Towards Educational Inclusion in a Transforming Society: Some Lessons from Community Relations and Special Needs Education in Northern Ireland

This paper takes an original approach to an important aspect of educational research and its role in transforming societies, namely that of educational inclusion. It brings together what some might consider two rather strange bedfellows i.e. community relations and special needs education. It also draws upon new tools for theorising educational inclusion, which give a central role to the discursive nature of human conduct and which take a view of human behaviour as socially embedded and meaningful.

Child abuse and neglect: Training needs of student teachers

Increasing awareness of child abuse and neglect (CAN) raises questions about how well teachers are prepared for their role in child protection. This paper assesses and differentiates training needs of first-year students (n = 216) in Northern Ireland. Multiplechoice tests were used to assess knowledge of CAN statistics; recognising and reporting; policies, procedures, and legislative frameworks; and direct work with children. Considerable gaps in knowledge were found. Results between student groups varied and provide evidence of the need to develop pre-service child protection training. The importance of differentiation between student groups in terms of training content is emphasised.

Living with children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Parental and professional views

The number of children diagnosed with an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) is rising and is now thought to be as high as 1:100. While the debate about best treatment continues, the effects of having a child diagnosed with ASD on family life remain relatively unexplored. This article, by Karola Dillenburger of Queens University Belfast, Mickey Keenan of the University of Ulster, Alvin Doherty from the Health Service Executive Western Region, Tony Byrne of Parents’ Education as Autism Therapists (PEAT) and Stephen Gallagher of the University of Ulster, sets out to adjust that balance. Drawing upon data from a comprehensive study of parental needs, these authors argue that parental and professional views do not always concur; that families make extraordinary sacrifices; that siblings are affected; and that parents are under tremendous stress. Parents argue that educational and social service supports are not efficient and that they are forced to rely largely on support from within the family or from friends. In particular, some important differences between parental and professional perceptions became apparent in relation to interventions based on Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA). The authors of this article propose that these differences need to be taken seriously by teachers and other professionals as well as by policy-makers.

The mental health needs of people with a learning disability detained in police custody

Few research studies examine the prevalence or mental health needs of people with a Learning Disability (LD) detained in police custody. This paper describes the population of detainees with an LD who presented to an inner city inter-agency police liaison service during a three-year period. Two forensically trained Community Mental Health Nurses (CMHNs) screened all custody record forms (n=9014) for evidence of a mental health problem or LD. The CMHNs interviewed positively screened detainees (n=1089) using a battery of measures designed to assess mental health status, risk-related behaviour and alcohol or drug abuse. Almost one-in-ten of those interviewed (95/1089) were judged to have a possible or definite LD. Fifty-two per cent were cases on the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) whilst 61% attained 'above threshold' Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) scores. The majority (63%) had a history of causing harm to others while 56 per cent had a history of self-harm. More than half (56%) regularly consumed harmful levels of alcohol while one-in-four (27%) reported abusing drugs. Higher than expected numbers of detainees have a learning disability and most have complex mental health needs. A police liaison service offers a way of identifying people with LD and connecting them with appropriate health and social care agencies.

Deforestation and apparent extinctions of endemic forest beetles in Madagascar

Madagascar has lost about half of its forest cover since 1953 with much regional variation, for instance most of the coastal lowland forests have been cleared. We sampled the endemic forest dwelling Helictopleurini dung beetles across Madagascar during 2002–2006. Our samples include 29 of the 51 previously known species for which locality information is available. The most significant factor explaining apparent extinctions (species not collected by us) is forest loss within the historical range of the focal species, suggesting that deforestation has already caused the extinction, or effective extinction, of a large number of insect species with small geographical ranges, typical for many endemic taxa in Madagascar. Currently, roughly 10% of the original forest cover remains. Species–area considerations suggest that this will allow roughly half of the species to persist. Our results are consistent with this prediction.