Teaching caregivers to implement mand training using speech generating devices

Individuals with developmental disabilities often do not develop vocal repertoires, thus requiring the use of augmentative devices. Teaching caregivers to conduct communication training with their children may be one way to foster communication with their device in the natural environment. This study replicates Rosales, Stone and Rehfeldt (2009), but using an augmentative device. Behavioral skills training was used to teach caregivers to implement mand training procedures. Caregivers quickly learned to implement mand training with their children and independent mands increased from pretraining to posttraining observations for 2 out of 3 children.     

Stemming the tide: Predicting women engineers' intentions to leave

This investigation adapts and extends the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) by integrating it with central constructs from turnover theory. The extended model proposes that domain specific self-efficacy and outcome expectations predict job satisfaction and organizational commitment — the two key job attitudes that have been established as influential predictors of turnover cognitions and behaviors. Further, we proposed that one form of organizational supports, specifically developmental opportunities at work, are sources of self efficacy and outcome expectations, and that the relationship between organizational supports and job attitudes is mediated by self-efficacy and outcome expectations. The proposed model was tested on a national sample of 2,042 women engineers. Overall, the results provided support for our newly developed model. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.     

Further evaluation of treatments for vocal stereotypy: Response interruption and redirection and response cost

The purpose of this study was to expand on research on treatments for stereotypy by evaluating the effects of response interruption and redirection (RIRD) and response cost (RC) alone and as a treatment package on vocal stereotypy. Treatment phases included RIRD, RC, and response interruption and redirection plus response cost (RIRD + RC). The efficacy of these treatments was determined by measuring duration of stereotypy in session and during treatment intervals. Vocal stereotypy decreased in all three treatment conditions; however, when data analysis included stereotypy occurring during treatment intervals, stereotypy during the RC condition occurred at similar levels as baseline for one treatment evaluation phase for Karl and both treatment evaluations phases for Jon. We discuss implications of these findings, limitations of the current study, and areas for future research.     

Bodily emotional expressions are a primary source of information for dogs,but not for humans

Animal Cognition - Dogs have remarkable abilities to synergise their behaviour with that of people, but how dogs read facial and bodily emotional cues in comparison to humans remains unclear. Both...     

The Effects of a Daily Behavior Report Card Intervention: Inclusion of a Peer Mediator

Daily Behavior Report Cards (DBRCs) have been found to decrease disruptive behaviors of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, intellectual and developmental disorders, and typically developing students. However, although previous studies indicate that peers can assist with the implementation of a variety of interventions (e.g., Check in check out), teachers are often the implementer of DBRCs. In addition, it appears that no studies evaluating DBRCs have included a functional assessment. Thus, the purposes of this study were to assess the effects of a peer-mediated DBRC on disruptive classroom behaviors, determine whether peers could implement their portion of the intervention procedures with high integrity, and assess whether DBRC was effective independent of the functional reinforcer for disruptive behavior. In this study, peer-mediated DBRC led to a decrease in disruptive behavior and an increase in on-task behavior for all three target students who were at risk for EBD. The peer mediators also implemented the DBRC procedures with high integrity. Furthermore, DBRC was effective at suppressing disruptive behavior independent of their presumed functional reinforcer. However, it does appear that different portions of the intervention likely addressed the hypothesized functions of problem behaviors of all three participants.

     

When does it hurt? Intergroup permeability moderates the link between discrimination and self‐esteem

Research shows that personal discrimination and group discrimination have distinct effects on personal self‐esteem. Specifically, whereas personal discrimination negatively impacts self‐esteem, group discrimination increases it. We suggest that this pattern is dependent on the socio‐structural context in which individuals experience discrimination. To test this hypothesis, we manipulate intergroup permeability and examine its impact on the link between personal/group discrimination and personal self‐esteem. Results show that a control condition replicates previous research, that is, a positive association between group discrimination and self‐esteem and a negative association for personal discrimination. The positive association of group discrimination disappeared in a permeable context and reversed when the context was presented as impermeable. Moreover, the deleterious effect of personal discrimination on self‐esteem vanished in impermeable contexts. Results are discussed in light of the literature on stigmatization. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An Empirical Note on Attaining a Spatial Target after Distorting the Initial Conditions of Movement via Muscle Vibration

Can one’s limb be accurately positioned to a spatial location without a veridical estimate of the initial conditions of movement? The experiment reported here examined this question by distorting perception of a limb’s starting position via muscle vibration. Subjects executed rapid flexion movements under no-vibration, contralateral arm vibration, and ipsilateral arm vibration conditions. Vibration was applied to the biceps for 10 sec prior to the start of a reproduction movement. The results showed that vibration on the ipsilateral arm caused a significant increase in reproduction error, relative to the no-vibration and contralateral-vibration conditions. This finding provides additional evidence that accurate knowledge about the initial conditions of movement is a necessary component in positioning a limb.     

From psychosocial equilibrium to catastrophic breakdown: Cyprus 1955-1974

The recent history of Cyprus presents an example of a society in which a centuries-long peaceful coexistence of diverse populations gave way to violence and murderous hate, with devastating end results. This paper tries to understand and describe the process by which Cypriot society slid from a position of psychosocial equilibrium and integration towards one of disintegration, fragmentation and catastrophic breakdown. This paper draws from work by social anthropologists, sociologists, historians and others, and from my own personal experience. To these I applied insights afforded by psychoanalysis to identify and explore the psychic processes and states of mind that characterized a psychosocial disintegrative process. I came to see external political events and internal psychological processes as inseparably intertwined and dynamically interdependent, each emanating from and catalysing the other. The factual details of the process described are of course unique in their local specificity, but the psychic phenomena that characterized it are not: at both the individual and group levels they are replicated in other societies undergoing similar processes of self-destruction.