title: Enhancing oral comprehension and emotional recognition skills in children with autism: A comparison of video self modelling with video peer modelling

authors: Koretz, Jasmine May

subjects: autism

abstract: Video modelling has been shown to be an effective intervention with autistic
individuals as it takes into account autistic characteristics of those individuals.
Research on video self modelling and video peer modelling with this population
has shown both are effective. The purpose of this study was to replicate past
findings that video modelling is an effective strategy for autistic individuals, and
to compare video self modelling with video peer modelling, to determine which is
more effective. The studies here used multiple baselines with alternating
treatments designs with 6 participants across two target behaviours; emotional
recognition and oral comprehension. The first compared the video modelling
methods and found neither method increased the target behaviours to criterion, for
5 out of the 6 participants. For 1 participant the criterion was only reached for the
video self modelling condition for the target behaviour 'oral comprehension'. The
second study first examined the effectiveness of video self modelling and video
peer modelling with supplementary assistance for 4 participants. Second, it
examined a new peer video for a 5th participant, and third, it compared the two
video modelling methods (with supplementary assistance). Results indicated 1
participant reached the criterion in both video modelling conditions, 1 participant
showed improvements and 2 participants never increased responding. This study
indicated that clarity of speech produced by the peer participant in the peer video,
may have contributed to a participant's level of correct responding. This is
because a new peer video used during the second study dramatically increased this
participants responding. Intervention fidelity, generalisation and follow-up data
were examined. Measures of intervention fidelity indicated procedural reliability.
Generalisation was unsuccessful across three measures and follow-up data
indicated similar trends to intervention. Only video self modelling effects
remained at criterion during follow-up. Results are discussed with reference to
limitations, future research and implications for practice.

text: Enhancing oral comprehension and emotional recognition skills in children with autism: A comparison of video self modelling with video peer modelling Video modelling has been shown to be an effective intervention with autistic
individuals as it takes into account autistic characteristics of those individuals.
Research on video self modelling and video peer modelling with this population
has shown both are effective. The purpose of this study was to replicate past
findings that video modelling is an effective strategy for autistic individuals, and
to compare video self modelling with video peer modelling, to determine which is
more effective. The studies here used multiple baselines with alternating
treatments designs with 6 participants across two target behaviours; emotional
recognition and oral comprehension. The first compared the video modelling
methods and found neither method increased the target behaviours to criterion, for
5 out of the 6 participants. For 1 participant the criterion was only reached for the
video self modelling condition for the target behaviour 'oral comprehension'. The
second study first examined the effectiveness of video self modelling and video
peer modelling with supplementary assistance for 4 participants. Second, it
examined a new peer video for a 5th participant, and third, it compared the two
video modelling methods (with supplementary assistance). Results indicated 1
participant reached the criterion in both video modelling conditions, 1 participant
showed improvements and 2 participants never increased responding. This study
indicated that clarity of speech produced by the peer participant in the peer video,
may have contributed to a participant's level of correct responding. This is
because a new peer video used during the second study dramatically increased this
participants responding. Intervention fidelity, generalisation and follow-up data
were examined. Measures of intervention fidelity indicated procedural reliability.
Generalisation was unsuccessful across three measures and follow-up data
indicated similar trends to intervention. Only video self modelling effects
remained at criterion during follow-up. Results are discussed with reference to
limitations, future research and implications for practice.

year: 2007

title: Wonder and environmental virtue

authors: van Zyl, Liezl

abstract: Wonder is a familiar human emotion. It involves a feeling of delight, admiration, curiosity, and appreciation and is directed towards something that is beautiful, remarkable, mysterious, or unfamiliar. The objects of wonder can include nature and natural entities, works of art, and other cultural objects. In her essay, “Environmental Virtue Ethics” (2007) Rosalind Hursthouse puts forward the question of whether there could be a virtue of being rightly disposed with respect to wonder. For an Aristotelian, such a virtue would involve a disposition “to feel wonder the right way, towards the right objects, for the right reasons, to the right degree, on the right occasions, in the right manner, and to act accordingly” (2007: 161). Hursthouse further suggests that the putative virtue of being rightly disposed with respect to wonder is explicitly – though not exclusively – concerned with our relations to nature, and could therefore form an important part of an environmental virtue ethic. Many environmentalists appeal to our sense of wonder, and write about the wonders of nature, but the role of wonder in environmental ethics has not been explored in any detail. My aim in this paper, then, is to consider whether there is an environmental virtue (or set of virtues) that involves being rightly disposed with regards to wonder.

text: Wonder and environmental virtue Wonder is a familiar human emotion. It involves a feeling of delight, admiration, curiosity, and appreciation and is directed towards something that is beautiful, remarkable, mysterious, or unfamiliar. The objects of wonder can include nature and natural entities, works of art, and other cultural objects. In her essay, “Environmental Virtue Ethics” (2007) Rosalind Hursthouse puts forward the question of whether there could be a virtue of being rightly disposed with respect to wonder. For an Aristotelian, such a virtue would involve a disposition “to feel wonder the right way, towards the right objects, for the right reasons, to the right degree, on the right occasions, in the right manner, and to act accordingly” (2007: 161). Hursthouse further suggests that the putative virtue of being rightly disposed with respect to wonder is explicitly – though not exclusively – concerned with our relations to nature, and could therefore form an important part of an environmental virtue ethic. Many environmentalists appeal to our sense of wonder, and write about the wonders of nature, but the role of wonder in environmental ethics has not been explored in any detail. My aim in this paper, then, is to consider whether there is an environmental virtue (or set of virtues) that involves being rightly disposed with regards to wonder.

year: 2017

title: New Zealand army chaplains at war : 2 NZEF 1939 - 1945

authors: Glen, Frank

abstract: This thesis investigates the motivations to engage in, and the pastoral and sacramental work of, the 1939-45 World War Two chaplains of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force, and it explores the theological framework, and theology in which such chaplaincy was carried out. It concludes by noting significant factors and issues of concern to chaplains and their churches in respect of the transition from war to peace.

Historical models of military chaplaincy are found in Constantine’s Roman Empire of 312-337CE, the Christian Crusades of 1096-1291, and the later British Empire. Features of these models provide a tool for understanding and interpreting many aspects of the work and role of the military chaplains of this study. The impact of Christian pacifism is considered, as it is one of the influences which came to bear upon the decision of some clergy who enlisted as chaplains.

Chaplains were recruited from eight denominations and they demonstrated a common pastoral concern for all who were engaged in the various theatres of war. Through the introduction of the concept of ecumenical unit chaplaincy, the battalion became the padre’s parish where he conducted worship, exercised pastoral skills, read the liturgies and preached the Gospel. This became the corner-stone of an ecumenical chaplaincy which developed throughout the war years. Despite the exigencies of war a Bible Class network, church parades - both voluntary and compulsory - and a wide range of religious activities contributed to a spiritual programme which met the needs of a largely nominal Christian 2NZEF.

There emerged from the experience of worship within the 2NZEF a pragmatic ecumenical approach to many aspects of chaplaincy, including in particular the practice, at least for Protestants, of inter-communion. Roman Catholic practice and theological understanding of the Eucharist was enriched by a particular New Zealand contribution. The isolation of the Pacific theatre, coupled with the maturing of the Chaplain’s Department through the Middle East experiences, resulted in a heightening of ecumenical development within the 3rd Division chaplaincy.

The chaplain’s skills in pastoral matters were required to maintain morale, cope with death, wounding and captivity. They are defined first from a military perspective and then examined from a biblical viewpoint. It is primarily in reference to chaplains’ skills associated with the battlefield context, although other situations are included, that issues of pastoral ministry are identified and discussed. The Maori chaplains’ task is discussed in reference to the tohunga of pre-Christian times. Unlike their Pakeha (European) associates. Maori chaplains had access to individuals of influence within New Zealand Maori politics, a factor which was of particular significance.

Almost all chaplains had a belief in the natural justice of World War Two and this thesis will suggest they believed that not to have embarked upon war would have led to infinitely more serious problems for both civilization and the Christian Church. Throughout the war years there was an identified and distinct implicit theological framework which underwrote their attitudes and actions. Their opinions, theological framework and ideology, regarding the war arose both from the ministerial duties they performed and their battlefield experience of war itself.

The model of New Zealand chaplaincy is defined and compared with the classical models noted at the beginning of the thesis. At the end of the war, the 2NZEF Chaplains’ Department held a series of Leadership Schools. These Schools, involving laymen of all denominations. addressed a series of transitional religious and social issues, the outcomes of which were to develop over the decades following WW2. The concluding chapter summarizes a Theology of Chaplaincy which has developed from the foregoing study.

text: New Zealand army chaplains at war : 2 NZEF 1939 - 1945 This thesis investigates the motivations to engage in, and the pastoral and sacramental work of, the 1939-45 World War Two chaplains of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force, and it explores the theological framework, and theology in which such chaplaincy was carried out. It concludes by noting significant factors and issues of concern to chaplains and their churches in respect of the transition from war to peace.

Historical models of military chaplaincy are found in Constantine’s Roman Empire of 312-337CE, the Christian Crusades of 1096-1291, and the later British Empire. Features of these models provide a tool for understanding and interpreting many aspects of the work and role of the military chaplains of this study. The impact of Christian pacifism is considered, as it is one of the influences which came to bear upon the decision of some clergy who enlisted as chaplains.

Chaplains were recruited from eight denominations and they demonstrated a common pastoral concern for all who were engaged in the various theatres of war. Through the introduction of the concept of ecumenical unit chaplaincy, the battalion became the padre’s parish where he conducted worship, exercised pastoral skills, read the liturgies and preached the Gospel. This became the corner-stone of an ecumenical chaplaincy which developed throughout the war years. Despite the exigencies of war a Bible Class network, church parades - both voluntary and compulsory - and a wide range of religious activities contributed to a spiritual programme which met the needs of a largely nominal Christian 2NZEF.

There emerged from the experience of worship within the 2NZEF a pragmatic ecumenical approach to many aspects of chaplaincy, including in particular the practice, at least for Protestants, of inter-communion. Roman Catholic practice and theological understanding of the Eucharist was enriched by a particular New Zealand contribution. The isolation of the Pacific theatre, coupled with the maturing of the Chaplain’s Department through the Middle East experiences, resulted in a heightening of ecumenical development within the 3rd Division chaplaincy.

The chaplain’s skills in pastoral matters were required to maintain morale, cope with death, wounding and captivity. They are defined first from a military perspective and then examined from a biblical viewpoint. It is primarily in reference to chaplains’ skills associated with the battlefield context, although other situations are included, that issues of pastoral ministry are identified and discussed. The Maori chaplains’ task is discussed in reference to the tohunga of pre-Christian times. Unlike their Pakeha (European) associates. Maori chaplains had access to individuals of influence within New Zealand Maori politics, a factor which was of particular significance.

Almost all chaplains had a belief in the natural justice of World War Two and this thesis will suggest they believed that not to have embarked upon war would have led to infinitely more serious problems for both civilization and the Christian Church. Throughout the war years there was an identified and distinct implicit theological framework which underwrote their attitudes and actions. Their opinions, theological framework and ideology, regarding the war arose both from the ministerial duties they performed and their battlefield experience of war itself.

The model of New Zealand chaplaincy is defined and compared with the classical models noted at the beginning of the thesis. At the end of the war, the 2NZEF Chaplains’ Department held a series of Leadership Schools. These Schools, involving laymen of all denominations. addressed a series of transitional religious and social issues, the outcomes of which were to develop over the decades following WW2. The concluding chapter summarizes a Theology of Chaplaincy which has developed from the foregoing study.

year: 1996