Introduction to Special Services in the Schools

No abstract available for this article.     

Primary school teachers’ perceptions of school children coping with changing family situations – a hybrid Hong Kong experience

The personal beliefs of teachers and the cultural traditions of society can have significant effects on the adjustment of children in changing family situations. This paper explores primary school teachers’ perception of children coping with difficult family situations and family changes in the hybrid context of Hong Kong, where Westernization meets with Chinese culture. A qualitative case study methodology was used. Thirty one teachers of different ages, experience, and roles at school were interviewed. The finding shows that teachers were on the whole quite traditional in their perception of children in difficult family situations despite the co-existence of modern ideas of marriage with traditional family values. Implications of the study for teacher education are discussed.     

Teacher perceptions of student behavior as a function of class size

In an attempt to describe class size effects on student behavior that might be predictable from one setting to the next, the author proposes a social psychology framework. He hypothesizes that social loafing, deindividuation, and social facilitation can explain patterns of student participation, off-task behavior, and in-class performance, respectively, as a function of the size of the class. Data from interviews with eight middle-school teachers suggest that these concepts are marginally applicable to the behaviors in question. At the same time, other class size effects on student behavior are described which may be inherent in class size and thus be reasonably predictable. Josh Englehart is a recent PhD receipient from Cleveland State University. He is currently a public school Physical Education teacher in Painesville, Ohio. His research to date has included class size effects on various outcome variables, teacher perceptions of student intelligence, and student motivation.     

From body motion to cheers: Speakers’ body movements as predictors of applause

Appearance cues and brief displays of behavior are related to people’s personality, to their performance at work and to the outcomes of elections. Thus, people present themselves to others on different communication channels, while their interaction partners form first impressions on the basis of the displayed cues. In the current study we examined whether people are able to read information from politicians’ body motion. For a rating experiment we translated short video clips of politicians giving a speech into animated stick-figures and had these animations rated on trustworthiness, dominance, competence and the Big Five personality dimensions. Afterwards we correlated the ratings with the applause and the hecklings that the speakers received throughout their entire speech. This revealed that speakers whose body movements were perceived as high on dominance, as high on extraversion and as low on agreeableness received more applause. Although the results obtained need support from additional studies they indicate that body motion is an informative cue in real life settings.     

Explanatory factors of distorted perceptions of travel time in tram

This study has two aims. The first is to research the factors that influence deviations in perceptions of travel time with respect to actual travel time by analyzing distorted perceptions of travel time in tram. The second aim is to find out whether these explanatory factors are different for the two segments of users according to the sign of errors in their travel time perceptions, i.e. those who overperceive and those who underperceive travel time.This work is based on an internet survey carried out on students from the University of La Laguna, Spain, in May 2009, using revealed preference data. Several linear regression models were estimated using the backward elimination method of selecting variables. The variable called “perception error rate” is proposed as a measure of distorted perceptions of in-vehicle travel time and is explained as a function of actual in-vehicle travel time and a series of other novel variables, such as the perception of other travel time components (access, waiting, egress), as well as certain characteristics of the trip and traveler. The results obtained provide evidence that some of the variables that explain the distorted perceptions of travelers are different between the overperceiving and underperceiving samples. This finding shows that estimating just one model with a total sample could lead to erroneous conclusions. Since travelers make decisions based on their perceived travel times, transport policy should focus on overperceiving travelers, and specifically on those who travel frequently. According to our results, policies should be aimed at facilitating access to stops, increasing frequency of service to reduce waiting time and decreasing the relative advantages associated with the use of private vehicles. This last point is because travelers overperceive travel time by tram more when accessing tram stops by car.     

Children's hostile intent attributions and emotional distress: What do parents perceive?

Traditionally, assessments of social information processing and associated emotional distress have used children's self‐reports. We posit that additional informants, such as parents, may help illuminate the association between these variables and aggression. Our sample was composed of 222 dual‐parent families of fourth‐grade children (103 boys; 119 girls). Children responded to instrumental and relational provocations and their parents read the same scenarios and responded the way they believed their child would. Peer nominations provided aggression scores. We explored how means differed by provocation type (relational vs. instrumental), informant (mother, father, and child), and gender of child. The results also suggest that parent perceptions may effectively predict children's participation in relational and physical aggression, above and beyond the child's self‐reports.

     

Public attitudes to,and perceived impacts of 20mph (32 km/h) speed limits in Edinburgh: An exploratory study using the Speed Limits Perceptions Survey (SLiPS)

Between 2016 and 2018 a policy was implemented to increase the proportion of 20mph (32km/h) streets in Edinburgh, UK from approximately 50% to 80%, providing the opportunity to evaluate how behaviour and public perceptions change over time. This is important as negative public responses have been reported to limit the implementation of transport policies and may reduce the effectiveness of the policy. The Speed Limits Perception Survey (SLiPS) was developed to assess changes in public perceptions from baseline to 6 and 12 months post-implementation. We collected 3,485 individual responses to the survey, 64.6% (n = 2,253) of which included complete perceptions data. Using exploratory factor analysis, the following perception factors were identified: i) Detraction and resistance, ii) Support, iii) Rule following, iv) Child safety, and v) Walking safety. Following the 20mph implementation at 6–12 months: Support (ii) and Rule following (iii) had increased; Detraction and resistance (i) had decreased; and Child safety (iv) and Walking safety (v) had not changed significantly. These findings indicate that the public in Edinburgh became more positive towards the policy once it was implemented. However, more extensive policy or ongoing communication of the safety benefits of 20mph limits are needed to increase perceptions of safety that might lead to increased walking and cycling. Future research should aim to understand how those implementing speed limit interventions can positively influence public perceptions and how public perceptions about speed limits influence behaviour.