George Fox University | About | Wayne Adams

Wayne Adams

Professor of Psychology

Countries
Philippines, China

Nature of Work
In 2001, Wayne Adams and two graduate students from George Fox University visited a large mission school in the Philippines to introduce a program of consulting with parents and school personnel surrounding the needs of children with known or suspected learning disabilities. It is recognized that most mission schools have limited expertise to diagnose or work with youngsters with reading, math, and other kinds of learning disorders.

This model was developed to provide a comprehensive, quality assessment for these children along with debriefing with their teachers and parents. This was the first attempt to work with learning-disabled students in this manner. Initial feedback from parents and school personnel has been very positive. Because this approach was demonstrated to be effective, the model holds much promise for mission schools worldwide as well as for students in rural areas here in the U.S. An Internet component needs to be further developed to follow-up and monitor progress.

In 2002, Wayne and his wife took three graduate students to Wuhan, China, as part of a faculty exchange between GFU and Wuhan University of Technology, a school of 40,000 students. He, his wife and the students stayed six weeks teaching English and psychology to graduate and undergraduate students at the university, and touring the country on weekends.

In May 2004, Wayne traveled with one student to Wuhan University, the oldest university in China, where he has been invited to consult with his Chinese hosts about the development of a graduate psychology program that includes a "spiritual emphasis." He hopes this will be the beginning of an ongoing exchange between the George Fox graduate psychology program faculty and students, and faculty and students at Wuhan University.