In recent years, opponents of the gender-affirmative approach to trans youth have argued that it bears homophobic roots and may be tantamount to conversion therapy. This argument is mistaken. In this article, I first argue that there is no evidence that social and/or medical transition is motivated by homophobia. Contrary to the critique's tacit…

This article briefly examines Guidance Counselling in the Irish context. An analysis of the current decision-making climate and context suggests that there is a need to develop responsible decision-making skills in students, as reflected in the new Junior Cycle Key Skills. A meaning-centred, whole-school approach to develop responsible…

Supporting college and career readiness among youth who encounter significant academic and life challenges requires innovative strategies to help them envision their futures, leverage their strengths and develop dispositions that promote positive trajectories. For youth development professionals who develop and implement novel programmatic…

The article examines trends in theoretical and applied concepts about the adolescent period and in particular about how adolescents develop life goals. We discuss the blurring of the boundaries of adolescence, the postponement of life decisions, and the difficult process of separating from parents as trends in modern adolescent life. Certain…

Preparation for university study and integration into the workforce is the academic goal in the final years of secondary education. This preparedness can only be achieved through the motivation and involvement of students in secondary education programs which will lead to successful outcomes. "Engaging Adolescent Students in Contemporary…

The authors examined the dimensions of reading engagement for rural ninth-grade students who participated in a supplemental literacy intervention for students who struggled with school-based reading. Using a comparative case study approach, researchers investigated the ways in which engagement was characterized and undermined within the context of…

Purpose: The purpose of this tutorial is to provide speech-language pathologists (SLPs) with foundational information that will assist them in transition planning for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) based on a review of current literature. SLPs must be knowledgeable of transition planning in order to assist students with ASD and their…

Data from the School Crime Supplement (SCS) to the National Crime Victimization Survey, a nationally representative sample survey of students ages 12 through 18, were used to analyze trends in hate-related words. The SCS study is completed every other year. Data from seven consecutive surveys are included in this report: school years 2000-01,…

"Self-Regulated Strategy Development" ("SRSD") is an intervention designed to improve students' academic skills through a six-step process that teaches students specific academic strategies and self-regulation skills. The practice is especially appropriate for students with learning disabilities, the focal population of the…

The importance of direct explicit instruction in secondary schools has been shown to improve student learning outcomes across the curriculum. The question then becomes one of whether adapting direct explicit instruction in post-secondary institutions would have the same impact on student grades. Graham and Perin (2007) identified eleven elements…

This paper aimed to problematise what is meant by 'difference' and consider what such a reinterpretation might mean for methodological interventions in sex education research. Our concern is the tendency for sex education research to treat difference as a set of categories to be "added-on", such as religious difference, cultural…

Many sexuality educators and professionals, even those involved in program development and planning, are not aware of the biological and social factors involved in gender identity development in youth. As such, this topic is often not as well addressed in whole life educational curricula as better understood topics, such as reproductive anatomy,…

In this essay Erica R. Meiners argues that those committed to dismantling our nation's deep and racialized investments in policing and imprisoning must analyze how the flexible category of "the child," and its figurative powers, operate in complex ways to punish communities and naturalize and expand criminalization and surveillance.…

Purpose: In this article, the author presents a conceptual framework for intervention at school-age levels reflecting upon a number of aspects raised by Kamhi (2014) in the lead article of this forum. The focus is on the persistence of traditional practices, components of language intervention, and prioritizing goals for students with language…

Adolescents often bring popular culture into school, but often these literacies are not embraced or taught in the English classroom. The author makes the case for using "Glee" in the classroom by demonstrating its persuasive power to disrupt heteronormative notions of gender and sexuality with teens. The author uses a feminist rhetorical…