Open learning and guidance

The expanding and diverse area of open learning is described and difficulties of definition addressed. Rationales for its relationship with guidance based on the learning opportunities structure, the confluence of teaching and guidance, and the concurrence of goals between open learning and guidance, are identified. Models of guidance in relation to open learning are indicated, together with some of the issues these raise. A framework for the analysis of open learning and guidance is suggested, based on the policy objectives of providers (enablement, enfranchisement, cost-effectiveness) and on the components of learning (content, media, styles). The survey indicates a need for better evaluation strategies and a closer scrutiny of what is 'opened' for whom.     

AN ANALYSIS OF THE PROCEDURAL COMPONENTS OF SUPPORTED EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS ASSOCIATED WITH EMPLOYMENT OUTCOMES

This study examined the relation between the procedural components of supported employment programs and employment outcomes for 120 individuals with disabilities. These individuals were involved in supported employment programs established through the Utah Supported Employment Project. The results suggest that successful implementation of supported employment services led to ongoing employment of study participants in community work sites, increased wages, and ongoing opportunities for workers to interact with nondisabled peers. In addition, several procedural components were found to be strongly associated with successful employment outcomes for workers. Results of the study are discussed in terms of the training needs of supported employment program staff and future research for the dissemination of a cohesive technology of supported employment.     

On The Trail of Little Albert

The Psychological Record - In 1920, John Watson and Rosalie Rayner published a study of the emotional conditioning of an 11-month old infant, “Albert B,” which was to become a textbook...     

Transference, taboo and truth

The author re-examines the development of the concept of transference in Freud's work. He gives special attention to Totem and Taboo published in 1912-13. He notes that Freud's totally unsupported hypotheses within this model become illuminating and intelligible if "totem" is translated as "psychoanalyst" and "taboo" as "transference (neurosis)".     

Object knowledge and the emergence of language

Infants' spontaneous play with objects was examined for evidence of developments in object knowledge in relation to the emergence of words and the single-word period in language development. Subjects were 7 girls and 7 boys, from different ethnic and economic backgrounds, who were studied longitudinally from 9 months to 26 months of age. Two types of displacements of objects in relation to one another were identified in the children's play: separations and constructions. The development of constructions was associated with the emergence of words, and constructions increased with age while separations decreased. The development of specific constructions, which account for knowledge of the particular properties of objects, was more strongly associated with a vocabulary spurt at the end of the single-word period than with chronological age. Despite the wide variation in the infants' ages when developments in language and play were reached, relations between achievements in the two domains were consistent among them, as confirmed with the Friedman test, p<.001. The results are discussed in terms of the cognitive developments required for play with objects and saying words.     

Effects of methylphenidate on inhibitory control in hyperactive children

This study investigated the effects of methylphenidate (MPH) on inhibitory control in hyperactive children. A double-blind, placebo-control, within-subject (crossover) design was used in which 12 children, between 6 and 11 years of age, were each tested four times in each drug condition: 0.3 mg/kg and 1.0 mg/kg of methylphenidate, and placebo. Dependent measures included (a) the probability of inhibiting responses to a primary choice reaction time task given a stop signal, on the Stopping Task, and (b) response latency and errors on the Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFFT). MPH improved the efficiency of the central inhibitory mechanism by speeding the inhibitory process, thereby affording the children greater control over their actions and enabling them to increase the probability with which they inhibited responses given a stop signal. MPH increased response latency but did not reduce errors on the MFFT, and observation of the children's task performance highlighted the interpretive problems associated with this task. Performance on both tasks was better at a dosage of 1.0 mg/kg than at 0.3 mg/kg.     

Psychometric instability of measures in novel settings: Use of psychiatric rating scales in nursing homes

Researchers have become increasingly concerned about problems of the quality of measurement in applied evaluation settings. Of particular importance is change in both the reliability and the validity of a measure that is used in a novel setting. This problem is illustrated by an attempt to use psychiatric rating scales to assess the behavior of chronic mental patients currently residing in nursing homes. Methods for assessing changes in both reliability and validity are presented, along with suggestions for how to deal with these problems.This research was supported in part by an Extramural Research Grant from the State of Illinois Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities.     

A multidimensional assessment of parent-identified behavior problem toddlers

Sixty-eight 2-and 3-year-olds (46 parent-referred, 22 controls) participating in an identification, assessment, and follow-up study of hyperactivity and related behavior problems were evaluated on parent-report, observational, and cognitive measures. Referred youngsters were described by both parents as more active, inattentive, difficult to discipline, and aggressive with peers than were controls. Mothers of referred children also reported a more difficult infancy period. Laboratory assessments confirmed parental reports of current problems. Referred children shifted activities more during free play, were more active and inattentive during structured tasks, and made more impulsive responses on a delay task than did controls. Discriminant function analysis indicated that parental ratings of activity paired with laboratory measures of sustained attention and impulsivity correctly classified 88% of the sample. These data suggest that the core symptoms of hyperactivity can be identified in very young children, although their prognostic significance remains to be determined.This research was supported by Grant No. R01 MH 32735 from the National Institute of Mental Health to the first author. Thanks are due to the parents and children who participated so enthusiastically in this study. The dedication of Patricia Cluss is gratefully acknowledged. Mady Fingeret, Frank McKee, Jenny Palermo, Susan Riley, Elizabeth Schaughency, Sheree Thomas, and Russell Walters are also thanked for their help in data collection.     

Social support: Its structure and impact on marital disruption

Availability of social support has been hypothesized to play a role in influencing adjustment to marital disruption either directly or by moderating the debilitating effects of stress. Yet previous research has not adequately conceptualized or measured the nature and availability of social support. In an effort to learn more about the structure and impact of social support as it relates to marital disruption, 50 newly separated men and women were interviewed at 2 months and again at 8 months after their separations. The structure of social support was found to include (a) several important sources of support, including family, friends, and the larger community; (b) an index of social activity; and (c) a sense of satisfaction with present marital status. Although the stress associated with separation was positively related to poorer adjustment, certain aspects of social support were found to moderate this relationship. This report is based, in part, on work supported by National Institute of Mental Health grant No. MH 26373 (Preventive Intervention for Newly Separated Persons), Bernard L. Bloom and William F. Hodges, co-principal investigators. We are pleased to acknowledge this support.