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    Guilt : anxiety reaction of parents in having an intellectually handicapped child : an independent project presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Applied Psychology [at] Massey University.
    (Massey University, 1977) Jolly, Audrey Brunette
    Chronic Guilt: Parents emotional attitude response to having a mentally defective child. The aim of this project is two-fold (1) To propose that most parents who have a mentally defective child suffer from a pervasive psychological reaction, chronic guilt, and that it is not always recognized by the professional personnel – physicians, psychologists, and social workers, who attempt to help them (2) To suggest some of the implications of the phenomenon of chronic guilt for parent counselling processes. Chronic guilt is a complex emotional attitude of long term duration and generally involving emotional conflict, grief, fear, love, anxiety, anger, hatred, protection, sympathy and defensive elements, and arising out of real or imagined contravention of moral and social standards in act or thought. Most, if not all, of these parents suffer from chronic guilt throughout their lives regardless of whether the child is kept at home or 'put away'. The intensity of this guilt varies from time to time for the same person, from situation to situation, and from one family to another. chronic guilt may be more intense for one parent than the other in the same family. Many factors such as parents personality, ethnic origin, religion and social class can influence the intensity of this feeling. Although chronic guilt may be felt by some parents of minimally retarded children, the phenomenon is almost universal among parents of severely or moderately retarded children, that is those children who would be regarded as retarded in any society or group. The reality faced by the parents of severely retarded children is such as to justify the chronic guilt. When a parent is asked to accept mental deficiency it is not clear just what he is asked to do. The stress placed on acceptance may suggest to the parent that he is expected to see his or her child from the point of view of the professional. This expectancy can make the parent both resentful and resistant. The first part of this study reviews some of the important literature published during the past twenty years, and suggests that trait factor analysis could be a basis for the chronic guilt syndrome. The second part of the study is a field investigation of Wolfensberger's theory that guilt can be a positive attribute. From a small New Zealand sample of parents of handicapped children, who were referred or visited over one month (Kimberley Hospital) and asked to complete the 16 PF, four trait factors were extracted to support the contention and underline the complexity of the chronic guilt.
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    The developmental clinic, Palmerston North, 1977-78 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Education at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1979) Behrens, Ann
    The Palmerston North Development Clinic, also called the Dawn-Start Clinic, operates on Thursday afternoons between 1 o'clock and 4 o'clock. It is staffed by three people; a psychologist employed by the Psychological Service, Department of Education, Palmerston North, a physiotherapist and a speech therapist both employed on a part-time basis by the Palmerston North Hospital Board. The clinic meets in the playroom at the hospital. Children up to a developmental age of approximately 18 months are the main group catered for but older children up to about age 3 are also assessed and occasionally worked with over a period of time. All children attend with at least one parent. It is usual for six families to attend in one afternoon, their appointments lasting one hour. Parents of these children demonstrated a need to meet each other and share experiences so a Parents' Group exists which meets one evening a month at Terrace End School which has offered its staff room for this purpose. This is a parent-organised group which is informally structured and includes as its members parents of children who have graduated from the clinic as well as parents in families that still attend.
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    Mainstreaming secondary students with intellectual disabilities into regular classrooms : an investigation of the perceived training needs of classroom teachers : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in Special Education at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1995) Shimman, Peter Greville
    The New Zealand education system, like that of other countries, is currently committed to increasing the level to which students with disabilities are integrated into regular classrooms. This policy of "mainstreaming" brings regular classroom teachers increasingly in contact with students with special educational needs. Pre-service training may not have prepared classroom teachers to work with mainstreamed students. In-service training has been advocated as an effective way to address this lack of skills. The thesis uses two research methods to investigate the training needs regular classroom teachers feel they have in order to prepare them for mainstreaming. A questionnaire survey was conducted requiring secondary school teachers to indicate their training priorities for mainstreaming. A case study was conducted using progressive interviews to focus on the experiences of nine secondary school teachers during their first year of mainstreaming and particularly on changes in their perceived training needs. Results show that relatively few teachers have received training for mainstreaming, although the majority of teachers surveyed feel such training is important. Training needs were seen to fall into three main categories. Those associated with classroom management were rated as most important, followed by training areas associated with addressing individual needs. Training in theoretical issues was seen as least important. The perceived training needs of the teachers in the case study changed during the course of the year. Initially, training needs associated with classroom management and those associated with meeting individual needs were given equal priority. By the end of the year teachers' focus was on training to address the individual needs of mainstreamed students. The implications of these results on the design and delivery of in-service training activities related to mainstreaming is discussed. Teachers in the case study also raised other issues and concerns which affected the quality of the mainstream placement. In particular the concerns were related to inadequate information about the individual needs and goals of mainstreamed students and their Individualised Educational Programmes.