This article focuses on parents' experiences and practices supporting children's mathematics learning. We employ a conceptual framework that makes a distinction between school-centered and parent-centered approaches to parental involvement in children's learning. We review literature showing that aspects of both school-centered and parent-centered approaches can be problematic, and explore this further in a group interview study. Group interviews were conducted with parents of children in 16 primary schools in a city in the southwest of England. Topics of discussion included parents' level of confidence and perceived ability in mathematics, their experience of doing mathematics with their children out-ofschool, and their interactions with school about mathematics. Findings revealed some specific negative effects of schoolcentered approaches, and suggested that school-centered approaches may in fact restrict parents' understanding of how they can support mathematics learning in the home. However, the analysis also adds useful depth to our understanding of opportunities associated with a parent-centered approach to parental involvement in mathematics learning.

Children with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) are said to experience severe congenital impairments to consciousness and cognition stemming from neurological damage. Such children are understood as operating at the pre-verbal stages of development, and research in the field typically draws conceptual resources from psychology to devise educational interventions and assessment tools. Criticism has been levelled at studies that treat children with PMLD as objects of research rather than subjects to be consulted. Proponents of the latter view have attempted to redress the situation by exploring how personal experiences can be gleaned through adapted qualitative methods. Debate about methodology in the PMLD field tends to coalesce around these individualist polemics: either children with PMLD are positioned as incompetent and lacking voice; or researchers are positioned as lacking the appropriate tools to gain access to such voice. This paper offers an alternative position to the individualism of post-positivist/constructivist approaches, identifying the need for a critical and participatory approach that sees knowledge about children with PMLD as situated and co-constructed through regular and longitudinal interaction between the researcher, children with PMLD, and significant others. Context to this argument is provided by exploring the application of this approach to an inclusive education research project for a child with PMLD.

In this article we examine discourses, conceptualisations and practices of positive risk-taking for or by children and adults with learning disabilities. We identify tensions and contradictions in positive risk-taking discourses that are unhelpful for clarifying for practitioners how positive risk-taking might be implemented. We suggest a conceptual framework that incorporates creativity and resilience and use this to offer examples from special and inclusive education (Intensive Interaction and Learning without Limits) that illustrate how positive risk-taking can be found in education practices. We conclude by arguing that conceptual frameworks such as the one proposed, when linked to supportive frameworks and guiding principles that emphasise professional judgement, offer one way to problematise and challenge current risk-averse practices in education, health and social care settings.

Many of the increasing number of intranasal products available for either local or systemic action can be considered sub-optimal, most notably where nasal drip or run-off give rise to discomfort/tolerability issues or reduced/variable efficacy. PecSys, an in situ gelling technology, contains low methoxy (LM) pectin which gels due to interaction with calcium ions present in nasal fluid. PecSys is designed to spray readily, only forming a gel on contact with the mucosal surface. The present study employed two in vitro models to confirm that gelling translates into a reduced potential for drip/run-off: (i) Using an inclined TLC plate treated with a simulated nasal electrolyte solution (SNES), mean drip length [±SD, n = 10] was consistently much shorter for PecSys (1.5 ± 0.4 cm) than non-gelling control (5.8 ± 1.6 cm); (ii) When PecSys was sprayed into a human nasal cavity cast model coated with a substrate containing a physiologically relevant concentration of calcium, PecSys solution was retained at the site of initial deposition with minimal redistribution, and no evidence of run-off/drip anteriorly or down the throat. In contrast, non-gelling control was significantly more mobile and consistently redistributed with run-off towards the throat.ConclusionIn both models PecSys significantly reduced the potential for run-off/drip ensuring that more solution remained at the deposition site. In vivo, this enhancement of retention will provide optimum patient acceptability, modulate drug absorption and maximize the ability of drugs to be absorbed across the nasal mucosa and thus reduce variability in drug delivery.

This paper presents an interpretivist, qualitative research project which intended to illuminate issues related to supporting 'inclusion' of children with profound and multiple learning difficulties in a special school for children with severe learning difficulties in the Southwest of England. The research found that, in spite of its reputation, the school struggled significantly to provide and appropriate learning experience for children with PMLD. The paper discusses the need for better staff training to improve current knowledge and skills, and considers the implications of new research which suggests that mainstream schools may be able to support the development of children with PMLD in ways that special schools may not. The paper concludes by calling for a shift away from assumption that special schools are always the best environment for children with PMLD. 3The role of special schools for children with profound and multiple learning difficulties: is segregation always best? Abstract This paper presents an interpretivist, qualitative research project which intended to illuminate issues related to supporting 'inclusion' of children with profound and multiple learning difficulties in a special school for children with severe learning difficulties in the Southwest of England. The research found that, in spite of its reputation, the school struggled significantly to provide and appropriate learning experience for children with PMLD. The paper discusses the need for better staff training to improve current knowledge and skills, and considers the implications of new research which suggests that mainstream schools may be able to support the development of children with PMLD in ways that special schools may not. The paper concludes by calling for a shift away from assumption that special schools are always the best environment for children with PMLD.