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Item Early childhood teachers' beliefs and experiences of identification and referral for early intervention services in Aotearoa New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Educational Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand(Massey University, 2017) Baxter, StaceyThis research addresses a gap in the literature related to the role of early childhood teachers in the identification and referral of children for specialist early intervention, particularly in the Aotearoa New Zealand context. Extending on the prior work of Aspden (2003), this replicative study explored early childhood teachers’ experiences, attitudes and beliefs regarding the identification of children’s additional needs and subsequent referral for specialist early intervention. Two research questions framed this study: (1) what are early childhood teachers’ experiences related to identification and referral? and; (2) what factors, attitudes and beliefs influence early childhood teachers’ identification and referral practices? Seventy-eight early childhood teachers participated in an online survey. Key findings suggested that teachers’ identification and referral confidence was strongly influenced by a complex set of personal and external factors that included concerns around parental reaction and the adequacy of service provisions. Teachers reported low overall levels of confidence in specialist service provisions, creating a potential access barrier for children with additional needs. The findings support the ongoing need for teacher consultation in terms of current and future changes to the systems around specialist early intervention as well as enhanced professional support and development that targets teachers need for knowledge of and connection with specialist agencies.Item What assistance is needed? : assessment for literacy learning difficulties in NZ schools : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Educational Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand(Massey University, 2017) Neville, AngelaAt the present time, contemporary information regarding effective assessment and remediation practices for children with literacy learning difficulties in New Zealand/Aotearoa schools is scarce. The aim of the present study was to fill that gap in our understanding by carrying out a survey of current practices and comparing these with the research literature on best practice in assessment and remediation. To address the research questions, an online survey was developed and emailed to all schools in New Zealand/Aotearoa. There were 208 responses from a wide range of schools across the country and from a number of specialist teachers and school leaders. In addition to the online survey, interviews were carried out with 13 of the respondents, representing both teachers and specialist teachers. The results indicated a wide diversity of assessment and remediation practices in schools for students with literacy learning difficulties. A possible explanation for this is that assessment and remediation methods are often tied to theoretical views of the literacy process. At the current time in New Zealand/Aotearoa there are varied theoretical perspectives that seem to account for that diversity, in particular, the difference between whole language and phonological theories and their implications for assessment and remediation. The results from this study indicated that teachers and specialists were focusing mainly on proximal factors in assessment and were teaching to those factors. They paid less attention to the assessment of distal factors which is more of a focus among psychologists. This study provides the basis for further discussion into how best to identify and remediate students with literacy learning difficulties in New Zealand/Aotearoa.Item Depression and learning disabilities : a comparison of the emotional status of normal achieving and learning disabled fifth formers : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy at Massey University(Massey University, 1992) Wilkinson, LoisThis study was part of a follow-up project on a cohort of school students. Achievement data had been collected since 1982 and measures on affective variables had been made in 1982 and 1983. Part of the sample had been identified in 1982 as having learning disabilities in one or more academic areas. The students who were defined as learning disabled (LD) were displaying persisting negative responses on an academic self-concept scale in 1982 and 83. The present study was designed to compare the emotional status of these students in 1986, when they were now in their third year of secondary schooling and were faced with the first national examination,. with a group of students who were defined as normally achieving (NA). General self-concept, academic self-concept and depression were assessed. Students were also questioned about the amount and type of remediation they had received. Although it was hypothesised that more LD students than NA would be depressed because of their history of school failure, this was not the case. Fourteen out of 104 students were identified has having been depressed with the number of LD and NA students being nearly equal. The reasons given for their depression related more to family and social problems than to school performance. Depressed students had lower self-concept scores as predicted, but academic self-concept was not significantly associated with depression. The relationship between depression and School Certificate marks was non-significant. With this sample the type of remediation did not seem to have a measured effect on self-concept, or academic self-concept. Very few of the depressed students had received remediation and the interaction was not able to be clarified. The results of the study show that depressed students do exist in our secondary schools and it may be necessary for teachers to learn to recognise the symptoms so that intervention is arranged. The generalisability of the information gained here on the precipitating reasons and the effects of depression is decreased by the small number of depressed students. While there is no reason to presume that these students differ from other students of a similar age, further research is necessary to confirm these findings.Item Strategy instruction, metacognitive training and attribution retraining : a combined approach for remediating secondary students' reading comprehension difficulties : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education at Massey University(Massey University, 1992) Horrex, Jan EricaStudents who adequately decode but have difficulty comprehending what they read, often possess a limited range of comprehension strategies. Furthermore, they often lack the metacognitive knowledge to use these strategies effectively. These two factors limit the likelihood of students experiencing success on a range of academic activities. As a consequence these students often develop dysfunctional attributional beliefs which also negatively impact on future learning. In the present study, 39 students with comprehension difficulties participated in an intervention programme comparing the effects of strategy-plus-attribution training, strategy-only training, and no training conditions on reading comprehension. The results revealed no significant improvement in students' reading comprehension. However, there was a significant improvement in students' use of comprehension strategies. A number of reasons have been suggested, which could explain why the increased use of strategies did not translate into improvements in reading comprehension. In light of these suggestions, several recommendations have been made regarding the future development and implementation of reading comprehension intervention programmes.