This study is a qualitative insider-researcher investigation into aspects of social development that emerged through collaborative music practice with young people aged 16-25. The work took place in the Welsh capital, Cardiff, as part of a UK-national funded project facilitated by a major radio station. The data includes observations of rehearsals…

Although the concept of "active aging" has been widely used as a framework to underpin an optimistic view of aging, few studies have focused on the activities it encompasses and what participants learn. The aim of this study was to explore and compare the learning outcomes acquired from different active aging activities. A sample of 448…

This study investigated the use of a playful, narrative, vignette-based method, called Story Magician's Play Time (SMPT), in supporting children's social-emotional reasoning and in helping children practice their social skills. We set out to examine (a) in what ways children use SMPT sessions to explore social interaction situations and to…

Intercultural communication is not only a necessary tool for most international workplaces, but also for higher education so as to better prepare students for their future jobs. To test how intercultural competences might be taught in engineering programmes in Spain, a country where many young people have to emigrate in order to find work, an…

There is a need for more research on selective or Tier 2 interventions to support students with challenging classroom behaviors. Existing Tier 2 interventions lack effective mechanisms such as autonomy support, which are shown to improve student-teacher relations and build competencies in the form of social or intra and interpersonal skills. The…

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often face challenges in social situations. Although designers and researchers explore the potential of digital (game-like) interventions, most interventions lack evidence in efficacy or proper design. The aim of this study is to explore the worldview and needs of the target users in their daily life…

This paper sheds light on the skills and competencies required for teaching online courses in higher education. The paper started with an overview of the issues related to online learning and teaching. Reviewing and analyzing literature in this topic were performed to confine skills and competencies that instructors need to effectively teach in…

Although there is a growing body of evidence to support the use of direct behavior rating (DBR) as a formative behavioral assessment method in school-based problem-solving models, this work has centered largely on the assessment of attending and problem behaviors and on the use of single-item DBR scales. The primary purpose of the current study…

Background: Research suggests that negative peer interactions that compromise student safety and wellbeing often occur in spaces at school that are not easily visible, not adequately monitored, overcrowded and/or relatively unstructured. In a large online survey conducted in Swedish schools by the anti-bullying organisation, Friends, a small…

Dr. McGinnis-Smith earned a PhD in special education with emphasis in EBD at the University of Iowa and an administrator certification from Drake University. She is coauthor of the social skills teaching series "Skillstreaming." She also coauthored with Richard Simpson "Skillstreaming Children and Youth with High Functioning Autism…

Sport has many psychological and social benefits beyond developing physical skills. It can be used to teach young people important life skills such as teamwork, goal setting, problem solving, decision making, leadership, time management, cognitive, emotional, communication and social skills. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the…

Positive Behavioral Intervention Supports (PBIS) is a preventative and responsive three-tiered framework comprised of a continuum of evidence-based practices and interventions. Adaptation, or tailoring is a critical component to the PBIS system, as it is not intended to be a standard treatment protocol, particularly at the Tier 2 level. Tier 2…

Tiered response models encourage a proactive approach to identification of social-emotional needs and intervention. However, schools experience barriers to adopting and implementing such models that use data to allocate interventions. The current study examines the utility of a universal social-emotional learning (SEL) screening system embedded in…

Research Findings: Traditional peer sociometric nominations, even at early ages, are not replaceable by teachers' classifications of children's sociometric popularity. The association between reports from the two sources, although not independent, was weak, with teachers perceiving more children as popular and fewer children as rejected. Teacher…

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are characterized by deficits in social communication, partly attributed to the inability to pick up cues from social partners using joint attention (JA) skill. These deficits have cascading adverse effects on language acquisition and the development of cognitive skills. Therapist-mediated JA…