Early childhood education is the cornerstone of an education system. However, to the population of children at risk of developmental disabilities (CARDD), challenges early childhood teachers need to face are not only early identification of these children, but also development and implementations of productive interventions to reduce influences of existing deficits on their personal development and maximize these children's potential to learn. According to a statistic report by World Health Organization (2011), in a majority of countries in the world, around 14% 36 to 35% of children aged between 2 to 9 years old are at risk of developmental disorders. Seeking to provide a good understanding of teacher preparation for identifying and intervening CARDD, the present study investigated: a) the confidence level of over 3,000 teachers in a wide range of instructional activities (e.g., confidence in facilitating teaching and learning, facilitating social development, collaborating with parents and other related personnel) across 238 kindergartens, and b) the needs of early childhood teachers in supporting CARDD in Hong Kong. The role of integrated programme placing/not placing in these investigated kindergartens is also taken into account in understanding potential differences of teachers' confidence in identifying, teaching and intervening CARDD. Implications to professional development, improvements of existing facilities and resources to assist early childhood teachers in identifying and supporting children with developmental disabilities are discussed.

Homophobia and heterosexism are ubiquitous in Canadian society. They contribute to significant health and mental health disparities for lesbian, gay and bisexual youth and their families. Anti-homophobia efforts tend to focus on students and teachers at school. While these efforts are important, they do not reach parents, who play an important role in shaping young people's attitudes towards gender and sexuality. To eliminate bullying and victimisation associated with homophobia at school and in the community, concerted efforts are urgently needed to mobilise parents to become champions against homophobia and heterosexism. In this paper, we report on our use of storytelling and critical dialogue to engage a group of Hong Kong Chinese immigrant parents in Toronto to interrogate their values and assumptions about homosexuality. In particular, we illustrate how we use storytelling to create a liminal space whereby the narrators and listeners collaborate to create counter-discourses that challenge social domination and exclusion. We then discuss the implications of using a critical dialogical approach to integrate anti-homophobia efforts in community parenting programmes.
[Copyright of Culture, Health and Sexuality is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2012.738310]

Compared to other areas of the world and other Chinese societies such as Hong Kong and Taiwan, little is known about psychiatric conditions in Macao, a Special Administrative Region of China. There is growing evidence of the cross-national and cross-cultural validity of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but there are no studies of ADHD symptoms in Macao. This study compared Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text rev.) ADHD symptoms of Macao postsecondary students (N = 459) to U.S. peers (N = 261). Based on symptom counts, Macao students reported higher rates of ADHD. With regard to recent problems, 7.01% of Macao students and 2.69% of U.S. students reported enough symptoms to meet the cutoff for 1 of the 3 subtypes. Requiring that enough symptoms be recalled to meet childhood criteria, recent rates dropped to 3.74% (Macao) and 1.15% (United States), which are within expectations based on worldwide estimates. Comparisons using other methods of calculating rates are also provided. This research adds to the limited knowledge of ADHD symptoms in postsecondary students across countries, and provides the first account of such symptoms in Macao. Assessment of ADHD symptoms in Macao is complicated by the high level of overall distress reported by students.
[Copyright of International Journal of School & Educational Psychology is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21683603.2013.804469]

Using an autoethnographic approach, this paper focuses upon interactions between 'Paul' (a pseudonym), whose symptoms associated with 'severe learning difficulties' are such that he is positioned on the low-functioning end of the autistic spectrum, his carers and others, in spaces taken for granted to be 'public' in both the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. This paper examines how social discourses relating to disability filter into social interactions, ultimately constructing the symptoms they purport to represent. This paper concludes by highlighting how interactions might be viewed as enabling rather than disabling, as producing spaces for thinking about the human condition.
[Copyright of Disability & Society is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2014.953245]