A Friend In Deed? Can Adolescent Girls Be Taught to Understand Relational Bullying?

Relational aggression is common among girls. It can be distressing for the victim and may not always be recognised as a form of bullying. This paper evaluates a school–based intervention designed to help girls understand relational bullying. Girls from a single‐sex school completed a two‐stage evaluation of the intervention. Students showed greater awareness of relational bullying after the intervention and indicated that it would influence them to change their behaviour. At follow‐up, retention of knowledge was good. Students reported greater self‐monitoring of behaviour and less exclusivity. While this is encouraging, we cannot conclude that all negative behaviours ceased. Implications and limitations of this study are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chthonic Sovereigns? ‘Neak Ta’ in a Cambodian Village

Typically conflated with spirit or religion, territorial land entities known by various names across monsoon Asia are engaged in social relationships with human communities. Most often called neak ta in Cambodia (meaning the Ancient ones), but also known as maja tuk maja day, (the master of the water and the land), and arak (guardian or protector), many will tell you this is Brahminism, superstition from the ancient religion. More recently scholars use the term animism, and through this lens, neak ta becomes spirit—metaphysical guardians of territories, spirits of founding ancestors, or the earth-bound deities in Buddhist cosmologies. For locals they are guardians, people we cannot see, punishers, and healers, sometimes ancestors sometimes not. In the following treatment, empirical data complicates the prevailing paradigm and begins to detangle these entities from the constructed category of religion. In the context of an expanding discussion rethinking animism in Southeast Asia and its relationship to universal religions, these sovereigns of the land emerge beyond their confinement, or their assignation as spirits. They are in and of the water and the land and are instrumental social actors in the articulation of economic activity and political strategies as well as Buddhist practice.     

Disability terminology and the emergence of ‘diffability’ in Indonesia

The labelling of disabilities in Indonesian society and legislation has changed over time. More recently, the grassroots has used the term difabel to allude to the conceptualisation of ‘differently able’. The persistence of the grassroots in defending the term difabel, while in the UNCRPD ratification era the elites have turned to using disabilitas, alerts us to the power of labels and the role they play. This article provides a critique of the issue of language and the labelling of people with impairments and how it influences the paradigm of policy and service responses, and thereby the future role of differently able people. Given the background on the evolved disability terminology, this article suggests that difabel should also be adopted into broader English usage (i.e. ‘diffability’). Such a term provides a more positive characterisation of people with impairments and reminds us of the importance of emphasising abilities and acknowledging differences.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Books reviewed in this article: Amartya Sen Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny Mary E. Daly The Slow Failure: Population Decline and Independent Ireland, 1922‐1973     

A Comparison of Stimulus-Stimulus Pairing,Standard Echoic Training,and Control Procedures on the Vocal Behavior of Children With Autism

An alternating treatments design was employed to compare the effect of stimulus-stimulus pairing, standard echoic training, and a control condition on the vocal behavior of 3 preschoolers with autism. Data were recorded during pre- and postsession observations. During the stimulus-stimulus pairing condition, the experimenter''s vocal model was paired with the delivery of a preferred item. During the standard echoic training condition, the experimenter presented a vocal model and delivered a preferred item contingent on an echoic response. During the control condition, the experimenter presented a vocal model and, after a 10-s delay, presented a preferred edible item. Results from the post-session observations during the stimulus-stimulus pairing condition showed an immediate but temporary increase in the target sound for 1 participant only. Implications and suggestions for future research are provided.     

Beginnings: participatory action research and adults with developmental disabilities

This paper discusses the emergence of Participatory Action Research (PAR), and its use with individuals with cognitive disabilities. A brief history of PAR is given, with a focus on its uses for empowerment and self-determination for persons with disabilities. Using literature-based standards for participatory, action and emancipatory research approaches, a 3-year research project with goals of increasing community participation by adults with developmental disabilities is described and evaluated. The "Transition into Community Life" project used an adapted form of the "Farmer-back-to-Farmer" PAR model (Rhoades & Booth, 1982), and the article discusses the successes and challenges of the model in a context quite different from how it was originally designed. The author describes lessons learned concerning the use of PAR with people with developmental disabilities. The article concludes with a brief discussion of the feasibility of PAR with individuals with cognitive challenges.