EVALUATION OF A MULTICOMPONENT INTERVENTION FOR DIURNAL BRUXISM IN A YOUNG CHILD WITH AUTISM

Bruxism, forceful grinding of one's teeth together, can produce destructive outcomes such as wear on the teeth and damaged gums and bone structures. The current study implemented a multicomponent intervention that consisted of vocal and physical cues to decrease rates of bruxism. A partial component analysis suggested that the vocal cue was only effective at decreasing levels of bruxism when paired with a simultaneous physical cue.     

USING DIFFERENTIAL REINFORCEMENT TO DECREASE ACADEMIC RESPONSE LATENCIES OF AN ADOLESCENT WITH ACQUIRED BRAIN INJURY

The present study investigated the effects of contingency‐specifying rules and a token economy to decrease the latency to comply with academic instructions by a 16‐year‐old girl with acquired brain injury. Results showed that treatment was successful in reducing academic response latencies. These results replicate previous research in which differential reinforcement was used to decrease slow responding to academic tasks.     

Conventionality in family conversations about everyday objects

Children's developing understanding that words have conventional meanings and objects have conventional functions emerges in parent-child activity and conversation. Drawing on family conversations in everyday settings, the chapter explores an apparent paradox between a global analysis of conventionality as stable shared knowledge and a local notion of conventions as flexibly negotiated in activity.     

Day-to-day body-image states: prospective predictors of intra-individual level and variability

Most body-image research has focused on the trait level of body-image evaluation, often neglecting the momentary fluctuations many people experience in everyday life. The present prospective study investigated whether theory-relevant body-image measures, perfectionistic self-presentation, and eating attitudes would predict average day-to-day body-image levels and their intra-individual variability. A convenience sample consisted of 121 women from two universities. In Phase 1 of the study, participants completed an online battery of selected body-image and personality questionnaires. In Phase 2, participants went online to complete the dependent measure, the Body Image States Scale, once per evening over 10 days. As hypothesized, more favorable body-image state levels were associated with less investment in appearance for self-worth, less body-image disturbance, fewer body-image cognitive distortions, less disturbed eating attitudes, and lower body mass. Moreover, greater day-to-day body-image variability was predicted by greater psychological investment in appearance, more body-image cognitive distortions, and higher perfectionistic self-presentation. Implications and future directions for research are discussed.     

The cognitive profile of Sotos syndrome

Sotos syndrome is a congenital overgrowth disorder, associated with intellectual disability. Previous research suggests that Sotos syndrome may be associated with relative strength in verbal ability and relative weakness in non-verbal reasoning ability but this has not been explicitly assessed. To date, the cognitive profile of Sotos syndrome is unknown. Cognitive abilities of a large and representative sample of individuals with Sotos syndrome (N = 52) were assessed using the British Ability Scales (BAS3). The majority of participants had intellectual disability or borderline intellectual functioning. The cluster score profile analysis revealed a consistent verbal ability > non-verbal reasoning ability profile. Four specific criteria were proposed as the Sotos syndrome cognitive profile (SSCP): verbal ability > non-verbal reasoning ability; quantitative reasoning T-score or matrices T-score <20th percentile; quantitative reasoning T-score < mean T-score; recognition of designs T-score or recognition of pictures T-score > mean T-score. Of the 35 participants included in the profile analysis, 28 met all four SSCP criteria, yielding a sensitivity of 0.8. The sensitivity of each of the SSCP criteria was >0.9. Individuals with Sotos syndrome display a clear and consistent cognitive profile, characterized by relative strength in verbal ability and visuospatial memory but relative weakness in non-verbal reasoning ability and quantitative reasoning. This has important implications for the education of individuals with Sotos syndrome.     

Sluggish Cognitive Tempo,Processing Speed,and Internalizing Symptoms: the Moderating Effect of Age

Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT) has been defined by a constellation of caregiver-reported symptoms that includes daydreaming, difficulty initiating and sustaining effort, lethargy, and physical underactivity. These symptoms have been observed in both typically developing children and in some children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)—especially those with the predominantly inattentive presentation. Symptoms of SCT (typically identified via rating scales) appear separable from DSM inattentive ADHD symptoms, but have also been associated with internalizing symptoms. To date, however, few studies have examined associations among ratings of SCT and speeded performance-based measures. The present study examined associations among SCT, processing speed, and internalizing symptoms in a sample of 566 clinically referred children (65% male), while also considering how these associations change with age. Findings revealed small but significant age-related differences in the strength of associations between the “Daydreamy” element of SCT and processing speed (as measured by the WISC-IV Processing Speed Index—PSI), with stronger associations observed in younger children. Importantly, this difference in strength of association was not accounted for by the change in WISC-IV test forms for PSI subtests between 6–7 year-olds and 8–16 year-olds. Conversely, the association between SCT and internalizing symptoms remained generally consistent across the age range. Findings contribute to further characterization of the “slowness” of responding seen in SCT and may have implications for behavioral intervention.