Reading disability and the differential ability scales

This study contrasted the performance on the Differential Abilities Scales (DAS) of a carefully selected sample of reading-disabled children with a matched control group of children from the standardization sample. It was hypothesized that patterns on the DAS might be similar to those found on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised and on the British Abilities Scales (BAS). The results suggest that reading-disabled children as a group do demonstrate a characteristic profile on the DAS. They score relatively poorly on the achievement tests and on two of the three diagnostic tests, Recall of Digits and Recall of Objects. The one exception to complete profile similarity between the DAS and the BAS was Speed of Information Processing. In the present study, low scores on Speed of Information Processing did not characterize the reading-disabled children as a whole but did characterize a subgroup of reading-disabled children. Clusters of reading-disabled children were generated from the data, and specific profiles of subgroups of children are presented.     

Preparation of school psychologists for school-based consultation: A training activity and a service to community schools

Presents a set of training experiences to develop school-based consultation skills in preservice school psychologists and discusses problems in implementing this model of service. Based on their experience in training school psychologists at the University of California, Berkeley, the authors report on preparing students to deal with teacher and principal expectations. Also discussed are methods for mobilizing teachers to plan more precisely to meet the needs of individual pupils in the classroom. A distinction is made in the paper between school-based and community-based mental health consultation.     

Consultation from the consultee''s perspective

School-based and other mental health consultants are confronted with consultees who must adjust to the process of consultation by learning the parameters of the interaction. Consultees must learn how to act in this unique setting, must learn to use the consultant and the process for their own ends, and must learn about ways that they, themselves, contribute to problems which assail them. Consultation is successful to the extent that consultees come to a quick understanding of how to proceed. By being aware of what it is that the consultee must learn, the consultant may expedite the necessary insight.     

Factors related to young people's attitudes to the consumption of alcohol and other psychoactive substances

In this study we analyzed variables related to the consumption of alcohol and other psychoactive substances among young people, and to their attitudes towards experimentation. The sample was made up of 775 pupils aged 12 to 16 from four secondary schools in the Principality of Asturias (northern Spain). The results obtained confirm the multi-causal nature of these phenomena. The attitudes of young people towards substance use was found to be more favourable the lower the perception of risk, the more mistaken their beliefs and the more permissive their disposition to the use of alcohol and other illegal drug. Other determining factors are their relationship with peer groups that use drugs, antisocial behaviours and attention-seeking indications.     

Fragment difficulty in priming on word-completion tests

Word-fragment completion is a frequently used test in implicit memory research. In this test priming is the relevant variable. Priming is obtained by subtracting the proportion of nonstudied word fragments correctly completed (called "completion difficulty baseline") from the studied word fragments correctly completed. Since completion difficulty can spuriously vary greatly between experimental conditions, its effect on magnitude of priming is studied. Normative frequency of occurrence of target words was considered because their influence over performance is known. In an experiment using a word-fragment completion test, participants' completion of fragments at three levels of completion difficulty and two levels of frequency was tested. Analysis showed that completion difficulty had a significant effect on global priming. The priming magnitude was higher for Difficult and Moderately Difficult fragments than for Easy ones. An interaction between fragment difficulty and normative word frequency was observed. When the fragments were easy to complete, the expected effect of higher priming for low-frequency words than for high-frequency words was not observed.     

New measure o f perceived motorcompetence for children ages 4 to 6 years

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a test for the assessment of perceived motor competence in young children ages 4 to 6 years old. The structure of the Children's Perception of Motor Competence Scale was analyzed through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis with 495 children between 4 and 6 years of age. A second-order model was selected and consisted of one scale of Perceived General Motor Competence and two subscales, Perceived Gross Motor Competence and Perceived Fine Motor Competence. The number of items was 22. This test showed acceptable internal reliability: global scale (alpha = .81), Perceived Gross Motor Competence (alpha = .80), and Perceived Fine Motor Competence (alpha = .65). Children manifested accuracy in the assessment of the competence. Perceived motor competence was related to actual motor competence as measured by the Movement ABC Test and by an observational scale used by Physical Education teachers. There were no sex differences. The Children's Perception of Motor Competence Scale could be considered an interesting assessment test for identifying current self-perceptions of motor competence in young children.     

Resistance to extinction of human evaluative conditioning using a between-subjects design

Two experiments were conducted to examine whether the resistance to extinction obtained in evaluative conditioning (EC) studies implies that EC is a qualitatively distinct form of classical conditioning (Baeyens, Eelen, & Crombez, 1995 a) or whether it is the result of an nonassociative artefact ( Field & Davey, 1997 , 1998 , 1999 ). Both experiments included between-subjects control groups in addition to standard within-subjects control conditions. In Experiment 1, only verbal ratings were measured in order to evaluate the effect of postacquisition CS-only exposures on EC whereas in Experiment 2, verbal ratings and postextinction priming effects were measured. The results showed that the EC effects are demonstrable in a between-subjects design and that the extinction procedure did not have any influence on the acquired evaluative value of CSs regardless of whether the verbal ratings or the priming effects were used as dependent variables. The present results provide evidence that EC is resistant to extinction and suggest an interpretation of EC as a qualitatively distinct form of associative learning.     

Gender differences in the construction and experience of cancer care: The consequences of the gendered positioning of carers

The experience and construction of caring in 50 informal cancer carers, 35 women and 15 men, was examined using a critical realist approach and a mixed method design. Women reported higher rates of depression, anxiety, unmet needs and burden of care than men. No gender differences were found in time spent care-giving, suggesting that gendered roles are implicated in distress and coping. Semi-structured interviews with 13 carers were used to identify gender differences in caring, analysed using positioning theory. Women described being positioned as all encompassing expert carers, expected to be competent at decision-making, a range of physical caring tasks, and provision of emotional support for the person with cancer. The consequences of this positioning were over-responsibility and self-sacrifice, physical costs and overwhelming emotions, which were self-silenced. In contrast, men carers positioned caring as a competency task which they had mastered, and which provided them with satisfaction, with the emotions of the person with cancer, or their own emotions, being negative aspects of caring. It is concluded that cancer caring is tied to gendered constructions and expectations, with considerable implications for psychological well-being and coping, and for carer support services, which need to take gender issues on board.