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Learners with autism require specialized education and supports to ensure acquisition and mastery of various communication skills. This is particularly true for individuals whose disability significantly impacts their language development. Without functional communication, these individuals often engage in severe behavior, have reduced self-determination, and experience diminished quality of life. Accordingly, researchers in special education and related fields have sought ways to improve the communication skills of learners with autism who need specialized language and communication interventions. Although the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is well-established in the empirical literature and has helped countless individuals learn to communicate, the method known as facilitated communication (FC; which also is being called “supported typing” and “rapid prompting method”) has become increasingly popular in recent years. Few methods in special education have been as thoroughly discredited as FC and perhaps none are as dangerous. This chapter contrasts the thoroughly debunked FC and its pseudoscientific characteristics with those underpinning PECS. A brief historical account of each method is provided along with key scientific and pseudoscientific features that distinguish science from pseudoscience. Ultimately, our intent is to further clarify how FC is not an augmentative or alternative communication method and why PECS is.

Purpose: To present small cases of teachers who undertook inquiry-based collaborative work to implement and refine disciplinary literacy instruction in various content areas.

Design: Disciplinary literacy is explored alongside best practices in teacher professional learning, since disciplinary literacy is an instructional shift. This chapter addresses the question of how teachers might use an exemplary collaboration process to identify and test promising disciplinary literacy instructional practices.

Findings: Findings from various research projects point toward inquiry and collaboration as promising mechanisms for refining instruction to make it more disciplinary in purpose and implementation.

Practical Implications: The authors argue that disciplinary literacy is a relatively new conception of literacy skills in various content areas, and therefore jumping immediately to exemplary practices is unwise. Instead the authors recommend collaboration and inquiry as tools to generate and refine practices thoughtfully over time.

It is, of course, Aristotle who pointed out that “Man is by nature a political animal” (quotation taken from Lipset, 1981:vii). One could of course speculate whether he meant only the male half of the human species were political animals. It is, however, the case that men tend to participate more in politics than women. This particular study focuses upon men and women's political participation in Greece, the place many regard as the birthplace of democracy.

The proliferation of social networking sites (SNSs) has drawn attention to different parties in realising their goals. Advertisers utilise SNSs to promote new products and services; politics optimise SNSs to gather support from the public, while ordinary users use SNSs as a unique platform to practice self-disclosure, develop networks, and sustain relationships. This study explores how social anxiety affects self-disclosure on SNSs and well-being. It also examines the moderating effects of two contextual factors, namely, online disinhibition and psychological stress. Two hundred and thirty-four valid responses were collected via an online survey. A positive relationship between social anxiety and self-disclosure, and self-disclosure and well-being was found. Furthermore, a positive moderation effect among social anxiety, online disinhibition, and self-disclosure was revealed. This research contributes to the development of social networking literature. It also enhances the understanding of disclosure patterns on SNSs among socially anxious individuals, thereby providing important insights for practitioners, educators, and clinicians.

This chapter investigates the relevance of sustainability accounting practice (SAP) in the actualisation of the United Nations (UN) sustainable development goals (SDGs) 2030. Whilst the SDGs appear general, broad and far-reaching, the sustainable development agenda (SDA) impliedly places responsibilities on member nations to evolve strategies that will ensure the achievement of the SDGs in their respective countries in accordance with national circumstances and peculiar challenges. This brings to bear the need to consider measures to translate the SDGs to realities, especially in developing countries. We use a structured questionnaire to collect data on the application of SAP from publicly listed manufacturing companies in Nigeria. Secondary data on economic performance were obtained from the annual reports of companies for 5 years (2014–2018). Structural Equation Modelling and Mann-Whitney test were applied to analyse data. Result suggests that whilst the implementation level of SAP by companies is generally moderate, internalities/‘pull factors’ such as market orientation and deliberate strategy formulation significantly determine the sophistication level of SAP. The insignificant effect of the externalities/‘push factors’ (i.e. environmental uncertainty, structure of ownership and control, and intensity of competition) on SAP suggests that external pressure on companies to implement sustainability initiatives is weak. We also find that extensive usage of SAP can sustain economic performance in the long run. The chapter provides empirical evidence that manufacturing companies extensively implementing SATs can sustain economic performance and would likely have enough economic resources to implement some initiatives that are fundamental to the actualisation of the SDGs 2030. The chapter contributes to the sparse literature on sustainability practice in developing countries, and incrementally adds to knowledge on the factors driving SAP in a jurisdiction characterised by lax regulatory framework and weak institutional apparatus on sustainability. As evident in our findings, SAP engenders sustainable economic performance.

In an attempt to understand the postsecondary and occupational pathways of minorities who choose to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) pathways, what this paper offers is an examination of literature that focuses on identity. More specifically, this paper aims to present a research argument that highlights the importance of self-efficacy as it relates to the creation of a science identity for minority students. The authors, in other words, posit that self-efficacy, particularly as it relates to the cultivation of a science identity remains a critical and under-examined component of the STEM success puzzle for underrepresented students.

The conceptual framework used for this paper is taken from two bodies of literature that are used to provide a deeper understanding of the relationship between self-efficacy and science identity – self-efficacy, is grounded in social cognitive theory which posits that achievement is rooted in the bidirectional interaction between behavior, personal factors (e.g. cognitive, affective and biological) and external environment (Bandura, 1986).

Developing an understanding of the science identity development for students of color is essential because it helps construct a connection to the belief that science has value and that the student is capable to engage in the sciences successfully.

This analysis widens the scholarly discussion on STEM success for students of color to be inclusive of the critical role that the cultivation of a STEM identity plays in their transition from students at a collegiate level to professionals at a workforce capacity.

Online disinhibition is one of the key factors leading to the occurrence of cyberaggression, cyberbullying and various forms of deviant behaviors in the online environment. To understand the composition of online disinhibition, this study aims to conceptualize online disinhibition and develop a measurement instrument for online disinhibition.

We followed a rigorous procedure to develop and validate the multidimensional instrument of online disinhibition in three phases: item generation, measurement development and instrument testing.

We developed a 23-item online disinhibition scale and identified six key dimensions: dissociative anonymity, invisibility, asynchronicity, solipsistic introjections, dissociative imagination and minimization of authority.

The online disinhibition instrument is an accessible and easily administered measure that can be used as a checklist for systems designers and administrators to evaluate the level of online disinhibition among users. It offers systems design information on how to prevent and combat online deviant behaviors on platforms.

This work provides a rich conceptualization of an online disinhibition instrument that can serve as a springboard for future work to understand online deviant behaviors. The newly developed measurement instrument of online disinhibition also adds to the repository of rigorous research scales in this area.

Purpose: The purpose of this chapter is to understand adolescent literacy instruction and learning in diverse classrooms.

Approach: A historical account of the evolution of adolescent literacy instruction to what it is today is discussed. The authors then ask the questions, “Who are adolescents today?” and use worked examples of illustrate how to optimally reach their instructional needs.

Findings: The authors believe that knowing what’s hot in adolescent literacy is paramount to effective adolescent literacy instruction. Expanding traditional notions of adolescent literacy instruction can provide a catalyst to academic achievement and engagement.

Practical implications: Designing effective literacy practices for today’s adolescents requires following a basic set of guidelines that considers such factors as student’s backgrounds, experiences, and prior knowledge. These factors are particularly important in determining where to begin instruction with each student, and how to proceed.