Tan, Carol Soo Ching

Transition is difficult for everyone, but it is particularly challenging for youth with disabilities and their families. When these youth transition out of school to post school environments, they will move from a structured environment with clear daily routines, with school personnel who are tasked to teach and support them, to environments where ongoing support and services are not readily available. Some of these youth with disabilities enter work environments that can be impersonal and most of them are unprepared for the level of independence that is required of them (Sitlington, Frank, & Carson, 1992). Many of them will find difficulty forming social networks as an adult and feel isolated in the community (Amado, Stancliffe, McCarron, & McCallion, 2013). Many youth with disabilities leave school with no employment in the near future (Nord, Luecking, Mank, Kiernan, & Wray, 2013) and to further complicate matters, there may be limited places at alternative day activity centres for them (Enabling Masterplan, 2012). These group of youth with disabilities may be inactive, socially isolated, and will continue to rely on family for any social and community interaction (Lichtenstein & Michaelides, 1993; Ow & Lang, 2000).

Transition is difficult for everyone, but it is particularly challenging for youth with ID and their families. When these youth transition out of school to post school environments, they will move from a structured environment with clear daily routines, with school personnel who are tasked to teach and support them, to environments where on-going support and services are not readily available. The purpose of this study is to explore how the various stakeholders envision the future for youth with ID from the perspectives of the individuals themselves, their parents and siblings, and the school personnel. Thirty-three participants from four stakeholder groups (i.e., eight students with ID, 10 parents, six siblings and nine school personnel) participated in this study. The eight student participants were from three special schools. We utilized semi-structured interviews and qualitative research methods to explore the perspectives of stakeholders on youth with ID transitioning to adulthood. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The various stakeholders envisioned a future where the youth with ID will: (a) be meaningfully occupied and/or gainful employed, (b) be independent in managing themselves, (c) be emotionally and/or physically healthy, (d) be safe, and (e) have social lives. The findings provide insights into the stakeholders’ vision of the future for youth with ID and suggest that while working to increase post school options is critical, more importantly, we need to support the family to empower the youth to explore the available opportunities. A family’s hopes and dreams for the youth with ID are often clouded by society’s expectations for people with disabilities. Therefore, the mindsets, beliefs and attitudes of the general public towards the participation of people with disabilities in the society must change.

Teachers need to create a safe and nurturing environment, and build strong relationships with students, as these are critical enablers for ensuring that students rediscover the joy of learning in school. Low progress students who perceive high emotional support from teachers are more likely to be engaged in class (Chong, Huan, Quek, Yeo, & Ang, 2010; Martin & Rimm-Kaufman, 2015). Strong teacher-student relationships have also been associated with increased academic achievement and reduced school dropout (Croninger & Lee, 2001; Murray & Malmgren, 2005).

The Responsive Classroom (RC) approach (Northeast Foundation for Children, 2007, 2009) is purported as an evidence-based intervention for the professional development of teachers in primary and secondary students. Studies using the RC approach have reported that both students and teachers had benefitted from this intervention with students improving in reading achievement, math tests, and prosocial skills, while teachers reporting greater teaching efficiency (Baroody, Rimm-Kaufman, Larsen, & Curby, 2014; McTigue & Rimm-Kaufman, 2010; Ottmar, Rimm-Kaufman, Larsen, & Berry, 2014; Rimm-Kauman & Chiu, 2007). Positive Teacher Language (PTL), one of the ten RC practices, emphasizes the careful and conscientious use of words, voice, tone, and pacing by the teacher when talking to students, and together with effective listening skills, will nurture students to develop self-discipline, build sense of belonging, and encourage student to learn and achieve in an engaging and active way (Denton, 2015).

Many continuous professional development programmes are based on the Training Model (Little, 1994). However, this training model often fails to have any significant impact on teachers’ practice (Kennedy, 2014), as many teachers revert to their old ways when they return to school after attending the professional development programme. In the case of an approach like PTL, which involves changing one’s language, it is expected that teachers’ treatment integrity would be low if no additional support is provided to the teachers beyond initial training. This additional support could come in the form of performance feedback. Performance feedback was found to be effective for increasing the treatment integrity of both general and special education teachers, teaching at the primary and secondary levels, with both academic and behavioural interventions (Fallon, Collier-Meek, Maggin, Sanetti, & Johnson, 2015; Solomon, Klein, & Politylo, 2012). This is aligned with research emphasizing the importance of coaching to increase teachers’ use of such support (Storemont & Reinke, 2012).

Purpose: The psychometric properties of the Perth A-loneness Scale (PALs) have been extensively validated using classical test theory, but to date no studies have applied a Rasch analysis. The purpose of this study was to validate the PALs four subscales, using Rasch analysis.

Methods: Responses from 1484 adolescents (58% female, mean age = 12.8 years), 131 of whom had a diagnosed neurodevelopmental disorder, from 10 Western Australian secondary schools were included in the Rasch analysis. Overall fit, individual item fit, local response dependence, dimensionality, operation of response categories, and differential item functioning (DIF) were examined.

Results: The Rasch analysis supported the factor structure of the PALs. A reasonable to high reliability was obtained for each of the subscales. Participants did not distinguish consistently between the higher categories 'very often' and 'always' on three of the subscales. No item showed Differential Item Functioning (DIF) for neurodevelopmental disorder status and age. One item on each of the Positive and Negative Attitude to Aloneness subscales showed DIF for gender.

Conclusion: The results support the interval scale measurement properties of the PALs and provide clinicians and researchers with a measure to assess adolescent loneliness, a construct strongly associated with a constellation of mental health problems.