Defining autism: professional best practices and published case law

There are clear indications that both the reported incidence of autism in children and litigation involving this developmental disorder are increasing. However, to date there has been a dearth of research analyzing court cases and legal decisions concerning students with autism. The purpose of this review was to examine published hearing/review and court decisions concerning autism eligibility in educational settings in relation to empirically supported best practices in the assessment of autism. A total of 13 cases were identified for inclusion in the review. In general, the results indicated that hearing/review officers and judges neither relied upon nor explicitly acknowledged empirically supported assessment methods in their published eligibility decisions. It appeared that many hearing/review officers and judges relied on expert witnesses, who may or may not have had particular expertise and knowledge regarding current best practices in autism eligibility assessment. Implications of the findings and areas for future research are discussed.     

In Just What Sense Should I be Critical? An Exploration into the Notion of ‘Assumption’ and Some Implications for Assessment

The current dominant approach on the assessment of critical thinking takes as a starting point a conception of criticality that does not commit to any substantive view or context of meaning concerning what issues are relevant to be critical about in society or in life. Nevertheless, as a detailed examination of the identification of assumptions shows, when going from the theory of critical thinking to the praxis of producing and evaluating arguments, the critical person will inevitably make such commitments from particular perspectives, using particular contexts of meaning. But then she may fail to take notice of relevant ones and may end up using her critical powers in a mercenary way. It is then proposed, in the context of assessment of critical thinking, to choose and use some privileged contexts of meaning, while making them available for critical scrutiny and allowing for the possibility that new ones be brought up by those being assessed.

Hemispheric specialization for language according to grapho-phonemic transformation and gender. A divided visual field experiment

This behavioral study aimed at assessing the effect of two variables on the degree of hemispheric specialization for language. One of them was the grapho-phonemic translation (transformation) (letter-sound mapping) and the other was the participants’ gender. The experiment was conducted with healthy volunteers. A divided visual field procedure has been used to perform a phoneme detection task implying either regular (transparent) grapho-phonemic translation (letter-sound mapping consistency) or irregular (non-transparent) grapho-phonemic translation (letter-sound mapping inconsistency). Our results reveal a significant effect of grapho-phonemic translation on the degree of hemispheric dominance for language. The phoneme detection on items with transparent translation (TT) was performed faster than phoneme detection on items with non-transparent translation (NTT). This effect seems to be due to faster identification of TT than NTT when the items were presented in the left visual field (LVF)-right hemisphere (RH). There was no difference between TT and NTT for stimuli presented in the right visual field (RVF)-left hemisphere (LH). This result suggests that grapho-phonemic translation or the degree of transparency can affect the degree of hemispheric specialization, by modulating the right hemisphere activity. With respect to gender, male participants were significantly more lateralized than female participants but no interaction was observed between gender and degree of transparency.     

Introduction: Alexander Luria's Continuing Influence on Worldwide Neuropsychology

As an introduction to this special issue, this article provides an overview of the worldwide influence of the work of Alexander R. Luria. a noted Russian neuropsychologist. Major themes and issues that he studied are reviewed, and the reasons for his strong worldwide influence are discussed. An overview of subsequent articles in this issue is provided.     

Quantitative and Qualitative Integration of Lurian Procedures

This article reviews contemporary Russian research aimed at integrating and combining qualitative and quantitative evaluation approaches using Luria's procedures of neuropsychological assessment. A scoring system for rating and evaluating cognitive disturbances in different functional areas is described. The advantages of application of this system are discussed, using as examples the neuropsychological follow-up of neurosurgical patients, as well as neuropsychological research into the cognitive disturbances in patients with Parkinsonism and in children who are mentally retarded. The effectiveness of these updates to Luria's approach is demonstrated.     

“Yet there’s method in his madness …”: Dimensions of deception and dangerousness

Undiagnosed malingering (symptom overreporting or fabrication) can endanger mental health staff. This review paper presents a systematic and empirically based framework to assess symptom overreporting and violence potential. The first half reviews three models of malingering and their implications for violence potential. The first model proposes that people who malinger are attempting to cope with major mental disorders or organic deficits. The violence potential of these often overlooked disorders is explained. The second model describes how some people with character disorders overreport psychological symptoms and use violence to manage interpersonal relationships. The third model proposes that people who malinger are attempting to get their needs met in complex situations. Mishandling these often desperate people can result in a dangerous situation. The second half of this article focuses on conducting evaluations with potential malingerers, including ethical issues, assessment techniques, and treatment recommendations. Public policy implications are also addressed.     

How western scrub-jays (Aphelocoma californica) select a nut: effects of the number of options, variation in nut size, and social competition among foragers

Western scrub-jays (Aphelocoma californica) often visually assess and handle several whole (unshelled) peanuts before selecting one to transport and cache; this behavior is a search for a preferred heavy nut. I repeatedly video-taped individually identifiable jays as they landed on a feeding platform and chose from presentations of peanuts that varied in the number of items or in the distribution of sizes. I examined how differences among these presentations and a bird’s social status affected the amount of assessment and the economic consequences of choice. I also examined the specific patterns of handling peanuts, called sampling, to quantify the degree to which sampling sequences were typified by repeated comparisons among sampled peanuts (retrospective sampling), or sequential assessment and rejection of peanuts (prospective sampling). Peanut assessment was more extensive and prospective when there were many options from which to choose than when there were few. Peanut assessment was more extensive and retrospective when options were similar in size than when they varied. Scrub-jays were more likely to make repeated comparisons immediately before selecting a peanut than elsewhere in a sampling sequence. Subordinate scrub-jays, who were at the greatest risk of pre-emption by competitors, assessed peanuts less extensively and were more prospective in their sampling than dominants. Unless peanuts were very similar in size, jays were more accurate at selecting a high-quality peanut and achieved a higher rate of food storage than if they had not assessed. These results show that scrub-jays can adaptively modify how they search to improve their rate of food storage, and also suggest some of the specific search tactics used by jays when assessing peanuts. Received: 26 April 1999 / Accepted after revision: 10 October 1999     

An attitude profile for studies of population psychology

Attitudes toward specific issues in population covary, but are independent enough to warrant separate assessment. Identifiable components include family planning, abortion, contraception, and population management. Modernity may be defined as a norm-setting factor, establishing a baseline around which the four other dimensions may vary. A system of beliefs will be more or less in phase or out of phase depending on the congruence between modernity and the other four indices. Scales to assess each factor were developed, and an attempt was made to minimize unwanted or artifactual variance pertaining to generalized distrust or misanthropy. Five case vignettes were given to illustrate the personological implications of contrasting profile configurations.     

Career satisfaction and role harmony in a sample of young women physicians

In a sample of young women physicians, self-ratings of Career Satisfaction and Role Harmony were correlated with a group of situational, achievement, and personality variables. Career Satisfaction was extremely high with about 88% reporting they are satisfied or very satisfied. However, over half experienced at least a moderate amount of strain in integrating professional and sex roles. In addition women who were high on both Career Satisfaction and Role Harmony were compared with the others in the sample and individual differences were apparent: These women were exceptionally confident, intellectually resourceful, and tolerant; they tended to have clear priorities with either family or work coming first. Overall their current level of personality adjustment was superior to the others who, as a group, were very well-functioning women.     

Resilience,Coloniality, and Sovereign Acts: The Role of Community Activism

Puerto Rico has been a U.S. colony since 1898. For the past decades, it has been mired in public debt, social problems, and ineffective and corrupt governance. In 2017, the island was hit by hurricanes which devastated our country. After the event, the term “resilience” became ubiquitous. Labeling Puerto Ricans’ capacity to tolerate misfortune and suffering “resilient” gave people a false sense of hope and offered government a pretext to postpone or inequitably dispense aid. So-called “resilience” also allowed Puerto Ricans to avoid the impact of colonialism and coloniality on pre-existing conditions which hurricanes accentuated. In this context, community activism played a major role. Community organizations initially provided aid and generated chains of solidarity. They initiated “sovereign acts” which are mostly guided by principles and values espoused by community psychology. Thus, we have a duty to contribute to efforts which can promote liberating our island from colonialism and coloniality.