Countering the ADHD epidemic : a question of ethics?

Recently in Australia, another media skirmish has erupted over the problem we currently call “Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder”. This particular event was precipitated by the comments of a respected District Court judge. His claim that doctors are creating a generation of violent juvenile offenders by prescribing Ritalin to young children created a great deal of excitement, attracting the attention of election-conscious politicians who appear blissfully unaware of the role played by educational policy in creating and maintaining the problem. Given the short (election-driven) attention span of government policymakers, I bypass government to question what those at the front line can do to circumvent the questionable practice of diagnosing and medicating young children for difficulties they experience in schools and with learning.

From ABCs to ADHD : the role of schooling the construction of behaviour disorder and the production of disorderly objects

Discussion of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the media, and thus much popular discourse, typically revolves around the possible causes of disruptive behaviour and the “behaviourally disordered” child. The usual suspects - too much television and video games, food additives, bad parenting, lack of discipline and single mothers – feature prominently as potential contributors to the spiralling rate of ADHD diagnosis in Western industrialised nations, especially the United States and Australia. Conspicuously absent from the field of investigation, however, is the scene of schooling and the influence that the discourses and practices of schooling might bring to bear upon the constitution of “disorderly behaviour” and subsequent recognition of particular children as a particular kind of “disorderly”. This paper reviews a sample of the literature surrounding ADHD, in order to question the function of this absence and, ultimately, make an argument for an interrogation of the school as a site for the production of disorderly objects.

Assessment of neuroretinal function in a group of functional amblyopes with documented LGN deficits

Purpose In this study we examine neuroretinal function in five amblyopes, who had been shown in previous functional MRI (fMRI) studies to have compromised function of the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), to determine if the fMRI deficit in amblyopia may have its origin at the retinal level. Methods We used slow flash multifocal ERG (mfERG) and compared averaged five ring responses of the amblyopic and fellow eyes across a 35 deg field. Central responses were also assessed over a field which was about 6.3 deg in diameter. We measured central retinal thickness using optical coherence tomography. Central fields were measured using the MP1-Microperimeter which also assesses ocular fixation during perimetry. MfERG data were compared with fMRI results from a previous study. Results Amblyopic eyes had reduced response density amplitudes (first major negative to first positive (N1-P1) responses) for the central and paracentral retina (up to 18 deg diameter) but not for the mid-periphery (from 18 to 35 deg). Retinal thickness was within normal limits for all eyes, and not different between amblyopic and fellow eyes. Fixation was maintained within the central 4° more than 80% of the time by four of the five participants; fixation assessed using bivariate contour ellipse areas (BCEA) gave rankings similar to those of the MP-1 system. There was no significant relationship between BCEA and mfERG response for either amblyopic or fellow eye. There was no significant relationship between the central mfERG eye response difference and the selective blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) LGN eye response difference previously seen in these participants. Conclusions Retinal responses in amblyopes can be reduced within the central field without an obvious anatomical basis. Additionally, this retinal deficit may not be the reason why the LGN BOLD (blood oxygen level dependent) responses are reduced for amblyopic eye stimulation.

Examining the Assessment Opportunities for Cultural Connectedness for Student Learning : A Sociocultural Analysis

The disparity that exists between the highest and lowest achievers together with deficit approaches to teaching, learning and assessment raise serious equity issues related to fairness, validity, culture and access, which were analysed in a recent Australian Research Council funded project. This chapter explores the potential that exists for teachers to work with Indigenous Teacher Assistants (ITAs) to secure cultural connectedness in teaching, learning and assessment of Indigenous students. The study was a design experiment, which was conducted in seven Catholic and Independent primary schools in northern Queensland and involved semi-structured focus group interviews with Year 4 and 6 Indigenous students, principals, teachers and Indigenous Teacher Assistants. Classroom observations and document analyses were also conducted. This corpus of data was analysed using a sociocultural theoretical lens. The use of a sociocultural analysis helped to identify cultural influences, Indigenous students’ funds of knowledge and values. The information from this analysis was made explicit to teachers to demonstrate how they could enhance their pedagogic and assessment practices by embracing and extending the cultural spaces for learning and teaching of Indigenous students. The way in which teachers construct their interactions for greater cultural connectedness and enhanced learning would appear to rely on relationship building with Indigenous staff, Indigenous students’ cultural knowledge, and improved understanding of assessment and related equity issues.

Future of the Haze Agreement : is the glass half empty or half full?

"In 1997–98, the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region suffered an unprecedented health and environmental catastrophe due to choking haze created by a massive forest !re in Indonesia. It is estimated that the total losses from the fire could be US$5–6 billion after taking into account the loss of trees and other natural resources as well as the long-term impact on human health. This unprecedented anthropogenic disaster not only created a severe health and environmental hazard but also raised a question mark about the credibility and effectiveness of the ASEAN regional grouping. Against this background, ASEAN took a number of regional initiatives to try and solve the problem and finally adopted a new treaty for regional cooperation to combat forest fire and haze in 2002. This paper assesses the future success of this agreement from the perspectives of the legal, institutional and geopolitical reality of the region. Since numerous studies have examined state responsibility for transboundary environmental harm under international law and its implications on the ASEAN haze problem, this article will not touch upon that general debate nor the remedies that are possibly available to victim states. Rather, it will focus on the ASEAN regional legal and institutional initiatives to combat the haze pollution and compare them with a similar European regional agreement. Regarding the following analysis, it is important to recognise the uncertainty arising from Indonesia’s status (presently a non-party to the Agreement). A primary indication of the future effectiveness of this agreement can be drawn from an analysis of the principles involved in this agreement, bearing in mind the inherent difficulty of enforcing norms in the international environmental legal system as a whole, and the geopolitical reality of the region."

Beijing : a media capital in the making

In the two decades since 2001, when China joined the World Trade Organization,the commercialization of the Chinese media has become a significant force. With the increasing demand for original content and a possible “cultural trade deficit” in media content, there has been much discussion about agglomeration and clustering. Beijing, as the national media centre of China, has witnessed the process of media agglomeration while facing the problem of cultural export during the commercialization of the media. Michael Curtin’s idea of media capital, which sees it as absorbing media resources and personnel and exporting media products transnationally, provides a dynamic perspective on understanding media agglomeration and dispersion under different political social and cultural circumstances. Hence, the question of whether Beijing will transform into a transnational media capital is worth studying in order to observe and comprehend China’s media industry in transition. Drawing on Michael Curtin’s three media capital trajectories, this paper interprets tensions and challenges generated in the process of media industry agglomeration and growth in Beijing. Emphasis is placed on the third trajectory, socio-cultural variation.

Construct Redundancy in Process Modeling Grammars: Improving the Explanatory Power of Ontological Analysis

Conceptual modelling supports developers and users of information systems in areas of documentation, analysis or system redesign. The ongoing interest in the modelling of business processes has led to a variety of different grammars, raising the question of the quality of these grammars for modelling. An established way of evaluating the quality of a modelling grammar is by means of an ontological analysis, which can determine the extent to which grammars contain construct deficit, overload, excess or redundancy. While several studies have shown the relevance of most of these criteria, predictions about construct redundancy have yielded inconsistent results in the past, with some studies suggesting that redundancy may even be beneficial for modelling in practice. In this paper we seek to contribute to clarifying the concept of construct redundancy by introducing a revision to the ontological analysis method. Based on the concept of inheritance we propose an approach that distinguishes between specialized and distinct construct redundancy. We demonstrate the potential explanatory power of the revised method by reviewing and clarifying previous results found in the literature.

Knowledge is not power, but it’s a start : what young people know about their rights and obligations in employment

Scholarship addressing the employment concerns of school age workers has identified a number of areas of vulnerability. Prominent among these is that young workers have insufficient knowledge of their rights in employment, yet the extent of this knowledge has not previously been quantified. This study explores areas of strength and deficit in awareness of employment rights and obligations in a sample of 892 young people in Australian high schools. The findings demonstrate that, despite part-time work being a majority experience for school students, young Australians know relatively little of their employment rights. The conclusions underscore the need for education strategies that inform young people prior to and in the very early stages of their working lives.

Weaving the past into the present : Indigenous stories of education across generations

In Queensland, there is little research that speaks to the historical experiences of schooling. Aboriginal education remains a part of the silenced history of Aboriginal people. This thesis presents stories of schooling from Aboriginal people across three generations of adult storytellers. Elders, grandparents, and young parents involved in an early childhood urban playgroup were included. Stories from the children attending the playgroup were also welcomed. The research methodology involved narrative storywork. This is culturally appropriate because Aboriginal stories connect the past with the present. The conceptual framework for the research draws on decolonising theory. Typically, reports of Aboriginal schooling and outcomes position Aboriginal families and children within a deficit discourse. The issues and challenges faced by urban Murri families who have young children or children in school are largely unknown. This research allowed Aboriginal families to participate in an engaged dialogue about their childhood and offered opportunities to tell their stories of education. Key research questions were: What was the reality of school for different generations of Indigenous people? What beliefs and values are held about mainstream education for Indigenous children? What ideas are communicated about school across generations? Narratives from five elders, five grandparents, and five (urban) mothers of young Indigenous children are presented. The elders offer testimony on their recollected experiences of schooling in a mission, a Yumba school (fringe-dwellers’ camp), and country schools. Their stories also speak to the need to pass as non-indigenous and act as “white”. The next generation of storytellers are the grandparents and they speak to their lives as “stolen children”. The final story tellers are the Murri parents. They speak to the current and recent past of education, as well as their family experiences as they parent young children who are about to enter school or who are in the early years of school.

Towards connoisseurship in educational leadership : following the data in a three stage line of inquiry

Following an epistemic frame advanced by Elliott Eisner (2002), it is argued that the tradition of the arts and perspectives from artists have the potential to yield refreshing and interesting insights for the field of educational leadership. Moreover, it is argued that Eisner’s work on tacit knowledge which he advanced as an example of connoisseurship has important implications and posits the possibility of developing a more discerning “eye” in describing the work of educational leaders. To assess these assertions, the paper reports on two stages of interviews with nine former and current artists from Australia in order to understand the processes in which they engaged when they create art and how they encountered and managed barriers. The implications of this preliminary investigation are explored in this paper as they related to how leadership is defined and the issues pertaining to claims that leadership studies must be “scientific” to have currency and credibility. The article begins by making an argument for the value of the arts to advanced a more nuanced view of leadership, considers the importance of connoisseurship as a frame for understanding it, and then explores the cognitive functions performed by the arts before turning to the study at hand.

A data mining driven crash risk profiling method for road asset management

This thesis takes a new data mining approach for analyzing road/crash data by developing models for the whole road network and generating a crash risk profile. Roads with an elevated crash risk due to road surface friction deficit are identified. The regression tree model, predicting road segment crash rate, is applied in a novel deployment coined regression tree extrapolation that produces a skid resistance/crash rate curve. Using extrapolation allows the method to be applied across the network and cope with the high proportion of missing road surface friction values. This risk profiling method can be applied in other domains.

Australasian Torrens automation, its integrity, and the three proof requirements

New Zealand and Australia are leading the world in terms of automated land registry systems. Landonline was introduced some ten years ago for New Zealand, and the Electronic Conveyancing National Law (ECNL) is to be released over the next few years in support of a national electronic conveyancing system to be used throughout Australia. With the assistance of three proof requirements, developed for this purpose, this article measures the integrity of both systems as against the old, manual Torrens system. The authors take the position that any introduced system should at least have the same level of integrity and safety as the originally conceived manual system. The authors argue both Landonline and ECNL, as presently set up, have less credibility than the manual system as it was designed to operate, leading to the possibility of increased fraud or misuse.

A data mining driven risk profiling method for road asset management

Road surface skid resistance has been shown to have a strong relationship to road crash risk, however, applying the current method of using investigatory levels to identify crash prone roads is problematic as they may fail in identifying risky roads outside of the norm. The proposed method analyses a complex and formerly impenetrable volume of data from roads and crashes using data mining. This method rapidly identifies roads with elevated crash-rate, potentially due to skid resistance deficit, for investigation. A hypothetical skid resistance/crash risk curve is developed for each road segment, driven by the model deployed in a novel regression tree extrapolation method. The method potentially solves the problem of missing skid resistance values which occurs during network-wide crash analysis, and allows risk assessment of the major proportion of roads without skid resistance values.

(De)Constructing ADHD : Critical Guidance for Teachers and Teacher Educators

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has achieved celebrity status in many Western countries, yet despite considerable effort to prove its existence as a “real” disorder, ADHD still suffers from a crisis of legitimacy. Nonetheless, diagnosis and prescription of medication has grown at a phenomenal rate since the late 1980s, particularly in Western culture. Numerous accounts exist explaining how the ADHD diagnosis functions as a convenient administrative loophole, providing schools with a medical explanation for school failure, medication to sedate the “problem” into submission, or the means to eject children from mainstream classrooms. This book provides a more holistic interpretation of how to respond to children who might otherwise be diagnosed with and medicated for “ADHD”—a diagnosis which, whether scientifically valid or not, is unhelpful within the confine of the school. Training teachers to recognise and identify “ADHD symptoms” or to understand the functions of restricted pharmaceuticals will only serve to increase the number of children diagnosed and the sale of psychoactive medications. Research has shown that such activities will not help those children learn, nor will it empower their classroom teachers to take responsibility for teaching such children well. This book seeks to provide school practitioners with knowledge that is useful within the educational context to improve the educational experiences and outcomes for children who might otherwise receive a diagnosis of ADHD.

Transforming perceptions and responses to student difference : the journey of seven beginning teachers

Drawing on critical social theory and transformative learning, this study investigates the sociocultural factors that enable a move away from the deficit model of learning. The multicase study examines beginning teachers’ perceptions of learning and teaching for students experiencing learning difficulties. The fluid conception of identity occupied by beginning teachers was explored as the participants challenged structural ideologies and their personal belief systems. The study argues that personal factors such as, engaging in critical reflection and beliefs, and school factors such as job security and school context influence how beginning teachers respond to diverse learners and position themselves as agentive.