The findings of this study can stimulate healthcare professionals to acquire effective communication skills and display an empathic attitude when assessing caregivers' needs in the particularly challenging phase of transition from hospital to home.

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This article examines a research collaboration in which an Australian and an Italian researcher came together in order to develop a project with young children to document their standpoints on the quality of their experiences of the early childhood services they were attending. As such, this article provides a reflection on working from different international viewpoints and narrates a research story that identifies some of the questions met, both in the conceptual framework and in the research design. In order to realize this research project, the collaborators' challenge was to construct a shared understanding of their work, which meant addressing philosophical, ethical and practical points of tension. These points are described in the article as they emerged within the research endeavour, rather than being theoretically illustrated. The aim here is to offer the reader a lived experience example of meaning-making: how the researchers worked together, exploring the commonalities and differences that characterized each individual's research practice, with the aim to construct a synergistic approach to working with children in research.

EARLY CHILDHOOD RESEARCH and policy, globally, are focusing increasingly on issues of ‘quality’ in early childhood education. However, much of the focus to date has been on adult notions of quality, with little attention being devoted to children's accounts. Conducted in the context of early childhood education in Verona, Italy, this study offers children's views of quality in two early childhood classrooms. Informed by the participation mandates of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN, 1989) and a sociological conceptualisation of child competences (Mayall, 2002; Smith, 2007), the research methodology draws on the mosaic approach (Clark & Moss, 2001) whereby children's photography, mapping and conversations were used to represent indices of the quality of their early childhood settings. The data in this study was generated with the understanding that young children are competent to articulate their ideas by using a range of symbolic literacies. The children formed opinions about their prior-to-school experience, particularly about their teachers, and gave a clear and articulate indication of what constitutes good quality. The findings point to the importance young children place on their relationships with their teachers, and the moral, ethical and social justice implications. In conclusion, the study calls for those engaged with children, particularly teachers, to take affirmative action on children's contributions to our understanding of quality.

Background The rate of chronic drooling in children older than 4 years is 0.5%, but it rises to 60% in those with neurological disorders. Physical and psychosocial consequences lead to a reduction in the quality of Life (QoL) of affected patients; however, the problem remains under-recognized and under-treated. We conducted an Italian consensus through a modified Delphi survey to discuss the current treatment paradigm of drooling in pediatric patients with neurological disorders. Methods After reviewing the literature, a board of 10 experts defined some statements to be administered to a multidisciplinary panel through an online encrypted platform. The answers to the questions were based on a 1–5 Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree). The scores were grouped into 1–2 (disagreement) and 4–5 (agreement), while 3 was discarded. The consensus was reached when the sum of the disagreement or agreement was ≥75%. Results Fifteen statements covered three main topics, namely clinical manifestations and QoL, quantification of drooling, and treatment strategies. All statements reached consensus (≥75% agreement). The 55 Italian experts agreed that drooling should be assessed in all children with complex needs, having a major impact on the QoL. Attention should be paid to investigating posterior hypersalivation, which is often neglected but may lead to important clinical consequences. Given that the severity of drooling fluctuates over time, its management should be guided by the patients’ current needs. Furthermore, the relative lack of validated and universal scales for drooling quantification limits the evaluation of the response to treatment. Finally, the shared therapeutic paradigm is progressive, with conservative treatments preceding the pharmacological ones and reserving surgery only for selected cases. Conclusion This study demonstrates the pivotal importance of a multidisciplinary approach to the management of drooling. National experts agree that progressive treatment can reduce the incidence of complications, improve the QoL of patients and caregivers, and save healthcare resources. Finally, this study highlights how the therapeutic strategy should be reconsidered over time according to the available drugs on the market, the progression of symptoms, and the patients’ needs.

The approach to microelectronics education is typically geared towards the knowledge of the principles behind electronic circuits and systems, but there are social indicators that it overlooks some important educative aspects such as thinking competences and social attitudes. Such aspects play a fundamental role when bringing microelectronics education to the K-12 level. Therefore, the need to couple the acquisition of technical skills and concepts with a truly educative experience arises. In order to tackle this challenge, we propose to bring the research experience in electrical engineering within reach of K-12 students, because the active knowledge construction process that takes place during research requires children to be engaged with all of their knowledge, skills and attitudes. This poses the challenge of overcoming the knowledge gap of students, which we address by means of a synergistic cooperation of electronic experts and educators. More specifically, we propose the narrative approach as a key enabler for participatory research with K-12 students under the guidance of an expert

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