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The lack of services for adults on the autism spectrum is of growing concern. Given the huge variation in how autism impacts people, individualized approaches might be particularly effective. The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of a community-based life-skills coaching program for adults with autism “LifeMAP.”

LifeMAP is structured around individualized meetings between a client and their coach where they identify, prioritize and make progress toward self-selected goals. LifeMAP was established in 2008 and has since served around 2,600 clients. This paper provides an outline of the LifeMAP program, how sessions with clients are structured, goals that adults with autism prioritize and preliminary data on progress toward goal attainment.

Findings indicated that the LifeMAP program model was effective in supporting progress toward goals, increasing confidence toward goals and reducing anxiety.

Given the scope of the LifeMAP program, this overview is unique in providing pertinent information to others looking for effective and authentic strategies to support autistic adults and those transitioning from high school. This study provides a realistic perspective on how programs are applied in community-based settings, outside a structured, formal lab setting. It is concluded that individualized intervention approaches might be key to successful outcomes for adults with autism.

This ECEPD project implemented a professional development (PD) protocol within a large public school system. The PD was designed to provide support for both teachers and their instructional partners in implementation of two curricula designed to foster children's language, literacy, math competencies, and overall cognitive development. The specifics of the PD are outlined including its development, coaching strategies, training approaches, and coursework components.

Results of the evaluation of the project are also highlighted and discussed. Analyses indicated that teachers showed significant growth in relation to the implementation of the curriculums and the PD efforts of both the district and the intervention, with less-experienced teachers showing the highest levels of growth. In addition, results indicated a significant difference between the intervention and the control group teachers in their developmentally appropriate beliefs and practices, with intervention teachers indicating higher levels of developmentally appropriate beliefs and practices. The challenges to field work in a large and ever-changing school system are discussed, and recommendations for further PD are made.

Maria Magdalena Aguilar-Crandall, Ed.D., is a librarian in the Brownsville Independent School District and an adjunct professor at Sam Houston State University.

In the novel, The Member of the Wedding, Carson McCullers probes the American malaise through the longings of a young adolescent girl. Twelve‐year‐old Frankie no longer sees the world as round and inviting as a school globe. No, the world is huge and cracked and turning a thousand miles an hour. Indeed, the world seems separate from herself. In the midst of chaos, Frankie sees her brother's upcoming wedding as a chance to feel connected, to feel that she matters. The story focuses on Frankie's efforts to be a “member of the wedding,” as she recognizes, “they are the we of me.”

The purpose of this study is to explore the moderating effect of Confucian values and the mediating effect of relationship quality on the relationship between organizational justice and employee service orientation in the tourism and hospitality industry.

Structural equation modeling was applied to a sample of 421 responses in a questionnaire survey from employees of tourism and hospitality firms in mainland China.

Employee relationship quality fully mediated the relationship between organizational justice and service orientation. Confucian values negatively moderated the direct effect of organizational justice on employee relationship quality and the indirect effect of organizational justice on service orientation.

This study offers insights for hospitality managers how to improve employee service orientation and establish Confucian values in the practice of organizational justice. Tourism and hospitality organizations should equally treat all employees as internal customers and use distinct strategies to manage employees with high and low Confucian values in employee selection and management of training and development.

This study highlights the contributions of organizational justice and relationship quality to employee service orientation. It also demonstrates that Confucian values explain why many Chinese employees are less sensitive to low fairness: these values negatively moderate the organizational justice–relationship quality–service orientation relations. By linking organizational justice to relationship quality and employee service orientation, the findings enrich our understanding of the applications of internal marketing and social exchange theories under Confucian values.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

This chapter details how engaging students in digital comics creation might support adolescents in strengthening their narrative writing capabilities. This chapter first provides a more detailed explanation of the micro and macrostructural elements involved in narrative production. Second, the chapter provides an introduction to comics and important design features. The authors also illuminate the complexity of multimodal texts (texts that combine images and words) and link visual narrative pedagogy and curriculum to classroom equity and accessibility. Across these opening sections, academic standards are referenced to show how the comics medium aligns with national visions of what robust English Language Arts education entails. The chapter concludes with descriptions of specific pedagogical strategies and digital comic-making tools that teachers and interventionists might explore with students within various classroom contexts. Examples of digital comics designed using various web tools are also shared.

In negotiation, pressures to reach an agreement are assumed to influence both the processes and the outcomes of the discussions. This paper metaanalytically combined different forms of time pressure to examine its effects on negotiator strategy and impasse rate. High time pressure was more likely to increase negotiator concessions and cooperation than low pressure as well as make agreements more likely. The effect on negotiator strategy, however, was stronger when the deadline was near or when negotiations were simple rather than complex. The effects were weaker when the opponent was inflexible and using a tough negotiation strategy. The effects on cooperative strategies were weaker when incentives for good performance were available than when they were not. Although time pressure in negotiation has significant effects, situational factors play a major role on its impact.

This paper seeks to explore the functions of Christmas mythemes for children’s consumption culture development. In addition, the purpose of this study is to provide an insight on the development of Central European Children into customers and how mythemes are associated with the wishing behaviour.

Levi-Strauss’ (1955) structural analysis was used to uncover the mythemes of the Christmas story for Austrian children. These mythemes then informed a thematic analysis of 283 Austrian children’s Christmas letters. Campbell’s (1970) functions of myths were used to reflect on the findings.

The Christmas mythemes uncovered were found to encourage materialism by linking self-enhancement (good acquirement) with self-transcendent (good behaviour) values. The role of myths to relieve the tension between the incongruent values of collective/other-oriented and materialistic values is expanded upon. Such sanctification of selfish good acquisition is aided by the mythemes related especially to the Christkind and baby Jesus. Instead, marketers should use Christmas mythemes which emphasise family and collective/other-centred values.

By first uncovering the “mythemes” related to Christmas, the authors contribute to the academic understanding of Christmas, going beyond origin or single myth understandings and acknowledging the multifaceted components of Christmas. The second contribution is in exploring mytheme’s representation in children’s Christmas letters and reflecting on their functions. This differs from previous literature because it looks at one of the main cultural vehicles for Christmas socialisation and its intersection with the mythemes that feed children’s consumption culture formation. Through the authors’ presentation of a conceptual framework that links mytheme functions with proximal processes using a socioecological viewpoint, the authors demonstrate the guidance of mythemes in children’s development. The third contribution is a reflection on the potential ethical implications for children’s formation of their consumer culture based on the functions of the mythemes. Furthermore, the authors add to the existing body of research by investigating a Central European context.