An evaluation of Headsprout early reading as an online parent-mediated intervention for primary school children

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic and lengthy absences from the classroom, there is a need for large-scale remedial programs to support young children to “catch-up” on literacy and numeracy skills. A stratified randomized controlled trial was used to evaluate the Headsprout Early Reading (HER) program as a parent-mediated digital literacy intervention. A between-groups design compared differences in reading-dependent outcome measures for 36 children assigned to one of three intervention groups: with support, without support, and waitlist-control. Children completed significantly more episodes when parents received implementation support from the researcher compared to the without support group. Children receiving Headsprout instructions demonstrated marginally greater gains than the waitlist-control group in posttest outcome measures; however, differences in reading outcomes were not significant between groups at posttesting. The current research provides tentative support for HER and importantly, highlights the importance of providing support for parents implementing interventions at home.     

Baby steps: investigating the development of perceptual–motor couplings in infancy

There are cells in our motor cortex that fire both when we perform and when we observe similar actions. It has been suggested that these perceptual‐motor couplings in the brain develop through associative learning during correlated sensorimotor experience. Although studies with adult participants have provided support for this hypothesis, there is no direct evidence that associative learning also underlies the initial formation of perceptual–motor couplings in the developing brain. With the present study we addressed this question by manipulating infants’ opportunities to associate the visual and motor representation of a novel action, and by investigating how this influenced their sensorimotor cortex activation when they observed this action performed by others. Pre‐walking 7–9‐month‐old infants performed stepping movements on an infant treadmill while they either observed their own real‐time leg movements (Contingent group) or the previously recorded leg movements of another infant (Non‐contingent control group). Infants in a second control group did not perform any steps and only received visual experience with the stepping actions. Before and after the training period we measured infants’ sensorimotor alpha suppression, as an index of sensorimotor cortex activation, while they watched videos of other infants’ stepping actions. While we did not find greater sensorimotor alpha suppression following training in the Contingent group as a whole, we nevertheless found that the strength of the visuomotor contingency experienced during training predicted the amount of sensorimotor alpha suppression at post‐test in this group. We did not find any effects of motor experience alone. These results suggest that the development of perceptual–motor couplings in the infant brain is likely to be supported by associative learning during correlated visuomotor experience.     

Thomas J. Sweeney: A Visionary Leader and Advocate for the Counseling Profession

The contributions of Thomas J. Sweeney to the counseling profession through professional leadership and advocacy, scholarship, teaching, and the development of Chi Sigma Iota are chronicled through a personal interview and comments from professional colleagues. Readers are provided with a sense of the depth and breadth of his more than 50 years of dedicated service.     

Thou Shalt Not Covet Another Man? Exploring Constructions of Same‐Sex and Different‐Sex Infidelity Using Story Completion

This study explores conceptualisations of same‐ versus different‐sex infidelity in the context of a heterosexual marriage using story completion. A convenience sample of 57 female and male participants completed one of four versions of a story stem featuring a husband who is either emotionally or sexually unfaithful with a woman or a man. A social constructionist thematic analysis found that same‐sex infidelity was conceptualised as the ‘worst case scenario’ and was underpinned by a heteronormative framing of repressed homosexuality. By contrast, heterosexual infidelity was understood in terms of relational deficits and the wife assuming responsibility for these. Overall, the analysis shows that in making sense of same‐sex and heterosexual infidelity, the participants drew on familiar discourses of sexuality and gender, suggesting that despite social psychological theorising related to sexual fluidity, essentialist ideas remain firmly in place. Methodologically, the study demonstrates the usefulness of a rarely used tool—the story completion task—for accessing socio‐cultural discourses and dominant meanings surrounding a particular topic. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Decision-making and the framing effect in a foreign and native language

Recent research using scenarios such as the Asian disease problem has demonstrated a “foreign-language effect”, whereby the framing effect (tendency to be risk-averse in a gain frame and risk seeking in a loss frame) is not (or not as) apparent in the foreign language as the native language. The aim of the current study was to further investigate decision-making and the framing effect in a native language, Thai and a foreign language, English, using the Asian disease/Financial crisis problem (Study 1) and a novel financial decision-making task (Study 2). Results from Study 1 confirmed previous findings as a foreign-language effect emerged. In contrast, in Study 2, a framing effect emerged in both the native and foreign languages of the Thai participants. These contradictory results point to language factors as well as emotional and cognitive demands of the task contributing to the occurrence of the foreign-language effect.     

Predicting Behavioral Career Commitment of College Students With Attachment and Separation Relationships

This study compares the behavioral and attitudinal career commitment of college students, then examines the influences of parental attachment and separation on career commitment. Undergraduates (N = 195) from 3 academic programs were surveyed: a combined degree program that accepts students simultaneously into bachelor's and medical programs, premedical curriculum alone, and general university enrollment. Behavioral career commitment (enrollment in one of the aforementioned programs) correlated with attitudinal commitment for the combined degree and general enrollment groups. Greater attachment to father and less separation from parents were associated with lower career commitment for men. Attachment and separation did not predict career commitment for women.     

Hoarding Disorder: Diagnosis,Assessment, and Treatment

Hoarding disorder (HD) is a newly added mental disorder in the most recent version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). In this article, the symptoms, characteristics, and features of HD are described, along with diagnosis and assessment strategies. The most efficacious treatments for counseling clients diagnosed with HD are also discussed.     

The over‐pruning hypothesis of autism

This article outlines the over‐pruning hypothesis of autism. The hypothesis originates in a neurocomputational model of the regressive sub‐type (Thomas, Knowland & Karmiloff‐Smith, 2011a, 2011b). Here we develop a more general version of the over‐pruning hypothesis to address heterogeneity in the timing of manifestation of ASD, including new computer simulations which reconcile the different observed developmental trajectories (early onset, late onset, regression) via a single underlying atypical mechanism; and which show how unaffected siblings of individuals with ASD may differ from controls either by inheriting a milder version of the pathological mechanism or by co‐inheriting the risk factors without the pathological mechanism. The proposed atypical mechanism involves overly aggressive synaptic pruning in infancy and early childhood, an exaggeration of a normal phase of brain development. We show how the hypothesis generates novel predictions that differ from existing theories of ASD including that (1) the first few months of development in ASD will be indistinguishable from typical, and (2) the earliest atypicalities in ASD will be sensory and motor rather than social. Both predictions gain cautious support from emerging longitudinal studies of infants at‐risk of ASD. We review evidence consistent with the over‐pruning hypothesis, its relation to other current theories (including C. Frith's under‐pruning proposal; C. Frith, 2003, 2004), as well as inconsistent data and current limitations. The hypothesis situates causal accounts of ASD within a framework of protective and risk factors (Newschaffer et al., 2012); clarifies different versions of the broader autism phenotype (i.e. the implication of observed similarities between individuals with autism and their family members); and integrates data from multiple disciplines, including behavioural studies, neuroscience studies, genetics, and intervention studies.     

Reducing Phobic Behavior Near Water and Increasing Water Approach Skills

Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death worldwide, and the highest rates are among children. The purpose of this study was to utilize a multi‐component intervention to increase water skills for three typically developing children, who had a history of fear of swimming, and to evaluate changes in both phobic behaviors and positive affect. The intervention, comprised of goal setting, self‐monitoring, behavioral skills training and positive reinforcement, was used in community pools to teach basic water skills. Results suggest that the intervention was successful in increasing the participant's water skills and positive affect while intervals with phobic behaviors decreased. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.