Teaching reading to disabled readers with language disorders: A controlled evaluation of synthetic speech feedback

In a long-term study two groups of language and reading impaired students ( N = 15 + 15) were reading with the aid of segmented speech-feedback in a computerized program. One group received feedback that was simultaneously segmented visually and auditorily into syllables, the other received feedback by letter names. In both groups subjects were expected to synthesize segments into words and to compare their synthesis to whole word feed-back subsequently provided by the computer. They worked for half a lesson (approximately 20 minutes) a day for a total of 40 days. During this period, the experiment groups progressed more in reading than a control group of age and reading-level-matched students ( N = 35) who received traditional remedial instruction. The group in the syllable condition gained slightly more in non-word reading and in syllable segmentation than did the letter group. Differences in gains in reading abilities were not explained by differences in age, but to some extent by initial level of phoneme and syllable awareness. Future applications of the speech-feedback system are discussed.     

The Danger of Unrealistic Optimism: Linking Caregivers' Perceived Ability to Help Victims of Terror With Their Own Secondary Traumatic Stress

This study examined how caregivers' biased perceptions of ability to help traumatized patients relates to the caregivers' secondary traumatic stress (STS). There is reason to believe that caregivers overestimate their ability to help and underestimate their vulnerability to develop STS, but it is unclear how such unrealistic optimism relates to STS. The results show that Israeli caregivers working with terror victims believed that their ability to help traumatic patients is superior to their peers' while their likelihood to be negatively affected by such treatment is lower. Beyond the impact of the number of patients treated and caregivers' experience, unrealistic optimism was positively correlated to caregivers' STS. Theoretical and practical implications for those working with traumatized patients are discussed.