Fish assemblage response to rehabilitation of a sand-slugged lowland river

The impact of excessive sediment supply on river channels has been  described in many areas of the world. Sediment deposition disturbance alters habitat  structure by decreasing channel depth, changing substrate composition and burying woody debris. River rehabilitation is occurring worldwide, but information is scant on fish assemblage responses to rehabilitation in sedimentdisturbed lowland rivers. Sediment removal and large woody debris (LWD) replacement  were used to experimentally rehabilitate habitat along a 1500m stretch of the Glenelg River in western Victoria, Australia. Using an asymmetrical before-after control-impact (BACI) design, fish were captured before and after the reach was rehabilitated, from two control reaches and from a ‘higher quality’ reference reach. After two years post-rehabilitation monitoring, the fish assemblage at the rehabilitated reach did not differ from control reaches. Temporal changes in taxa richness and the abundance of Philypnodon grandiceps, Nannoperca spp. and three angling taxa occurred after rehabilitation (winter 2003) compared with the before period (winter 2002), but these effects did not differ between rehabilitated and control locations. Highest taxa richness and abundances occurred at the reference location. High salinity coincided with the timing of rehabilitation works, associated with low river discharges due to drought. The negative effects of other large-scale disturbances may have impaired the effectiveness of reachscale rehabilitation or the effects of rehabilitation may take longer than two years to develop in a lowland river subjected to multiple environmental disturbances.

Separating the contributions of hearing, lexical knowledge and speech production to speech perception scores in children with hearing impairments.

Open-set word and sentence speech-perception test scores are commonly used as a measure of hearing abilities in children and adults using cochlear implants and/or hearing aids. These tests are usually presented auditorily with a verbal response. In the case of children, scores are typically lower and more variable than for adults with hearing impairments using similar devices. It is difficult to interpret children's speech-perception scores without considering the effects of lexical knowledge and speech-production abilities on their responses. This study postulated a simple mathematical model to describe the effects of hearing, lexical knowledge, and speech production on the perception test scores for monosyllabic words by children with impaired hearing. Thirty-three primary-school children with impaired hearing, fitted with hearing aids and/or cochlear implants, were evaluated using speech-perception, reading-aloud, speech-production, and language measures. These various measures were incorporated in the mathematical model, which revealed that performance in an open-set word-perception test in the auditory-alone mode is strongly dependent on residual hearing levels, lexical knowledge, and speech-production abilities. Further applications of the model provided an estimate of the effect of each component on the overall speech-perception score for each child.

Examining potential barriers to early intervention access in Australian hearing impaired children

Early intervention for children with hearing loss involves assistance in oral speech development, optimal use of hearing devices and fostering a holistic partnership between allied health and the children's families. Adequate access to early intervention has been shown to be vital in the positive development of long term language and social outcomes. However, there has been limited research to identify the factors which may influence access. This study aimed to explore whether access to early intervention by children with hearing loss is affected by: geographical location, socio-economic status and ethnic-minority family status.

Rehabilitation of Achilles and patellar tendinopathies

Achilles and patellar tendinopathies affect a broad range of the population and are difficult conditions to manage clinically. The pathology is persistent in the chronic tendon and can be considered to be failed healing. The exact cause of tendinopathy pain is unclear but may be related to changes in neurovascular structures.

Rehabilitation for Achilles and patellar tendinopathies is based on an exercise programme that aims to improve muscle–tendon function and normalise the pelvic/lower limb kinetic chain. This incorporates a programme for restoring and improving muscle strength, endurance and power and retraining sport-specific function.

Rehabilitation may take a prolonged period of time, both the athlete and clinician must be patient and persistent to maximise results from an exercise-based treatment.

The rehabilitation of indigenous prisoners : an Australian perspective

The massive problems experienced by Indigenous Australians in their encounters with the criminal justice system have been well documented and widely discussed. This paper applies the Risk, Needs and Responsivity Model of rehabilitation to Indigenous offenders. While much of the review is devoted to a discussion of Australian Indigenous offenders, the issues raised are likely to be relevant to Indigenous groups from other countries and, possibly, ethnic minority offenders more generally. We concluded that whilst the model clearly has value, rehabilitation programs would benefit from a careful consideration of issues relating specifically to the Risk, Needs and Responsivity of Indigenous offenders.

Current trends in the rehabilitation of juvenile offenders

The Australian Institute of Criminology's recent work on adult male offenders has found that the most serious and persistent adult offenders had been detained as a juvenile. In terms of crime reduction, interventions that focus on reducing the likelihood of juveniles escalating to adult offenders will have significant benefits for the whole of the Australian community. Research conducted in juvenile justice settings around the world consistently shows that young people who come to the attention of criminal justice agencies have multiple problems and experience high levels of need across all areas of functioning. In meeting these needs, correctional agencies have been increasingly influenced by the model of rehabilitation known as the 'what works' approach. This paper outlines a case management framework for rehabilitating juvenile offenders that includes three of the most important 'what works' principles, namely the risk principle, the needs principle and the responsivity principle. In the longer term, the implementation of the framework will need to be evaluated to determine what works and what doesn't with rehabilitating juveniles.

The effects of phonological and morphological training on speech perception scores and grammatical judgments in deaf and hard-of-hearing children

Seventeen primary school deaf and hard-of-hearing children were given two types of training for 9 weeks each. Phonological training involved practice of /s, z, t, d/ in word final position in monomorphemic words. Morphological training involved learning and practicing the rules for forming third-person singular, present tense, past tense, and plurals. The words used in the two training types were different (monomorphemic or polymorphemic) but both involved word final /s, z, t, d/. Grammatical judgments were tested before and after training using short sentences that were read aloud by the child (or by the presenter if the child was unable to read them). Perception was tested with 150 key words in sentences using the trained morphemes and phonemes in word final position. Grammatical judgments for sentences involving the trained morphemes improved significantly after each type of training. Both types of training needed to be completed before a significant improvement was found for speech perception scores. The results suggest that both phonological and morphological training are beneficial in improving speech perception and grammatical performance of deaf and hard-of-hearing children and that both types of training were required to obtain the maximum benefit.

Evolutionary psychology and the rehabilitation of offenders : constraints and consequences

The mainstream view in criminology and correctional psychology is that evolutionary perspectives have little to offer researchers or practitioners and may in fact lead to overly reductionist and crude responses to the complex issue of crime and its consequences. However, in our view all the major evolutionary approaches to the explanation of human behavior have something of value to contribute, with niche construction providing a particularly useful lens upon crime and its management. In this paper we analyze the concept of rehabilitation and describe the key features of effective rehabilitation. We argue that niche construction is responsive to the cognitive versatility and behavioral flexibility of human beings and can also accommodate the important role of social and cultural scaffolding in the rehabilitation process.

Repairing the rupture : restorative justice and the rehabilitation of offenders

Restorative justice is a social justice movement that aims to deal with consequences of crime through repairing and restoring relationships of three key stakeholders: victims, offenders, and communities. Unfortunately, it is often unclear where offender rehabilitation fits within the constructs of repair and reintegration that drive this justice paradigm. An analysis of the relationship between restorative justice theory and offender rehabilitation principles reveals tensions between the two normative frameworks and a lack of appreciation that correctional treatment programs have a legitimate role alongside restorative practices. First, we outline the basic tenets of the Risk–Need–Responsivity Model and the Good Lives Model in order to provide a brief overview of two recent models of offender rehabilitation. We then consider the claims made by restorative justice proponents about correctional rehabilitation programs and their role in the criminal justice system. We conclude that restorative justice and rehabilitation models are distinct, although overlapping, normative frameworks and have different domains of application in the criminal justice system, and that it is a mistake to attempt to blend them in any robust sense.