Progressive changes in articulatory patterns in verbal apraxia: A longitudinal case study

This research reports findings in a 10-year study of an apraxic adult, who was one of five subjects described by Shankweiler and Harris, (Cortex, ,2 277–292, 1966). Confusion matrices and feature analysis were used to compare 1965 and 1975 performances. Results indicate that over the 10-year period, errors of place, manner, and omission were markedly reduced. Voicing errors, however, while reduced in total number, still constituted a significant percentage of the patient's residual errors. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Developmental auditory agnosia in the severely retarded: A further investigation

The hypotheses were investigated that (a) ability to recognize the auditory perceptual stimuli for familiar events is a developmental correlate to language acquisition and (b) the low functioning mentally handicapped suffer from auditory agnosia and are impaired in this ability. The subjects were 42 nonretarded children of ages 3 through 6 and 53 severely and moderately retarded, noninstitutionalized students. The retarded subjects were matched by mental age to the chronological age of the nonretarded children. The stimuli were 49 environmental sounds; the task consisted of sound-and-picture matching-to-sample. Group membership and developmental age were the factors in an analysis of variance design. The results revealed a strong effect of developmental age (p <. 0001). The effect of group was not significant, indicating that auditory agnosia may not be common among the lower functioning retarded. The assumption that agnosia may be a major factor underlying the language disability of the severely retarded was reexamined. It was suggested that the severely retarded achieve the requisite perceptual-semantic knowledge base for language too late, after the critical age for spontaneous and efficient language learning has passed.     

A behavioral alternative to an ecological approach to understanding the development of knowing in infancy: A commentary

The concept of affordance is proposed by Goldfield to account for “knowing” in infancy as an ecologically more valid approach than Piaget's notion of representation. While the use of affordances is regarded as an improvement over the concept of representation an argument is put forth that a more parsimonious and scientifically useful approach to the development of knowing in infancy is to be found in a behavioral analysis of a learned association of stimulus cues with behavior patterns.     

Assessment of delusional beliefs during the modification of delusional verbalizations

This study examined the strength of delusional beliefs during the modification of delusional verbalizations of a 51 year-old chronically mentally ill inpatient. The changing-criterion design was used to document the effectiveness of a behavioral treatment package to alter the rate of delusional responses to personal background questions. The results revealed a stepwise decline in the frequency of delusional responses. Generalization effects to novel interviewers were obtained. No changes were obtained on the subject's ratings of delusional beliefs, with the subject assigning ratings of absolute conviction to his beliefs throughout the duration of the study.     

The current status of competency-based training,part 1: Validity,reliability, logistical,and ethical issues

During recent years considerable attention has been focused on competency-based training. Yet there is a lack of data relating to many key issues. This paper describes some of the key issues concerning four major factors of competency-based training: validity, reliability, logistics, and ethics. Three recommendations made to the Division 16 Education and Training Committee are presented.     

New perspectives on child and adolescent depression

The Children's Depression Index (CDI) was administered to a group of 304 regular school students in Grades 3–12. It was found that 21% of the students reported mild to moderate levels and 7% reported severe levels of depression. Females reported more overall depression than did males. Specific CDI items selected more frequently by females than by males supports previous work suggesting that females tend to internalize difficulties whereas males are more likely to externalize problems. There were no age differences associated with overall depression; however, there were some developmental differences in specific items cited. Finally, “red flags” were identified that may be helpful in spotting children suffering from severe levels of depression.     

Alliance-Outcome Associations in a Community-Based Social Skills Intervention for Youth With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Although the alliance is a consistent predictor of treatment outcomes in psychosocial interventions, few studies have examined this association among youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In particular, youth-therapist alliance has never been examined in social skills interventions (SSIs), a common modality for this population. In this study, thirty-four youth with ASD (M_age = 12.41; 79% male) participated in a community-delivered, group-based SSI in a summer camp format led by eight Head Therapists (M_age = 32.12; 50% male). Early alliance and change in alliance over the course of the treatment were assessed via self- and observer-reported measures. Both self- and observer-rated alliance were associated with positive treatment outcomes as reported by parents (decreased problem behaviors) and other peers in the group (reciprocated friendship and social preference). These results provide the first evidence of the role of the alliance in an SSI for youth with ASD and add to the growing body of literature that demonstrates the importance of assessing and addressing the alliance in treatment for this population.     

A Systematic Review of Self-Report Measures of Negative Self-Referential Emotions Developed for Non-Clinical Child and Adolescent Samples

Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review - The crisis in child and adolescent mental health and wellbeing has prompted the development of school and community-based interventions to tackle...