



Archive for January, 2011
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 Education, education, education: students protest outisde the Tottenham campus of the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London over Government cuts which put adult learner courses at risk
12:56pm Wednesday 28th April 2010
by Elizabeth Pears
STUDENTS fought to protect their education with a demonstration yesterday outside a Tottenham college suffering a £2.5million budget cut that has put staff jobs and courses for adult learners at risk.
Hundred of lecturers and learners blocked the entrance to the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London (Conel) to send a direct message to the Government, college bosses and higher education minister David Lammy who is hoping to be re-elected on May 6.
The massive Government cut to funding has put 29 jobs at risk and could mean courses such as teaching English as a second language, literacy and supported learning for students including those with autism.
English student Marcelin Mawanam 23, said: “The students are hear to tell the Government and the leaders of this college not to put our education in jeopardy because we desperately need it.
“Without an education, we have nothing. You will not be hired if you do not have literacy skills, it is as simple as that.”
Esol teacher Dean Colvin, whose job is at risk, said: “This is a very insecure time for me and my family, and I feel very bitter about being put in this position.
“For the students, this is devastating. Pupils who are learning English need all the support they can get, and not having this support could seriously hinder their integration in the wider community. In Tottenham, where there is a high demand for Esol, any cuts would be a huge loss.
“The people that run this college might claim to be passionate about education, but they are simply trying to run a successful business, and that’s not what this should be about.”
In 2008, an Ofsted inspection praised the college for its “outstanding” work in improving access for second language speakers to other courses and employment.
Members from the University and College Union (UCU) claim the college could plug the shortfall completely by digging into “several million pounds” of cash reserves.
Lecturer Jenny Sutton, UCU branch secretary for Tottenham, said: “These Government cuts have left college bosses with little room for manoeuvre, but there is some room. We are here to send a message today that we must protect education, even if that means using reserves to save courses and jobs.
“It seems like a very bad joke that Tottenham MP David Lammy, who is also the minister for higher education, is not fighting for our students. In fact, when I asked him for help his response was ‘there’s nothing I can do’.”
The college’s principal and chief executive, Paul Head, has refused to confirm how many jobs would be lost, how much money the college had in its reserves or which specific courses would be cut, but stressed his commitment to providing the “finest education” possible.
Mr Head said: “While I have striven to minimise the effects on our staff we will have to bear some job losses, as will further colleges across the country, due to changing priorities.
“I need to take the long term view for the benefit of our learners, the majority of our staff and our wider community, to ensure the college continues to raise aspirations and gives the finest education and training possible for decades to come.”
UCU members have announced plans to strike over the cuts on the eve of the General Election.
Source:Â http://www.haringeyindependent.co.uk/news/8124816.Students_fight_for_their_right_to_education/
Lisa Beth Earle/Arizona Daily Wildcat(Original photo no longer available)
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“Everyone Has a Story†is a weekly segment in the Arizona Daily Wildcat that aims to tell the story of an interesting person on the UA campus. This week, the Daily Wildcat interviewed Kevin Wos, a political science junior with Asperger’s Syndrome, and top 20 Zona Zoo points earner.
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Though Wos remembers struggling with the loss, he still managed to have a fulfilling final year in high school.
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“It’s been an excellent ride,†Wos said. “I’ve had the time of my life here.â€
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By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:59 AM on 29th April 2010
A blind boy has learnt how ‘to see’ again – after being taught a language used by DOLPHINS.
Young Jamie Aspland utters tiny high-pitch clicks to rebound the sound off surfaces – and guide him round obstacles.
The four-year-old – who was born without his sight – was taught the ‘echo location’ technique as part of an exciting technique pioneered in the U.S to help the blind.
His mother Deborah hailed the treatment after her son was able to walk unaided to the park for the first time and even steered himself around a fence.
She said: ‘It’s changed our lives. The therapy has been a revelation.
‘Since learning the skill we can walk to the park and Jamie no longer has to hold my hand.
‘He even clicks to find out where the handrails are on our staircase before walking down unaided – it’s amazing.’
His mother, 39, added she watched nervously after tiny Jamie’s first session when he approached a fence – but was able to round it.
She said: ‘We thought he was going to go straight into it. But he just went round it – I didn’t think it would be possible.
‘He was born blind but this therapy has given him a new lease of life.’
Jamie, from Ashford in Kent, has just completed his third session with echo location guru Daniel Kish – who lost his sight when he was just 13 months old.
As president of World Access for the Blind, Kish has developed bio-acoustics based on animal sonar to help humans form ‘mental maps’ of their surroundings.
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April 28, 2010
New Scientist has an interesting article on whether single cells can be considered intelligent. The piece is by biologist Brian Ford who implicitly raises the question of how we define intelligence and whether it is just the ability to autonomously solve problems. If so, then individual cells such as neurons might be considered ‘intelligent’ even when viewed in isolation.
However, he finishes on a bit of an odd flourish:
For me, the brain is not a supercomputer in which the neurons are transistors; rather it is as if each individual neuron is itself a computer, and the brain a vast community of microscopic computers. But even this model is probably too simplistic since the neuron processes data flexibly and on disparate levels, and is therefore far superior to any digital system. If I am right, the human brain may be a trillion times more capable than we imagine, and “artificial intelligence” a grandiose misnomer.
It’s odd because it reads like blue-sky speculation when, in fact, the idea that neurons could work like “a vast community of microscopic computers” is an accepted and developed concept in the field supposedly doomed by this idea – namely, artificial intelligence.
Traditionally, AI had two main approaches both of which emerged from the legendary 1956 Dartmouth Conference.
One was the symbol manipulation approach, championed by Marvin Minsky, and the other was the artificial neural network approach, championed by Frank Rosenblatt.
Symbol manipulation AI builds software around problems where data structures are used to explicitly represent aspects of the world. For example, a chess playing computer would have a representation of the board and each of the pieces and in its memory and it works by running the simulation to test out and solve problems.
In contrast, artificial neural networks are ideal for pattern recognition and often need training. For example, to get one to recognise faces you put a picture into the network and it ‘guesses’ whether it is a face or not. You tell it whether it is right, and if it isn’t, it adjusts the connections to try and be more accurate next time. After being trained enough the network learns to make similar distinctions on pictures it has never seen before.
As is common in science, these started out as tools but became ideologies and a fierce battle broke out over which could or couldn’t ever form the basis of an artificial mind.
At the time of the Dartmouth Conference, the neural network approach existed largely as a simple set-up called the perceptron which was good at recognising patterns.
Perceptrons were hugely influential until Minksy and Seymour Papert published a book showing that they couldn’t learn certain responses (most notable a logical operation called a XOR function).
This killed the artificial neural network approach dead – for almost three decades – and contributed to what is ominously known as the AI winter.
It wasn’t until 1986 when two young researchers, David Rumelhart and James McClelland, solved the XOR problem and revived neural networks. Their approach was called ‘parallel distributed processing‘ and, essentially, it treats simulated neurons as if they are a ‘a vast community of microscopic computers’ just as Brian Ford proposes in his New Scientist article.
Artificial neural networks has evolved a great deal and the symbol manipulation approach, although still useful, is now ironically called GOFAI or ‘Good old fashioned artificial intelligence’ as it seems, well, a bit old fashioned.
How we define intelligence is another matter and saying that individual cells have it is actually quite hard to dismiss when they seem to be solving a whole range of problems they might never have encountered before.
Artificial intelligence seem cursed though, as true intelligence is usually defined as being just beyond whatever AI can currently do.
Link to NewSci on intelligence and the single cell (thanks Mauricio!)
Jan
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The Harvard Crimson published a remarkable article last week detailing the obstacles students increasingly face when they want to take a break from Harvard University, especially for mental health reasons. It describes the stories of a number of Harvard students who have taken a leave of absence from the university and their labyrinth journey in rejoining the school.
One would think that at one of the leading academic institutions in the world, Harvard would take an open-minded, flexible and personalized approach to helping their young charges navigate the new world set out before them. Especially those most vulnerable.
One would be wrong, of course. Harvard seemingly takes a bureaucratic, miserly approach to helping their students, forcing them to “voluntarily†take a leave of absence and then navigating a rigid set of rules to be let back in once they’ve undergone mental health treatment away from the university.
On a primarily residential campus where most students live far away from their family and doctors at home, it falls to the College to both assess and address mental health concerns. But Harvard is first and foremost an academic institution, and while the administration’s goal of protecting students is clear, the Ad Board’s limited scope and the lack of clear communication with students often transforms concern into discipline.
The “Ad Board†refers to the Administrative Board, the committee at the university that is charged with being “responsible for the application and enforcement of undergraduate academic regulations and standards of social conduct. The Ad Board acts on different types of petitions and cases, categorized as routine and special petitions, disciplinary cases, and academic reviews.†Why are decisions about letting a student return after a health or mental health concern placed in front of the same judge and jury who also hear disciplinary cases and students who cheat?
Why are students at Harvard who have a mental health issue considered the same as either a criminal or the ethically-challenged? This is an enlightened stance?
There are many challenges students face when they take the leave of absence. One of the challenges is how do you get back into school? In the case of Janie — one of the students highlighted in the article — she agreed to prove “six months of work and stability†before returning to school. In this economic environment, that was a poor choice, since jobs are impossible to come by. So no matter how healthy she may be now, she may not be able to return because she hasn’t fulfilled her side of the “contract.†It sounds as if the letter of the law is more important than the spirit — a problem when you’re dealing with the messy realities of being a young adult.
And of course, there’s the delicate part of how to pay for the treatment mandated by Harvard as a condition of return to the university. Once you withdraw from the college, you lose your health insurance. No health insurance means no way to readily pay for mental health treatment. They can continue supplemental insurance coverage if they choose, but they have to pay for it — an expense not all students can readily afford.
“It has been such a difficult conversation to have with students, to tell them [they] need to go away, and have therapy, but [they] don’t have any insurance.’†said Howell. “It’s a little surreal to ask students to go home to Kansas and away from the ready-at-hand resources and require them to get regular help that isn’t available.†[…]
When Lisa returned to Harvard, she sought care outside of UHS [the Harvard health service for students], citing mixed and, at times, negative experiences with the strained system. But after the 12 visits allowed under Harvard insurance, she had to pay her new therapist out of her own pocket. “It was expensive. Eventually I couldn’t pay for it anymore,†she said.
Great way to step up to the plate there, Harvard. I might expect this attitude from some backwater college, but not from Harvard.
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2010/04/29/mental-health-care-at-harvard/
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Article Date: 27 Apr 2010 – 1:00 PDT
Free groups for socially vulnerable children aged 8 to 12 are available through Fairleigh Dickinson University. These groups, which are part of a research program, are ongoing and consist of either 10 weekly group sessions emphazing anxiety reduction and changing misperceptions or 10 weekly group sessions emphasizing the application of broad-based social skills. Andrew R. Eisen, Ph.D., associate professor and the director of FDU’s Child Anxiety Disorders Clinic, will supervise the groups led by advanced doctoral students in FDU’s clinical psychology program.
Children withdraw from social activities and relationships for many reasons, including anxiety, fear of being embarrassed, or a history of negative interactions. Whatever the reason, when social anxiety or withdrawal leads to poor peer relationships, there are often other difficulties involved.
For instance, children may not be socially savvy, may be easily distracted, or may struggle with learning issues. Ultimately, these children may become socially vulnerable, which means they are ignored, excluded, or, even worse, actively rejected by their peers. At the same time, most of these children not only are unaware of how their behavior alienates their peers, but also have great difficulty understanding why they are not accepted.
Socially vulnerable children frequently misperceive others’ intentions, misinterpret others’ remarks, believe that nothing is ever his or her fault, become easily frustrated , complain of constant fatigue, and insist on doing everything his or her way
If the common signs of social vulnerability are exhibited by children in your household or you’re aware of a child that is experiencing this problem, free socially vulnerable groups are available at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Ideal participants are children that struggle with anxiety, peer-related issues, and have some form of documented (or suspected) neurological conditions such as ADHD-inattentive type, learning disabilities/weaknesses, processing or memory issues.
The socially vulnerable groups, which are free, and part of a research program, consist of either 10 (weekly) group sessions emphasizing anxiety reduction and changing misperceptions or 10 (weekly) group sessions emphasizing the application of broad-based social skills. Group assignments will be determined randomly. Both groups emphasize specific coping skills to help improve a child’s peer relationships. In order to qualify for the program, parents must have a child eight to twelve years of age.
Andrew R. Eisen, Ph.D., associate professor and the director of FDU’s Child Anxiety Disorders Clinic, will supervise the groups led by advanced doctoral students in FDU’s clinical psychology program. Eisen is the author of seven books and has published numerous articles. At the conclusion of the program, parents will receive a complimentary copy of his book, “Helping your socially vulnerable child: What to do when your child is shy, socially anxious, withdrawn, or bullied.”
The groups are part of an ongoing research project. Although the groups are free, a low-cost intake ($30) and social skills screening ($20) is part of the program to help ensure that participants meet required criteria.
The number of places are limited, so interested parents are encouraged to call groups coordinator Carol Chu at (201) 692-2645, ext. 422 for an initial screening, information and specific requirements regarding participation. Be sure to mention interest in the “Socially Vulnerable” groups.
Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Child Anxiety Disorders Clinic, in the Center for Psychological Services, is located at 131 Temple Avenue, Hackensack, NJ 07601.
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Contrary to popular belief, psychopaths are not psychotic. They do not suffer from delusions or hallucinations, which are the classic signs of psychosis. Instead, as the similar term “sociopath†implies, they suffer from a disease of their social conscience and empathy. Although they may at first appear friendly and considerate, their primary objective is to use other people for their own personal gain. Hollywood tends to portray the more extreme versions of this mental illness, as in the psychopathic killer who rapes, tortures, and murders. People with less severe forms of sociopathy lie, cheat, and steal without any concern for others. Some experts believe that psychopaths are incapable of feeling love, which raises the question as to whether they lack the qualities that make humans “human.â€
Article Date: 28 Apr 2010 – 3:00 PDT
Psychopaths are known to be characterized by callousness, diminished capacity for remorse, and lack of empathy. However, the exact cause of these personality traits is an area of scientific debate. The results of a new study, reported in the May 2010 issue of Elsevier’s Cortex, show striking similarities between the mental impairments observed in psychopaths and those seen in patients with frontal lobe damage.
One previous explanation for psychopathic tendencies has been a reduced capacity to make inferences about the mental states of other people, an ability known as Theory of Mind (ToM). On the other hand, psychopaths are also known to be extremely good manipulators and deceivers, which would imply that they have good skills in inferring the knowledge, needs, intentions, and beliefs of other people. Therefore, it has been suggested recently that ToM is made up of different aspects: a cognitive part, which requires inferences about knowledge and beliefs, and another part which requires the understanding of emotions.
Dr Simone Shamay-Tsoory, from the University of Haifa in Israel, along with colleagues from The Shalvata Mental Health Care Center and the Rambam Medical Center, tested the hypothesis that impairment in the emotional aspects of these abilities may account for psychopathic behaviour. Earlier research from the same group had shown that patients with damage to the frontal lobes of the brain lack some of the emotional aspects of Theory of Mind, so they speculated that psychopathy may also be linked to frontal lobe dysfunction.
The emotional and cognitive aspects of Theory of Mind abilities were examined for participants in the new study, which consisted of a number of different groups: criminal offenders, who had been diagnosed as having antisocial personality disorder with highly psychopathic tendencies, patients with damage to the frontal lobes of the brain, patients with damage to other areas of the brain, and healthy control subjects. The pattern of impairments in the psychopathic participants showed a remarkable resemblance to those in the participants with frontal lobe damage, suggesting that an underlying cause of the behavioural disturbances observed in psychopathy may be dysfunction in the frontal lobes.
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Article Date: 28 Apr 2010 – 5:00 PDT
A significant proportion of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients treated with cognitive behavior therapy have a positive response within four weeks of treatment, according to a new study in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute.
“Patients who quickly achieve treatment gains – for example, IBS symptom relief – may be spared the cost and inconvenience of follow-up care of little therapeutic value. This scenario may lead to the development of self-guided treatments based on multimedia technology, such as Web, DVD and smartphone, and free up trained clinicians to focus on more severely affected patients,” said Jeffrey M. Lackner, PsyD, of the University at Buffalo, SUNY, and lead author of the study. “Conversely, patients who do not respond within a set number of sessions early on could be immediately identified and triaged or ‘stepped up’ to potentially more powerful treatment(s) rather than bearing the cost, demoralization and frustration that comes with treatment failure.”
In a study funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, doctors investigated whether patients who achieved rapid, substantial and sustained symptom improvements relatively early in treatment (by week four) – called “rapid responders” – maintain treatment gains, compared with non-rapid responders. A total of 71 patients were randomly assigned to undergo 10 weekly, one-hour sessions of cognitive behavior therapy or four, one-hour cognitive behavior therapy sessions over 10 weeks. Rapid responders were classified as patients who reported adequate relief of pain, adequate relief of bowel symptoms and a decrease in total IBS severity scores of greater than or equal to 50 by week four.
Of patients undergoing cognitive behavior therapy, 30 percent were rapid responders, of whom 90 percent to 95 percent maintained gains at the immediate and three-month follow-up examinations. Although the rapid responders reported more severe IBS symptoms at baseline, they achieved more substantial, sustained IBS symptom reduction than non-rapid responders. Both dosages of cognitive behavior therapy had comparable rates of rapid responders.
“We don’t believe the rapidity of response is simply because rapid responders had less severe IBS when they began treatment. In fact, rapid responders had more severe IBS symptoms and quality of life impairment than other patients. Nor did we find evidence to support the notion that patients responded more rapidly just because they were less distressed,” added Dr. Lackner. “Further research is needed to clarify whether rapid responders maintain treatment response longer term and, if so, what drives the durability of treatment response.”
The great majority of rapid responders (92 percent) showed lasting benefit that persisted three months after treatment ended with no evidence of deterioration. This suggests that rapid response is a relatively robust, clinically meaningful and enduring clinical phenomenon. In fact, rapid responders maintained or continued to improve on the gains made in treatment.
IBS is a common disorder of the intestines that leads to abdominal pain or discomfort and changes in bowel habits. Some people with IBS have constipation (difficult or infrequent bowel movements), others have diarrhea (frequent, loose stools), while some people experience both. Sometimes the person with IBS has a sudden urge to move the bowels.
Source:
Alissa J. Cruz
American Gastroenterological AssociationÂ
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BBC News and The New York Times have just each published articles on the US Army’s treatment of psychologically traumatised soldiers so different that you’d think they were talking about entirely distinct programmes.
Two articles have just appeared on the BBC website giving a very positive view of the US military’s treatment of Army veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health problems.
The articles largely focus on the programme at Fort Hood and despite some peculiarities (it mentions treatment includes acupuncture, reiki, sound therapy and seemingly chakra-based meditation) the picture is of a small but promising approach to treating psychologically disabled soldiers.
In contrast, The New York Times presents a damning picture of the treatment programme in which the service is poorly organised, where prescription and illicit drug abuse is rife and where clinicians rely largely on large doses of medication to manage soldiers’ symptoms.
It’s hard to know what to make of the articles, as the BBC seem to have made no effort to ask any difficult questions, while the NYT article seems to be largely based on interviews of soldiers who felt they were poorly dealt with, while the Army’s own surveys discussed in the piece suggest most are happy with the services.
The stuff about New Age treatments is just a bit odd. Is this where the First Earth Battalion have got to these days?
UPDATE: Thanks to PsychFun for pointing out they are, in fact, two distinct programmes! (Grabbed from the comments)
The WTU talked about in the NYT article is a military unit for wounded soldiers, many of whom have PTSD. The BBC article is talking about a 3 week intensive PTSD treatment program, as your own link shows. Darn those confusing US Army acronyms!
Link 1 and Link 2 to BBC News articles.
Link to New York Times article.
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Published: April 27, 2010
HERNANDO, Miss. (AP) — If there is a single phrase Hernando Middle School teacher Cherie Fowler could pick to describe the differences in the education her students face as opposed to the rest of the student body it would be, “fair is not always equal.”
Fowler is the Asperger/autism inclusion teacher at Hernando Middle. The students in the program she began two years ago attend the same academic classes as general education students. However, others may see the assistance given these students — who are often academically gifted but suffer from social deficits — as making school easier for them.
Fowler’s students are allowed to type assignments others would have to write by hand. They are allowed the use of other assistance devices and some assignments can be shortened.
Each student is still required to have passing grades and meet all the state of Mississippi benchmarks for their grade level. It’s their job to stay on par academically and it is her job to do everything possible to help them get through the day.
What the extra assistance does, Fowler said, is level the playing field.
“For a student with Asperger syndrome, making it through an eight-hour school day is like working 48 hours straight for the average adult,” Fowler said.
Read More:Â http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2010/04/27/autisticstudentplayingfield_ap.html
