Sustained responding under intermittent reinforcement in psychotic children

A procedure is described that classifies abnormal children with respect to their capacity to sustain adaptive responding without consistent, extrinsic reinforcement. The procedure was used to assess individual differences in tolerance for intermittent reinforcement among a group of 21 psychotic children. The procedure was found to correlate with three variables established by previous research to be important prognostically-i.e., measures of intelligence, social competence, and language functioning. Findings are discussed with respect to the construct of motivation as distinguished from the construct of ability. It is suggested that whether or not the experimental measure is regarded as relevant to the global construct of motivation, it has clear relevance to potential deficits in the important capacity to sustain adaptive responding.Funding for this study and for the development of the computer-operated laboratory was provided by the USOE, Bureau of Education for the Handicapped, as a portion of Grant Number C007604305, Sensory discrimination, Generalization and Language Training of Autistic Children, awarded to R. L. Blanton and C. W. Deckner. Appreciation is expressed to S. A. Soraci, Jr., and A. A. Baumeister for valuable suggestions regarding this study.     

Some motivational properties of sensory stimulation in psychotic children

The purpose of this experiment was to assess the reinforcing properties of sensory stimulation for autistic children. Three different types of sensory stimulation were used: music, visual flickering stimulation (e.g., strobe light), and visual movement (e.g., windshield wiper). In a given session, one of the three kinds of sensory stimulation was presented for 5 sec contingent upon the children's bar pressing (FR5). In Phase I, which was designed to assess the differential reinforcement value of these events, four children participated in sessions with each of the sensory events. In Phase II, designed to assess variables influencing the maintenance of responding for the sensory events, two children continued to participate in sessions with their preferred sensory event until satiation occurred. The results showed the following: (1) Sensory events could be used as reinforcing stimuli to produce a high rate of responding which was relatively durable over time: (2) the reinforcement function of the sensory events was idiosyncratic across children. with one child preferring one kind of sensory event, and another child preferring a different kind; (3) there was substantial variability in daily response rates: and (4) when a child satiated on a particular sensory event, a relatively small change in the sensory event was sufficient to recover a high rate of responding. The results of this study suggest that sensory reinforcers can profitably be used in behavior therapy with autistic children.     

Behavior problems in children with pure speech disorders and in children with combined speech and language disorders

Forty-six children with pure speech disorders and 53 children with disorders of both speech and language were rated by parents and teachers for behavioral problems. Both parents and teachers rated the speech- and language-disordered children as having more severe and more frequent behavioral abnormalities,particularly hyperactive behaviors and developmental problems. Somatic complaints were more pronounced in the pure speech group. Conduct disorders,emotional problems, and poor relationships did not distinguish between the two groups. The importance of these findings for speech therapists and individuals working with speech- or language-impaired children is discussed.     

Programmed relaxation and reciprocal inhibition with psychotic children

This exploratory project illustrates, in contrast to earlier opinions, that psychotic children can be taught muscular relaxation through carefully structured training in physical relaxation. The learned relaxation behavior was apparently antagonistic to and effected a significant decrement in the generalized response of high anxiety which had previously led to aggressive outbursts. As a result of the exploratory project it was hypothesized that although systematic desensitization may be necessary for modifying specific patterns such as phobias, the generalized excitement response of psychotic and other severely disturbed children may be effectively and parsimoniously modified simply through general training in muscular relaxation.     

Modification of verbal behavior in speech deficient children

Operant conditioning techniques were applied to the verbal behavior of three speech deficient children. Subjects A and B having no intelligible speech and Subject C having very little. Using candy and a puppet with a 13-yr-old boy (A), it was possible to condition vocalization rate. Using social reinforcement with a 6-yr-old boy (B), it was possible to extinguish animal-like sounds, to condition vocalization rate, and to shape a small vocabulary of syllables, but not to gain discriminative control over word emission. Using varied reinforcers, e.g., candy, praise, repetitions other own responses, and hand clapping with a 13-yr-old girl (C), it was possible to condition rate of verbalization, to establish appropriate mimicking, and to establish naming of five pictures. The results were consistent with the findings of Salzinger et al. (1965) and with those of Kerr et al. (1965).     

Iconicity in the speech of children and adults

Iconicity – the correspondence between form and meaning – may help young children learn to use new words. Early‐learned words are higher in iconicity than later learned words. However, it remains unclear what role iconicity may play in actual language use. Here, we ask whether iconicity relates not just to the age at which words are acquired, but also to how frequently children and adults use the words in their speech. If iconicity serves to bootstrap word learning, then we would expect that children should say highly iconic words more frequently than less iconic words, especially early in development. We would also expect adults to use iconic words more often when speaking to children than to other adults. We examined the relationship between frequency and iconicity for approximately 2000 English words. Replicating previous findings, we found that more iconic words are learned earlier. Moreover, we found that more iconic words tend to be used more by younger children, and adults use more iconic words when speaking to children than to other adults. Together, our results show that young children not only learn words rated high in iconicity earlier than words low in iconicity, but they also produce these words more frequently in conversation – a pattern that is reciprocated by adults when speaking with children. Thus, the earliest conversations of children are relatively higher in iconicity, suggesting that this iconicity scaffolds the production and comprehension of spoken language during early development.     

Being with a psychotic child a psycho-analytical approach to the problems of parents of psychotic children.

The reactive and adaptive responses of parents to their overtly psychotic children are described and an attempt is made to reconstruct the specific mother/infant interactions contributing to the development of different types of childhood psychosis. The concepts of 'maternal structure' and of 'delusional primary maternal preoccupation' are found to be relevant in this context. These considerations throw light on some aspects of countertransference encountered by workers in this field and of creative search in general. Whilst exploring parental psychology and psychopathology this paper attempts to outline the psychodynamic environment of the psychotic child at the various stages of his life and dis-ease. It emphasizes the value of the psychoanalytical approach as a guide in such an exploration and as a source of hope for better understanding and more effective interventions, both therapeutic and prophylactic.     

Primary school children rate children with autism negatively on looks,speech and speech content

Adults and adolescents form negative first impressions of ASD adults and children. We examined the first impression ratings of primary school children (6–9 years) of their ASD peers. 146 school children rated either silent videos, speech or transcribe speech from 14 actors (7 ASD, 7 TD). The ASD actors were rated more negatively than the typically developing actors on all three stimulus types. Children with ASD are likely to be judged more negatively than their peers at the very start of their formal education. Contrary to previous research, for primary school children, the content of the speech was judged as negatively as the delivery of the speech.     

Projective identification as a communication its grammar in borderline psychotic children

This paper distinguishes between the grammar of wishes in neurotic patients and the grammar of imperative needs in borderline patients. The treatment of a borderline psychotic boy 30 years ago was uninformed by subsequent developments in technique arising from the theory of projective identification as a communication rather than as an attack or a defense. Issues that need addressing in borderline patients, especially those who are children, include (a) developmental delay, (b) the distinction between defenses and overcomings in the paranoid position, (c) rectification fantasies of vengeance, and (d) rectification fantasies of justice and other moral imperatives.     

Auditory lateralization for speech in language-impaired children.

The ability of five language-impaired (LI) children and five matched controls, aged 7-10 years, to discriminate natural pairs of consonant-vowel syllables contrasted on place of articulation and voicing, presented to the right or left ear with white noise in the contralateral ear, was investigated. The general pattern of errors indicated that LI children had more difficulty than controls in discriminating place of articulation contrasts only when they were presented to the left ear, as well as a difficulty in discriminating voice contrasts selective to the right ear. The results are discussed in terms of acoustic integration and suggest that bihemispheric dysfunction is a basis for specific language impairment.     

Information processing and speech lateralization in learning-disabled children

The relationship between information processing and speech lateralization was investigated in learning-disabled children. The Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) assessed simultaneous and successive processing while a dichotic listening paradigm with free recall and directed attention conditions assessed speech lateralization. A three-factor ANOVA design conducted on the dichotic data revealed that normal children demonstrated stronger right ear advantage (REA); whereas learning-disabled showed weaker right ear advantage. Further, lambda analyses conducted on individual subjects revealed that the learning-disabled did not demonstrate the REA, were not biased attenders, and did not get more right ear than left ear items when attention was directed to one ear. Multiple-regression analysis was used to predict sequential processing from the dichotic data for both groups. Learning-disabled children demonstrated a substantial deficit in sequential processing as compared to normal children. These results indicate that learning-disabled children may not have adequate cerebral lateralization of receptive speech processes, shift their attention more readily, and are more inadequate in sequential processing that presumably subserves language functioning. Perhaps learning-disabled children have deficiencies of processor capacity of salient areas of the left (language) hemisphere.