Vulnerable Populations
The Power of Narratives: Increasing Empathic Awareness Among Vulnerable Populations Utilizing the Narrative Method
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Allen Lipscomb, Wendy Ashley, Samantha Hertz
The Narrative Method™ or TNM is a program that uses stories and storytelling to help individuals connect deeply and create more meaningful relationships. TNM gives voice to individuals whose stories have been misunderstood or never heard at all by teaching the steps of A.W.E. – Awareness, Wonder, and Empathy. Drawing on human experiences, TNM teaches communication skills that lead to mutual understanding, increased tolerance and empathy. This research project explored the experiences of (n=44) individuals (i.e. Veterans, those experiencing homelessness, and substance abuse and addiction) who participated in a 12 week group session utilizing TNM.
Wellness for Children with Disabilities in a Transitional Society: Socialization of Children with Disabilities in Vietnam
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Le Thao Chi Vu
This paper calls attention to one approach to the health-related wellness problems, especially when the solution to their causes or remedies of them takes time and is too costly for their benefactors. The Wartime use of Dioxin-yielding chemicals has taken its toll on the human health in Vietnam. The estimated number of the disabled children among their postwar generations: 1.2 to 2 million. The government has made “war-remediation” efforts to alleviate the impact of the problem including healthcare services and financial support among others. However, their effectiveness is limited. Only 2% of these children access some form of rehabilitation facilities while their social needs remain largely unaddressed - 46% of the disabled people aged 6 above are illiterate. With this background, we installed an experimental, weekend classes at local primary schools in one of the Dioxin “hotspots” in central Vietnam. Our observations over the past 15 years reveal an important development. Through the weekend classes, known locally as Dream Class, the disabled children have developed what I call “social literacy”—the language and habit of relating themselves to others beyond their families, the routinization of activities independent of the parents preoccupied with the chores of all kind, the diversified means to express themselves such as painting, dancing and singing. The children are no longer isolated from each other and are expanding their social sphere. One desired approach is hinted: the installation of space and time for the disabled in the middle of everyone’s everyday life, and not away from it.
The Link Between Executive Functioning, Attention and Language in Premature Children: Comparing School-age Premature Children with Their Full-term Peers
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Celeste Beaudoin, Roxanne Bélanger, Josiane Roy
Several studies demonstrate that preterm infants are more at risk for developmental impairments compared to infants born at term, especially within the domain of cognition. The premature population has been shown to have deficits in executive functions and attention that to persist into adulthood and are considered responsible for poor academic achievement and lower income outcomes. Due to the impact of these skills in a child’s everyday academic and social life, it is essential to understand the development and outcomes of executive functioning and attention. The primary goal of this study was to measure the performance of premature school-aged children in tasks measuring attention, working memory and executive functioning and compare it to that of children born at term and without neonatal complications in order to determine if there is an increased risk of delays, as well as the nature of the difficulties. Twenty (n=20) school-age premature children from Northern Ontario were assessed using standardized tools measuring memory, information processing, attention, and executive functioning. Participants were matched according to gender, age, linguistic status (i.e. monolingual or bilingual) and socio-economic status. The influence of gestational age (GA), birth weight (BW) and socioeconomic status (SES) on participants’ performance were also reviewed. Our findings revealed that, at school age, children born prematurely were more at risk to develop deficits involving attention, cognitive processing and memory.
