Trajectories of emotional well-being in mothers of adolescents and adults with autism

Raising an adolescent or adult child with a developmental disability confers exceptional caregiving challenges on parents. We examined trajectories of 2 indicators of emotional well-being (depressive symptoms and anxiety) in a sample of primarily Caucasian mothers (N = 379; M age = 51.22 years at Time 1) of adolescent and adult children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD; M age = 21.91 years at Time 1, 73.2% male). We also investigated within-person associations of child context time-varying covariates (autism symptoms, behavior problems, residential status) and maternal context time-varying covariates (social support network size and stressful family events) with the trajectories of emotional well-being. Data were collected on 5 occasions across a 10-year period. Average patterns of stable (depressive symptoms) and improved (anxiety) emotional well-being were evident, and well-being trajectories were sensitive to fluctuations in both child and maternal context variables. On occasions when behavior problems were higher, depressive symptoms and anxiety were higher. On occasions after which the grown child moved out of the family home, anxiety was lower. Anxiety was higher on occasions when social support networks were smaller and when more stressful life events were experienced. These results have implications for midlife and aging families of children with an ASD and those who provide services to these families.     

Siblings of individuals with autism spectrum disorders across the life course

In this article, we review the literature on siblings of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) from a lifespan developmental perspective, from infancy through adulthood, focusing on the sibling relationship and sibling well-being. We situate this review within the larger body of research on siblings of individuals with developmental disabilities (DD) across the lifespan. We then consider the genetic aspects of ASDs and their implications for siblings. We conclude that there is an evidence of atypical social and communication development in some siblings of children with an ASD during infancy. During childhood and adolescence, siblings describe both positive and negative aspects of their sibling relationship and there is some evidence that siblings of children with an ASD may be at heightened risk for social and behavioral adjustment problems. The limited research on adulthood suggests that lack of closeness in the sibling relationship and social and emotional difficulties may continue. We encourage more attention focused on developmental issues, specifically with respect to samples in narrower age groups and in longitudinal research. Finally, we note the variability in sibling outcomes, and suggest further examination of potential moderating and mediating factors, including genetic predispositions.     

Traditional attitudes and teacher consistency in producing student learning gains in the early elementary grades

Questionnaire responses of second- and third-grade teachers specially selected because of their relatively high consistency in producing student learning gains on standardized achievement tests (N =30) were compared with responses of other teachers working in the same school system at the same grade levels (N = 38). Due to sample selection procedures, the highly consistent teachers were older and averaged more years of teaching experience than the teachers in the comparison group. In order to see whether the consistent teachers differed in any other ways from the teachers in the comparison group, the teachers in each group were administered a 495-item questionnaire. Group difference analyses revealed 57 items showing differences beyond the .05 level of significance, when only about 25 would have been expected by chance. For the most part, the items showing group differences did not form interpretable patterns. However, a subset of 10 items emerged from a factor analysis to form a traditionalism factor. Further analyses revealed that the highly consistent teachers were more traditional in their attitudes and beliefs than the teachers in the comparison group, and that this difference was not related to teacher age or years of experience. Thus, traditionalism in beliefs and attitudes was related to consistency in relative success in producing student learning gains. Possible reasons for this puzzling finding are discussed.     

Exemplary job analysis systems in selected organizations: A description of process and outcomes

Job analysis is an important aspect of human resource management. This study was conceived to further our understanding of how job analysis may best be used to enhance the variety of human resource management activities that rely on it. Nine geographically dispersed organizations, carefully selected on the basis of their exemplary job analysis functions, were each visited and their job analysis functions studied for a period ranging from one to three days. These organizations represented a wide range of industries. We found that job analysis functions are typically highly centralized and part or all of these functions are often housed in a unit dealing with compensation. The idea of a fully integrated personnel system based on a comprehensive job analysis data base is not quite ready for widespread adoption. However, a multipurpose approach, designed to serve several applications, is feasible to develop. Little progress has been made in estimating the costs of job analysis functions. Rudimentary cost estimates prepared by us on anad hoc basis revealed that the annual costs for job analysis functions ranged from $150,000 to $4,000,000 with a median of$280,000.     

Can we differentiate sensory over‐responsivity from anxiety symptoms in toddlers? perspectives of occupational therapists and psychologists

Suppose a toddler becomes distressed after hearing a loud noise or when getting messy; are these indicators of sensory over‐responsiveness or indicators of anxiety? There is little evidence regarding the distinction between sensory over‐responsivity and anxiety disorders in toddlers. This construct validity study examined differences between occupational therapists' and psychologists' judgments of behaviors as representing sensory processing disorders (SPD) versus anxiety disorders. Twenty‐four occupational therapists and 25 psychologists completed a mailed survey, rating items from sensory and anxiety scales as representing sensory and/or anxiety disorders in toddlers, and analyzing cases of toddlers with these disorders. Occupational therapists were more likely to rate items as representing SPD than psychologists, and occupational therapists were more certain of the distinction of the sensory scales from anxiety. For the case designed to present a general anxiety disorder and the one designed to present sensory over‐responsivity, more occupational therapists diagnosed as sensory over‐responsive, while more psychologists diagnosed with a general anxiety disorder. The overlap in judgments of sensory over‐responsivity and anxiety supports the notion that these constructs in part reflect different professionals' perspectives upon behaviors as well as the difficulty in distinguishing these constructs in toddlers.     

Letter processing in the visual system: different activation patterns for single letters and strings

One would expect that a lifetime of experience recognizing letters would have an important influence on the visual system. Surprisingly, there is limited evidence of a specific neural response to letters over visual control stimuli. We measured brain activation during a sequential matching task using isolated characters (Roman letters, digits, and Chinese characters) and strings of characters. We localized the visual word form area (VWFA) by contrasting the response to pseudowords against that for letter strings, but this region did not show any other sign of visual specialization for letters. In addition, a left fusiform area posterior to the VWFA was selective for letter strings, whereas a more anterior left fusiform region showed selectivity for single letters. The results of different analyses using both large regions of interest and inspections of individual patterns of response reveal a dissociation between selectivity for letter strings and selectivity for single letters. The results suggest that reading experience fine-tunes visual representations at different levels of processing. An important conclusion is that the processing of nonpronounceable letter strings cannot be assumed to be equivalent to single-letter perception.