The “EA brief”: A single session of parent feedback and coaching to improve emotional attachment and emotional availability (EA)

The goal of this study was to determine the extent to which a brief parenting intervention provided the context for helping families to support positive mother–child interactions as well as more optimal mother and child outcomes. Participants in this study were middle income mothers and their children were between 0–3 years of age (N = 25 dyads). Participants were filmed via Skype during a 20-minute mother–child free play and completed questionnaires (Time 1) before attending the brief intervention (involving: a single session of one-on-one parent feedback and coaching, and information via group meeting, texts, and reading) followed by a repeat of the 20-minute Skype interaction and the completion of the same questionnaires (Time 2). Paired samples t-tests were performed, revealing that mothers reported improvements in their personal well-being (using the Flourishing Scale), reports about the mother-child relationship (using the Emotional Availability Self Report), and observed interactions, particularly the child's side of the relationship (using the Emotional Availability System), from pretest to posttest. Results are discussed in terms of a single session of parent feedback and coaching (in conjunction with an informational group session and texts) potentially having a role in “planting a seed” for observed and self-reported parenting enhancement and child development.     

Can animation compensate for temporal processing difficulties in deaf people?

This article addresses the issue of animation as an aid for temporal processing difficulties in deaf people learning the Highway Code. A decision-making task involving static or animated road situations was performed by 21 deaf and 24 hearing participants. They were confronted with four types of driving situations (overtaking, negotiating roundabouts, highways, and intersections) and had to decide whether or not to proceed. Participants were presented with two different formats (static vs. animated) and two levels of difficulty (simple vs. complex). Results showed that deaf participants had poorer performances in the static condition than hearing participants. Performance was better in the animated condition than in the static condition, especially in deaf participants. The benefits of animation were greater in complex situations for all participants. Decisions made on dynamic road situations were facilitated by the presence of spatiotemporal dimensions. These proved helpful to deaf candidates who have difficulties in this particular area.     

Infant’s gaze in a teasing task with an experimenter or parent: A naturalistic approach

We assessed infant’s gaze in a teasing task in New York City public spaces. The task was administered to two different groups of 5- to 13-month-old infants. We used a between participants design across two studies. In Study 1 an experimenter administered the task to these infants (n = 79), whereas a parent did so in Study 2 (n = 79). The adult engaged the infant with a toy and then pulled it away to one side by counting to 7. A second trial to the other side was repeated. Infants passed the teasing task if they looked to the adult’s face within the first 5 seconds after removing the toy in at least one trial. In Study 1, we found that infants looked to the experimenter’s face after teasing by 7 months of age. In Study 2, infants did not show any significant gazes to the parent’s face after teasing at any age. Most trained parents successfully administered the teasing task to their infant. A teasing game played by an adult stranger (e.g., experimenter) may be optimal to elicit infant’s gaze in a naturalistic setting. Implications for developing cost-effective social-cognitive milestone measures in non-laboratory settings are discussed.     

Do deaf individuals have better visual skills in the periphery? Evidence from processing facial attributes

ABSTRACT

Studies examining visual abilities in individuals with early auditory deprivation have reached mixed conclusions, with some finding congenital auditory deprivation and/or lifelong use of a visuospatial language improves specific visual skills and others failing to find substantial differences. A more consistent finding is enhanced peripheral vision and an increased ability to efficiently distribute attention to the visual periphery following auditory deprivation. However, the extent to which this applies to visual skills in general or to certain conspicuous stimuli, such as faces, in particular is unknown. We examined the perceptual resolution of peripheral vision in the deaf, testing various facial attributes typically associated with high-resolution scrutiny of foveal information processing. We compared performance in face-identification tasks to performance using non-face control stimuli. Although we found no enhanced perceptual representations in face identification, gender categorization, or eye gaze direction recognition tasks, fearful expressions showed greater resilience than happy or neutral ones to increasing eccentricities. In the absence of an alerting sound, the visual system of auditory deprived individuals may develop greater sensitivity to specific conspicuous stimuli as a compensatory mechanism. The results also suggest neural reorganization in the deaf in their opposite advantage of the right visual field in face identification tasks.     

论孝文化的现代价值

孝文化在中国古代社会的作用包括道德教育、稳定社会和民族凝聚的功能。中国孝文化中的精华成分体现其对人类文明的普遍价值,从而决定了孝文化所具有的现代意义。通过对孝文化的改造实现孝道伦理的价值转化,通过孝道文化的教育实现孝道伦理的弘扬。     

试从"反哺"与"接力"看中西亲子关系

“反哺”和“接力”分别是中西方家庭中处理养老问题的两种不同模式,模式的区别也反映了中西方亲子关系的差异。导致这种差异的原因主要是中西方所处的社会发展阶段不同、中西方伦理价值观念的冲突等四个方面所致。在代际亲子观念的东西文化交流过程中,我们既要继续发扬我国尊老爱幼的优良传统,又要吸取西方重视代际亲子关系平等的合理因素,建立一个不分年龄、人人共享的和谐社会。     

Improving reading outcomes for children with learning disabilities: using brief experimental analysis to develop parent-tutoring interventions

The present study assessed the effects of summer parent tutoring on 3 children with learning disabilities using empirically derived reading interventions. Brief experimental analyses were used to identify customized reading fluency interventions. Parents were trained to use the intervention strategies with their children. Parents implemented the procedures during parent-tutoring sessions at home and results were measured continuously in high-word-overlap and low-word-overlap passages to determine whether generalization occurred. Parent and child satisfaction with the procedures was assessed. Results demonstrated generalized increases in reading fluency in both high-word-overlap and low-word-overlap passages as a function of parent tutoring. Also, acceptability ratings by children and their parents indicated that they viewed the interventions as acceptable and effective. Results are discussed in terms of structuring reading fluency interventions that promote generalization and maintenance of treatment effects.     

Effects of Parent’s Gender, Child’s Gender, and Parental Involvement on the Academic Achievement of Adolescents in Single Parent Families

We used a national database (Educational Longitudinal Study) to investigate the effects of parent’s gender, child’s gender, and parental involvement in school on the academic achievement of adolescents in single-parent families. A three way 2 × 2 × 2 (parent’s gender × child’s gender × parental involvement) MANCOVA was conducted with four student academic achievement indicators as dependent variables and SES as a covariate. The results indicated that parent gender and child gender interact with parent involvement to affect adolescents’ academic achievement differentially. Specifically, daughters who lived with highly involved single-fathers performed better academically than the other groups did. These findings suggest that researchers who study single-parents’ involvement in their adolescents’ academic achievement need to pay more attention to gender-specific effects.     

Assessing the effectiveness of the ‘Incredible Years® parent training’ to parents of young children with ADHD symptoms – a preliminary report

This study examined the effectiveness of an evidence‐based parent training program in a real‐world Scandinavian setting. Parents of 36 young children with or at risk of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) self‐referred to participate in the Incredible Years^® Parent Training Program (IYPT) through a Danish early intervention clinic. Using a benchmarking approach, we compared self‐report data with data from a recent efficacy study. Eight out of nine outcome measures showed comparable or higher magnitude of effect from pretest to posttest. Effects were maintained or improved across six months. The methodology of this study exemplifies a rigorous but feasible approach to assessing effectiveness when evidence‐based US protocols are transferred into the existing Scandinavian service delivery. Findings suggest that IYPT can be implemented successfully as an easy‐access early intervention to families of children with or at risk of ADHD.