INFLUENCE OF NUTRITION AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS ON SCHOOL PERFORMANCE OF ABORIGINAL CHILDREN

Background DiscussionReadiness programmes are of little or no value. The door to reading for any [sic] beginning reader is his own language, used to express his own experiences.(Sloan and Latham, 1981)It is an irrefutable fact that most Aboriginal children are under-achieving scholastically. It is also fairly obvious that a contributing factor in this under achievement is poor literacy skills which can hold children back in most areas of school performance.Many different reading schemes and approaches have been tried, including Bridging and Headstart programs, which have met with very little success in the long term. As a result it is all too easy for educators to fall back on the deficiency model and blame the child and the home. This is neither profitable nor an adequate explanation for the under-achievement of Aboriginal students.

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School performance and the risk of suicide attempts in young adults: a longitudinal population-based study

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291713001852 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 44 (6) ◽

pp. 1235-1243 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

K. Kosidou ◽

C. Dalman ◽

P. Fredlund ◽

B. K. Lee ◽

R. Galanti ◽

...

Keyword(s):

School Performance ◽

Suicide Attempts ◽

Health Behaviours ◽

Social Conditions ◽

Adult Health ◽

Suicidal Thoughts ◽

Poor School Performance ◽

History Of ◽

The Relationship ◽

Poor School

BackgroundPoor school performance is strongly associated with attempted suicide, but the mechanisms underlying this association are uncertain. We examined this relationship and the extent to which it is explained by (i) adult health behaviours and (ii) social conditions. Furthermore, we examined the potential modifying role of previous suicidal thoughts in the relationship.MethodWe conducted a longitudinal cohort study of 6146 individuals aged 18–33 years, recruited in 2002 and 2006 in Stockholm and resurveyed in 2007 and 2010 respectively. We estimated the risk of reported lifetime suicide attempts at follow-up among individuals without a history of suicide attempts at baseline and in relation to compulsory school-leaving grades, controlling for possible confounders and mediators.ResultsThere were 91 cases of self-reported suicide attempts during the follow-up (5-year incidence of 1.5%). ORs ranged from 3.35 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.88–5.96] for those in the lowest grade quartile to 2.60 (95% CI 1.48–4.57) and 1.76 (95% CI 0.99–3.13) for those in the second and third quartiles respectively. The relationship between school performance and risk of suicide attempts did not differ by sex. Adult health behaviours and social conditions marginally attenuated, but did not explain, the relationship. The gradient varied with baseline history of suicidal thoughts, and was found only among individuals without such a history.ConclusionsPoor school performance was found to predict suicide attempts among young adults without a history of suicidal thoughts. Adult health behaviours and social conditions did not explain this relationship. Instead, other factors linked with poor school performance, such as poor coping ability, may increase the risk of suicide attempts.

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Combining Professional Interests and Travel: People to People Citizen Ambassador Program

Perspectives on Global Issues in Communication Sciences and Related Disorders ◽

10.1044/gics1.2.47 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

pp. 47-54

Author(s):

Alex Johnson ◽

Amanda Hitchins

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Health Education ◽

Communication Disorders ◽

Social Conditions ◽

Speech Language Pathologists ◽

Exchange Program

Abstract This article summarizes a series of trips sponsored by People to People, a professional exchange program. The trips described in this report were led by the first author of this article and include trips to South Africa, Russia, Vietnam and Cambodia, and Israel. Each of these trips included delegations of 25 to 50 speech-language pathologists and audiologists who participated in professional visits to learn of the health, education, and social conditions in each country. Additionally, opportunities to meet with communication disorders professionals, students, and persons with speech, language, or hearing disabilities were included. People to People, partnered with the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), provides a meaningful and interesting way to learn and travel with colleagues.

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