The Missouri Developmental Disability Resource Center: A Web site responding to the critical need for information of parents with a child with a disability

One of the greatest problems for parents who have a child with a developmental disability is a lack of access to information. Parents have a critical need to learn the specifics of their child’s disability, the best treatment practices, and how the broader service delivery system works (Bradley, 1992; Rinck, Calkins, Green, & Stadler, 1986). The Missouri Developmental Disabilities Resource Center Web site [http://www.moddrc.com] was created as an innovative method of meeting the information needs of this underserved population. Challenges to the adoption of this innovative model are highlighted, and some options for addressing these issues are discussed.     

Dual diagnosis: Clinical issues in substance abuse treatment

Dual diagnosis within the context of alcohol and substance abuse has become the focus of considerable interest, particularly when related to anxiety and depression. Depressive symptomatology is frequently associated with substance abuse and chemical dependency and numerous studies report a high concordance with these diagnostic entities and major affective disorder (Galanter,Casteneda, & Ferman, 1988). Depressive symptoms are also related to post treatment of alcohol and substance abuse with reported occurrences of 75 percent occurring with patients who have experienced relapse (Biedermann, Newcome, & Sprich, 1991).     

Interpersonal problem-solving skills training with aggressive young children

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of an interpersonal problem-solving training program with aggressive young children. There were 13 children in the experimental group and 11 children in the contact control group. Both experimental and contact control group children were evaluated at pretest, posttest, and follow-up on the Behavioral Interpersonal Problem Solving Test (BIPS). Experimental group subjects were exposed to the interpersonal problem-solving skills training program for 50 training sessions. The contact control group participated in reading-story sessions during the same time period. Results and discussion reflect the efficacy of the training procedure and the nature of the change in interpersonal problem-solving behavior in aggressive young children.     

Exploratory behavior as a function of motivational orientations and task conditions

Twenty-four boys and 24 girls from the 5th and 10th grades, one-half of whom were predominantly intrinsically motivated (IM) while the other half were predominantly extrinsically motivated (EM), were given an interesting task under task-imposed, task-offered and neutral conditions, and their exploratory behavior was observed during an intermission period. IM Ss both explored less and showed less satisfaction under the task-imposed condition than under the other two conditions, preferred a high level of difficulty across all conditions and showed higher diversive curiosity at 15 yr than at 10 yr of age. EM Ss explored about the same amount in all conditions, were less satisfied under the task-imposed condition than under the other conditions, preferred lower-difficulty tasks in the neutral condition than in the other conditions, showed more diversive curiosity at 10 yr than at 15 yr of age and showed more specific curiosity at 15 yr than at 10 yr of age. Personality integration and variation seeking appear to characterize relatively IM persons more than relatively EM persons. Age and gender differences are discussed, and conceptual analysis of performance expectations as a function of IM, task conditions and personality domains is offered.