Interest Groups :: essays research papers

Interest Groups Help More Than Hurt   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Voter turnout has declined since 1960 but participation in interest groups has been growing. Participating in interest groups allows people to take action on issues that are most important to them. Unlike some linkage institutions, interest groups have a very close connection to government. Interest groups are an essential part of the democratic system because they allow the public to enter the political system, bring up specific issues in government, and help congress in various ways.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Interest groups specialize in policies where as interest groups are policy generalists. Statistics show that most Americans are neither radically conservative or liberal but in between or moderate. Both parties have lately tried to conform to the moderate view, but this makes it hard for voters to commit to one party. Many people are split-ticket voters. Both candidates and parties are hard to agree with totally because there are so many different issues. Interest groups give people the chance to support specifically what they care about most. These groups are significant to the democratic system because they allow the public to get involved and in their political system.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Political parties (policy generalists) have a great amount of issues on their agenda to be concerned with while interest groups get to concentrate on a single issue. Interest groups can call attention to an issue that could be ignored otherwise. Since groups know more about specific issues than the government, they can make sure that an issue is not overlooked. Interest groups bring attention to the issues that government should focus on. Thus, the government can determine which issues have priority.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Through interacting with congress, interest groups motivate the House and Senate to concentrate on their issue. The relationship between congress and interest groups is one where both benefit. Groups interact with congress with lobbying, electioneering and litigation. Groups help congress by giving them information, doing research, providing money, helping with political strategy, helping with campaign strategy, or other chores that congressmen do not have time for. Congress, in turn, helps interest groups by supporting their issues in congress.

The Power of a Front-Yard Garden Essay -- Exploratory Essays Research

The Power of a Front-Yard Garden Instructor’s comment: This student worked hard to forge a straightforward journalistic style that was supple enough to accommodate moments of poetic perception. This essay is a beautiful piece. Written with hard-won simplicity, it’s alive with images, and brimming with information about the possibilities of front-yard gardening. They were out there almost every day. Not always the same ones. Once, a line of preschoolers came by. Holding hands in twos, name tags swinging from bright bits of yarn, they stopped and turned with military precision. Wide-eyed, they peered through the bars of the wrought iron fence to watch. This time, I looked up to see a mom and two little girls. I was pruning the lavender. â€Å"Hi! What’s this spiky green stuff? Look, little blue flowers!† As I broke off a prickly, pungent sprig of rosemary and held it out to them, I had to smile. I’d made a lot of friends while working this bit of ground. I was about to make three more. My front-yard garden didn’t grow friendships in the beginning. I still hear the disbelieving voices of my neighbors, on the day I marched out to do murder with a pitchfork and shovel. â€Å"You’re going to do what? Take out the lawn!† The Lawn: icon of gracious living, verdant goddess of suburban virtue. Gardeners pay weekly homage to it. Teen-age sons are indentured to it. Nothing spells success quite so well as that unwalkable surface of emerald velvet fronting a house. The lawn marks the difference between Us and Them. What would happen to a nice neighborhood if someone just up and decided to rip out the front lawn? Questions hung in the pale winter sunshine. My neighbors eyed me, wincing each time a shovel full ... ... Some came to ask for cuttings. They made their own changes. A lavender border edged a drive. A waterfall of prostrate rosemary cascaded from a planter box. Ideas blossomed from such small changes. Xeriscaping was becoming popular. Three more people actually removed their turf. In one drought-tolerant planting, a dry creek of river-rock wound its way through native perennials. Another front garden featured an old-fashioned wood glider-swing under a vine-covered trellis. My own garden continued to flourish. The neighbors came often. Smiles had replaced their worried frowns. Bob tumbled the walls of Jericho one morning when he brought his granddaughter to see the hummingbirds. Tiny Sarah said her first word there. â€Å"Kitty,† she pronounced. She stroked a furry leaf of peppermint geranium and nodded, brown curls bobbing. Laughing, she repeated, â€Å"Kitty.†

W.L. Gore & Associates Essay -- Business Management

This paper takes a look into the organization of W.L. Gore & Associates by examining their unique corporate culture, their associates and teamwork, and their compensation program; as well as determining whether or not I would like to work at W. L. Gore & Associates (Module 5 Lecture Pages, n.d.). I will answer four questions that pertain to the areas above, as I discuss the interesting and unique organization of W.L. Gore & Associates. â€Å"How is the corporate culture of Gore different than other firms† (Module 5 Lecture Pages, n.d.)? W.L. Gore & Associates differ from other organizations because they work as self-managed teams without a supervisor; each team member is responsible to each one of their team members and to the group as a whole (W.L. Gore & Associates, 2011). Gore & Associates organization is very unique, because it does not function like a traditional organization (W.L. Gore & Associates). For instance, there are no chains of commands, they don’t follow a typical organizational chart, and there is no direct line of communication (W.L. Gore & Associates). In essence, employees at Gore & Associates are their own bosses, and each of them have an equal say to what their team will or will not do; this helps give each team member a clear sense of purpose, as well as acts as a driving force for innovation (W.L. Gore & Associates, 2011). W. L. Gore & Associates firmly believe in their unparalleled corporate structure approach, as it has been the contributing factor in their success (W.L. Gore & Associates). The unique organizational structure that has been implemented at W.L. Gore & Associates is in contrast to a more formal bureaucratic or hierarchical corporate structure (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2009). For instance, ... ...d the team work mentality the organization has in general. Personally, I would like to work for an organization that encompasses some of the principles and concepts that W.L. Gore & Associates implements in their organization. Works Cited Kinicki, A., & Kreitner, R. (2009). Organizational Behavior: key concepts, skills & best practices (Fourth Edition ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Module 5 Lecture Pages. (n.d.). Colorado State University-Global Campus. MGT301: Perspective on Organizational Behavior Reingold, J. (2007, October 8). A Job that lets you pick your own boss. Retrieved from money.cnn.com: http://money.cnn.com/2007/10/08/magazines/fortune/goretex.fortune/index.htm W.L. Gore & Associates. (2011, n.d.). A Team Based, Flat Lattice Organization. Retrieved from www.gore.com: http://www.gore.com/en_xx/aboutus/culture/index.html

Preparation of a Halogenoalkane Essay

Hence pure product can be obtained when we distillate the mixture at a temperature of 45oC-55oC. Discussion The reaction between HCl and the 2-methylpropan-2-ol will build up pressure in the conical flask. It is because the reaction is exothermic, it causes serious evaporation, giving out a large amount of water vapour. And the sudden build up of pressure may break the funnel hence HCl is added in 10 portions but not all together. The separating funnel is used to separate 2 immiscible layer of liquid. When the mixture is stable, the denser liquid will be at bottom and the other will be on top. When we open the tap, the bottom layer can be obtained, leaving the upper one left in the funnel. The liquid at the junction of the 2 layer should be removed as that is a mixture of the 2 layer which is impure. Although this can ensure a pure product obtained, but this will reduce the yield since some chemical is lost. Anhydrous sodium sulphate is added to make sure all water is removed. Because the presence of water may increase the difficulty of distillation. Since high temperature favor the dissolve of product into water. Also if water is presented in the distillation process, water may evaporate and contaminate the distillate. Hence all water must be removed. The reaction of sodium sulphate with water is as follow: Na2SO4+10H2O? Na2SO4†¢10H2O Filtration can remove insoluble substance from a mixture. With the use of filter paper, only liquid passes through, the solid is left as residue. A clean mixture can hence be obtained. Distillation is used to separate a miscible mixture with distinct boiling point. One liquid can be distillate when the solution reaches its boiling point. The other liquid will be left behind since the temperature is not high enough to vaporize that liquid. The water in of condenser should be at the lower end to make sure water can stay in the condenser for a longer time. In this synthesis SN1 reaction is favored for several reasons. Firstly, a tertiary alcohol is presented in the experiment. The alcohol we used have 3 alkyl group, the molecule is therefore sterically hindered, this will favor SN1. Cl- is the weak base used in the reaction, this will also favor SN1 reaction. Thirdly the carbocation formed, is stable, since the three attached alkyl groups do positive inductive effect on the carbocation, making it less positive. The stable carbocation will also favor the SN1 reaction. It should be noted that acidic medium is necessary for the reaction. It is because OH- is a poor living group, in normal situation it may attach back to the carbocation. In an acidic medium, the –OH group is protonated first. The breaking of C—O bond will give a H2O molecule which is a stable living group and prevent OH- to interfere the experiment. In the experiment NaHCO3 is used to remove HCl rather than NaOH or other strong base. It is because a reaction between HCl and a strong base will produce a large amount of heat. The increase in temperature combine with the acidic medium will favor elimination which is unwanted and may affect the yielding of the reaction. There are several errors in the experiment: the alcohol used in the reaction is volatile, this will lead to a loss of material during the process. We should perform the experiment faster in order to reduce the loss and to obtain a larger yield of product. When we separate the organic layer and the aqueous layer using the separating funnel, the liquid in the junction of 2 layers is removed. This will drain away some chemical. The loss in the chemical content will reduce the yield. We can improve the situation by removing the organic layer as less as possible. During the transfer of material, some material will be left behind. The loss of material will also reduce the yield. We should wait when we transfer the material, until all material adhere to the surface is transferred. While filtrating, some solution is left on the filter paper, which will lead to a loss of chemical. We should wait until no more liquid is drained from the filter paper to make sure all chemical is collected.

Genesis Essay

Genesis gives me a lot of insight to â€Å"the beginning†. As I have read the Book of Genesis, it gave me total but not complete insight of how things were in the past to get where we are now according to the scriptures. What really intrigues me was how the human identity was formed because many ideas are said that we come from animals and evolved over time another, also is said that we come from the Lord himself, lastly one is said that we come from even nature. This chapter in this book showed me a lot and how the world was created and how things like family, the natural world and the covenant was brought upon us. The book of Genesis refutes the opening verses says that there are many believers and disbelievers of God(s); Such as atheism which believes there is no God at all, Pantheism believes that all is God, Polytheism believes that many god exist, materialism which is matter is eternal, humanism which is man is the measure, and naturalism which is nature is ultimate. O.T Allis says and believes that He (God) is the creator of both! Primeval History shares how Israel’s purpose by going through God’s redemptive program and messianic lineage from Eden to Abraham. The first two chapters of Genesis describe God’s original creation. (Yates, 55) The world is a place that was created by God according to the book of Genesis. The pinnacle of God’s creation was said to be â€Å"Man†. But in the creation it tells us how original creation was impacted so negatively by sin in the world he created. Adam and Eve were a good example of this, it was said to us since we were little that they plagued the world by giving into the devil himself and eating the apple off the tree when God asked them not to. Which they were issued a punishment, which they wouldn’t have eternal life, and they would have to suffer together and grow old and die. They had kids and their (Adam and Eve’s) descendants rebelled against God just like their parents. I believe that this is how human relationships were formed. God had little sorts of ways to manipulate people to bring his word about and how to connect with people. He chose to use the FLOOD to connect with Noah because as sin approached its epic proportions as human race became involved more and more. Noah stood out as a righteous man who walked with God every step of the way, which God went to him and told him to build a arch because he was going to flood the world and everything in it to restore creation. The creation of human government with the power of capital punishment was a deterrent to prevent humanity to regress back to violence. Genesis 1-11 on these topics it mostly shows me that the world mostly grew on Sin. Sin was a big time factor we had growing up from Adam and Eve and their descendants. This teaching regarding Adam and Eve shows how their sinful acts of rebellion against God. This goes to show how people in everyday life disobey God or break the Ten Commandments. Genesis 1-11 teaches me that human relationships should involve man and women. Not man and man or women and women. Adam and Eve were created to show the world a human relationship. Adam and Eve also showed me human Identity they were the first human’s created. Adam was created as a symbol of God himself with the Hebrew word Adam known for â€Å"Mankind† and Eve is known for â€Å"To Live†. Chapters 1 through 11 teach how the world’s creation, the mankind of origins and what the Hebrews thought about in the creation of the world. The story of Adam and Eve tells the myth of the truth about our mankind. The last chapter says that there was only one language that God put in because of what people built in the babel tower. Genesis of the Babylonian Exile, added the story of anthropologists developing languages over thousands of years and created new languages and evolved older languages. Which seemed to develop the story of the Tower of Babel. (Yates, 59) This changes my view of the world because in the first passage it is said that God created heaven and earth. Before he created those things he existed prior to making those two. The book only speaks of one God; it shows the creation of the Lord by making the universe. Since, he created heaven and earth, he must be above his creation. The Book of Genesis is given readers an accurate understanding and interpretation of the world. This should teach individuals how they look at the world. Through all these teachings I understand that the world portrays God in many ways and they do not even know it!

Ethics in Action: Suspected Impairment Essay

Ethics is defined as the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation. For the physical therapy assistant, it means a standardized conduct geared towards proper and successful patient care. The physical therapist assistant follows a certain standard for ethical conduct to effectively aid physical therapists and to be sensitive and efficient health workers. In this situation, we are dealing with the case of a 35 year old stressed-out woman with an odd behavior, who later on presented with slurring of speech. Slurring of speech can be due to many factors but majority of which are associated with cerebrovascular disease or stroke. In this situation, we are going to apply the American Physical Therapy Association Standards of Ethical Conduct for the Physical Therapist Assistant. The seven standards of ethical conduct seem to show us the values of an ideal physical therapy assistant: respect, trustworthiness, competence, compliance to legislations and responsibility. In analyzing this case, we realize various problems. At the start of the session, the patient was behaving oddly. Although she claims to be euphoric, signs of lethargy still seemed apparent. Later on, she succumbs to this lethargy or generalized body malaise by falling asleep on the mat. Later on, she manifests slurring of speech, which may be due to some problems. The most common cause of slurring of speech is stroke. Other factors that may cause this manifestation are electrolyte imbalance caused by strenuous physical activity, side effects of medications or it is simply due to drowsiness. However we see an imminent danger; she lives far from the clinic where you live and wants to drive all by herself—in her condition. We quickly realize a possible outcome—the danger of meeting accidents on the road in her condition. Recognizing our problem, some of our values as physical therapist assistants are challenged. The situation challenges our respect towards our client. Respect is defined as consideration and the avoidance of interfering with or intruding upon. In this case, we are breaching against the right of the patient to make her own decisions. We seem to not respect this right because we want to have things done our own way and not hers. Thus, this situation does not only concern our patient; it also concerns the physical therapy assistant. In this situation, we are having a patient-health care professional relationship. In turn, this situation challenges us to practice the rest of the 7 standards of ethical conduct. This situation motivates us to practice trustworthiness towards our patient. In this sense, we should show our patient how worthy we are of their trust towards us. We should show them that we are concerned about their health and well-being. We should explain to our patient that we think driving in our condition poses a hazard to her and makes her prone to road accidents. By doing this, we should tell her our real intention—that we are just after her health and safety. Standard 6 of American Physical Therapy Association Standards of Ethical Conduct states that a physical therapy assistant shall make judgments that are commensurate with their educational and legal qualifications as a physical therapist assistant. Judgment per se means â€Å"good sense†, discernment, understanding, the act or mental faculty by which man compares ideas and ascertains the relations of terms and propositions. In this situation, we discern that our patient should not continue driving her own car alone. In our understanding, she is not fit to do it and we are subjecting the patient to harm and injury, as she is prone to accidents in her present condition. Also, it is in our discernment that she should go to the nearest hospital to have her neurological status assessed and her health problems addressed properly. By doing these things, we are fulfilling Standard 7, which states that a physical therapist assistant should protect the public and the profession from unethical, incompetent and illegal acts. In addition to the above values, this situation requires moral sensitivity, moral judgment, moral motivation and moral courage. All these individual processes are needed in our situation. Morality means conformation to the principles of good conduct and virtue. By being morally sensitive, we mean that we are easily affected and moved towards betterment and towards good conduct. In our case, we are moved towards helping our patient and towards helping her attain good health and well being. We are moved towards preventing her from being alone, and we are moved towards accompanying her to the nearest medical hospital so that proper medical attention shall be given. Moral judgment means discernment towards the good of the patient. We discern what is best of her. We anticipate the accidents she will be at risk of and the many problems that may be etiologies of her neurological deficit. Motivation is defined as a process which incites to action and the determination of the choice or movement of will. In that case, moral motivation is also applicable in this situation. We are moved towards helping our patient; our action is for her good health and safety. Moral change is also needed in our situation. It is the process of encountering danger and difficulties with firmness and with intrepidity, for a good and noble cause. We have the courage to act for the well-being of our patient and we go beyond our duties to ensure her safety. This situation does not only involve the physical therapy assistant and the patient, it also involves the family members. In this case, it is proper that we talk to the other family members about the patient’s condition. It is essential to differentiate four terms in this context: the terms problem, dilemma, distress and temptation. A problem is defined as a question proposed for solution, decision or determination; a knotty point requiring clarification. A dilemma means a situation requiring a choice between equally objectionable alternatives; a problem that seems incapable of being resolved satisfactorily. Distress means extreme pain, anguish of the body or mind; that which causes suffering, affliction, calamity, adversity, misery and calamity. The term temptation means an enticement to an act which is evil, immoral or unwise. Yes, our situation is a problem by itself; it needed immediate solution and decision. It is also a dilemma because it poses a choice—whether to let the patient do what she wants or to accompany her to the nearest hospital beyond our duty hours. Our situation is not necessarily a distress but is a prelude to suffering, injury and misery. Certainly, this is not a temptation per se but temptation lurks for every health care professional who counts his or her duty days and does not extend his or her duty in terms of danger or calamity. The dictum for every health care professional is: Love your work. Temptation to do things our way and to be selfish and insensitive to the needs of our patients is a barrier to every health care professional. There are some health care professionals who punch in at 8 AM and go home at 5PM, regardless of what happens to their patients. These are the type of health care professionals who think of their jobs as routine and who takes these jobs as just a job for financial security, but is not their career. A career is something a person puts his or her heart into. As health care professionals, we must think of caring for patients as a career, not as a routine job. This problem, obviously, is not treated with silence. It entices action of the health care professional who cares deeply for his or her patients. In this sense, the situation requires a moral action, brought about by moral sensitivity, judgment, motivation and courage.

Innovative programs in special education Essay

Special education departments have introduced a variety of innovative programs for children with sensory impairment (deafness, hard of hearing, and blindness). There has been a good deal of success in opening access to regular school experiences to young people with sensory impairments and in educating their peers about the special concerns for children who are deaf and/or blind. There is a considerable body of evidence that innovative programs for teaching reading and spelling skills to children with disabilities should be both multi-sensory and phonic and that this type of teaching can benefit most children in any class at most stages. These are usually programs that are highly structured. They can be seen as essentially free-standing and can form a central element of the overall strategy for teaching children with disabilities. There are many such programs, often they have a slightly different focus, with different types of materials and strategies but they all include multi-sensory element and metacognitive aspects. The range of innovative programs for children with disabilities is impressive, and this work will provide some of the various types of programs and strategies that can be used in special education. Most innovative programs incorporate some or all of the following principles and approaches: multi-sensory; over-learning and automaticity; highly structured and usually phonically based; sequential and cumulative. Multi-sensory methods utilize all available senses simultaneously. This can be summed up in the phrase ‘hear it, say it, see it and write it’. These methods have been used for many years and have been further refined by Hornsby and Shear (1980) in phonic structured programs that incorporate multi-sensory techniques. Over-learning is deemed necessary for children with dyslexic difficulties. The short- and long-term memory difficulties experienced by dyslexic children mean that considerable reinforcement and repetition is necessary. The structured approaches evident in programs of work for children with disabilities usually provide a linear progression, thus enabling the learner to complete and master a particular skill in the reading or learning process before advancing to a subsequent skill. This implies that learning occurs in a linear developmental manner. Although there is evidence from learning theory to suggest this may be the case, there is still some doubt in the case of reading that mastery of the component subskills results in skilled reading. In reading, a number of cognitive skills such as memory and visual, auditory and oral skills interact. This interaction is the key feature; so, it is important that the skills are taught together and purposefully with the practice of reading as the focus. Sequential approaches are usually appropriate for children with dyslexia because it may be necessary for them to master subskills before moving to more advanced materials. Hence a sequential and cumulative approach may not only provide a structure to their learning but help to make learning more meaningful and effective as well. Programs based on the Orton-Gillingham approach have become a central focus for multi-sensory teaching (Hulme & Joshi 1998). The programs offer a structured, phonic-based approach that incorporates the total language experience and focuses on the letter sounds and the blending of these sounds into syllables and words. The approach rests heavily on the interaction of visual, auditory and kinesthetic aspects of language. Orton-Gillingham lessons always incorporate card drills, spelling and reading and usually include activities such as: card drills, word lists and phrases, oral reading selection, spelling of phonetic and non-phonetic words, handwriting, and composition. Once the child has mastered the letter name and sound, the program then advances to introduction of blending the letters and sounds. This begins with simple three-letter words and the child repeats the sounds until the word is spoken without pauses between the constituent sounds. The visual-kinesthetic and auditory-kinesthetic associations are formed by the pupil tracing, saying, copying and writing each word. Reading of text begins after the pupil has mastered the consonant-vowel-consonant words to a higher automatic level (i. e. , when the pupil can recognize and use these words). The initial reading material is taken from the program and contains words the pupil has learnt from the teacher’s manual. The program gives considerable attention to the learning of dictionary skills as well as development of written language from pictographs to ideographs and eventually to the alphabet. The program does appear to be more suited to a one-to-one situation, and it would be difficult to integrate the program within the school curriculum. As in many of the program derived from the Orton-Gillingham approach, the key principles of over-learning, automaticity and multi-sensory approaches are very apparent. In the USA, Morgan Dynamic Phonics have produced a series of phonic programs that focus on user-friendly approaches using the principles of Orton-Gillingham, which includes the use of humor and interaction (Hulme & Joshi 1998). The following programs are based on the Orton-Gillingham method: Alpha to Omega, The Bangor Dyslexia Teaching System, The Hickey Multisensory Language Course, Dyslexia: A Teaching Handbook, Units of Sound. Letterland, developed by Lyn Wendon, consists of many different elements. The materials are extremely useful for teaching reading, spelling and writing, and for developing and sustaining motivation. The programs are internationally renowned, as well over 50 per cent of all primary schools in England and Ireland rely on this program (Gersten, Schiller & Vaughn 2000). Letterland encompasses a number of teaching elements based on recognized and essential components of the teaching of reading. The major elements are: language, with an emphasis on listening, speaking and communicating; phonic skills; whole word recognition skills; sentence awareness; comprehension; reading and spelling connections; and preliminary skills in creative writing. The materials consist of teachers’ guides, wall-charts, code cards, flashcards, wordbooks, cassettes and song- books, photocopiable material, workbooks, games and resources, software, videos, and materials specifically designed for use at home. The program may also be seen as a preventative approach, since it is appropriate for early intervention and may also facilitate the reinforcement of important developmental concepts in learning, such as object constancy. The Letterland system essentially grew out of close observations of failing readers, and the materials reinforce the importance of a reading-for-meaning orientation to print (Gersten, Schiller & Vaughn 2000). Letterland focuses on letters and sounds, and by using pictograms encourages children to appreciate letter stages and sounds, thereby reinforcing both shape and sound of letters and words. Integrated within this, however, are the programs and exercises on whole-word recognition, reading for meaning, spelling and creative writing. Spelling is not presented as a series of rules, but instead through a story approach, focusing on the Letterland characters. Progress through the Letterland program is by a series of steps. These steps can provide the teacher with choice and flexibility, and the program can be implemented to the whole class, in small groups or individually. There are a number of aspects about Letterland that make it useful for some children with specific learning difficulties. These include the use of pictograms— which can be particularly beneficial to the learner with difficulties in phonological awareness and auditory skills. The use of the story approach to reading and spelling that encourages the processing of information using long-term memory is particularly beneficial to dyslexic children whose short-term memory is generally weak. The range of activities incorporating different approaches allows the learner to develop imagination and creativity in the use of letters and words. Other useful aspects include the focus on the context aspects of reading and the use of syntactic and semantic cues. Alpha to Omega is a phonetic, linguistic approach to the teaching of reading and can be used as a program or as resource material. It is highly structured and follows a logical pattern of steps that promote the acquisition of phonological and language skills. There is an emphasis on learning the 44 phonemes from which all English words are composed. These consist of the 17 vowel sounds and the 27 consonant sounds. There is also an emphasis on the acquisition of language structure, focusing on content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives) and finite words (prepositions and participles). There is, therefore, an emphasis on using words in the context of a sentence. The program provides a highly structured format for the teaching of sentences and for grammatical structure. There are also three accompanying and very useful activity packs designed for different stages. These packs provide appropriate back-up exercises to reinforce the teaching program. There is also an extremely useful program of learning games—before Alpha—that can be used with children under five. These games are in a series of structured stages, are multi-sensory and aim to foster language development and other pre-reading skills such as visual and auditory perception and discrimination, fine-motor control, spatial relationships and knowledge of color, number and directions (Gersten, Schiller & Vaughn 2000). The Hickey Multisensory Language Course recognizes the importance of the need to learn sequentially the letters of the alphabet. The third edition of The Hickey Multisensory Language Coursewas now incorporates aspects of the National Literacy strategy and the requirements of the Literacy Hour. The dyslexic child, however, will usually have some difficulty in learning and remembering the names and sequence of the alphabetic letters as well as understanding that the letters represent speech sounds that make up words. The program is based on multi-sensory principles and the alphabet is introduced using wooden or plastic letters; the child can look at the letter, pick it up, feel it with eyes open or closed and say its sound. Therefore, the visual, auditory and tactile-kinesthetic channels of learning are all being utilized with a common goal. These programs involve games and the use of dictionaries to help the child become familiar with the order of the letters and the direction to go (e. g. , he needs to know that T comes before ‘K’), the letters in the first half of the alphabet and those letters in the second half. The alphabet can be further divided into sections, thus making it easier for the child to remember the section of the alphabet in which a letter appears, for example: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z. The Hickey language course includes: activities related to sorting and matching the capital, lower case, printed and written forms of the letters; practicing sequencing skills with cut-out letters and shapes; and practicing positioning of each letter in the alphabet in relation to the other letters (this involves finding missing letters and going backwards and forwards in the alphabet). The course also indicates the importance of recognizing where the accent falls in a word, since this clearly affects the spelling and rhythm. Rhyming games can be developed to encourage the use of accent by placing it on different letters of the alphabet. This helps to train children’s hearing to recognize when a letter has an accent or is stressed in a word. The course includes reading and spelling packs that focus on securing a relationship between sounds and symbols. This process begins with single letters and progresses to consonant blends, vowel continuations and then to complex letter groupings. The reading packs consist of a set of cards; on one side, the lower case letter is displayed in bold with an upper case (capital) letter shown in the bottom right-hand corner in order to establish the link between the two letters. The reverse side of the card indicates a keyword that contains the sound of the letter with the actual sound combination in brackets. Rather than providing a visual image of the keyword, a space is left for the child to draw the image. This helps to make the image more meaningful to the child and also utilizes and reinforces visual and kinesthetic skills. The spelling pack is similar in structure to the reading pack. On the front of the card the sound made by the letter is displayed in brackets, while the back contains both the sound and the actual letter (s). Sounds for which there is a choice of spellings will in time show all the possible ways in which the sound can be made. Cue words are also given on the back as a prompt, in case the child forgets one of the choices. Spelling is seen as being of prime importance by the authors of the program since they view it as an ‘all round perceptual experience’. This process involves over-learning and multi-sensory strategies. The Bangor Dyslexia Teaching Systemis a structured, sequential teaching program developed for teachers and speech and language therapists involved in supporting children with dyslexia. A useful aspect of this program is the division between primary and secondary pupils. Although it is acknowledged that some secondary pupils are still ‘beginning’ readers and need to go through the same initial stages of acquiring literacy as ‘beginning readers’ in the primary school, the program makes some special provision and adaptations for secondary students. This helps to make the secondary material more age appropriate. The basic philosophy of the program is not unlike that of other structured, phonic programs. It focuses on phonological difficulties and the problems dyslexic children have in mastering the alphabetic code. The program attempts to provide children with some competence, at the earliest stage possible, in recognizing and categorizing speech sounds. It is not possible for children to benefit from ‘top down’ language experience approaches to reading if they have not mastered the basic principles of literacy. Some of these principles, which the program for primary aged children focuses on, include: the teaching of basic letter sounds and the structure of words, long vowels, common word patterns, irregular words, alphabet and dictionary skills, grammatical rules and silent letters. The program shares the same principles as that utilized by other similar programs for dyslexic children. It is highly structured and the teacher has to proceed systematically through the program. The aspect of over-learning is acknowledged to be important, and therefore revision of material already learnt occupies an important place in the implementation of the program. One of the difficulties inherent in following the principle of over-learning is the aspect of boredom, which may result from repetitive revision of material already learnt. This program acknowledges that pitfall and suggests ways of overcoming it through the use of games and other adapted materials. The multi-sensory teaching element is also crucial in this program. Some of the exercises attempt to engage all the available senses simultaneously, thus acknowledging the accepted view that dyslexic children benefit from multi-sensory learning. The program also utilizes the particular benefits of mnemonics for dyslexic children as well as the notion of reading and spelling as an integrated activity. Some emphasis is also placed on encouraging dyslexic children to use oral language to plan their work. It is felt that such verbalizations help children clarify their thoughts and planning before embarking on a course of action. The secondary component of the program provides useful advice on dealing with the problem of teaching basic literacy to older students. Some effort is made to ensure that the student is familiar with polysyllabic words in order that the potential for creative writing is not unduly restricted. At the secondary stage the aspect of reading for meaning is of great importance in order to ensure sustained motivation. The Bangor Dyslexia Teaching System acknowledges this and suggests a range of techniques that can help to support the student through the decoding difficulty in order that maximum meaning and pleasure can be derived from the text. Such suggestions include: supplying difficult words; introducing the story and the book’s background and characters; pointing out clues such as capital letters and titles; encouraging fluency by reading from one full stop to the next; omitting words that are difficult, thus encouraging the use of context to obtain meaning; practice; and reading rhymes and limericks that aid sound and syllable awareness. The key principles found in the majority of individualized programs for dyslexic children-multi-sensory techniques, automaticity and over-learning-are all found in the Alphabetic Phonics program. Additionally, the program recognizes the importance of discovery learning. Opportunities for discovery learning are found throughout this highly structured program. The program, which stems from the Orton-Gillingham multi-sensory approach, was developed in Dallas, TX, by Aylett Cox. Alphabetic Phonics provides training in the development of automaticity through the use of flash cards and over-learning through repetitive practice in reading and spelling until 95 per cent mastery is achieved. The program also incorporates opportunities to develop creativity in expression and in the sequencing of ideas. DISTAR (Direct Instruction System of Teaching Arithmetic and Reading) was originally designed for socially disadvantaged children in the USA as part of the Project Follow Through scheme launched by the US government in 1968 (Hulme & Joshi 1998). The program is orientated to achievement in basic attainments and tasks and skills to enhance effective learning. Some of the features of DISTAR include: the transfer of learning from specific examples to general concepts; continual, positive reinforcement to enhance motivation and success; and the monitoring of progress through the use of criterion referenced assessment. In addition to reading skills, the current DISTAR program covers language, spelling and arithmetic. Evaluation studies display impressive progress in attainments among students undertaking the DISTAR program – results that appear to continue through to secondary education. Some criticism, however, has been raised that the teacher’s manual is too prescriptive and places too much restriction on teachers. The focus of the program on transferring skills from the specific to the underlying general task concepts is, indeed, commendable and can make the DISTAR materials a useful resource. Three recent studies trained phonological awareness in children with reading disabilities using the Lindamood Auditory Discrimination in Depth program (ADD), a method that first encourages awareness of the articulation of speech sounds. Two studies used no control groups, but reported good progress for students who had made little progress with other programs. The third study used matched groups of children with severe reading disability at a private school. The control group received the school’s well-reputed program, which included auditory training and strategies for encoding and decoding written symbols. The trained group spent 6 weeks learning ADD before merging it with the regular program. All children improved substantially by the end of the year. The ADD group did not gain significantly more than controls on standardized tests of reading and spelling, although trends favored the ADD group. Compared to controls, ADD children did make significantly greater improvement in the phonetic quality of their errors in spelling and nonsense word reading. Besides being a well-structured phonemic-awareness program, the ADD approach holds theoretical interest because of its strong emphasis on developing concrete articulatory (speech-motor) representations to distinguish phonemic differences. The program includes associating articulatory labels, pictures, letters, and sounds, and using these articulatory concepts in phonological awareness work and manipulating letters and sounds in reading and spelling exercises. This work described some of the innovative programs that may be utilized in special education. The programs are logical and consist of small steps. They also incorporate elements of all the modalities—visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile. Teaching is not only about providing information, but about accessing useful and transferable skills as well—for example, phonological awareness skills can be later transferred and utilized in writing skills. Essentially, the approaches involve thinking about thinking and the learners with disabilities consider how a particular response was arrived at. Children with disabilities is a whole-school concern, and not just the responsibility of individual teachers. Innovative programs require an established and accessible policy framework for consultancy, whole-school screening and monitoring of children’s progress. It is important to consider the rationale for using particular programs and strategies. Within the areas described here of individualized learning, support approaches and strategies, assisted learning and whole-school approaches, there are many effective means of dealing with disability. Therefore, the criteria for selection—the context, the assessment, the curriculum and the learner—must be carefully considered. It is important to link programs and strategies together because, while there are a considerable number of well-evaluated and effective commercially produced programs in special education, it is very seldom that the program can be used by untrained teachers. Even if a program has clear instructions, there is some skill attached to implementing such programs. Therefore, the teacher needs to be aware of strategies that can be used to reinforce the program and to evaluate the effectiveness of the learning that can take place through the use of the program. One of the main challenges facing teachers is the need to find varied approaches to learning that will motivate children and will provide the key elements that the child requires as well. If the child does not respond to a structured program, the teaching program should then be reevaluated. This would help to decide whether it is the most appropriate program to use. It is also important to consider other factors as the child may not be responding because she or he may only need a longer period to achieve the objective of the program. References Gersten, R. , Schiller, Vaughn, S. (2000). Contemporary Special Education Research: Syntheses of the Knowledge Base on Critical Instructional Issues. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Mahwah, NJ. Hulme, C. , Joshi, M. (1998). Reading and Spelling: Development and Disorders. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Mahwah, NJ. Hornsby, Shear. (1980). Alpha to Omega. Heinemann Educational Books. London. Lindamood, P. , Bell, N. , & Lindamood, P. (1997). Achieving competence in language and literacy by training in phonemic awareness, concept imagery and comparator function. In C. Hulme & M. Snowling (Eds. ), Dyslexia: Biology, cognition and intervention (pp. 212–234). London: Whur.