Stuttering: Training the therapist

In order to sensitize therapists in training to the dynamics of helping others change, eight members of a graduate seminar in fluency disorders were asked to develop and maintain a program of personal behavioral change for a period of 4 wk. Their reflections on several features of this experience are discussed under the following categories: (1) Selecting the behavior for modification; (2) developing the contract; (3) motivational factors; (4) personal reflections, and (5) implications for working with stutterers.     

Enhancing children's attitudes toward disabled peers using a multi-media intervention

Interventions are being developed to enhance children's attitudes toward disabled peers and thereby facilitate mainstreaming in schools. This study evaluates the impact of Feeling Free, a multi-media program of disability-related films, activities, discussions, and books. Participants were children from 16 classrooms, grades 3 through 6. Two classes at each grade level (N = 8) were randomly assigned to the six-session program and were compared on five outcome measures to the eight remaining classrooms. Treatment children demonstrated increased knowledge about disabilities, more positive perceptions of disabled persons, and greater awareness of appropriate behavioral responses to disabled peers. There were no long-lasting treatment effects on two measures of children's acknowledged willingness to interact with disabled peers, although treatment girls demonstrated short-term gains on one measure. Suggestions are made for increasing program impact and providing services to other participants in the mainstreaming process.     

Imitation in language development: If,when, and why

In order to explore the function of imitation for first language learning, imitative and spontaneous utterances were compared in the naturalistic speech of six children in the course of their development from single-word utterances (when mean length of utterance was essentially 1.0) to the emergence of grammar (when mean length of utterance approached 2.0). The relative extent of imitation, and lexical and grammatical variation in imitative and spontaneous speech were determined. There were inter-subject differences in the extent of imitation, but each child was consistent in the tendency to imitate or not to imitate across time. For those children who imitated, there were both lexical and grammatical differences in imitative and spontaneous speech, and a developmental shift from imitative to spontaneous use of particular words and semantic-syntactic relations between words. The results are discussed as evidence of an active processing of model utterances relative to the contexts in which they occur for information for language learning.     

The predictive validity of a vocational interest inventory-“Ramak”: Seven year follow-up

The purpose of this study was to test the predictive validity of the Ramak-a vocational interest inventory based on Roe's (1956) classification of occupations. In this follow-up, 81% of the original sample, tested 7 yr earlier, was located. These Ss responded to a questionnaire which inquired into their vocational choice and vocational choice satisfaction, together with retesting of the Ramak. Results showed that: (a) The median interpersonal test-retest reliability was .412 for males and .401 for females, while the median within-the-person profile stability was .535 for males and .700 for females; (b) With few deviations, for each occupational field the Ss occupied in that field had the highest interest in that field; (c) With the exception of Arts and Entertainment in both sexes, for each interest field Ss who had the highest score were those engaged in that field; (d) The correlation between vocational choice satisfaction and the interests in the relevant field was .405 and .294 for males and females, respectively; (e) For both sexes, Ss occupied in their highest-scoring interest field were more satisfied with their vocational choice than those who were not. The effectiveness of the Ramak in vocational counseling is evaluated.     

Visual discrimination learning with a 1-min delay of reward

Eight rats were successfully trained in a black-white discrimination with a 1-min delay of reward. The procedure was unusual in that the rat spent the delay outside the apparatus in its home cage. Immediately after the rat responded, whether correctly or incorrectly, it was removed from the choice compartment and placed in its home cage. When the delay ended, it was returned to the startbox. If the preceding response had been correct, the rat received a reward of sugar water; otherwise, it was allowed to make another choice response. Mediation by external cues was excluded because there was no difference in the way the rats were treated after a correct or an incorrect response until the delay interval ended. Mediation by proprioceptive stimuli was excluded because position was an irrelevant cue.     

A configural approach to the use of the strong vocational interest blank with student engineers

SVIB profiles of 1169 freshmen entering a college of engineering were grouped according to total occupational scale profile similarity into 28 code types. Mean scores or percentages for the individuals in each code type were compared to base rate values for income variables including ability, personality, and socioeconomic data and outcome variables including academic progress, choice of major, counsel-seeking behavior, and place of residence. The data for four code types were presented together with examples of how the results might be used by a counselor. The investigators concluded that SVIB profile types can be useful in acting as moderator variables to predict student characteristics, and that total profile analysis of the SVIB occupational scale merits further attention.     

Paul’s “Thorn in the Flesh” and Christian Mission to People with Disabilities

This article attempts a holistic theological analysis of what the mission of the church to people living with disabilities (PLWDs) should be. The article pays attention to Paul’s reference to a “thorn in his flesh” using the theory of complex embodiment. It counters the emphasis in some churches on healing as the proper response to the needs of PLWDs. Rather, the article seek to present a theology that gives PLWDs greater knowledge of and control over their bodies to live meaningful lives even with their disabilities. The article argues that Paul lived with a disability and that although he sought to have it healed, he later accepted it and lived fully and meaningfully with it. It concludes that, from the example of Paul, the church’s mission to PLWDs should not necessarily be the healing of disabilities but their empowerment and integration in our societies.     

Vers une nouvelle appréhension des mathématiques par traitement EMDR : actualités et perspectives

ObjectiveEMDR for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing developed since 1989 by F. Shapiro has demonstrated its effectiveness in the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In Science of Education, no study has been previously developed in the application of EMDR protocols. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the relevance and effectiveness of EMDR in supporting cognitive and emotional remediation of students in Master 1, with respect to mathematics, preparing Schools Teacher contest. The first encounters with the students revealed, through their discourse, an aversion to mathematics linked to one or more particularly painful experiences in a learning situation. Mathematics may cause anguish, sometimes tinged beliefs such as “I’ll never be able to… I am very bad at math”. This represents even an insurmountable obstacle in the professional life of some.MethodsNearly 170 students in Master 1 “Professor of the Schools” registered on the ESPE (College of the Teaching profession and Education) were asked about their relation to mathematics, both in their emotions as their self-efficacy. Among those who suggested a traumatic memory in a learning situation in mathematics, forty were selected and divided into two groups. The control group received two hours of information about relaxation techniques that could be used before mathematics. The other group benefited of the EMDR treatment according to the standard protocol in eight phases.ResultsThe results showed that students who received EMDR treatment experienced after treatment and one month later, a significant decline in their negative emotions with mathematics and an increase in the strength of their self-efficacy, unlike the control group.DiscussionEMDR demonstrates its effectiveness in reprocessing beliefs and emotions of students with respect to mathematics and opens ways of research in Educational Sciences. So, it will be necessary, from the principle of alternated bilateral stimulation, to develop specific protocols for the struggling students, to measure the effects in the long term and develop them in a group situation.     

Does experienced pain affects local brain volumes? Insights from a clinical acute pain model

Background/Objective:To study pain-brain morphometry associations as a function of post-surgery stages (anesthesia, pain and analgesia) in an acute pain model. Method:Impacted mandible third molar were extracted. Before surgery, an anatomical T1 scan was obtained. Regional brain volumen and subcortical nuclei shapes were obtained. Statistical analyses were done using multiple regression, being pain scores the predictors and voxel volumes, subcortical nuclei volumes and subcortical nuclei shapes, the outcomes. Results:Pain was significantly larger at pain than at anesthesia and analgesia stages, and was higher during anesthesia than during analgesia. Pain intensity was related to grey matter in several cortical (Insula, Mid Frontal and Temporal Gyruses, Precuneus, Anterior Cingulate), and subcortical nuclei (Hippocampus, Thalamus, Putamen, Amygdala), depending of the post-surgical stage. A larger number of brain areas showed significance at pain that at anesthesia and analgesia stages. Conclusions:The relationships of regional brain volumes and subcortical nuclei shapes with pain scores seemed to be unsteady, as they changed with the patient's actual pain stage.