THE USE OF BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT TO PRESCRIBE AND EVALUATE TREATMENTS FOR SEVERELY HANDICAPPED CHILDREN

Behavioral assessment procedures were used to prescribe and evaluate treatments of maladaptive behavior for 2 children with severe multiple handicaps. In Experiment 1, the results of an assessment of reinforcer preference were used in conjunction with a functional analysis of the conditions maintaining self-injurious behavior to prescribe a treatment for a child with severe disabilities. The treatment procedure involved the use of a pressure-sensitive microswitch to activate reinforcing stimuli during two solitary conditions, during which self-injurious behavior had occurred at high rates. The results were evaluated with a multiple baseline across settings design and indicated that self-injury decreased with concomitant increases in microswitch activation. Results were maintained at 6 weeks, 8 weeks, and 6 months. In Experiment 2, the results of behavioral assessments of reinforcer preference and self-injurious behavior were combined to develop a treatment for a second severely handicapped child, who exhibited high rates of self-injury in demand situations. This treatment was evaluated with a multiple baseline across tasks design and resulted in the elimination of self-injury for up to 15 months.     

Spatial location judgments as a function of intention to learn, and mood state: an evaluation of an alleged automatic encoding operation

An assessment of the Hasher and Zacks (1979) conceptualization of the automatic nature of the acquisition of spatial location information was made in the context of manipulations of subjects' intention to learn and mood state. The Velten (1968) mood induction procedure was used to establish depressed and nondepressed subjects. Half of each group was then presented with a matrix of geometric forms under instructions to learn the location of the forms (intentional) or to evaluate the pleasantness of the array (incidental). Subsequent tests of spatial location performance found no differences as a function of subjects' mood state, but did find a strong effect for instructional condition. The superior performance of the intentional subjects raises questions about the automatic nature of the encoding of spatial location.     

Clinician attitudes toward stuttering: A decade of change (1973–1983)

The attitudes of 674 speech-language pathologists toward stuttering, stutterers, stuttering therapy, parents of stutterers, and related issues were studied during the years 1973–1983. During that period, clinician attitudes were found to shift away from support of the John-sonian concepts, which suggest parental causality and dangers in early intervention. In addition, clinicians became less likely to perceive stutterers as possessing psychologic disorders and misperceptions of their problem and of their interpersonal relationships. However, a significant number of clinician's were found to continue to hold unsubstantiated beliefs regarding the personality of stutterers, their parents, and the efficacy of early intervention with very young stutterers. The results of the study were interpreted as suggesting the need to educate fluency specialists.     

The chronic perseverative stuttering syndrome; Incurable stuttering

After recounting the story of Todd to illustrate the significance of the issue, the chronic perseverative stuttering (CPS) syndrome is defined and its characteristics identified. After a discussion of treatment goals for the CPS syndrome client, the significance of its identification in the client's teenage years and its relevance to support groups for stutterers, the paper concludes with a call for acknowledging the reality of the CPS syndrome and for establishing realistic therapy goals in view of its existence.     

Later stages in Experiential Marital Therapy

This is the second of two papers dealing with symbolic-experiential treatment of marital issues. The first—Early Stages in Experiential Marital Therapy — discussed three early stages. This paper discusses regressive work with couples, including engagement with the family of origin.     

Wilderness family therapy: Experiential dimensions

This paper describes the process in which families participate in a wilderness experience. Metaphors such as climbing or paddling a canoe are translated into daily living patterns to deepen individual and family self-knowledge, self-esteem, and intimacy.     

“Marital trap analysis”—incompetence,complementarity, and success traps: Identifying potential future dysfunctions based on a couple's current collusive agreements

This paper describes three types of traps or collusive marital agreements-incompetence traps, complementarity traps, and success traps-in which the mates renounce or forgo competent functioning in vital areas of marital roles and experience. It is suggested that responsible clinical work with the couple should include a careful evaluation of such traps and the potential breakdown or dysfunction inherent in each one, and a decision as to whether or not to attempt therapeutic penetration into such collusive agreements even before the couple complain directly about their arrangement.     

A preliminary report on defenses and conflicts associated with borderline personality disorder

The authors present preliminary psychodynamic findings from a naturalistic study of borderline personality disorder compared to antisocial personality disorder and bipolar type II (depression with hypomania) affective disorder. An independent psychodynamic interview of each subject was videotaped from which ratings were made of the presence of 22 defense mechanisms and 11 psychodynamic conflicts. A factor analysis of ratings from 81 subjects supported the separation of borderline (splitting, projective identification) from narcissistic defenses (devaluation, omnipotence, idealization, mood-incongruent denial). While certain groups of defenses were associated with each diagnosis, defense ratings did not significantly discriminate the three diagnostic groups, suggesting a limit to their diagnostic value. Among 27 subjects rated, borderline personality was strongly associated with two conflicts: separation-abandonment, and a global conflict over the experience and expression of emotional needs and anger. Antisocial personality was psychodynamically distinct and more heterogeneous. Bipolar type II was associated with two hypothesized depressive conflicts: dominant other and dominant goal. Chronic depression, which was more common in both personality disorder groups than in bipolar type II, was associated with a third depressive conflict, overall gratification inhibition. Overall, conflicts were powerful discriminators of the three diagnostic groups. The heuristic value of these findings is discussed.     

Initial environment influences amphetamine-induced stereotypy: subsequently environment change has little effect

Saline-treated and amphetamine-treated (7 mg/kg, ip, immediate) male rats from a Sprague-Dawley substrain were observed in two test environments designed to elicit different investigative responses in normal rats. Snout contact with the substrate was generated by placing the rat in a small enclosed cage. Absence of snout contact was induced by placement of the rat on a square elevated platform. Detailed ethological records were kept of locomotion, rearing, sitting, grooming, gnawing, and sleeping throughout the 90-min session. Amphetamine-treated rats incorporated environmentally contingent bodily postures into their forms of stereotyped behavior. The postures were characteristic of those evinced initially by the saline-treated rats in the same test environment. The control rats showed appropriate changes in their investigative behavior when the apparatus was changed at 10 and at 30 min postinjection. The amphetamine-treated rats, however, were completely unresponsive to such changes at 30 min and only partially so at 10 min postinjection. It was concluded that there is a temporal gradient of decreasing readiness to modify repetitive behavior after a single, large dose of amphetamine.