Globalization Argumentative Paper Essay

Globalization is term that is being deemed as something new on this planet in the world of business. Truth be told, globalization has been going on for centuries and centuries. Business trade done with other countries and regions of the world occurred and has spawned exploration and commerce from the time Europeans traveled to Asia for spices, South America for various ores of metal, and Africa for diamonds. Globalization is not new, however what is new is the technology and rapidness of communications with the information age, e-commerce, low cost manufacturing, and availability of trade. Globalization in essence has opened a broad spectrum of an interconnected and interdependent world with trade of goods, services and even capital on an international level. One would think that with all the war and strife in the world globally, having commerce to bring countries together would be a positive thing. In a general sense, it does. At the heels of a global economic recovery, most attention is focused on the immediate for the layman or common citizen anywhere in the world. â€Å"How can I feed my family and pay my bills?,† is the question most efforts are focused on realizing, never mind the long term fallout or result. Here in the United States, we have experienced factory closures and relocations outside of the United States, layoffs, economic crises due to the stock market plummeting, higher taxes for the middle class, cost of living rising, etc. It seems the country is trying to recover great financial loss without replacing jobs that have been lost domestically with higher taxes on the people who have lost the most, the middle class. While corporations are busy opening up offices and factories in other countries in a bid to cut overhead costs and have better footing on Wall Street and with their global competitors. There are many advantages to a global economy for large organizations and nations as a whole. For instance, in the United States, corporations are able to do business with businesses with countries that have a low cost of labor. Some of the companies in countries where there are no child labor laws, minimum wage standards, or even sweat shops, are able to secure contracts with U.S. corporations for lower prices than factories and businesses within the U.S. can provide. In addition there are tax breaks for  doing business with certain nations. This is profitable for the corporations but devastating to the United States employees. The middle and lower class workforce on the blue collar level suffer because of lack of employment. Without employment, unemployment benefit payments rise, homes are lost, healthcare is unaffordable, higher education is unattainable, and poverty and crime increases. Unless citizens are able to tap into the information age and develop businesses that tie into e-commerce and self-employment, they are doomed. They cannot maintain the lifestyle they had before, they cannot afford to pay their taxes, and unless U.S. citizens can keep up the amount of taxes for both themselves and to make up the difference for the tax breaks given to the major corporations, the United States stands to run into larger deficit.

Las Ferreterias de Mexico

Good management- Most of the Employees value rewards of different nature and they are therefore motivated by positive rewards. Employees are known to put less effort to those activities or tasks that are not well rewarded and hence in order to motivate them in their work, a good scheme for rewarding them is important. These rewards are different in nature and include compensation, awards, off duties and many others. Mr. Gonzalez came up with the idea of implementing compensation plan as a way of improving performance of the employees in the company.His intention was to include managers, buyers and salesmen in this new compensation incentive. However, the consultancy firm found this to be difficult since it was challenging to measure the performance of the salesmen and buyers. The consultancy firm therefore advised Mr. Gonzalez to use the plan for managers of the companies only without including other staffs. The success of any plan or policy depends so much on the involvement of peop le who will be affected by that plan in its development.Employees will always support implementation of a plan they were involved in its development. For instance, considering their views before the development of the scheme will make them to own the plan and therefore support it when it comes to the implementation of the plan. This means that for the success of the new compensation plan, Mr. Gonzalez had to make sure that he involved all the parties who will be affected by the new plan. In the development of the new compensation schemes, Mr.Gonzalez sought the services of the consultancy firm who worked together with the human resource and finance department representatives. The involvement of these two departments was important in order take care of financial and human resource considerations during the plan implementation. However, the plan did not involve other staffs who were to be affected by the plan. This include managers from other departments such as store managers and sal es manager who were the beneficially of the new plan.This could make it difficulty for the company to implement the plan since there may be tradeoffs between the performance of the whole team and that of individual managers (Gerhart et al, 2009). During the development of the plan, it was necessary to take and consider the views of other managers and not just human resource and finance managers. This would have made the plan makers to consider all the issues like bonus pool allocation, performance measures to be used and other important issues that may affect theimplementation of the plan. This would have ensured issues like how the bonus will be allocated among the managers. The plan allocated 70% of the bonus to the store managers and the rest to corporate staffs and regional managers. Though, store managers perform a crucial role in sales, other department managers may not be comfortable with the way the bonus is allocated. The allocation of the bonus could have been agreed by al l departmental managers before the implementation of the new plan.BONUS POOL ALLOCATIONAccording to the new compensation plan, the bonus pool would be allocated among store managers depending on the bonus units they have earned. A 5% earning in ROI would earn a store manager one unit of bonus. Any additional percentage earning in ROI would earn an additional bonus unit. This formula will continue to apply as the percentage in ROI earning increases. The allocation will also put into consideration those store managers who have been in their position for a period less than a year.The allocation of bonus among regional managers would be different where the formula used will consider the bonus unit that has been earned by stores in the managers’ region divided by all total unit bonus that have been earned by all stores in the company. Finally according to the new compensation plan, bonus pool for the corporate staff would be divided by the CEO, depending on the ROI earnings of the corporation in that year. The formula used in the compensation plan is very clear and simple hence understandable by all managers. A good bonus plan should be simple and clear to the parties who are affected by that plan.This would make it simple for those party affected by the plan to implement it. Clarity of the compensation plan means that the plan has little or no ambiguity and uncertainty about the standards that will be used to measure the performance of the beneficiaries. This means that the superiors are not in a position to show any favourism or bias when measuring the performance of their subordinates. In this company, the formula applied is based on the allocation of bonus pool among the store managers according to the unit bonus they have earned relative to the ROI earning.The formula is simple and managers can easily understand it and work hard to increase their ROI earning in order for them to increase their bonus units. Again, the formula is fixed and it may not be p ossible for those people who will be assessing the performance of the managers to show any bias or favouritism. This will ensure the efficiency of the compensation plan. This also applies to the formula used to calculate bonus for regional managers and corporate staffs. A good reward system should produce some impacts to the corporation.The system used should be aimed to improve the performance of the organisation after its implementation. Managers and other staffs ought to be motivated to work hard by the reward system as they strive to earn the promised bonus. Their increased performance will be reflected in the increased performance of the whole company. In addition, a good reward system ought to be timely where employees are rewarded immediately without any delay. This will motivate workers to work even harder in the next period thus improving the performance of the corporation in the long term.THE PRINCIPLLE OF CONTROLLABILITYAccording to the controllability principle, all empl oyees ought to be held accountable only for those variables that are within their control (Giraud et al, 2008). Employees ought not to be penalized when things fail because of bad luck as well as not being rewarded when things succeed because of good luck. Thus managers should be held accountable for the outcomes of the variables they control. At managerial level, many factors that affect the performance of an organisation are only partially controlled. However, managers are usually in a position to make decisions that may make the uncontrollable factors affect result in a positive way.The advantage of this method is that managers can be held accountable for the areas they are intended to influence. This will direct all the effort of the managers to the areas that can improve the performance of the organistion (profit centre). For instance, the compensation plan employed by Mr. Gonzalez will hold managers accountable for their profit centre.The main profit centre of the corporation are the stores thus basing the compensation plan of the managers on performance of this area will ensure that, managers effort are directed to the profit centre. Managers will also be more responsible since they will be accountable for all the factors they are controlling in the stores. However managers should also be rewarded for those factors they do not control and yet affect the outcome of their division outcome.BONUS DECISION ON CORPORATE PROFITThe new compensation plan is based on the ROI earnings at the end of financial year. The allocation of bonus among corporate staffs is based directly on the ROI earning of the corporate while among the managers it is indirectly based on ROI earnings. This means the bonus compensation plan may have impact on the corporate profit as it becomes expenses to the company.Increased ROI does not necessarily translate to increased profit and therefore basing bonus compensation on ROI may reduce the profit of the company due to increased expenses. The payment of all bonuses may be too expensive to the corporation thus reducing the profit of the organisation. However, this does not mean that the increased performance of the managers would not increase the profit of the corporation.QUESTION TWO CHALLENGES OF USING ROI Though the use of ROI to measure the performance of different division has a many advantages, it also has many disadvantages (Rachlin, 1997). Using this method to measure the performance of managers in the corporation may pose a number of challenges to Mr. Gonzales. According to Hoffman and Rogelberg (1998), the method may be referred to as a discretionary system since it does not include all the staffs of the corporation. The plan only covers the managers and does not cover other players in profit generation such as salesmen and buyers.This means that the plan will not motivate all the workers together since it only covers some of them and not all of them. This will be difficult for all the employees to be unite d in order to achieve a common goal of improving performance of the organisation. Increasing ROI earnings can only occurs when all the employees of the organisation combine their effort together to achieve a certain level of ROI earnings. This is not possible when all the staffs are not rewarded fairly for their effort.ROI performance measures show the ratio of the profit in relation to the investment used to generate it. This measure at times may be problematic for instance when it comes to the determination of the investments that were used to generate a given level of profit. It is difficult to measure the amount of fixed asset that was used to generate a given level of profit. Mr. Gonzalez may find it difficult to relate the profit generated in a given store with fixed assets that were used to generate that profit. This because fixed assets will be used in more than one financial year.The use of ROI earnings to measure the performance of managers may lead to sub optimization whe re managers concentrate only on the ROI earnings of their division without necessary working to improve the performance of the whole corporation. Improving the ROI of a certain division is usually a short term goal which may not increase the performance of the organisation in the long term. Managers and other staffs may work very hard only for the purpose of earning the bonuses in the new compensation plan without necessary aiming to improve the performance of the company.The measure of earning on investments may also include those factors that are not controlled by the managers. This may include liabilities and assets that are not controlled by division managers and yet they affect the profit of a given store. Division managers usually control receivables and payments within that division and they should only be accountable for that. Holding division managers accountable for factors they do not control may be unfair to them. Thus Mr. Gonzalez ought to look for a method of measuring performance that will be fairer to all the managers.The use of ROI method may also create unhealthy competition among the store managers. Bonus pool is allocated among store managers according to the percentage of ROI they have earned in their stores. The managers can therefore do anything possible to increase their ROI so that they can increase their bonus. This may involve manipulating their revenue and expenses in order to report high profit figures at the end of financial period. This behaviour will create unnecessary short term pressure among the managers which can be avoided using a different method of measuring the performance of the managers (Eva & Mika, 2010).This may have a negative impact to the long term performance of the company. Each division may also work more independent without co-working with other divisions since different divisions will be operating like rivals which may also not improve the long term performance of the company. It is also difficult to know whe ther the increase in sale in a certain store is as result of the new compensation plan (Sammer, 2006). It may take sometime before Mr. Gonzalez knows whether the implemented plan is successful.This is because there are other factors that are not controlled by the manager that may result in increased ROI earning. The use of the ROI method compare all managers on the same platform without considering differences in areas like their division, their region and many other differences. For instances, managers in different departments carry out different operations that have different expenses and revenues. These differences will also affect their department profitability and thus their earnings in ROI.Different regions also have different rate of sales and although efforts put by manager in that region matters, regional differences will also affect the outcome of those regions. The use of ROI to measure the profitability of the manager does not put into consideration factors like regional differences which will affect the outcome of a certain region. Thus rewarding managers using ROI earnings which do not consider such factors will be unfair to some managers who may come from those regions that are not favourable.

Melanoma Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Melanoma - Research Proposal Example Exposure to ultraviolet rays (UVA & UVB) rank as the most important factors for development of melanomas. This effected through DNA damage, specifically thymine dimerization leading to oncogenic mutations. It is well known that the incidence of melanoma in Queensland, Australia (50/100,000) is five times that of the UK (10,000), despite the fact that the nearly all cases in Australia occur in people of Scottish and Irish descent. This clearly points out to solar exposure as the prime factor in it causation. Although tanning beds (Berwick 507) and sunscreens have been implicated as a possible causative factor, no significant statistical evidence has been presented yet. Additional risk is also seen in red-headed and fair-skinned people, people with multiple dysplastic or atypical naevi, and in a condition called congenital giant melanocytic naevi. 1. Germline Mutations : Apart from the fact that melanoma clusters can be seen in certain families, and melanoma-prone families are well known to have mutations in CDKN2A, CDK4 and other genes. The p16 gene mutation has also been reported in over 25% of familial melanomas worldwide, as well as in about 10 % of sporadic melanomas. It has a low degree of penetrance, and it is likely that sporadic melanoma has a complex pattern of inheritance. Melanoma also has an association with various cancer family syndromes, most notably pancreatic cancer, but also in breast, throat and gastro-intestinal cancers. 2. Somatic mutations : A genetic progression model of the step-by-step transformation of precursor lesions (naevi) to melanomas, or the stages of melanoma progression itself have shown that there are important genetic loci where were changes accumulate. They are mostly due to loss of chromosomal material on multiple loci : chromosomes 1,3,6,9,10,11 and 17 being particularly affected. Somatic mutations on the BRAF gene has also been described in up to 60 % of melanomas. 3. The genetics of the at-risk phenotype : Over the past two decades, as it has become clearer that the fair skin-type and high naevus counts are powerful predictors of melanoma, the hunt for susceptible genes in these at-risk phenotypes has begun. In addition, the propensity to get

Case study Canadian Food Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Canadian Food - Case Study Example Due to its expansion, CFHI has observed an increase in its operational needs and tasks which are similar to those faced by expanding for-profit organizations. For the expansion to be successful CFHI would have to reach as many donors as possible and this would be made possible due to speedy and efficient website techniques. Another need of CFHI is the limited efficiency of it`s IT department which hinders the growth of the organization as a whole. These limitations are often faced by for-profit organizations due to their expansion plans and strategies. Another need of CFHI is to improve its communication process with its customers, the donors, which can be done through immediate update of its website as soon as any disaster happens. These needs of CFHI are quite similar to those faced by for-profit organizations. 2. Compare donor loyalty to customer loyalty. The customers of CFHI are its donors who contribute funds which are further processed by the organization for relief works. The refore, it is essential for CFHI to maintain good relationships with its customers who are the donors. Just like for-profit organizations, it is really important for non-profit organizations to keep a strong clientele and maintain good relations so that the customers are loyal with the organization. CFHI should also keep the donors satisfied because without their donations the organization would not be able to carry out its operations and thus, achieve its objective (NON-PROFIT: Donation loyalty, 2013). In order to keep the donor satisfied and hence, loyal with the business, the organization needs to maintain strong relationships with them and provide more opportunities to them (Building donor loyalty, 2013). The organization can do this by keep itself updated with the level of technology in the market. Customer loyalty is when the customers keep buying the products from one supplier instead of buying it from different suppliers. The purpose or the main motive of customers is to get the maximum benefit from their purchasing power (Customer loyalty and retention, 2013). However, the main motive of donors is to contribute their funds for the betterment and benefit of not themselves, but for the people living in disaster affected areas. Therefore, the major factors affecting donor loyalty include how well the organization makes use of the funds and their experience in providing relief work. The organizations need to make as much information available for the donors as possible so that donors can make proper and well-thought decisions about their donations. 3. Why does real-time data matter to donors? The customers of CFHI are its donors and without the support of its donors, the organization would not be able to achieve its mission and objectives. It is extremely important to keep the donors satisfied by regularly updating the website and providing real time information for the donors (Alan Cole, 2012). This is because donors would only help by contributing money if these donors trust the organization and believe that the organization would use the funds for the maximum benefit of the people residing in disaster struck regions. The donors need to know the current statistics as to how the organization used its past funds and donations. The donors need to know the current funds required by the organization and the ways through which the donors can help depending on the disaster involved. Without real time informa

Dance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Dance - Essay Example From an analysis of the many different types of dances that were performed and practiced by the students in the class, it is clear and apparent that there is much more to â€Å"African dance† than just a simplistic set of movements of emotions expressed through movement. As the teacher of this class noted, the African cultures from whence these dances originally came tended to use dance as an outlet to express human emotions that otherwise would not be reflected within the tribe or group themselves. Within such an understanding, the highly physical and emotionally charged dances allow the participant, as well as the viewer, to note how dance was and is used as a means of greater personal expression within the African culture as compared to the manner through which it is employed in so many other cultures around the globe. Although true that African dance fulfills the traditional requirement of providing a forum/platform for courtship and sexual energy to be represented, the wa y in which the culture represented history, told stories, staged miniature exhibitions, and celebrated religious festivals or even funerals are all uniquely tied to the many types of cultural dances that are represented under the umbrella term â€Å"African dance†. Another element beyond the scope of these dances and the sheer physicality involved that should be noted is with respect to the fact that the focus of the dance is not on the individual; instead, the invariably focus on the community. Evidence of this can of course be seen due to the fact that there is no clear differential between the â€Å"audience† and the â€Å"dancer(s)†; as either one can become the other at almost any point during the dance. This is of course a culturally distinct element of African dancing that is not represented in many other forms of dance represented throughout the globe. With all

Self-analysis of Leadership Behaviors and Strengths Research Paper

Self-analysis of Leadership Behaviors and Strengths - Research Paper Example This paper presents my potentials for good leadership in the nursing profession as I analyze and evaluate my personality strengths and behaviors in relation to the various nursing leadership theoretical models. To begin with, nursing shortage has apparently been a major problem of many countries all over the world. According to American Nurses Association (2011), the nursing population is aging rapidly and nursing shortage is expected to peak by year 2020. While the government takes effort and initiative to strengthen the healthcare system by recommending an increase in capacity on nursing education to encourage individuals to enter the profession, the nursing professional practice also continuously develops to meet the demands of advancement in trends and policies. Promoting nursing leadership to empower the new nurses is of core importance not just because of the present situation of nursing shortage but for building a strong foundation of healthcare manpower for the coming generat ions. In connection to nursing leadership, Curtis, Vries, and Sheerin (2011) defined leadership as a collective variety of thoughts, reflections, and images; including power, influence, fellowship, dynamic personality, charisma, goals, autocratic behavior, innovation, cleverness, warmth, and kindness. As the nursing education and practice develops, the same is true in nursing leadership theories. Clark (2009, pp. 6-23) presents the evolution of leadership theories from the basic leadership principles to more broader concepts and these are: (1) The great man theory – leaders are born, not made; (2) Trait theory – some people are born with inherited traits suited to leadership; (3) Behavioral theory – leaders are made, not born; (4) Role theory – describes how expectations frame behavior; (5) Lewin’s leadership styles – a. autocratic (making decisions without consulting anyone), b. democratic (involve others in their decision), and c. laissez- faire (minimal involvement in decision-making); (6) Likert’s leadership styles – a. exploitative authoritative (using threats and fear to achieve conformance), b. benevolent authoritative (showing concern but sugarcoats information and maintains control of decisions), c. consultative (listens to everyone but still makes the major decision), and d. participative (increases collaboration and seeks involvement of others in the decision-making process); (7) Hershey and Blanchard’s situational leadership theory – considers motivation and capability of the followers; (8) Normative leadership – chooses a decision procedure from autocratic to group-based, depending on decision-acceptance and follower knowledge; (9) Path-goal theory – clarifies the path to a goal, removing roadblocks and increasing rewards along the way; (10) Leader-member exchange theory – leaders exchange informal agreements with their members; (11) Transformational leadersh ip theory – uses vision, passion, personal integrity, and enthusiasm to shape a changing social architecture by being proactive, serving as a catalyst for innovation, functioning as a team member, and encouraging organizational learning; (12) Authentic leadership – positive, genuine, trustworthy, credible, reliable, and

Management Theory into Practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Management Theory into Practice - Essay Example ExxonMobil is one of the world’s largest publicly traded international oil and gas company (ExxonMobil, 2010a). Its main purpose is to provide energy to growing economies and to alleviate the quality of living throughout the world. The company has an extensive cache to global oil and gas resources that makes it one of the leading names in the energy industry. Not only is the company the world’s largest refiner and marketer of petroleum products but its chemical company is one of the largest in the world. The company prides itself for its continued emphasis on innovation and spends extensively on finding more energy-efficient methods of production and delivery. Being one of the most successful companies of the world is strongly indicative of good management. The ExxonMobil official website pays herald to its strong leadership by saying that the discipline and commitment of the leadership has â€Å"led to competitive advantages† (ExxonMobil, 2010b). According to th e Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil, in the current turbulent times, a company can only be successful if it considers business discipline and corporate citizenship to be interlinked (Schwartz, 2010). Drawing a SWOT analysis of ExxonMobil, one can see that the strength of the company lies in its technological advancement, and strong emphasis on research and development. The strong and stable financial performance of the company, coupled with its diversified revenue system, provides it with the leading market position.

Women civil right movement, the first wave of the 1920's Research Paper - 1

Women civil right movement, the first wave of the 1920's - Research Paper Example Similarly, this ideal was the basis for the Equal Rights Amendment Act campaign in 1970. The first wave of the 1920s had thus begun and its end came when women got the right to vote in 1920 (Wood & Fixmer-Oraiz 61-62). Following 2 days of debate and discussion, the initial women’s rights movement in Seneca Falls in New York, ended with the signing of the Declaration of Sentiments by 68 women and 32 men that saw the grievances of women being pointed out and the agenda for women’s rights movement being set. The declaration contained 12 points that were centered on voting rights of women and equality between women and men in the law. Two years later, the first National Women’s Rights Convention took place in Massachusetts where over 1000 participants were present and this saw the beginning of the annual national conventions till 1860 with the exception of 1857. May of 1869 saw Elizabeth Stanton and Susan Anthony form the National Women Suffrage Association whose primary objective was to institute a Congressional amendment to the Constitution that would make it possible for women to realize voting rights. In November of the same year, the American Women Suffrage Association is for med by Henry Blackwell, Lucy Stone and others and this organization solely sought to make amendments to individual states’ laws in order to realize the attainment of voting rights of women. Lucy Stone was recognized as becoming the foremost woman documented to maintain her own name subsequent to marriage. Wyoming became the first state to pass the women’s suffrage law in 10th December 1869 and in the following year women start to participate in juries in their state (DuBois 74-77). In 1890, the National Woman Suffrage Association together with the American Women Suffrage Association merged to come up with the National American Women Suffrage Association. This became the movement’s mainstream organization and as such set out on

Argues what Matthew Dickman's prescription for the good life is Essay

Argues what Matthew Dickman's prescription for the good life is. (please make a better topic) - Essay Example The poet’s style and expression match the daily lives of American people, so he appears a poet of the people who writes for the people and they can related with his experiences as his experiences are similar or somewhat grounded in American culture. This paper scrutinizes three of the above-mentioned poems in terms of poet’s prescription of good life. He elaborates about his reading experiences and his comprehension related to those readings. His toilet as a whole was constructed by a company named as American Standard and he relates his experiences of using the toilet with the formation of American standard. He wants people to enjoy themselves and involve in partying for their happiness and merriment, as being a part of American society, people are allowed to enjoy as they like. There are also some ill happenings in life, but as per the poet’s perspective, a person should ignore his losses and try to be happy by clubbing, doing sex and going to parties. He elaborates about his activities in the toilet and connects them to his happiness. He also wants to be as comfortable while being in toilet and is not ready to hurry up. At the end of the poem, when he recalls about his visit of Africa, he seems to mention the African Americans in America whom he regards to be kind and friendly people. His poem informs about the activiti es what American people usually do. He poem, American Standard not only appears as a narrative of his experience and his life, but also about the accommodation that America gives to foreigners such as African Americans who have migrated from Africa to settle in America. He says, Everything that goes into the American Standard becomes a part of it or melts into it such as African Americans have become a part of America and its pop culture. The poet mentions in the poem about partying and get together of people along with his sex with a women who is engaged to a man from

Psychology and Family Law Essay Example for Free

Psychology and Family Law Essay Introduction: The Rise in Divorce Rates.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Rasul began his paper on the economics of child custody with an observation and analysis of the American family. For him, the last thirty years had been witness to dramatic transformations involving the American family (Rasul, 2006, 1).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This dramatic change since the 1970s consists in the composition of American families. Where thirty years ago, more than half of the American families consisted of a father, mother, and child or children, today such composition only forms one in five families (Rasul, 2006, 1).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Such significant change is attributed to one factor alone, which is divorce. Rasul observes that the instances of divorce have risen dramatically over the years, such that it affects more than one million children every year (Rasul, 2006, 1). In the United Kingdom, another industrialized region, forty-one percent of marriages end up in divorce within fourteen years (Lamb, Sternberg, Thompson, 1997, 394).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   While divorce rates also increased in industrialized countries other than the United States, and the divorce rates in the United States already reached a plateau, the fact remains that the United States Bureau of Census estimated in 1992 that more than forty percent of first marriages in the country is bound to end in divorce. Moreover, the relative decline in divorce rates is accompanied by an equivalent effect, which is the number of people cohabiting without marriage and nonmarital child bearing. These other arrangements cause the decline in divorce, but end in the same situation of a broken family. (Emery, Sbarra Grover, 2005, 22).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The increase in divorce rates can also be attributed to the certain developments since the 1970s, which include the growing tolerance of society for divorce. Moreover, society is no longer strictly insistent on the maintenance of stereotypical family arrangements (DErrico Elwork, 1991, 104). Changes in Family Law.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As a consequence of these dramatic changes, changes in the field of family law also occur. These changes can be found both in substantive and procedural law (DErrico Elwork, 1991, 104-105).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Substantive law has changed due to observations of the effects of restrictive and punitive laws on divorce. Thus, many jurisdictions already steered away from the rule that one of the spouses must have committed some transgression before they can be granted divorce. Now, the prevalent rule in most jurisdictions is in accordance with the â€Å"no-fault† doctrine. This doctrine allows married couples to file for divorce on the simple ground of â€Å"irreconcilable differences (DErrico Elwork, 1991, 104).†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another change in substantive law and policy can be found in the gender-neutral stance taken by courts in cases of divorce. The past decades illustrated a bias, manifested in the assumption that mothers have more inherent capability to take care of their children. Today, such an assumption is no longer strongly held. Rather, courts are now showing neutrality in gender and the determination of a family law case now hinges on the consideration of the â€Å"best interests of the child (DErrico Elwork, 1991, 104-105).†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another change in substantial law and policy is manifested in the observation that there is a growing predilection over self-determined divorce and child custody arrangements. This trend of change is largely attributable to the belief that divorce is a private matter that must be left amongst them to be resolved. This belief is a break away from the previous prevailing thought about the states interest in protecting the sanctity of marriage through the regulation of its dissolution (DErrico Elwork, 1991, 104).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   These changes in substantive law on divorce and family law necessarily caused changes in the procedural aspect of the law. Thus, the increased ease by which couples could seek divorce and the option of individualizing post divorce arrangements heavily increased the dockets of courts with divorce cases. This led the courts to encourage divorcing couples to find other alternative means of resolving their issues (DErrico Elwork, 1991, 105).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are also other factors that make alternative means of resolving family disputes and divorce issues more appealing. The lack of necessity for proving fault in a divorce action removed the need to adjudicate family issues. Moreover, the removal of the presumption in favor of the mothers capability to care for the child involved courts into making a determination about vague issues, such as love and care, which could be difficult to measure in a court setting. These factors all contributed to the growing popularity of other modes of dispute resolution, such as mediation (DErrico Elwork, 1991, 105). Divorce Mediation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One such alternative mode of dispute resolution recently applied in family law is mediation. Thus, divorce mediation, under which process a neutral third party intervenes to help the couple settle their differences through negotiation, receives the most attention lately (DErrico Elwork, 1991, 105) especially among parents who wish to get divorced (Emery, Sbarra Grover, 2005, 22).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   When applied to help couples arrive at self-determined arrangements on matters of divorce and child custody, mediation is believed to cause four benefits, namely, â€Å"(a) more satisfaction with the terms of agreements, (b) greater compliance with agreements, (c) less postdivorce conflict between ex-spouses, and (d) better postdivorce emotional adjustment (DErrico Elwork, 1991, 105).†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Indeed, mediation posed itself as a solution to the ever-increasing rates of divorce in the Untied States, as well as an alternative to ineffective and traditional methods of dispute settlement, such as litigation (Emery, Sbarra Grover, 2005, 22). Mediation is becoming the alternative method of dispute resolution of choice since it provides professional help to divorces, which have a high probability of getting acrimonious. Thus, there are only few couples that could manage to suffer a divorce in amicable terms. In a survey of two California counties, it was found that 24 percent of divorces therein required professional intervention, while 25 percent involved intense conflict (Emery, Sbarra Grover, 2005, 23).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Mediation is also popular among couples seeking divorce because unlike court action or litigation, it has the ability to facilitate administration of justice and reduce cost, specifically in terms of money and time. Moreover, adversary settlement procedures are now believed to cause problems involving post separation family relationships, arising from parental conflict and divorce. (Emery, Sbarra Grover, 2005, 23). Comparison of Divorce Mediation and Adversary Settlement.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is not uncommon for mediation to get compared from other forms of dispute settlement, such as adversary settlement. In a study conducted by Emery, Sbarra and Grover, a comparison was made between mediation and adversary settlement through random assignment (2005, 25). They randomly approached families that were interested in contested custody hearing and offered them a mediation program as an eleventh hour settlement attempt (Emery, Sbarra Grover, 2005, 25).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This study yielded positive results with respect to the time of settlement of issues. Thus, the authors found that cases assigned to mediation were settled in half the time that settlement using adversary settlement occurred. On the other hand, there are other studies that conclude that mediation is better over adversary settlement in terms of cost, because the former is less expensive than the latter. In addition, it was observed that there is a â€Å"trend for greater compliance with child support orders among nonresidential parents who mediated† (Emery, Sbarra Grover, 2005, 27).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   They also observed that there are more families coming from mediation that go back in order to update or change their existing arrangements. The authors view this in a positive light, saying that parenting plans should be viewed as living agreements that must be changed in accordance with corresponding changes in the stakeholders lives. Such changes are best made by going back to the mediation process (Emery, Sbarra Grover, 2005, 27).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In addition, Emery, Sbarra and Grover noticed in the follow-up sessions to their study that most of their subjects who belonged to the mediation group were more open to the idea or suggestion of changing their original agreements. They are also the ones who actually adjusted their arrangements more often than those subjects who belonged to the adversary system (Emery, Sbarra Grover, 2005, 28).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The authors noted that the willingness of the subjects to modify their original arrangements, coupled with the actual facts of modification, is a positive finding. Aside from the fact that the changes had been far from chaotic, they prove that parents who underwent mediation had become more flexible in accommodating changes that are important in the lives of their children and their own (Emery, Sbarra Grover, 2005, 28).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The authors also looked into another factor to compare mediation with the adversary process. This factor is party satisfaction. They noted that each kind of method of dispute settlement has certain strengths. For example, the adversary systems known strength is that it ensures that the rights of both parties are protected. On the other hand, mediation is known for being more understanding of the feelings of the parties involved (Emery, Sbarra Grover, 2005, 28).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   However, this main difference, which had looked so glaring before study, disappeared in view of the results that showed that mediation consistently got high rates of party satisfaction over the adversary system, even if the assessment was based on the criterion that is known for being the strength of such system. More importantly, the authors observed that such high rate of party satisfaction remains relatively unchanged among different time durations. Thus, a party may be satisfied with mediation six weeks after mediation, but surprisingly, parties remain satisfied even after a period of more than a year (Emery, Sbarra Grover, 2005, 28). Important Elements of Mediation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Mediation remains on the top of the list of effective methods of dispute settlement, especially in divorce rates, because it boasts of certain elements that ensure the process’ success. One such element is its capability of enlisting the cooperation of parents in order to take the long view, and consider the best interests of their children in the future (Emery, Sbarra Grover, 2005, 32).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Considering that divorce cases often involve high conflict, open hostility, and tension, it is difficult to call upon parents to cooperate with each other. However, mediation allows parents to take a look at the future of their relationship, maybe not as a couple, but as permanent parents (Emery, Sbarra Grover, 2005, 32).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Mediation is also effective in educating divorcing parents and couples about emotions. These emotions involve not only those felt by the couple involved, but more importantly, those of their child or children. There are several techniques by which the goal of emotional education can be achieved, but one effective way is through the mediator’s reflection of a child’s possible emotional reactions to the crisis situation using his self as a medium. For example, the mediator could say how uncomfortable and scary an experience becomes when the couple starts fighting each other. Thus, mediation allows parents to realize that their bickering actually affects the emotions of people around them, and thereby stop thinking about themselves. It is apparent therefore that mediation does not necessarily provide therapy for the emotional problems of the parties, but it allows them to understand the feelings and emotions involved in order to help them control such emotions in the best possible way and, in the process, achieve a good plan for the family (Emery, Sbarra Grover, 2005, 33).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Finally, mediation is an effective process because it helps parties avoid treating each other as adversaries. A business-like approach such as the one commonly used in mediation allows the parties to approach issues in a distant and less emotional state. Moreover, not treating each other as adversaries avoids the road to strained relationships that only cause the wounds of the divorce to get worse (Emery, Sbarra Grover, 2005, 34). Effects of Divorce on Children   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The trend in favor of divorce and single parenthood in industrialized countries has raised concerns about the effects of such family arrangements to children involved. Unfortunately for children, divorce often leads to negative immediate effects, such as serious emotional and psychological disturbance. Considering that psychological symptoms such as emotional disturbance, loneliness, depression, anger, helplessness, and many others are common among the parents or couples involved, it should be expected that such negative effects would be experienced more severely by the children trapped inside the crisis (Lamb, Sternberg, Thompson, 1997, 394).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is worth noting that the difficulty of children in dealing with their parents’ divorce is aggravated by the fact that the parents involved in the crisis are often too preoccupied with their personal emotions such that they fail to give much-needed support to their children. Worse, these parents often fall in the temptation to make too much demand that worsen the situation for their children (Lamb, Sternberg, Thompson, 1997, 395).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another problem common to children in divorce situations is the economic problem brought about by the need to maintain two separate residences, and the common situation of mothers who are more economically-challenged than the fathers. However, such situation is avoided or minimized in cases where the parents resolve their conflicts and work out a way of providing for the educational, emotional, and economic needs of their children (Lamb, Sternberg, Thompson, 1997, 395-396). Conclusion.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Divorce and single parenting is increasingly becoming common in industrialized regions such as the United States and the United Kingdom. This trend is caused by several factors and, in turn, causes several issues, practices, and concerns in many different levels, such as the family, children, substantive and procedural law, and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms (Rasul, 2006, 1; DErrico Elwork, 1991, 104).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Divorce causes deleterious effects on the parties. However, the negative impact of divorce is more squarely felt by the affected children who, in their tender age, are forced into adjusting and coping with the emotional stress and burden necessitated by divorce proceedings (Lamb, Sternberg, Thompson, 1997, 394).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Such hardships could be minimized by different factors, such as cooperation between parents in providing emotional, economic and educational support to their children. Parents also have the option of minimizing or totally avoiding antagonism and hostility in the divorce proceedings by choosing to undergo mediation rather than court litigation. Indeed, mediation provides many advantages and avoids the stress involved in court action (Emery, Sbarra Grover, 2005, 22). References DErrico, M. G. Elwork, A. (1991). Are Self-Determined Divorce and Child Custody   Ã‚   Agreements Really Better? Family and Conciliation Courts Review 29(2), 104-  Ã‚   113.  Emery, R. E., Sbarra, D. Grover, T. (2005). Divorce Mediation: Research and Reflections. Family Court Review 43(1), 22-37.  Lamb, M. E., Sternberg, K. J., Thompson, R. A. (1997). The Effects of Divorce and    Custody Arrangements on Childrens Behavior, Development, and Adjustment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Family and Conciliation Courts Review 35(4), 393-404.  Rasul, I. (2006). The Economics of Child Custody. Economica 73, 1-25.

Autism Spectrum Disorders: Causes, Diagnosis and Support

Autism Spectrum Disorders: Causes, Diagnosis and Support Autism Spectrum disorders Introduction Autism awareness in todays society has moved from the shadow of shame and unknown to the forefront of research and education as an increasing number of children and people with Autism Spectrum disorders gain attention in every aspect of their everyday lives. This paper will attempt to explore the many faces of autism: identification, possible causes, treatment, societal reaction/interaction, the learning/teaching cooperative, and expectations for the future regarding this disorder in an ever evolving and expanding society. What is Autism? How does it manifest? Are there specific characteristics inherent to the disorder? How was it discovered? Who gets it? How is it diagnosed? When? Has the cause been identified? Is it hereditary, environmental or societal? Is there a cure? What kind of treatment is available, and how has it changed since discovery of the disorder? Do autistic children face specific learning challenges? What teaching methods best reach autistic children? Are some methods more effective than others? Autism is very broad, far-reaching and involved, but herein I expect to go from a brief discussion of the broad topic to the specific: How does autism affect the learning/teaching relationship between children and teachers? What is Autism? Autism was first thought to be mental retardation or insanity. In 1943, Leo Kanner noticed that these children did not fit the pattern of emotionally disturbed children and instead recorded patterns of being slow learners. Hans Asperger, making similar discoveries, discovered what has come to be known as Aspergers Syndrome often used to label autistic people that can talk. Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger, working completely independent of one another, recognized autism for what it was: a developmental disorder that interferes with a childs communication, social and interaction behavior. (Carew, 2009) Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD). It is a bio-neurological developmental disability usually appearing before the age of three, best known for impairing a childs ability to communicate and interact. Life-long disabilities significantly impact several areas of development: communication impairments, social difficulty, sensory processing deficits and a need for solid routines within their lives. Characteristics of Autism manifests in a myriad of ways: delay in verbal development, a need to finish what they begin, a rather h3 resistance to change in daily routine, lack of spontaneity, distress at being touched and the ability to show any kind of emotion, as well as an inability to process and respond to humor. There are five subcategories associated with ASD, each with its own distinctive and unique features: Autistic Disorder, Aspergers Disorder, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD), Retts Disorder, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). Treatment within each subcategory is as diverse and varied as the individual being treated, depending on the individuals personality, unique symptoms and manifestation of autism. How is it Diagnosed? To help determine the difference between autism and mental retardation, a qualified professional will examine and score children who are suspected of having autism through a questionnaire based on direct observation by professionals and reports given by parents, family members, and teachers. This test is known as CARS (Childhood Autism Rating Scale) and was developed by Eirc Shopler, Robert Reichier and Barbara Rochen Reiner. (Schopler, Reichler, DeVellis, Daly, 1980) CARS was published in 1980, but the development began a lot earlier, in 1966. A Study conducted by the University of Texas Health Science Center determined an accuracy rating of 98% in diagnosing children and showed encouraging results in diagnosing adolescents as well. CARS incorporates the criteria of Leo Kanner (1943) and Creak (1964), and characteristic symptoms of childhood autism. (Schopler et al., 1980) The test focuses on 15 categories of behaviors, characteristics, and abilities and how the expected development is different than the actual development if autistic symptoms are present. The categories are: Relating to people, imitation, emotional response, body use, object use, adaptation to change, visual response, listening response, taste, smell and touch response and use, fear or nervousness, verbal communication, nonverbal communication, activity level, level and consistency of intellectual response, and general impressions. A child can score on a scale of one to four. Scoring a one meets a normal range for a childs age and scoring a four means the child is severely abnormal. (Secor, 2009) Who Gets It? Although it is unclear how much of the surge reflects better diagnosis, recent data suggests a 10-fold increase in autism rates over the past decade. The journal, Pediatrics, released on October 5, 2009, reported one percent of U.S. children ages 3-17 have an Autism Spectrum disorder, a prevalence of 1 in 91. This is a dramatic increase from the 2007 report by the Center for Disease Control reported 1 in 150 children diagnosed with Autism. Boys are diagnosed four times more often than girls. There has been no connection established regarding socio-economic status, race or religion in identifying autistic individuals. (Kogan, 2009) Cause of Autism All over the world, researchers are working to find just what causes Autism. However no direct, specific cause of Autism has been determined, to date. The pressure to identify a cause is a top priority among researchers and it appears, due to the various levels of severity and combinations of symptoms, there may be multiple causes and scientific evidence suggests both genetic and/or environmental factors. Because of intense research, there are several specific claims that have been disproven. Bruno Bettelheim, a once well-renowned child psychologist, blamed autism on parents, specifically mothers, claiming they did not properly bond with their children. There is no evidence to support that claim. Due in large part to Dr. Bernard Rimland, who has an autistic son, founded the Autism Society of America and the Autism Research institute. Dr. Rimland was instrumental in helping to determine autism as a biological disorder not a causal effect, ie., neglect, isolation, cold, indifferent or bad parenting. He disproved the theory by defining ASDs as biological disorders, not emotional illnesses in his book, Infantile Autism: The Syndrome and Its Implications for a Neural Theory of Behavior (Rimland, 1964). However, Dr Rimland is a proponent of another high profile controversial claim suggesting vaccinations given to children during babyhood may be a cause of the disorder. Despite Dr Rimlands advocacy and beliefs, this claim has little or no scientific backing. In fact, in a timely ruling Friday, March 12, 2010, the so-called vaccine court, a special branch of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, found that the mercury-containing vaccine preservative thimerosal is not to blame for autism, and concluded the last of three cases on theories related to a vaccine-autism relationship. A 2009 ruling rejected a theory that thimerasol can cause autism when combined with the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, which perhaps was based on a discredited medical journal article published in 1998 by British physician, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, linking a particular type of autism and bowel disease to the measles vaccine. The 2009 ruling predicated the dropping of a second case based on a theory that certain vaccines alone cause autism. Interestingly, in this third case, the court found that none of the expert witnesses who argued mercury can have a variety of effects on the brain, offered opinions on the cause of autism in any of the three specific cases argued. (Schmid, 2010)(emphasis added) Two studies conducted by researchers at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia link specific genes to autism. One study pinpoints a gene region that may account for as many as 15 percent of autism cases, while another study identifies missing or duplicated stretches of DNA along two crucial gene pathways. Significantly, both studies detected genes implicated in the development of brain circuitry in early childhood. (Wang, 2009) A specific connection between fragile x (FXS) and autism has also been found. Dr. Don Bailey , director of the Frank Porter Graham Institute, and colleagues found that in young boys with FXS, 25% met the criteria for autism using the (CARS). Their profile of behaviors was very similar to that of children with autism but without fragile X. Consequently, they also found that children with autism and FXS together, had a lower IQ than children with either FXS alone or autism alone. (Bailey, Jr., Hatton, et al., 2001) Methods of Treatment Since 1943, many ways have been developed to help the autistic child. Then, the famous Sigmund Freud discovered that parents who did not attempt to communicate with an autistic child saw no progress, while a close parent/child relationship seemed to cause the child to thrive and move forward. Although it lingered well into the 50s and 60s, Freuds theory lacked two critical bits information: first, oftentimes the parent didnt try to interact with the child due to the Autistic behavior; and second, in some cases it was a genetically inherited personality. For a time, children were removed from their home to see if they would recover although there was no clear-cut evidence of any value in future use of this method. Due to research and study, it was found that facilitated communication could teach the child to communicate with the world; for example an autistic child could be taught to manage and control his emotions; a parent could help a child desensitize from the over sensitivity to sound. Today, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), Occupational Therapy (OT), Pivotal Response Training (PRT), Physical Therapy (PT), Sensory Integration Therapy, Floortime, and medications, all have a place in accepted scientific treatment. Alternative methods are also sometimes used. These can include Dietary intervention, Vitamins and Minerals, Social Skills Groups, Music and Art Therapy, and even Dolphin Therapy. One of the most tried and true methods utilized today, Applied Behavior Therapy (ABA) is usually accompanied by Physical Therapy and Occupational therapy. As with any treatment there are good and bad points associated with each. ABA was developed by Dr. Ivar Lovaas and contains the B.F. Skinners theories on operant conditioning. This treatment includes rewards which may include toys or treats, for acceptable behavior. There is no punishment for wrong or incorrect behavior, however. There are a myriad of steps involved, and a fairly rigid structure to this method. ABA is very time-consuming and has shown many positive results. According to some ongoing research, diet may be fueling Autism. There is convincing empirical evidence that special diets help autistic individuals. Karl Reichelt of Oslo has been a pioneer in this area for decades, showing the highly significant effects of removing gluten, gliadin and casein from the diets of autistic children. There are now about forty research studies in Norway, the U.K., Italy, and the United States supporting this finding. Special diets are, most often, hard to implement. Eighteen research reports have been published since 1965, by scientists in six countries showing that about half of all autistic children and adults improve significantly when given large amounts of B6. Unlike drugs, B6 is a safe, natural substance that the brain requires. This vitamin, along with the mineral magnesium, is used in the production of serotonin. In a comprehensive review of the neurochemistry of autism, published in 1990, Dr. Edwin Cook wrote, The most consistent finding has been that over 25% of autistic children and adolescents are hyperserotonemic. However, after 29 years of investigation, the mechanism of hyperserotonemia has not been determined. (Genetics, autism and priorities, 1997) Teaching Methods Autistic children all have specific learning challenges; however, the method of approach depends entirely on the child. When teaching an autistic child, environmental considerations, a set schedule and routine for the student and a visual structure the student can see clearly to enable them to understand what is expected of them, and when it is expected of them. No one method is necessarily better than another. Many of the various methods utilize the same basic principles needed to help focus and teach a child with autism. An effective instructional strategy is one that incorporates structure, a communication system, sensory accommodations, individualized programming, inclusion, social integration and access to the general curriculum. It is important to find research-based methodology that has proven effective through application and data collection. This helps enhance the effectiveness and accountability of the program. There are also different teaching approaches enabling students with this disorder to learn and function as well as any other student in the classroom. No one approach has proven more effective. However, Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children (TEACCH) (Shopler, E 1997) incorporates several methodologies and techniques into one program. Developed in the 1970s at the University of North Carolinas School of Medicine, the philosophy behind TEACCH was: the environment should be changed to meet the needs of the students, not the students changed to meet the needs of the environment. Techniques are developed to meet the specific communication, social and coping needs of the student. The goal is to help students with ASDs learn functional skills so they can live productively and reach their full potential at school and home, and later in their community and working lives. TEACCH stresses the need for elements of behavioral and cognitive interventions, direct teaching of social skills, the need for structure, and the use of visual cues to show tasks to be done in work or play areas. Another stand alone method of teaching, also one of the components within TEACCH, Structure-Positive-Empathetic-Low Arousal- Links (SPELL), emphasizes a clear routine and an atmosphere that helps maximize positive relationships and reduce anxiety while teaching children with ASD. This can be accomplished by trying to anticipate the experiences, settings, or problems the children may consider threatening. This methodology has been integrated into most of the centers run by the National Autistic Society. Basic strategies need to be implemented inside a classroom to help transition students with ASD. These include: A clear structure and daily routine Use of clear and unambiguous language (not a lot of humor or irony) Make clear which behaviors are unacceptable Address the child individually Provide a warning if there is an impending change in routine or activity switch Know the students ticks and what abnormal behavior might be Specific teaching using photographs, video recording, how feeling are expressed and communicated so they can be recognized. Regular opportunity for simple conversations to help increase the use of how and why questions Use charts to record behavioral progress reinforcement How Does Autism Affect the Learning/Teaching Relationship Between Children and Teachers? Any teacher can get very frustrated with children in general, and if a disability is added to the equation, it can make for a difficult learning and teaching experience for both parties involved. It is important to remember what the student is going through and having to deal with. Patience truly is a virtue for the teacher, combined with empathy, understanding, encouragement and compassion. Within any teaching strategy, to work and develop a method of structured teaching, there must be an understanding of the unique features and characteristics of the autistic child. A teacher must organize the childs environment so the child is able to focus on relevant information and not be distracted by irrelevant things. The teacher must also develop appropriate activities to engage the student and not frustrate them. The instructor must also help the student understand what is expected of them so they do not have any disruptions to their routine or be inadvertently thrust outside of their comfort zone. Despite a teachers best efforts to reduce the stress, anxiety and frustration of the environment, behavioral challenges will still arise, depending on the characteristics of the autistic child. Conclusion Autistic Spectrum Disorder has come out of the shadows and gained notoriety in todays society through the actions of celebrities, organizations, and parents of autistic children as awareness of this increasingly prevalent disorder increases exponentially with research, education and mainstreaming. Since it was identified just a little over a half century ago, ASD has gained attention and momentum and tremendous strides in identification, possible causes, treatment, societal reaction/interaction, the learning/teaching cooperative, have provided lofty expectations for the future. While teaching students with ASD is challenging, it can also be hugely rewarding. Teaching methods like TEACCH, which encompass the basic principles and techniques found to be most effective and least upsetting for the autistic child: consistency in a passive environment, an unvaried schedule and basic repetitive routine enable teachers to help the autistic student learn and progress within a safety zone geared toward their own individual learning style. Although there is no cure, there have been significant strides in identifying, developing and implementing new treatments every day. Children with ASD are often able to lead full, happy, and productive lives, interacting with society on their own terms. One can only hope that the strides of today will be not only matched but outpaced in the future as ASD becomes not a mysterious disorder of unknown origin, but a minor affliction overcome by millions, unidentifiable and without stigma in the mainstream world. Bibliography Carew, Betty. (2009, January 28). The History of autism. Retrieved from http://healthmad.com/children/the-history-of-autism/ Kogan, Michael, et al. (2009). Prevalence of parent-reported diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder among children in the US, 2007. Pediatrics, 10.1542(1522) Schopler, E, Reichler, RJ, DeVellis, RF, Daly, K. (1980). Toward Objective classification of childhood autism: childhood autism rating scale (cars). J Autism Dev Disorder, 10(1), 91-103. Secor, M.L. (2009, january 6). Child autism rating scale. Retrieved from http://autism.lovetoknow.com/Childhood_Autism_Rating_Scale Rimland, Bernard. (1964). Infantile autism: the syndrome and its implications for a neural theory of behavior. New York: Prentice Hall. Schmid, Randolph. (2010, march 12). Court says thimerosal did not cause autism. Associated Press, Wang, Kai, et al. (2009). common genetic variants on 5p14.1 associate with autism spectrum disorders. Nature, 459(528-533), Retrieved from http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v459/n7246/full/nature07999.html Bailey, D. B., Jr., D. D. Hatton, et al. (2001). Autistic behavior, fmr1 protein, and developmental trajectories in young males with fragile x syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders , 31(2), 165-174. Genetics, autism and priorities. (1997). Autism Research Review International, 11(2), Retrieved from http://autism.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ/YazTi=1sdn=autismcdn=healthtm=27f=00tt=14bt=1bts=1zu=http%3A//www.autism.com/ari/faq/faq_diets.htm Exkorn, Karen Siff. (2005). The autism sourcebook everything you need to know about diagnosis, treatment, coping, and healing. New York, NY: HarperCollins. Shopler, E (1997) Implementation of TEACCH philosophy. In D. Cohen and F. Volkmar (eds). Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders. New York: Wiley. Autism Spectrum disorders Introduction Autism awareness in todays society has moved from the shadow of shame and unknown to the forefront of research and education as an increasing number of children and people with Autism Spectrum disorders gain attention in every aspect of their everyday lives. This paper will attempt to explore the many faces of autism: identification, possible causes, treatment, societal reaction/interaction, the learning/teaching cooperative, and expectations for the future regarding this disorder in an ever evolving and expanding society. What is Autism? How does it manifest? Are there specific characteristics inherent to the disorder? How was it discovered? Who gets it? How is it diagnosed? When? Has the cause been identified? Is it hereditary, environmental or societal? Is there a cure? What kind of treatment is available, and how has it changed since discovery of the disorder? Do autistic children face specific learning challenges? What teaching methods best reach autistic children? Are some methods more effective than others? Autism is very broad, far-reaching and involved, but herein I expect to go from a brief discussion of the broad topic to the specific: How does autism affect the learning/teaching relationship between children and teachers? What is Autism? Autism was first thought to be mental retardation or insanity. In 1943, Leo Kanner noticed that these children did not fit the pattern of emotionally disturbed children and instead recorded patterns of being slow learners. Hans Asperger, making similar discoveries, discovered what has come to be known as Aspergers Syndrome often used to label autistic people that can talk. Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger, working completely independent of one another, recognized autism for what it was: a developmental disorder that interferes with a childs communication, social and interaction behavior. (Carew, 2009) Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD). It is a bio-neurological developmental disability usually appearing before the age of three, best known for impairing a childs ability to communicate and interact. Life-long disabilities significantly impact several areas of development: communication impairments, social difficulty, sensory processing deficits and a need for solid routines within their lives. Characteristics of Autism manifests in a myriad of ways: delay in verbal development, a need to finish what they begin, a rather h3 resistance to change in daily routine, lack of spontaneity, distress at being touched and the ability to show any kind of emotion, as well as an inability to process and respond to humor. There are five subcategories associated with ASD, each with its own distinctive and unique features: Autistic Disorder, Aspergers Disorder, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD), Retts Disorder, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). Treatment within each subcategory is as diverse and varied as the individual being treated, depending on the individuals personality, unique symptoms and manifestation of autism. How is it Diagnosed? To help determine the difference between autism and mental retardation, a qualified professional will examine and score children who are suspected of having autism through a questionnaire based on direct observation by professionals and reports given by parents, family members, and teachers. This test is known as CARS (Childhood Autism Rating Scale) and was developed by Eirc Shopler, Robert Reichier and Barbara Rochen Reiner. (Schopler, Reichler, DeVellis, Daly, 1980) CARS was published in 1980, but the development began a lot earlier, in 1966. A Study conducted by the University of Texas Health Science Center determined an accuracy rating of 98% in diagnosing children and showed encouraging results in diagnosing adolescents as well. CARS incorporates the criteria of Leo Kanner (1943) and Creak (1964), and characteristic symptoms of childhood autism. (Schopler et al., 1980) The test focuses on 15 categories of behaviors, characteristics, and abilities and how the expected development is different than the actual development if autistic symptoms are present. The categories are: Relating to people, imitation, emotional response, body use, object use, adaptation to change, visual response, listening response, taste, smell and touch response and use, fear or nervousness, verbal communication, nonverbal communication, activity level, level and consistency of intellectual response, and general impressions. A child can score on a scale of one to four. Scoring a one meets a normal range for a childs age and scoring a four means the child is severely abnormal. (Secor, 2009) Who Gets It? Although it is unclear how much of the surge reflects better diagnosis, recent data suggests a 10-fold increase in autism rates over the past decade. The journal, Pediatrics, released on October 5, 2009, reported one percent of U.S. children ages 3-17 have an Autism Spectrum disorder, a prevalence of 1 in 91. This is a dramatic increase from the 2007 report by the Center for Disease Control reported 1 in 150 children diagnosed with Autism. Boys are diagnosed four times more often than girls. There has been no connection established regarding socio-economic status, race or religion in identifying autistic individuals. (Kogan, 2009) Cause of Autism All over the world, researchers are working to find just what causes Autism. However no direct, specific cause of Autism has been determined, to date. The pressure to identify a cause is a top priority among researchers and it appears, due to the various levels of severity and combinations of symptoms, there may be multiple causes and scientific evidence suggests both genetic and/or environmental factors. Because of intense research, there are several specific claims that have been disproven. Bruno Bettelheim, a once well-renowned child psychologist, blamed autism on parents, specifically mothers, claiming they did not properly bond with their children. There is no evidence to support that claim. Due in large part to Dr. Bernard Rimland, who has an autistic son, founded the Autism Society of America and the Autism Research institute. Dr. Rimland was instrumental in helping to determine autism as a biological disorder not a causal effect, ie., neglect, isolation, cold, indifferent or bad parenting. He disproved the theory by defining ASDs as biological disorders, not emotional illnesses in his book, Infantile Autism: The Syndrome and Its Implications for a Neural Theory of Behavior (Rimland, 1964). However, Dr Rimland is a proponent of another high profile controversial claim suggesting vaccinations given to children during babyhood may be a cause of the disorder. Despite Dr Rimlands advocacy and beliefs, this claim has little or no scientific backing. In fact, in a timely ruling Friday, March 12, 2010, the so-called vaccine court, a special branch of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, found that the mercury-containing vaccine preservative thimerosal is not to blame for autism, and concluded the last of three cases on theories related to a vaccine-autism relationship. A 2009 ruling rejected a theory that thimerasol can cause autism when combined with the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, which perhaps was based on a discredited medical journal article published in 1998 by British physician, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, linking a particular type of autism and bowel disease to the measles vaccine. The 2009 ruling predicated the dropping of a second case based on a theory that certain vaccines alone cause autism. Interestingly, in this third case, the court found that none of the expert witnesses who argued mercury can have a variety of effects on the brain, offered opinions on the cause of autism in any of the three specific cases argued. (Schmid, 2010)(emphasis added) Two studies conducted by researchers at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia link specific genes to autism. One study pinpoints a gene region that may account for as many as 15 percent of autism cases, while another study identifies missing or duplicated stretches of DNA along two crucial gene pathways. Significantly, both studies detected genes implicated in the development of brain circuitry in early childhood. (Wang, 2009) A specific connection between fragile x (FXS) and autism has also been found. Dr. Don Bailey , director of the Frank Porter Graham Institute, and colleagues found that in young boys with FXS, 25% met the criteria for autism using the (CARS). Their profile of behaviors was very similar to that of children with autism but without fragile X. Consequently, they also found that children with autism and FXS together, had a lower IQ than children with either FXS alone or autism alone. (Bailey, Jr., Hatton, et al., 2001) Methods of Treatment Since 1943, many ways have been developed to help the autistic child. Then, the famous Sigmund Freud discovered that parents who did not attempt to communicate with an autistic child saw no progress, while a close parent/child relationship seemed to cause the child to thrive and move forward. Although it lingered well into the 50s and 60s, Freuds theory lacked two critical bits information: first, oftentimes the parent didnt try to interact with the child due to the Autistic behavior; and second, in some cases it was a genetically inherited personality. For a time, children were removed from their home to see if they would recover although there was no clear-cut evidence of any value in future use of this method. Due to research and study, it was found that facilitated communication could teach the child to communicate with the world; for example an autistic child could be taught to manage and control his emotions; a parent could help a child desensitize from the over sensitivity to sound. Today, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), Occupational Therapy (OT), Pivotal Response Training (PRT), Physical Therapy (PT), Sensory Integration Therapy, Floortime, and medications, all have a place in accepted scientific treatment. Alternative methods are also sometimes used. These can include Dietary intervention, Vitamins and Minerals, Social Skills Groups, Music and Art Therapy, and even Dolphin Therapy. One of the most tried and true methods utilized today, Applied Behavior Therapy (ABA) is usually accompanied by Physical Therapy and Occupational therapy. As with any treatment there are good and bad points associated with each. ABA was developed by Dr. Ivar Lovaas and contains the B.F. Skinners theories on operant conditioning. This treatment includes rewards which may include toys or treats, for acceptable behavior. There is no punishment for wrong or incorrect behavior, however. There are a myriad of steps involved, and a fairly rigid structure to this method. ABA is very time-consuming and has shown many positive results. According to some ongoing research, diet may be fueling Autism. There is convincing empirical evidence that special diets help autistic individuals. Karl Reichelt of Oslo has been a pioneer in this area for decades, showing the highly significant effects of removing gluten, gliadin and casein from the diets of autistic children. There are now about forty research st

Neuromodulation and Neural Plasticity :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Neuromodulation and Neural Plasticity Neuromodulatory synaptic transmission differs from classical chemical synaptic transmission in both mechanism and function. The function of a classical synapse is to convey information rapidly from the presynaptic neuron to its target cell, producing a short-term effect. The neuromodulatory synapse may do the same initially, but its primary function is to transmit information that will have long-lasting effects on the postsynaptic neuron's metabolic activity, and on its response to subsequent input. These effects are fundamental to the development and adaptation of the nervous system, and are believed to be the basis of such higher functions as learning and memory. Neurotransmitters released from a classical presynaptic neuron bind to specific receptor proteins in the postsynaptic cell membrane, causing ion channels in the membrane to open or close. If the resulting flow of ions depolarizes the membrane relative to its resting potential, the probability that an action potential will be generated increases, and the synapse is considered excitatory. If the ion flow results in a net hyperpolarization of the membrane, the probability that an action potential will be generated decreases, and the synapse is considered inhibitory. Neuromodulatory synapses can be either excitatory or inhibitory. A neurotransmitter released from the presynaptic neuron may cause the postsynaptic membrane to depolarize or to hyperpolarize by the same mechanism used in classical synapses, but the resulting postsynaptic potential will be relatively weak and slow. Whereas a neurotransmitter in a classical synapse may induce postsynaptic effects lasting from ten to one hundre d milliseconds, a neuromodulator's postsynaptic effects may persist from several hundred milliseconds to several hours. Neuromodulation of the postsynaptic neuron depends not so much on the neurotransmitter as on the receptor to which it binds, called a metabotropic receptor. Whereas classical ionotropic receptors affect postsynaptic membrane permeability directly, metabotropic receptors effect changes in the postsynaptic neuron via intracellular molecules called a second messengers. When a neurotransmitter binds to a metabotropic receptor, a protein inside the postsynaptic cell initiates a cascade of biochemical events that influence the neuron's future response to stimuli. Although the neurotransmitter, or "first messenger," becomes inactivated rapidly, the effects of the second messenger may last several days. One way in which the second messenger induces prolonged effects is by initiating the synthesis of new proteins, which remain in the cytoplasm of the postsynaptic neuron, influencing its activity. Certain proteins can affect the genome of a postsynaptic cell, permanently altering the cell's ac tivities.

The Future of South Africa Essays -- African History

The Future of South Africa Some things in South Africa are becoming better as we move into the future, while others are becoming worse. The government in South Africa is better. All the provisions of the new constitution were in place as of the year 1999. In June of 1999, President Nelson Mandela’s term ended, and Thabo Mbeki was elected as president. There was a peaceful change in government, and Mbeki is doing many things to help the country. Some of these include eliminating hatred between races, ending poverty, and reducing violent crime. The government is also electing more people of different races and genders to the National Assembly and the Cabinet. The economy in South Africa is the best of all the countries in Africa, and should continue to improve. South African’s economy depends mainly on its mineral recourses which it exports to many other countries. South Africa’s government has invested in many other industries such as tourism and wine, which are fast-growing and important parts of the economy. The government is also encouraging businesses to hire more blacks and coloureds ( a term in South Africa used to identify people of racially mixed heritage) as they have the highest unemployment rate of any ethnic group in the country. South Africa has many plans for an â€Å"industrial renaissance,† and is using many more of the country’s natural recourses and is trying to strengthen its ties with the rest of the world. Education in South Africa is...

Computerization at Work :: Technology Computers Essays

Computerization at Work Work is a major component of many people's lives. Wage income is the primary way that most people between the ages of 22 and 65 obtain money for food, housing, clothing, transportation, and so on. The United States' population is about 260,000,000, and well over 110,000,000 work for a living. So, major changes in the nature of work - the number of jobs, the nature of jobs, career opportunities, job content, social relationships at work, working conditions of various kinds - affect a significant segment of society. Computer-based systems are organized to enhance the quality of working life for clerks, administrative staff, professionals, and managers. Computerization has touched more people more visibly in their work than in any other kind of setting-home, schools, churches, banking, and so on. Workplaces are good places to examine how the dreams and dilemmas of computerization really work out for large numbers of people under an immense variety of social and technical conditions. Office work has always involved keeping records. In the early twentieth century, the technologies and organization of office work underwent substantial change. Firms began to adopt telephones and typewriters, both of which had been recently invented. By the 1930s and 1940s, many manufactures devised electromechanical machines to help manipulate, sort, and tally specialized paper records automatically. Some of the more expensive pieces of equipment, such as specialized card-accounting machines, were much more affordable and justifiable in organizations that centralize their key office activities. Business such as insurance companies and banks, along with public agencies, adopted computer-based information systems on a large scale in the 1960s. Many of the early digital computer systems replaced electromechanical paper-card systems. The earliest systems were designed for batch operation. Clerks filled in paper forms with information about a firm's clients, and the forms were then perio dically sent to a special group of keypunchers to translate the data onto cardboard card. These card each stored one line of data, up to eighty characters. They were punched with a series of holes for each character or number. Keypunch machines were clanky devices with a typewriter-style keyboard, a bin for storing blank card, and a holder for the card being punched. There was no simple way for a keypunch operator to correct an error. Cards containing errors had to be completely repunched. The punched cards were then taken to a data-processing department for a weekly or monthly run, during which time records were updated and reports were produced.

Customer Satisfaction of Standard Hotels in Tagaytay City Essay

Introduction The hotel industry grew with travel, as people needed places for shelter and food along the routes they travelled, whether by land, water or air. The hotel industry is, therefore, one of the oldest endeavors in the world. (Andrews, 2009) Owners of the hotel realized that a customer has their own demand in services and facilities, that is why they developed what the hotels are offering before through what are the customer’s needs. The Hotel Proprietors Act 1956 provides a clear definition of a hotel: An establishment held out by the proprietor as offering food, drink and, if so, required, sleeping accommodation, without special contract, to any traveler presenting himself who appears able and willing to pay a reasonable sum for the services and facilities provided and who is in a fit state to be received. Hotels can be classified into different types according to their target market, size, location, facilities or ownership. (Baker.,Huyton., Bradley., 2000) Recently, the hotel industry trends towards separating the services sector between hotels. Many hotels nowadays offer recreation for a particular group of tourists. Popular family hotels, hotels for the newlyweds and hotels for people with disabilities, each of them has its unique set of services. Among the services that are indirectly related to the customers, that means that they are not involved in direct care of guests, are marketing service and bookkeeping of the hotel. Reservation, once considered one of the main hotel services, today has become an anachronism. Nowadays, in order to book a hotel clients use the services of the major tour operators. Online booking through the numerous tourist online services is getting increasingly popular. Booking.com says it offers 202,842 hotels globally. STR Global estimates that there are 187,000 hotels, offering 17.5 million guest rooms, around the globe. The Priceline Group’s supply included 200,900 hotels through March 19, Susquehanna estimates, and during the first quarter it was adding about 1,541 properties (hotels, apartment hotels, motels, hotels, residence hotels, B&B’s and guest houses) per week. (tnooz.com, 2012) In the Philippines, hotels can be classified into four categories: De Luxe class, First class, Standard class, and Economy class. The higher the star rating of the hotel is, the higher its luxury level. De Luxe has 30, First class has 16, Standard has 83 and Economy has 43 as of September 2011. (tourism.gov.ph, 2011) One of the famous tourist destinations is Tagaytay City. In order for the place to accommodate guests; they have nine hotels that were accredited by the Department of Tourism. Standard Hotels offer an affordable stay and provide all basic amenities to the tourists. These hotels are considered as the best option for all those people who look out for affordable accommodations and don’t find it sensible wasting money over unnecessary facilities. (EzineArticles.com) Republic Act No. 7160 otherwise known as the Local Government Code of 1991Section 5. Requirements for a standard class hotel: Location, Bedroom facilities and furnishings, Front office/reception, Housekeeping, Food and Beverage, Engeering and Maintenance, General Facilities, Service and Staff, Special Facilities. (tourism.gov.ph) Background of the Study Tagaytay has a lots of business establishments that can affect ones operations. There are a lot of hotels and establishments in Tagaytay that offer different accommodations, amenities and services such as Bed and Breakfast, Inns, Apartment Hotels, Apartel and other establishments located in Tagaytay City. Hotel Dominique welcomes the guests into a charming European – style chalet in the cool countryside of Tagaytay. The guests can hole up in a Balinese suite or cabana with direct access to the pool. But they’re more than just one place to stay. Hotel Dominique imparts the feeling of â€Å"home† when they greet guests with the warmest of smiles and attend you your needs promptly. And whether the guests spend their days sampling their signature dishes or getting a massage, guests can always come back to a room that looks like the very first day they saw it. (hoteldominique.net,2011) Hotel Kimberly nestled close to Tagaytay City’s cafà © district. It offers elegant accommodation, modern facilities, and genuine hospitality of its friendly and efficient staff. All these set against the floral landscapes, breathtaking scenery, year-round cool climate, and wonderfully idyllic atmosphere of Tagaytay City. (hotelkimberly.com, 2012) The Lake Hotel Tagaytay offers charming, unbelievably serene spaces. With each reasonably priced accommodation you’re sure to finally be in a place where everything becomes unforgettable. (thelakehotel-tagaytaycity.com,2010) Discovery Country Suites in Tagaytay focuses only on giving you these special moments that you simply will never simply forget. Whether being awed by breathtaking views of Taal Volcano and Lake or lounging away at our distinctively themed rooms, every second spent here should be savored. For some, these uninhibited pleasures may seem trivial and even insignificant. But it is these little moments that inspire us the most. (discoverycountrysuites-tagaytay.com,2012) One Tagaytay Place Hotel suites offers a refreshing vibe of Tagaytay, let our hotel’s cozy rooms and amenities tickle your senses. Stay in bed a little longer and enjoy the sumptuous comforts of a richly furnished guestroom. Indulge in local and international cuisine, Tagaytay delicacies, spa treatments, and other pleasurable choices. Go celebrate life’s most important events with friends and family at the Aurora Grand Ballroom. Live that perfect day at One Tagaytay Place Hotel Suites. (onetagaytayplace.com,2012) Days Hotel Tagaytay is an affordable luxury. An ambiance of carefully cultured elegance.Architecture, appointments and amenities of distinction.Outstanding customer service.Awesome cuisines from all over the world.Addictive flavors and captivating tastes.Creature comforts without compromise.Dedication to enhancing everyday expectations.Pleasant surprises that ensure every guest leaves happy. It all comes together in the Best Value under the Sun. (dayshotel.ph, 2012) Statement of the Problem This study will determine the level of guests satisfaction experienced by the customers through the services they offer and help to improve their services on guests. Specifically, the study sought to answer the following questions: 1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of: a) Age b) Gender c) Educational Attainment d) Monthly Income e) Place of Origin 2. What are the levels of guest satisfaction of Standard Hotels in Tagaytay in terms of: a) Accommodation b) Front Office Service c) Facilities and amenities d) Food and Beverage Service 3. Is there a significant difference between the ratings of the respondents based on the criteria set by the Department of Tourism on the different services provided to guests by standard hotels in Tagaytay City? 4. Is there significant relationship between the profile variable of the respondents to the ratings on there level og satisfaction? 5. What action plan can be proposed? Significance of the Study This study will be beneficial to the following: Province of Cavite. This study will benefit by knowing the strategies on how to encourage tourists to visit Cavite by means of this, Cavite may attract more tourists because of the quality of the rendered services and accommodation by the hotels. Tagaytay City. This study will benefit by improving or increasing the tourists arrival in Tagaytay City. Hotel Industry. This study will benefit by helping the hotel industry to improve their service and products to the better service and strategies of their competitive life. As well as the management and staff of the hotel, and also the customers. Students. This study will benefit by helping the students to have an idea concerning the service of an establishment, which can make their study easier and realistic. Future Researchers. This study will benefitby using our study asreference or source of other studies to be conducted. Scope and limitation The researchers cover the guest and employees of standard hotels in Tagaytay city. The study is limited to six (6) standard hotels accredited by Department of Tourism in Tagaytay city. They are the respondents of the study. They will evaluate and analyze the whole production of standard hotel in Tagaytay city.The researchers will conduct a survey to 120 respondents, 20 respondents per standard hotel. Definition of Terms Accommodation- is anything done to adjust with the expectations of others. It is equated so as to address needs and wishes or to reconcile contradictory interpretations of things. Accreditation – is a process in which certification of competency, authority, or credibility is presented. Amenities- Something that contributes to physical or material comfort. things that make you comfortable and at ease. Anachronism – an error in which a person, object, event, etc., is assigned a date or period other than the correct one. Department of Tourism – is the executive department of the Philippine governmentresponsible for the regulation of the Philippine tourism industry and the promotion of the Philippines as a tourist destination. Facilities – something designed, built, installed, etc,. to serve a specific function affording a convenience or service. Food and Beverage – which is the sector/industry that specializes in the conceptualization, the making of, and delivery of foods. The largest are in restaurants and bars, including hotels, resorts, and casinos. Front Office – welcomes guests to the accommodation section: meeting and greeting them, taking and organizing reservations, allocating check in and out of rooms, organizing porter service, issuing keys and other security arrangements, passing on messages to customers and settling the accounts. Guest – a person who receives the hospitality of a hotel, a city. A person who patronizes a hotel, restaurant, etc. for the lodging, food, or entertainment it provide. Guest Satisfaction – is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. Satisfaction – an act of satisfying; fulfillment; gratification. The state of being satisfied or contentment. . The researchers cover the guest and employees of standard hotels in Tagaytay City. The study is limited to six (6) standard hotels accredited by Department of Tourism in Tagaytay City. They are the respondents of the study. They will evaluate and analyze the whole production of standard hotel in Tagaytay city. The researchers will conduct a survey to 120 respondents, 20 respondents per standard hotel. Definition of Terms Accreditation – is a process in which certification of competency, authority, or credibility is presented. Anachronism – an error in which a person, object, event, etc., is assigned a date or period other than the correct one. Department of Tourism – is the executive department of the government responsible for the regulation of the Philippine tourism industry and the promotion of the Philippines as a tourist destination. Guest – a person who receives the hospitality of a hotel, a city. A person who patronizes a hotel, restaurant, etc. for the lodging, food, or entertainment it provides. Guest Satisfaction – is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. Satisfaction – an act of satisfying; fulfillment; gratification. The state of being satisfied or contentment.