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Diagnostic genetic testing and non‐invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) for conditions associated with disability are becoming increasingly available to consumers. This genetic information can be used in the disability setting to inform factors such as prognosis, management, and reproductive decision‐making. Genetic counselors (GCs) play an important role in the provision of genetic testing and NIPT, and their attitudes toward disability can influence how genetic information is communicated and shape patients' responses. This study aimed to evaluate and describe Australasian GCs' experience with and attitudes toward disabilities to identify potential biases and training needs. A cross‐sectional survey was distributed to 400 GCs registered with the Human Genetics Society of Australasia. Of the 106 respondents (participation rate: 26%), a significantly greater proportion were more comfortable interacting with individuals with physical disability as compared to intellectual disability (p < 0.001). GCs with personal experiences with disabilities reported significantly greater comfort interacting with people with intellectual disability than those without experience (p = 0.012). Qualitative analysis revealed discomfort was less reflective of bias than inexperience and apprehension about communicating disrespectfully. GCs believed people with disabilities experience discrimination and that having a disability could make a person stronger, wiser, and more motivated. Most GCs viewed prenatal testing for disabilities positively as it allowed for decisions regarding continuing the pregnancy and/or provided opportunity to prepare. Challenges identified for prenatal counseling included negative societal attitudes and the low visibility of disability. GCs felt that 'personal beliefs' was the primary factor influencing the decision to terminate a pregnancy affected by disability. These findings highlight important education and training needs for GCs to improve preparedness and comfort when communicating with people with a disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children with Down syndrome can and do learn important mathematics and increasingly, this is occurring in regular school classrooms. The research literature offers little about the practices of effective primary school teachers who are including children with Down syndrome in the teaching of mathematics. In this paper we present findings from a project that followed teachers' journeys through a school year as they taught mathematics in primary classrooms including a child with Down syndrome. In particular, we focus on one aspect of the project: the nature of the teachers' practice and the specific challenges that emerged during teaching and planning. Data were collected through classroom observations, interviews with teaching team members and examining learning artefacts such as work samples and reflection journals. Classroom experiences in such contexts often require adjustments both in the planning and in the implementation. Vignettes illustrate such adjustments and provide insights into the teacher decision-making involved. Themes that emerged from analysis of the data are discussed. These themes were based on researcher reflections and meetings following each round of observations and were reported back to the teachers for verification. We explore the themes, reflecting on current policy influencing inclusive education in Australia and internationally, highlighting challenges that emerged in seemingly straightforward concepts. Our aim in this paper is to explore examples of an innovative approach to mathematics education for students with Down syndrome--the technique of teaching all students the mathematics from their year level, with adjustments. The careful study of the practices of teachers offers implications for effective inclusive mathematics education for the diverse classrooms that are increasingly the norm across Australia and around the world.

This paper draws on a one year study of three secondary school classrooms to examine the nature of student-student-technology interaction when working in partnership with computer algebra systems (CAS) on mathematical modelling tasks and the classroom affordances and constraints that influence such interaction. The analysis of these data indicates that CAS enabled technologies have a role to play as provocateurs of productive student-student-teacher interaction in both small group and whole class settings. Our research indicates that technologies that incorporate CAS capabilities have the potential to mediate collaborative approaches to mathematical enquiry within life-related mathematical tasks. (Contains 1 table and 4 figures.)

Sustainable improvement in student learning achievement in numeracy requires a deliberate focus on two complementary strands of educational endeavour: the practice of effective teaching of mathematics and the exercise of high level school leadership capabilities. In this article, the authors describe the context and findings from their research in schools in low socioeconomic communities in suburban, regional and remote areas of Australia. The research project, Leading Aligned Numeracy Development (LAND), investigates the nature and relationship between the development of teachers' pedagogical content knowledge in mathematics and the exercise of educational leadership by principals and teacher leaders (as members of school based teams), and the consequences of this interplay for student learning achievement in numeracy. Preliminary findings indicate that sustained improvement in numeracy demands a concerted and strategic focus on identifying, developing and supporting effective teacher leaders in order to embed authoritative and agreed pedagogical principles for the teaching of mathematics at the school level. Further, the study has found that successful school leadership teams (including principals, other school executive and teacher leaders) are able to maintain this focus through developing their own pedagogical content knowledge, while continuing to build community, organise for teaching and learning, and inspire vision in their school settings. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)

Objectives: To date, there has been little qualitative research exploring how students interpret visual sensory input in the classroom. Research has found that seeking student voice has the capacity to act as a change agent for Educational Quality of Life (EQOL), in several aspects of educational decision-making. In light of this knowledge, this study endeavored to fill this gap in the educational research literature. In this research, we take a qualitative, deductive approach to exploring students' interpretations of 'visual clutter' in the classroom, to seek to improve EQOL. Methods: Through Arts-informed methodology, this study sought students' interpretations of 'visual clutter' in the classroom. The study was conducted in three stages using photo elicitation, draw and talk, and semi-structured interviews. Results: In seeking three students' voices regarding their personal interpretations of 'visual clutter' in classrooms, light was shed on four themes: color palette, feature congestion, affordances, and spatial size, which were each shown to elicit negative emotional responses from the students. We analyzed the drawings of one child in depth as an exemplar for the qualitative methodology used. Conclusion: Student voice is central to educational quality of life. In seeking student voice, students are given the opportunity to convey the scope of their adaptive responses to incoming visual input, thus providing personal context to support measures. In doing so, student voice is given meaning in another facet of educational decision-making. This can include implications for classroom design.

Quality of Life (QOL) has been used as a sensitising concept for decades, inviting all to consider the potential for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to live a life full of meaning and purpose. This article presents the outcomes of our deliberations on domains of QOL undertaken for a study investigating lives of young adults with Down syndrome. Various groups have published domains and from these we distilled a list of six: Physical well‐being, Emotional well‐being; Self‐determination; Material well‐being; Personal beliefs and development; and Social inclusion. Our synthesis of domains raised two issues for further deliberation in the community of QOL scholars in the field of intellectual and developmental disability: the place of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Rights. ICT has not been considered as a domain but we argue it could be. Rights have been included as a domain by some researchers in previous conceptualisations but we do not. Instead we suggest they may be better placed as an underpinning principle, with fundamental impact on all aspects of QOL. A conclusion we are left with is that domains, while helpful for research, can never be a fixed list. What matters to individuals and society in general in framing lives of meaning and purpose will change over time. Even so, there is still value and need for setting domains for specific research studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the turn of this century, expectations for learning mathematics by students with Down syndrome were low. Research and practice continued to indicate considerable difficulty with number and calculation (Bird & Buckley, 2001). Unfortunately, most authors extrapolated difficulty with number to difficulty with mathematics in general, even though research evidence from other areas of mathematics was almost non-existent. It is now known that mathematics beyond calculation is within the grasp of learners with Down syndrome (Faragher & Clarke, 2014). In this article, based on findings from a research study that was undertaken in the ACT and Victoria, these authors describe how learning mathematics in inclusive primary classrooms can be achieved.

Being numerate involves using mathematical ideas efficiently to make sense of the world, which is much more than just being able to calculate. What is needed is the accurate interpretation of mathematical information and the ability to draw sound conclusions based on mathematical reasoning. This skill may be called "critical numeracy", defined as "being able to critique or make critical interpretations of mathematical information." There is a clear analogy with critical literacy, which involves the realisation that all texts represent different views of the world and requires students to go beyond acceptance to analysing and challenging. How should students be taught mathematics to develop critical numeracy? The traditional approach--sometimes called the "ABC method" because "A"bstract concepts and procedures are taught "B"efore "C"oncrete examples and applications--certainly seems inadequate. In the ABC method, "knowledge acquired in "context-free" circumstances is supposed to be available for general application in all contexts"--but research consistently shows that, in practice, this intention is rarely fulfilled. In this article, the authors describe an approach to teaching percent that puts contexts and application before abstract concepts and procedures. This approach, which the authors call "teaching for abstraction", is the reverse of the ABC method. (Contains 1 table and 6 figures.)

The mathematical development of children with Down syndrome (DS) is largely uncharted territory and yet the experience of parents and teachers reminds people that children with DS can and do learn mathematics. In this article, the authors describe a study that examines the mathematical development of children with DS, and offer suggestions arising from the initial analysis of the study data and from their experience of teaching children with DS. (Contains 2 figures and 4 resources.)

Since the early 1980s, it has become increasingly common for children with special needs to be included in regular classrooms. In this article, the author addresses issues surrounding the inclusion of students with special needs into the regular classroom. She discusses potential sources of difficulty with mathematics and suggests strategies to help teachers effectively manage the learning of special needs students in their classes.

COVID‐19 has very publicly had profound impacts on the health system of every country in the world. Over 4.5 million people have lost their lives. School closures worldwide where up to 1.6 billion of the world's children have been out of school, are also prominent in world news. Behind these public impacts are the families. In this paper, we focus on the experiences of families with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) through analysis of two data sets: the emerging research literature and contributions from our author team who have lived experience of intellectual and developmental disability in the context of COVID‐19. From these two data sets, we discern five themes of the impact of the pandemic: on health, on education, on services and supports, on families and finally on relationships beyond the family. We conclude with lessons from those living with intellectual and developmental disabilities, the carers and the individuals themselves to draw implications for supporting families in the context of disability during future pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]