Students with learning disabilities (LD; defined by compromised academic performance) often have higher levels of anxiety, school-related stress, and less optimal social skills compared with their typically developing peers. Previous health research indicates that meditation and relaxation training may be effective in reducing anxiety and promoting social skills. This pilot study used a pre-post no-control design to examine feasibility of, attitudes toward, and outcomes of a 5-week mindfulness meditation intervention administered to 34 adolescents diagnosed with LD. Postintervention survey responses overwhelmingly expressed positive attitudes toward the program. All outcome measures showed significant improvement, with participants who completed the program demonstrating decreased state and trait anxiety, enhanced social skills, and improved academic performance. Although not directly assessed, the outcomes are consistent with a cognitive-interference model of learning disability and suggest that mindfulness meditation decreases anxiety and detrimental self-focus of attention, which, in turn, promotes social skills and academic outcomes.

At a time when increasing numbers of elders need and continue to rely on social work services, it is important to build enthusiasm among students to prepare them for future work with this special population. A three-pronged approach to teaching about aging, which is built on the strengths perspective, critical social construction, and a human rights and social justice focus, is recommended. For each part of the method, a theoretical rationale is outlined, and specific readings, films, music, class exercises, and written assignments to enhance the learning process are presented and discussed.

From a study of the cross-cultural experiences of older women who came to the US as adults from Asia or the Caribbean we can learn about how to formulate appropriate services and legislation. Women in Pennsylvania aged 60-89 were interviewed. They sometimes experienced con.ict between their original cultures and their lives in the US. Their stories included material about initial adjustment, work and economic issues, health, and culture and gender roles.

Older women who came to this country as adults have had little or no voice in public discourse, including feminist discussions of women’s experiences, needs, and roles. This qualitative exploratory study of how life events affected the aging of 25 women born in Puerto Rico, the West Indies, China, India, and Korea investigated the women’s early lives and current relationships with their husbands and other family members. Ways for the information gleaned to enhance social work with this population are also explored.

the importance of programmatic environment through a focus on the stories of women living in two specific shelters. The ways in which these shelters are physically organized and staffed and the practices through which workers relate to residents and residents relate to one another all becomes integral to Gerson's analysis.To orient the reader, Gerson provides background on the multiple factors that contribute to women's housing instability, including past experiences of trauma, mental health problems, family dysfunction, and underresourced social networks. A feminist lens highlights the compounding obstacles that young poor and minority women face as they negotiate maturational processes; pregnancy; single motherhood; and the demands of educational, welfare, and employment systems that make few provisions for women's child caregiving priorities.The women's stories constitute the bulk of the book, with lengthy quotations engaging the reader in the language, feelings, and worldviews of a diverse group of mothers. The chapters are organized well, first providing profiles of each mother and then moving on to the mothers' reflections on their pasts and their pathways to homelessness, their daily lives within the shelter, and their hopes and plans for the future. The stories are poignant. Physical and sexual abuse in childhood, foster care, forced independence, and violence by male partners are described with moving honesty. These extraordinary difficulties are juxtaposed against the loveliness of mothers' connections with their young children and the regularity of their concerns about how to parent, the children's health, and ultimately the children's futures. Rather than adopt a simplistic view of the women as either victims or deviants, Gerson shows how the women's choices are rational and meaningful, even when problematic, given their backgrounds and limited options.