Abstract
This paper examines ontological difficulty and compares the strategies for navigating ontological difficulty in Patrocinio Scheickart's "Reading Ourselves: Toward a Feminist Theory of Reading" and Louis Marin's "Disneyland: A Degenerate Utopia." The paper concludes that ontological difficulty is indeed a broken link between text and meaning, but one that is a necessary step toward better-informed interpretation.

From the Paper
"This comparison of Schweickart and Marin's strategies for navigating ontological difficulty provides several insights into the nature of the concept. Firstly, both critics find that in order to transcend ontological difficulty, one must draw attention to the social and historical context of the text, be it patriarchy or capitalism. Ignoring the context on a text forfeits the reader's power of understanding, and allows ontological difficulty to flourish. Secondly, the broken link between text and meaning provides the critic with a useful starting point. For Schweickart, such misunderstanding led to her exploration of the female reading experience, and an avenue by which this link can be reinstated through the informed reading taking control of the textual experience. What was once a one-way conversation is transformed into an enlightened dialogue. For Marin, the very lack of the possibility of this dialogue provides clues to the hidden purpose of the text, wherein authorial power has been abused. Where the reader is given no autonomy and there is no opportunity for a range of reading experiences, the text becomes ideology. We may conclude that ontological difficulty is indeed a broken link between text and meaning, but one that is a necessary step toward better-informed interpretation."

Tags:text, meaning, dialogue

Abstract
A teacher project involving investigation of nonverbal learning disability (NLD) in ESL students or others whose NLD troubles in learning to read are compounded by a language barrier. The writer stresses two rounds of U.S. research indicating the NLD child as often highly gifted, his or her reading problems and those of attention deficit overcome by often old-fashioned methods, reflection on learning disability diagnosis, student biographies & misdiagnosis, private ESL teaching as opposed to system teachers teaching ESL and NLD students as often interesting individuals to teach.

Tags:barrier, theory, reflection

Abstract
This paper critically evaluates the complex linguistic structure of "The Four Quartets", focusing on circularity of Eliot's language and his frequent use of oxymorons. It argues that such linguistic devices signal Eliot's fundamental frustration regarding the inadequacy of language (both ordinary and poetic) and his search for a metalanguage. The paper also draws on Eliot's The Waste Land with its themes of hollowness and physical and linguistic disintegration.

From the Paper
"The most striking and insistent characteristic of The Four Quartets must be its difficulty both of language and content. As a poem, it has no objective, no defined conclusion: 'In my end is my beginning' is the resounding message which, if unraveled, only serves to send the reader round in ever widening circles . The construction of the poem provides an explanation for the apparent lack of linear progression - written from 1936 to 1942, the four sections were only conflated for an American audience in 1943. However, together they possess a somewhat conflicting homogeneity both echoing and contradicting each other."

Tags:metalanguage, oxymorons, poetry

From the Paper
"Human Resource Management and Team Effectiveness: An Article Summary
Introduction
This research summarizes the article "Effects of Leader Role, Team-Set Goal Difficulty, Efficacy, and Tactics on Team Effectiveness" by Cathy Durham, Don Knight, and Edwin Locke. The summary is presented in relation to the following elements: literature review, hypotheses, method, analysis, and conclusions.


Literature Review
The study, the results of which were reported in this article, examined the relationships between leadership role, team goals, and team tactics, as independent variables, and team effectiveness, as a dependent variable. Concepts from..."

Abstract
The paper relates that the acquisition of literacy is the hallmark of education, however, not all students are able to achieve the basic standard of learning required for functional literacy. This paper examines three specific reasons for literacy learning difficulties: biological, cultural, and contextual. The conclusion is that, because there are many pathways to functional literacy, there are many policies and strategies, both in classroom and out of it, to overcome the challenges presented by learning difficulties.

From the Paper
"The acquisition of literacy is the hallmark of education. However, not all students are able to achieve the basic standard of learning required for functional literacy. This essay will examine three specific reasons for literacy learning difficulties: biological, cultural, and contextual. The conclusion is that, because there are many pathways to functional literacy, there are many policies and strategies, both in classroom and out of it, to overcome the challenges presented by learning difficulties. One definition of functional literacy, the first kind of literacy that..."

Tags:learning, difficulties, literacy

Abstract
This paper explains that one of the greatest challenges for any educator is dealing with a student with reading difficulties. However, a number of different programs exist to deal with the different forms of comprehension difficulties: Edmark Reading Program and Reading Matery programs. The author points out that the auditory and picture matching approach of Edmark has been shown to be helpful for students from developmentally and socially disabling backgrounds. The paper relates that since dyslexics often report grappling with frequently misused letters and miss substituting of vowels and consonants; the program Reading Matery,designed to underline the specific dyslexic's need for reinforcement in his or her word sorting capacity and to learn other decoding methods to compensate for potential cognitive decoding difficulties, is better than the overall reinforcement of pictures, words and sounds in Edmark.

From the Paper
"The experimental group students received 15 minutes per day of tutoring by America Reads Volunteers in the Edmark Reading Program, a highly structured sight word program; control group students were simply read aloud to for 15 minutes each day by the same volunteers. Results indicated a significant difference in the performance of experimental group of students on the WRMT-R Passage Comprehension subtest and Edmark posttest. Qualitative data indicated that more experimental group students than control group students exhibited significantly improved reading ability, attitudes toward reading, attitudes toward school, and attitudes toward self. Results suggested that schools should consider the use of volunteers to implement one-on-one tutoring in the Edmark Reading Program to teach a supplementary sight word vocabulary to at-risk first graders. Thus, Edmark's 'hands on' approach may be helpful for students from disadvantaged backgrounds as well."

Tags:dyslexic, developmental-disabled, decoding, social

Abstract
This paper evaluates the assessment approaches available to teachers in the detection of learning difficulties. The paper particularly discusses the need to detect dyslexia at an early stage, in order to prevent damage to the child's learning. It describes the various assessment approaches and screening tests available and how effective they are for teachers.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Learning Difficulties
Aims of Assessment
Assessment Approaches
Screening Test
Miscue Analysis
Non-word Reading Test
Evaluation and Conclusion

From the Paper
"Every self-respecting teacher should know how to recognize a dyslexic pupil and what remedial measures can be done so that the child involved is not effectively denied access to the curriculum. Teachers and nursery attendants need to be aware of the signs before a child gets formal schooling because the damage to be wrought by late recognition of dyslexia may be irreversible. Psychological and behavioral studies, however, warn against relying on signs and folk beliefs in detecting learning difficulties. If these patently unscientific methods are made as basis of instructional programs, it will create more harm than good. Thus, many state laws today compel the education sector to use systematic methods of assessment that would measure possible obstacles to learning with more confidence and accuracy. There is a good number of such assessment strategies now available to the classroom teacher in the detection of children's learning difficulties, especially dyslexia."

Tags:dyslexia, miscue, educators

Abstract
The paper relates that in the years following the abolition of slavery, the lives of African Americans, particularly in the American South, were not cleared of the hardships and tribulations which had filled them for the decades before. The paper reveals that in many ways, these people who had for so long been treated as almost subhuman were now mistreated just as badly as before. Using two primary documents, this paper details the difficulties that African Americans still faced after abolition.

From the Paper
"In the years following the abolition of slavery, the lives of African Americans, particularly in the American South, were not cleared of the hardships and tribulations which had filled them for the decades before. In many ways, these people who had for so long been treated as almost subhuman were now mistreated just as badly as before. Using two primary documents, "When We Worked on Shares, We Couldn't Make Nothing" by Henry Blake and "Ku Klux Klan Violence in Georgia, 1871" by Maria Carter, this paper will detail the difficulties that African Americans still faced after abolition, looking especially closely at the relationships between..."

Tags:african, americans, slavery

Abstract
This paper details some of the difficulties that African Americans continued to face after the abolition of slavery. It looks especially closely at the relationships between Black and White Southerners and the perceptions that these two groups had about one another. The paper discusses issues of ownership, perception, status and violence.

From the Paper
"After the end of slavery, Blake notes that it was also hard for blacks to have anything of value for their own. As slaves, they were allowed things like whiskey and food and other extra items. But as a hired person working as a sharecropper, "we couldn't make nothing, just overalls and something to eat" (Blake). It seems that the white man had become used to making so much from slaves, that he still found a way to make as much by making sure the blacks just made even less than they had before. Life after slavery found blacks with even less than they had materially as slaves."

Tags:status, ownership, perception

Abstract
The paper discusses the social isolation faced by parents of children with severe disabilities and examines studies that focus on parental stress and support and their effects on the parents' psychological health. The paper concludes that a great deal of stress exists for parents of children with severe disabilities and social support factors are likely to have an effect upon parents of children with severe disabilities.

Outline:
Introduction
Isolation Common Among Children With Learning Difficulties
Review of Meta-Analysis Relating to Parental Stress and Support
Summary and Conclusion

From the Paper
"This study further demonstrated that the parents who actively sought social support were more likely to receive social support in dealing with the issue of having a child who is severely disabled. Family income was positively associated to the psychosocial adjustment of the parents in this study as was having a marital partner. It is likely that this is due to having the necessary resources to hire additional help to assist the parent with the child as well as having private transportation and other bonuses that go along with a good steady income and the activities that are required in resource-seeking and receiving medical care for a severely disabled child. Additionally the level of cognition of the parent was found to be a factor positively associated with the parents' psychological adjustment. A supportive family environment was also found to be positively associated with the parents' psychological adjustment in the study of Vermaes, Janssens, Bosman and Gerris (2005)."

Tags:isolation, stress, support