What strategies did I use, as a music therapy student, to promote child-led cooperative play in an inclusive education setting?

<p>The fostering of inclusion in modern mainstream schools can be challenging. Student needs are becoming increasingly diverse, funding is scarce, and an attitudinal shift is necessary to value the contributions and identities of all learners. This study explores how music therapy can assist the process of inclusion by articulating the strategies I, a music therapy student, used when working to enhance musical play within a play-based learning environment. Findings have been generated using the methodology Secondary Analysis of Qualitative Data which involved thematic analysis of session notes and my reflexive diary. They describe the strategies I used to facilitate children’s developing social play skills, which varied from onlooker and solitary play, to parallel (alongside) and associative play (with some unorganised verbal and musical interactions), culminating in cooperative play (with children interacting directly to organise play and assign particular roles). I identified five themes reflecting levels of social participation in musical play; meeting individual needs, facilitating involvement, encouraging participation, encouraging interactions and supporting play stages. ‘Encouraging interactions’ was identified as the key theme relating to cooperative play, and the most significant in fostering pro-inclusive social skills. Musical and non-musical strategies are described and the significance of musical co-playing in facilitating pro-inclusive interactions is explored. The strategies identified are relevant for fostering inclusion in other play-based learning programmes and free play environments in both primary schools and pre-schools in New Zealand and globally.</p>

What strategies did I use, as a music therapy student, to promote child-led cooperative play in an inclusive education setting?

<p>The fostering of inclusion in modern mainstream schools can be challenging. Student needs are becoming increasingly diverse, funding is scarce, and an attitudinal shift is necessary to value the contributions and identities of all learners. This study explores how music therapy can assist the process of inclusion by articulating the strategies I, a music therapy student, used when working to enhance musical play within a play-based learning environment. Findings have been generated using the methodology Secondary Analysis of Qualitative Data which involved thematic analysis of session notes and my reflexive diary. They describe the strategies I used to facilitate children’s developing social play skills, which varied from onlooker and solitary play, to parallel (alongside) and associative play (with some unorganised verbal and musical interactions), culminating in cooperative play (with children interacting directly to organise play and assign particular roles). I identified five themes reflecting levels of social participation in musical play; meeting individual needs, facilitating involvement, encouraging participation, encouraging interactions and supporting play stages. ‘Encouraging interactions’ was identified as the key theme relating to cooperative play, and the most significant in fostering pro-inclusive social skills. Musical and non-musical strategies are described and the significance of musical co-playing in facilitating pro-inclusive interactions is explored. The strategies identified are relevant for fostering inclusion in other play-based learning programmes and free play environments in both primary schools and pre-schools in New Zealand and globally.</p>

How is Western Lowland Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) Behavior and Physiology Impacted by 360 Degree Visitor Viewing Access?

The effect visitors may have on the welfare of professionally managed animals is vital to consider. The present study utilized an experimental approach to examine how 360° visitor viewing access (i.e., viewing from all sides of the habitat) impacts the behavior and physiology of Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla, N = 7). Data collection included behavioral observations and obtaining fecal samples to examine physiological indicators of welfare. The study included a baseline period observing the gorillas’ behavior and physiology during the typical 360° visitor viewing access and a treatment period examining the same indicators but reducing viewing access by approximately 70%. Behavioral states, behavioral events, and hormone data were compared across conditions using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. Restricted viewing did not impact social or solitary grooming (as a state behavior), social or solitary play, foraging, stereotypies, locomotion, inactivity, or behavioral diversity. However, restricted viewing significantly reduced solitary grooming events, fecal glucocorticoid metabolites, and the ratio of glucocorticoid metabolites to dehydroepiandrosterone metabolites. These results suggest that 360° visitor viewing access may have an impact on the welfare of gorillas. However, further research is necessary to thoroughly understand the influence of allowing 360° visitor viewing on behavior and its possible interaction with variables of the zoo environment.

Learning to Be an Orangutan—Implications of Life History for Orangutan Rehabilitation

Orangutans depend on social learning for the acquisition of survival skills. The development of skills is not usually assessed in rescued orphans’ pre-release. We collected data of seven orphans over an 18-months-period to monitor the progress of ontogenetic changes. The orphans, 1.5–9 years old, were immersed in a natural forest environment with human surrogate mothers and other orphans. Social interactions deviated significantly from those of wild mother-reared immatures. Infants spent more time playing socially with peers, at the expense of resting and solitary play. Infants were also more often and at an earlier age distant from their human surrogate mothers than wild immatures are from their biological mothers. We found important changes towards an orangutan-typical lifestyle in 4- to 7-year-old orphans, corresponding to the weaning age in maternally reared immatures. The older orphans spent less time interacting with human surrogate mothers or peers, started to use the canopy more than lower forest strata and began to sleep in nests in the forest. Their time budgets resembled those of wild adults. In conclusion, juvenile orphans can develop capacities that qualify them as candidates for release back into natural habitat when protected from humanising influences and immersed in a species-typical environment.

Play and social behaviour of calves with or without access to their dam and other cows

The aim of the study reported in this Research Communication was to compare play behaviour and social interactions of dairy calves either separated from their mother and reared in a calf group (Artificial) or with access to their mother and the cow herd (cow-calf contact: Contact). Contact calves had access to a calf area and also to the cow barn where they could suckle their dam. Artificial calves were fed whole milk up to 16 kg per day via an automatic milk feeder and were only kept in the calf area. We observed the animals on 3 d during the first three months of life. Contact calves showed solitary play, consisting predominantly of locomotor play, for longer than Artificial calves and mainly in the cow barn. This indicates higher welfare in Contact calves. In addition, Artificial calves hardly experienced any agonistic interaction, while Contact calves both initiated and received agonistic interactions, which might contribute to the development of higher social competence.

Smartphone Use Patterns of Smartphone-dependent Children

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the smartphone use patterns of smartphone-dependent children.Methods: The study design was a cross-sectional descriptive study. The data were derived from the 2017 survey on smartphone overdependence conducted by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Information Society Agency. The study sample was 595 elementary school students identified as being smartphone-dependent. The data were analyzed by frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, the independent t-test, the x² test, the Pearson correlation coefficient, and multiple regression analysis.Results: The frequency of smartphone use was the factor strongly associated with more severe smartphone dependence in participants. Games were the most commonly used application type among participants, regardless of their degree of dependence. More severe smartphone dependence was associated with greater use of applications such as learning and television/video.Conclusion: As smartphone dependence becomes more severe, children tend to use their smartphones more frequently and to use applications that involve solitary play for the purposes of entertainment and pleasure. The findings suggest that the parents should attentively monitor their children’s smartphone use patterns and provide consistent discipline in a way that ensures appropriate smartphone use.

The Frequency of Solitary Behaviors in Captive Odontocetesis Modulated by Environmental and Social Factors

The number of welfare-oriented studies is increasing in animals under human care, including odontocetes. However, validated welfare indicators are lacking for captive odontocetes. We studied the effect of several conditions (moment of the day, social grouping, public presence) and stimuli (enrichment, perturbations) on the solitary behaviour of Yangtze finless porpoises (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis), East-Asian finless porpoises (N. a. sunameri) and bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). The frequency of solitary play increased in the three groups in positive conditions and decreased in negative contexts, which confirms that play is a useful indicator of welfare for captive odontocetes. Jumping seem to be indicative of stress for finless porpoises but could be ambiguous for bottlenose dolphins: indicating both positive and negative excitation. Stereotypical behaviours for Yangtze finless porpoises and environment hitting behaviours for bottlenose dolphins could indicate mild stress or frustration. Vigilant behaviours are not clear indicators since a high frequency could reflect boredom, but a low frequency was observed in poor social conditions. Finally, we suggest that environmental rubbing should be investigated further since our results for this behaviour were not clear.

Playful Interactions between Twins with Autism and Teachers and Peers: a Case Study

The purpose of the present analytically structured empirical case study was to explore the interactions which twins display during playing with their teachers and peers in a Special Nursery Unit. Two 5.5-year-old twin brothers with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) participated in this study, along with two teachers and seven non-typically developing peers. Non participant observations were made for four full-time school days in four consecutive weeks. We observed the frequency, initiations, and duration of playful interactions in a naturalistic context. Results derived from the analysis of video-recordings and documents from the school service records indicate that twin brothers with autism take initiative in order to become interactive partners in their dyadic play with their non-typically developing peers although, when so, interactions do not last longer. In twins’ dyadic interactions with their teachers, they never take the initiative to any playful interaction. There are also indications that twin brothers are engaged in interactive rather than solitary play. Findings provide a starting point for a new approach of the twin situation and the extraordinary etiological heterogeneity of ASD in terms of Innate Intersubjectivity Theory.