In a special section of the "American Annals of the Deaf", Deaf education and the Deaf community in South Africa are discussed. The special section is organized into 7 segments: a historical overview to establish context, the educational context, educators and learners, postgraduate education and employment, perspectives of Deaf children…

The adherence of traditional developmental theories to a linear paradigm is incompatible with the nature of "spirit". Dynamic Systems Theory (DST), a recent contributor to understanding child development, offers an alternative which avoids these paradigmatic limitations. Concepts of agency, "top-down" causality, emergence and…

A random sample of 505 American Counseling Association (ACA) members completed a questionnaire that evaluated respondents' ratings of the importance of 9 competencies developed at the Summit on Spirituality (G. Miller, 1999; "Summit Results," 1995) meetings to effectively address spiritual and religious issues in counseling practice. Results…

Institutions of higher education are required to initiate student outcomes assessment programs. Such programs are more complex in Bible colleges due to concerns related to spiritual and religious development and the lack of appropriate related assessment tools. Further, as there are indications that religious development may result in increased…

The phenomenon of Catholic Studies cannot adequately be understood without a prior consideration of certain fundamental tensions that mark modern higher education as a whole. These broader tensions characterize Catholic universities in specific and important ways. At the University of St. Thomas, Catholic Studies has proven to be a remarkably…

Religious beliefs permeate many aspects of culture. Often, however, educators are reluctant to discuss religious beliefs when working with children with developmental and intellectual disabilities and their families. Ignoring the salience of religious teachings about the nature and meaning of disabilities as they relate to both individuals and…

The capacity to be in control of one's thoughts, emotions, and physiology can form an internal safety net preparing children to face the challenges and opportunities of life. This is the goal of the Inner Resilience Program in the New York City Schools. Teachers in the Inner Resilience Program's intervention are exposed to calming and focusing…

This paper focuses on the significance of debate within and beyond religious communities over faith representation in relation to globalisation and migration. It analyses ways in which globalisation affects forms of religiosity and spiritual identity, among the young and their elders in religious communities, using two case studies: one from Islam…

This research addressed the question of how the spiritual experience of young children might be supported in early childhood educational settings. Qualitative case study research took place in three different contexts: a Montessori casa, a Rudolf Steiner kindergarten and a private preschool. Children aged 2 1/2-6 years, their parents and teachers…

In this paper, we offer a way to understand the spiritual dimension of clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse. Spirituality is defined as a search for the sacred--a process of discovery, conservation, and transformation that evolves over the lifespan. We describe the ways in which clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse impacts negatively on the individual's…

Previous research has examined the notion that African-Americans tend to have a strong religious orientation. However, studies have ignored the relationship between spirituality and academic performance among African-Americans. In this qualitative study, spirituality among 13 African-American college male students enrolled at a predominately Black…

This study explored factors associated with students' experience of spiritual struggles during college. Data indicate that spiritual struggle is associated with experiences in college that challenge and disorient students, affecting psychological well-being negatively but increasing students' acceptance of individuals of different faith…

People are beings that seem to have, and to think about, spiritual, transcendent experiences. But some are psychologists who have historically found it very difficult to integrate their spiritual, yearning selves, or the spiritual selves of those they see. Psychologists may want to understand the processes involved in complex transcendent,…

This essay is a reflection on the group processes established in a diverse Spirituality and Social Work Practice Class. Implications for social work education are provided.

This year-long study explored how adult church members experienced the phenomenon of spirit and the relationship between their experience and peace. Four themes emerged from the analysis of personal journal entries and transcripts of individual and group interviews: depth in the encounter with spirit, soul as the locus of spiritual growth,…