Hyperlexia and a variant of hypergraphia

A patient with hyperlexia and hypergraphia is described. The unusual co-occurrence of these two abilities is discussed. Hyperlexia may provide a useful marker to guide educational programming.     

Microcomputer-assisted relaxation

The present pilot study was designed to test the effectiveness of a microcomputer program developed by the authors to induce relaxation and focused attention, which are common to most clinical stress-reduction and hypnotic procedures. A nonclinical sample of 20 adults used the program on an APPLE IIc computer in two 30-min. sessions in a within-subjects design. Repeated measures analyses of variance showed significant decreases in the Spielberger State Anxiety Scale and on a visual analog anxiety scale. Limitations and implications of the study are discussed.     

Longitudinal changes in time estimation in affective disorders: a preliminary study

8 patients with hospital diagnoses of major affective disorder were studied by repeated measurements of time estimation using the three different methods of metronome adjustment, verbal estimation and operative estimation (production) of short time intervals. Retrospective estimations of longer intervals were also studied. The diagnoses were evaluated according to DSM III criteria. The degree of mental disturbance was rated with subscales of the Comprehensive Psychopathological Rating Scale. Earlier findings had indicated that manic patients tend to overestimate short time intervals and that some depressed patients underestimated time, but some investigators have reported different results. A longitudinal study could possibly support the earlier findings if the time estimations should vary with the clinical states of the patients. Such a variation was suggested by the results of 5 of the 8 patients. In several cases there were statistically significant correlations between the results of time estimations and the rating scores. This partly supports earlier findings. Associations between time estimations and changes in clinical state seem to be present in some cases of major affective disorders. Operative estimations were best correlated with ratings in most cases.     

Exner's Four Square: useful index in appraisal of learning disability?

Rorschach protocols, focusing on Exner's Four Square, were obtained for 14 boys who had been referred for a second opinion following an initial diagnosis as learning disabled. The findings indicated wide diversity, suggesting that a significant proportion of students manifest fundamental problems which are not essentially cognitive in nature. For these students, traditional psychoeducational decisions may be inappropriate and unproductive.