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Dr Rose Dixon
Rose Dixon completed her PhD at the University of Western Sydney in 2005. The main focus of Rose’s research was the impact of deinstitutionalisation on affective variables of adults with mild intellectual disabilities.
Rose is currently a Senior Lecturer in Special Education at the University of Wollongong and Coordinator of Undergraduate and Post graduate Special Education in the Faculty of Education. Her current research interests focus on affective development of people with disabilities, Inclusion of students with Autism and Classroom Management and Challenging Behaviour.
Rose is a trained primary school teacher and has many years of experience teaching students with special needs in Australia and overseas.
Qualifications
B.Ed (Sydney) B.Ed. Hons (First class) (Massey), M.Ed (Research) (Massey), Graduate Diploma in Hearing Impairment and Language Disorders (UWS), PhD (UWS)
Award
Australian Postgraduate Award
Grant
2007-2009 ARC Linkage Grant: Healthy Dogs Healthy Communities: Evaluating the impact of new interdisciplinary interventions to enhance dog health to benefit community health outcomes in remote Indigenous communities
Current Position
Senior Lecturer in Special Education, Faculty of Education, University of Wollongong.
Thesis Title
Abstract
Social competence and affective development (self-concept, self esteem and locus of control) of people with intellectual disability has been valued as a desirable goal and is seen as the crucial variable in the attainment of full integration into the community. Although there is agreement that deinstitutionalisation has been beneficial for people with intellectual disabilities, it is recognised that social integration has not been achieved. As a consequence, many people lead lonely, isolated and socially restricted lives.This thesis examined the social competency and affective functioning of people with mild intellectual disabilities through salient variables that impact on people with disabilities who have been deinstitutionalised. Its primary purpose was to extend the previous research on the impact of deinstitutionalisation by incorporating multi-dimensional self-concept, adaptive behaviour and quality of life, in combination with, self-esteem and locus of control, in a longitudinal/comparison design. It also aimed to examine the development of identity, self-esteem and social competencies from a qualitative perspective. Finally, it assessed the efficacy of an interpersonal cognitive problem-solving intervention which incorporated techniques for the development of maintenance and generalisation, and determined the impact of this intervention on real-life social behaviours. The findings had important implications for current theory of the self-concept for people with intellectual disabilities, the provision of programs and techniques to improve self-concept, and also for the provision of social skills programs to enhance the social competencies and hence, the social integration for people who have been deinstitutionalised.
Thesis Submission Date
2004
Selected Publications
Dixon, R.M. and Tanner, K. (in press) Talk the talk but can schools walk the walk: The experience of transitioning adolescents with Asperger Syndrome in two academically focussed high schools in New South Wales. International Journal of Disability Development and Education
Tan, A, Dixon, R.M and Verenikina, I. (in press) A Quantitative Study of the Attitudes of Students Towards People with Disabilities in Integrated and Non-Integrated Schools in Singapore. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education
Dixon, R.M.,Dixon, R.J.& Constable,S. (2007) Risky Journeys: The Development of Best Practice Adult Educational Programs to Indigenous People in Rural and Remote Communities. International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations, 7:231-240
Constable S, Brown G, Dixon R.J. and Dixon, R.M. (2008) Healing the hand that feeds you: exploring solutions for dog and community health and welfare in Australian Indigenous cultures. The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 3:219-230.
Constable S., Dixon R.M. and Dixon R.J, (in press) For the Love of Dog: The Human-Animal Bond in Rural and Remote Australian Indigenous Communities. Anthrozoos.
