Communication and language in severely deaf adolescents

One of the most important psychological effects of early severe or profound deafness is an impairment in natural language-processing ability, with a consequent reduction in communicative skill secondary to the sensory deficit. Prelingual damage blocks the development of certain sequential/syntactical skills necessary for the acquisition of normal linguistic competence. Educators of the deaf in the UK have typically attempted to improve linguistic ability using amplification and intensive training in lip-reading, but evidence from several psychological studies suggests that communication systems based upon manual signing are more productive of both linguistic and basic cognitive skills. This paper reports an experimental study of the communicative characteristics of both oral and total communication systems as a function of language structure. For almost all types of structure investigated, the total system was found to be the more effective method of communication.     

Marital conflict and marital intimacy: an integrative psychodynamic-behavioral-systemic model.

A conceptual model of some of the intrapsychic and interpersonal forces that stimulate and maintain repetitive, nonproductive marital conflict behavior is presented. In this model, concepts derived from psychoanalytic and social-learning theory and integrated within a family systems framework. Implications for conjoint therapy with conflictual couples are discussed.     

Differential Responses to Being Ignored: The Effects of Architectural Design and Social Density on Interpersonal Behavior1

This study examines the experience of being ignored when social interaction is chronically at high or low levels. Subjects in these studies resided in either traditional corridor dormitories or in suite-type apartments. Previous research has shown that the corridor arrangement leads to an excess of unwanted contacts with other residents. Hence, corridor residents should desire less interaction with strangers than suite residents. It was hypothesized that corridor residents would be less adversely affected if they were ignored during a group discussion. The results of two experiments reported here support this hypothesis. They also demonstrate the generally negative effects of being ignored. Results are discussed in terms of Altman's (1975) model of contact regulation.     

Thiamin deprivation in ventromedial hypothalamic hyperphagic rats: anorexia, specificity of food aversion, and a dietary consideration.

The anorexic consequence of thiamin deprivation was investigated in ventromedial hypothalamic (VMH) hyperphagic rats under either high-fat or low-fat thiamin-free diet conditions. The low-fat diet maintained feeding significantly longer in thiamin-deprived VMH rats than in intact rats, whereas the hig-fat diet sustained feeding in thiamin-deficient intact rats and accelerated anorexia onset in vitamin B1 deprived VMH rats. This effect was noted under both ad lib and pair-feeding conditions. Thiamin-deprived VMH rats subjected to weight control developed anorexia sooner than intact subjects regardless of the diet employed. The VMH rats fed a high-fat diet failed to resume feeding after thiamin readministration, which was interpreted as a permanent aversion to this diet. The relation between dietary intake and conditioned taste aversion is discussed with reference to the VMH and intact rat.     

Approach and withdrawal analysis of the effects of hypothalamic stimulation and lesions in rats.

In a paradigm in which rats would both initiate and terminate hypothalamic stimulation, "purely" rewarding lateral hypothalamic and "purely" aversive medial hypothalamic electrodes were identified. Subjects were then given a series of tests designed to assess the effects of brain stimulation on approach and withdrawal behaviors. Lateral hypothalamic stimulation facilitated approach behavior and suppressed withdrawal behaviors, whereas medial hypothalamic stimulation produced largely the opposite effects. No serious motor deficits due to stimulation were detected with either type of electrode. In a second experiment, the approach-withdrawal effects of bilateral lateral hypothalamic lesions were tested and found to suppress approach behaviors and facilitate withdrawal behaviors. Other neurological examinations revealed motor deficits, but these deficits do not account for the specific pattern of results observed on the approach-withdrawal tests. These approach-withdrawal phenomena are interpreted in terms of altering a natural balance between approach and withdrawl behavior facilitating systems in the lateral and medial hypothalamus, respectively.     

BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT FOR PEDIATRIC INTENSIVE CARE UNITS1

Two studies were conducted to analyze behaviors of staff and patients on a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). In the first study, behavioral observation procedures were employed to assess patient state, physical position, affect, verbal behaviors, visual attention and activity engagement, and staff verbal behavior. On the average, one-third of the patients were judged to be conscious and alert but markedly nonengaged with their environment. In the second study, a member of the hospital staff provided alert patients with individual activities to determine whether a simple environmental manipulation could positively affect behavior of children in intensive care. Employing a reversal design, the activity intervention was found to increase attention and engagement and positive affect, and to decrease inappropriate behavior. Both studies demonstrate that behavioral assessment procedures can provide an empirical basis for designing PICU routines affecting children's psychosocial status, and, thus, complement current procedures designed to provide quality medical care.     

Learning family therapy: The dilemmas of an individual therapist

Individual therapists who begin doing family therapy often encounter some special difficulties directly related to their prior training and experience. Some therapeutic techniques of individual therapy, such as understanding and explaining the patient's problems on the basis of faulty parenting, must be relinquished and alternative means of alleviating guilt must be adopted. In doing family therapy individual therapists must adapt to the fact that they are less important than they are used to being and have less control over content and emotional tone of sessions. They must change their conceptions about the importance of privacy and secrecy. This article discusses some of the problems encountered when one is not thoroughly committed to a family therapy approach to treatment. Countertransference difficulties, problems stemming from wanting change, and the differing nature of the gratifications in the two therapeutic modalities are other topics discussed.     

Direct Open Supervision: A Team Approach

Created in the absence of one-way mirror facilities, Direct Open Supervision combines elements of live supervision with team participation in training family therapists. The theory and application of this approach to direct supervision are described.