autonomy and…

Summer institute grouped secondary health teachers with current health research and education leaders, offering information to increase their perceptions of personal control over health teaching. Assessment indicated they developed a higher sense of personal control over health teaching and of influences exerted over personal health by powerful…

A Queensland (Australia) interview survey of 19 rural and 31 urban individuals over 50 years of age with mild or moderate intellectual disability is reported. Results are reported for both groups in terms of access to and participation in community activities, self-care and independence, health problems, and economic situation. (DB)

A framework is presented to characterize literature on teacher empowerment, recognizing two important dimensions: the personal or outward context of the process (conversations with self versus conversations with settings); and the focus or agenda. The framework can illuminate the dynamics of collaborative work with teachers. (SLD)

A graduated guidance procedure was used to teach 4 boys (ages 9-14) with autism to follow photographic activity schedules to increase on-task and on-schedule behavior. Use of the schedules produced sustained engagement which generalized to a new schedule with a new sequence of photographs. Subjects were able to independently change activities in…

Eighteen language/learning-disabled adolescents were compared with 18 nondisabled adolescents and 18 linguistically matched nondisabled preadolescents on requesting assistance from listeners who vary in power and familiarity. The language learning-disabled adolescents were sensitive to social and contextual features and modified their requests…

Used a structural-equation model with latent constructs to differentiate the domains of adolescent emotional autonomy from parents and specify the intervening processes. Found that individuation was associated with lower academic achievement and higher rates of deviant behavior through the intervening effects of higher susceptibility to negative…

Examines the social environments, staff behavior and social interaction of 72 elderly clients in adult day care centers, using qualitative research techniques. When the staff and environment were more infantilizing, provided less autonomy and fewer opportunities for privacy regulation, clients had lower social interaction with peers. In contrast,…

Four institutionalized adults with mild mental retardation were taught to obtain information regarding their living preferences during tours of community group homes, to report the information to their social workers, and to evaluate the homes. All four participants increased these skills, indicating their ability to participate in such major…

Nearly 140 studies of motivation in African Americans were reviewed. The review is organized around five topics that are subsumed under three assumptions about the relationship between ethnic minority status and motivation. African Americans appear to maintain a belief in personal control, have high expectancies, and enjoy positive self-regard.…

Emphasizing the constructivist principles of voice, collaboration, and inclusion, this paper discusses the influence of constructivism across the interrelated levels of reform: structural reforms in school organization, pedagogical reforms in classrooms, and development of school-linked human service systems. It concludes with a political-economic…

The importance of taking responsibility for the well-being of others or responding to the needs of others, be it concrete persons nearby, anonymous persons or (in)animus objects, is beyond dispute. However, people seem to live in an age where it is not common to look after the well-being of others, at least that is the message one gets from the…

Guided by Self-Determination and associated theories, we examined whether adolescent (N=324, Mage=15, 52% female) competence (academic engagement and achievement) were supported by relationships at school and school fit. Aspects of relationships and school fit that were measured included adolescents' perceptions of each context as promoting…

This article reports on research on secondary-school teachers and dilemmas they encounter in their work in multi-ethnic schools in the Netherlands. The results of a recent study based on interviews are compared with a survey conducted in 1996. This showed that in a changing societal context, that can be characterized by mounting selection and…