رام لعل
اردو دنیا میں اس وقت جناب رام لعل کا ماتم بپا ہے، وہ اردو کے اچھے اہل قلم اور ممتاز افسانہ نگار تھے، ان کا آبائی وطن مغربی پنجاب میں میانوی تھا، لاہور میں تعلیم ہوئی اور یہیں سے ان کی ادبی و تحریری زندگی کا آغاز ہوا۔ تقسیم ہند کے بعد ہندوستان آئے اور ریلوے میں ملازم ہوئے، کچھ عرصہ دہلی میں گزرا پھر لکھنؤ آئے اور اندرانگر میں مستقل بودوباش اختیار کرلی۔ وہ لکھنؤ کی ہر ادبی و تہذیبی سرگرمی کا جز ہوگئے تھے۔ افسانہ نگاری ان کا خاص میدان تھا، انہوں نے پاکستان اور بعض مغربی ملکوں کا سفر بھی کیا جن کے سفرنامے بھی لکھے۔ ’’زردپتوں کی بہار‘‘ اور ’’خواب خواب سفر‘‘ اردو کے مقبول سفرنامے سمجھے جاتے ہیں۔ رام لعل صاحب کو ادبی خدمات کے صلے میں قومی سطح کے متعدد اعزاز حاصل ہوئے۔ پاکستان سے ملنے والے ایوارڈ کی رقم پاکستانیوں کو نذر کردی۔ وہ قرطاس و قلم سے ہی سروکار نہیں رکھتے تھے بلکہ بڑے عملی شخص بھی تھے۔ ان ہی کی دعوت پر لکھنؤ میں غیرمسلم اردو مصنفین کی عظیم الشان کانفرنس ہوئی۔ کل ہند اردو رابطہ کمیٹی کا قیام ان کی جدوجہد کا نتیجہ تھا، جس کے وہی صدر تھے، اس کے لئے انہوں نے پروفیسر ملک زادہ منظور احمد کے ساتھ پورے صوبے کا دورہ کیا اور اردو کو دوسری زبان بنانے کی کامیاب مہم چلائی۔ اردو اکادمی اترپردیش کے وائس چیرمین اور فخرالدین علی احمد میموریل کمیٹی کے چیرمین بھی رہے، رام لعل جی اردو کی ہر مہم میں شریک رہتے اور اسے قوت پہنچاتے۔ اردو کے ایسے محسن کی موت اس کا بہت بڑا سانحہ ہے۔
(ضیاء الدین اصلاحی، نومبر ۱۹۹۶ء)
Background of the Study: The aim of the present research was to examine the assessment practices of Speech-Language Pathologists for Cognitive Communication Disorders after Traumatic Brain Injury.
Methodology: It was a cross-sectional survey method, a convenient sampling technique. Research was carried out from January 2021 to June 2021. The sample size was n=21, out of which n= 9 (42.8%) participants, each from Rawalpindi and Islamabad n= 3 (14.4%) participants from Lahore filled in their responses. Medium; being Online, the questionnaire was distributed either through email, WhatsApp or Facebook MessengerApp. SLPs who were undergraduates or who had no experience working with TBI clients were excluded. Questionnaire included 12 items. Responses of research participants were recorded using Google Forms and presented in the form of n (%). The data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, and chi-square analysis was performed to confirm the association between settings, city of practice and years of experience through Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 22.0.
Results: Speech-Language Pathologists reported that they routinely assessed (62% each) Receptive and Expressive communication. However; less than half of the participants routinely evaluated domains like verbal pragmatic skills (43.3%), functional communication (33.3%) and phonemic awareness (33.3%). SLPs assessed their clients by employing tests like MoCA (55.62%), Quick Aphasia Battery (18.75%), Cognitive Assessment (LOTCA Protocol) (14.35%) and a combination of Formal (48%) and Informal (52%) clinical interviews.
Conclusion: Informal discourse assessment is incorporated more frequently as compared to informal discourse evaluation in assessment practices of Speech-Language pathologists of Pakistan for cognitive communication impairment followed by traumatic brain injury.
Algebra uses symbols for generalizing Arithmetic. These symbols have different meanings and interpretations in different situations. Students have different perceptions about these symbols, letters and signs. Despite the vast research by researchers, namely Kuchemann (1981&1998,), Collis (1975), and Booth (1988 & 1984) on the students' difficulties in understanding letters in Algebra, the overall image that emerges from the literature is that students have misconceptions about the use of letters and signs in Algebra. Through my study, I have explored the perceptions of students about the use of symbols and signs in Algebra. Here, I have used the case study method within a qualitative research design. In order to get insights of students' perceptions of Algebra, I have interviewed students in groups and invited them to work on different tasks related to uncovering their perceptions of Algebra. My empirical done through this study has revealed that the students have many misconceptions in the use of symbols in Algebra, which have bearings on their learning of algebra. It appears that the problems encountered by the students appeared to have a connection with their lack of conceptual knowledge and might have been a result of teaching they experience in learning Algebra at the secondary schooling level. Some of the findings also suggest that teachers appeared to have difficulties with their own content knowledge. Here, one can also see that textbooks are also not presenting content in such an elaborate way that these could have provided sufficient room to students for developing their relational knowledge and conceptual understanding of Algebra. Furthermore, the interviews and observation of the classrooms highlighted that the students usually perceive letter and variables as a fixed numbers or value. Some of the students perceive letters as short forms and abbreviations of some objects. Students also have difficulties in interpreting and developing algebraic equations and expressions. Moreover, this study investigates students' difficulty in translating word problems in algebraic and symbolic form. They usually follow phrase-to-phrase strategy in translating word problem from English into Urdu. This process of translating the word problem from English in to their own language appears to have hindered the correct use of symbols in Algebra. Textbooks, mathematical pedagogy, students' prior experience of arithmetic and the students' and teachers' inadequency in algebraic thinking emerged from my study as some of the reasons of students' misconceptions and why they experienced difficulties in learning of Algebra. The findings have some