Harnessing the power of the group for latency-aged sexual abuse victims

For children who have been sexually abused, group therapy is often a preferred treatment modality. Although much consideration has been given to what structured activities, goals, and objectives should be included in groups for sexually abused children, limited attention has been paid to the dynamics and processes inherent in the group. This article follows the dynamic unfolding of a short-term structured group for latency-aged, female sexual abuse victims. Special emphasis is placed on listening to the messages underlying children's actions and responding to the message rather than suppressing or limiting the behavior. It is argued that by attending to group dynamics and processes in a theme-focused group, structured activities become more effective and the power of the group can be harnessed to foster opportunities for healing that otherwise might go unrecognized.     

Group building: Developing protocols for psychoeducational groups

Short-term, focused and targeted groups have become a staple in the mental health field and in the general cultural intervention milieu. This paper presents a model for group building aimed at guiding the group leader in constructing, organizing and ordering such psychoeducational groups. This model is applicable to a range of themecentered groups, addressing a variety of specific symptoms, habits, developmental milestones, organizational problems, or normative life crises. First, the defining characteristics of psychoeducational groups will be discussed. Subsequently, the steps in building group protocols will be outlined, including the use of phase-specific group dynamics and curative variables. To demonstrate the utility and generalizability of the model, two populations with extremely diverse thematic foci, a latency incest and a smoking cessation group, will be used to illustrate the ordering of the group protocol and the building of appropriate didactic structures. This paper is intended as a companion to an earlier one in this journal (Ettin et al., 1987), which considered the management of group process in just these types of nonprocess groups.     

Intelligibility and comprehension of time compressed sign language narratives

A method of time compressing visual displays was devised to assess the effects of compression on the comprehension of American sign language (ASL). Two ASL narratives were visually presented to three groups of deaf ASL users. A compression group was presented narratives compressed to 50% of the duration of the normal rates. A no-compression group was presented narratives signed at normal rates. A pause group was presented compressed narratives with blank pauses inserted so that the total time per narrative was equal to that of the no-compression versions. Following each narrative, subjects completed a written comprehension task. Comprehension in both compression and pause groups was significantly lower than in the no-compression group. Pauses did not significantly affect scores relative to compression. An additional group of deaf ASL users was presented an intelligibility task in which signs taken from the narratives were presented in isolation either with or without compression. The total number of signs correctly identified was significantly lower with compression. Decrements in comprehension were best explained as the result of cumulative decrements in sign intelligibility and not as the result of decrements in available processing time.     

Saccadic eye movements and reading difficulties

Saccadic eye movements of 14 children with reading difficulties and of 14 normal readers were compared before and after the problem readers underwent a seven month individual tutoring program. At pretesting the problem readers showed a rate of eye movements that was markedly lower than that of the normal readers whose rate they attained and surpassed at completion of the remedial reading program. Results are discussed in terms of the presumed function of saccadic eye movements and their relation to reading, attention, and information gathering.This study was supported by grant OEG-2-2-2BO24 from the National Institute of Education. The valuable assistance of Mark J. Fischer and the help of Sandra Armel, Steven Rayack, and Betty White are gratefully acknowledged. Dr. Lowey, of the Three Village School District and particularly Mr. Hanrahan, Principal of Main Street School, greatly facilitated our work and we are most grateful.     

Perspective effects in nondeontic versions of the Wason selection task

Perspective effects in the Wason four-card selection task occur when people choose mutually exclusive sets of cards depending on the perspective they adopt when making their choice. Previous demonstrations of perspective effects have been limited to deontic contexts--that is, problem contexts that involve social duty, like permissions and obligations. In three experiments, we demonstrate perspective effects in nondeontic contexts, including a context much like the original one employed by Wason (1966, 1968). We suggest that perspective effects arise whenever the task uses a rule that can be interpreted biconditionally and different perspectives elicit different counterexamples that match the predicted choice sets. This view is consistent with domain-general theories but not with domain-specific theories of deontic reasoning--for example, pragmatic reasoning schemas and social contract theory--that cannot explain perspective effects in nondeontic contexts.     

The adult-child relationship in breastfeeding and development: a Merleau-Pontian perspective on the existential and social conflicts in childrearing

This paper discusses Merleau-Ponty’s use of idea of ambivalence and its role in psychological conflicts. Merleau-Ponty affirms ambivalent conflicts as lived and social rather than biologically determined, as one might have in some developmental accounts, or hidden, as in some psychoanalytic accounts. With this concept, the paper takes up feminist considerations of the conflicts experienced by mothers in breastfeeding. It argues that the Merleau-Pontian and feminist approach to considering breastfeeding provides a nuanced model for thinking about development that is better suited to cases where both the child and the parent are co-evolving.