When to intervene in selective mutism: The multimodal treatment of a case of persistent selective mutism

An identification and treatment model differentiating Transient from Persistent Selective Mutism is proposed. The model incorporates treatment recommendations for Persistent Selective Mutism and suggests that interventions are not usually warranted for Transient Selective Mutism. The case study of a 6-year-old female manifesting Persistent Selective Mutism is presented. A multimodal treatment approach combining behavioral techniques with play therapy and family involvement was applied to improve her verbal interactions. Pre- and posttreatment evaluations were conducted. During pretreatment evaluations the child was manifesting Persistent Selective Mutism, immaturity, and withdrawal behaviors. At posttreatment evaluations she was talking in a manner consistent with her peers without problematic behaviors displayed. Results of a 6-month follow-up completed after the child had entered first grade showed that she was continuing to speak in a manner consistent with her peers without behavioral concerns.     

Analysis and treatment of child abuse: A set of behavioral propositions

Five propositions are presented to suggest the potential of a behavioral approach to the understanding and treatment of child abuse. Each proposition deals with an important source of child abuse: (a) ineffective child management techniques; (b) deliberately punitive child rearing practices; (c) impulsive acts by the parent triggered by the child; (d) high levels of stress; and (e) negative attitude toward the child. For each proposition we discuss supportive findings from both child abuse and general psychological research as well as the additional information that would be needed in order to obtain a better functional analysis of clinical cases. Based on this discussion, behavioral therapy strategies are proposed with special attention being given to the various measures needed to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment programs.     

Spatial selective attention and asynchrony of cognitive systems in adult dyslexic readers: an ERPs and behavioral study

The aim of this study was to gain additional knowledge about the asynchrony phenomenon in developmental dyslexia, especially when spatial selective attention is manipulated. Adults with developmental dyslexia and non-impaired readers underwent two experimental tasks, one including alphabetic stimuli (pre-lexical consonant–vowel syllables) and the other containing non-alphabetic stimuli (pictures and sounds of animals). Participants were instructed to attend to the right or left hemifields and to respond to all stimuli on that hemifield. Behavioral parameters and event-related potentials were recorded. The main finding was that the dyslexic readers demonstrated asynchrony between the auditory and visual modalities when alphabetic stimuli were presented on the right hemifield. These results suggest that intact reading is linked to a synchronized auditory and visual speed of processing even when spatial selective attention is manipulated. The findings of the current study are discussed in terms of asynchrony between modalities as a neurocognitive marker in developmental dyslexia.     

Goal‐Directed Correlates and Neurobiological Underpinnings of Adolescent Identity: A Multimethod Multisample Longitudinal Approach

This multimethod multisample longitudinal study examined how neurological substrates associated with goal directedness and information seeking are related to adolescents’ identity. Self‐reported data on goal‐directedness were collected across three biannual waves in Study 1. Identity was measured one wave later. Study 1 design and measurements were repeated in Study 2 and extended with structural brain data (nucleus accumbens [NAcc] and prefrontal cortex gray matter volume [PFC]), collected across three biannual waves. Study 1 included 497 adolescents (M_{age T1} = 13.03 years) and Study 2 included 131 adolescents (M_{age T1} = 14.69 years). Using latent growth curve models, goal directedness, NAcc, and PFC volume predicted a stronger identity one wave later. These findings provide crucial new insights in the underlying neurobiological architecture of identity.     

In-situ investigation of melting characteristics of waste selective catalytic reduction catalysts during harmless melting treatment

Selective catalytic reduction(SCR) catalyst waste is a hazardous solid waste that seriously threatens the environment and public health.In this study,a thermal melting technology is proposed for the treatment of waste SCR catalysts.The melting characteristics and mineral phase transformation of waste SCR catalysts blended with three different groups of additives were explored by heating stage microscopy,thermogravimetric analysis/differential scanning calorimetry(TG/DSC) analysis,thermodynamic simulation,and X-ray diffraction(XRD) analysis;heavy metal leaching toxicity was tested by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry(I CP-AES) analysis.The results indicated that the melting point of waste SCR catalysts can be effectively reduced with proper additives.The additive formula of 39.00% Fe_2 O_3(in weight),6.50% CaO,3.30% SiO_2,and 1.20% Al_2 O_3 achieves the optimal fluxing behavior,significantly decreasing the initial melting temperature from 1223℃ to1169℃.Furthermore,the whole heating process of waste SCR catalysts can be divided into three stages:the solid reaction stage,the sintering stage,and the primary melting stage.The leaching concentrations of V,As,Pb,and Se are significantly reduced,from 10.64,1.054,0.195,and 0.347 mg/L to 0.178,0.025,0.048,and 0.003 mg/L,respectively,much lower than the standard limits after melting treatment,showing the strong immobilization capacity of optimal additives for heavy metals in waste SCR catalysts.The results demonstrate the feasibility of harmless melting treatments for waste SCR catalysts with relatively low energy consumption,providing theoretical support for a novel method of disposing of hazardous waste SCR catalysts.     

Direct assessment of behavioral and emotional problems

New procedures for assessing the behavior of children in an environmental context are available to the school psychologist. The procedures, which are sometimes called psychosituational or informal assessments, examine the influence of the external environment as setting the occasion for emotional and behavioral problems. Covert speech of children also is viewed as an event which can occasion behavioral problems and can serve to reinforce and/or punish the behavior. Procedures are outlined for conducting the direct assessment.     

An ecological analysis of cognitions of behavioral deviancy

The purpose of this study was to determine whether educators' judgments of problem behaviors are influenced by classroom context (disruptive × nondisruptive) and teacher type (regular × special). After viewing each of five randomly sequenced videotaped behavioral segments presented within a disruptive or nondisruptive classroom setting, teachers rated behavioral severity, tolerance, manageability, and contagion. A two-way multivariate analysis of variance produced significant main effects for both context and teacher type, with ratings more negative for the disruptive class and for regular teachers. Implications for special educational services and ecological research are discussed.     

Increasing acceptability of alternative behavioral interventions through education

The extent to which information provided within the context of regular coursework affects acceptability ratings by prospective teachers of four common behavioral interventions (DRI, home-based reinforcement, ignoring, and time-out) was investigated. General learning principles as well as information about the specific interventions were covered in an educational psychology class (experimental group, n = 34), while control subjects (n = 39) did not receive these lectures. Prelecture acceptability ratings showed no differences between experimental subjects and controls, while postlecture ratings indicated significant increases in acceptability of all interventions except DRI for the experimental group. No increases were evidenced for control subjects. Implications for trainers and consultants are discussed.     

Continuity and discontinuity of behavioral inhibition and exuberance: psychophysiological and behavioral influences across the first four years of life

Four-month-old infants were screened (N = 433) for temperamental patterns thought to predict behavioral inhibition, including motor reactivity and the expression of negative affect. Those selected (N = 153) were assessed at multiple age points across the first 4 years of life for behavioral signs of inhibition as well as psychophysiological markers of frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry. Four-month temperament was modestly predictive of behavioral inhibition over the first 2 years of life and of behavioral reticence at age 4. Those infants who remained continuously inhibited displayed right frontal EEG asymmetry as early as 9 months of age while those who changed from inhibited to noninhibited did not. Change in behavioral inhibition was related to experience of nonparental care. A second group of infants, selected at 4 months of age for patterns of behavior thought to predict temperamental exuberance, displayed a high degree of continuity over time in these behaviors.     

Moral judgment and behavioral dimensions of juvenile delinquency

The relationship of levels of moral reasoning to behavioral dimensions of juvenile delinquency was investigated, using 162 delinquent boys in a reformatory. After adding biographical data to the Quay Behavioral Classification Instruments, four second-order factors were obtained, interpreted as a social inadequacy, an obstreperousness, a social orientation and an antisocial egocentricity factor. The principled morality score of Rest's Defining Issues Test correlated negatively with a social inadequacy score while a score measuring morality of rules and duty to social order correlated with a score indicating a group inclined social orientation. Unexpectedly delinquents with antisocial egocentristic tendencies did not display lower principled morality scores. Some evidence for the validity of Quay's Inadequacy-immaturity dimension was found.Appreciation is expressed to Pieter Lourens for his helpful assistanceThis article is based on the doctoral dissertation of the first author completed under the supervision of the second and third authors. The study was partly sponsored by a grant from the Human Sciences Research Council, Republic of South Africa.Requests for reprints should be sent to Pieter M. Heyns, who is now at the Department of Psychology, Rand Afrikaans University, P.O. Box 524, Johannesburg 2000, Republic of South Africa     

关于政府教育投资的行为分析

在市场经济体制下,政府教育投资的行为动机主要是为了满足社会成员对教育的“公共需要”,是为了实现教育的机会均以及弥补个人和企业教育投资的不足,保证教育与经济社会发展的协调与平衡。政府教育投资的规模也取决于上述因素,但现实中政府很难有效地按照社会客观需要进行必要的公共投资。这就需要从政治上经济上完善政府对教育投资的行为机制,规范政府的投资行为。     

A selective study of child mortality

Identification of children's deaths from abuse and neglect is a complex process, thus no one individual should have the sole responsibility for this identification. A team could best carry out the comprehensive, interdisciplinary investigation and evaluation that the process requires.While at the present time, prevention of child abuse is a high priority item; before we invest large sums of public and private money and manpower in a variety of supportive services, some fundamental issues need to be addressed. We ought to do a more thorough job of trying to find out how many infants and children are dying of abuse. Second, we ought to open our minds to the fact that even more children are dying of neglect. When we do a better job of identifying these tragic phenomena, we will also be arriving at better preventive methods.We cannot prevent what we know so little about.     

The effect of mindfulness on extinction and behavioral resurgence

In the present experiments, we investigated the effects of mindfulness on behavioral extinction and resurgence. Participants received instrumental training; either they received FI training (Experiment 1), or they were trained to emit high rates and low rates of response via exposure to a multiple VR yoked-VI schedule prior to exposure to a multiple FI FI schedule in order to alter their rates of responding learned during Experiment 2. Participants were then exposed to either a focused- (mindfulness) or an unfocused-attention induction task. All participants were finally exposed to an extinction schedule in order to determine whether a mindfulness induction task presented immediately prior to extinction training affected extinction (Experiment 1) and behavioral resurgence (Experiment 2). During the extinction phase, the rates of responding were higher in the control group than in the mindfulness group, indicating that the mindfulness group was more sensitive to the contingencies and, thus, their prior performance extinguished more readily (Experiment 1). Moreover, rates of response in the extinction components less precisely reflected previous training in the mindfulness group, suggesting less resurgence of past behaviors after the mindfulness induction (Experiment 2).     

The physiology and psychology of behavioral inhibition in children

Longitudinal study of 2 cohorts of children selected in the second or third year of life to be extremely cautious and shy (inhibited) or fearless and outgoing (uninhibited) to unfamiliar events revealed preservation of these 2 behavioral qualities through the sixth year of life. Additionally, more of the inhibited children showed signs of activation in 1 or more of the physiological circuits that usually respond to novelty and challenge, namely, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, the reticular activating system, and the sympathetic arm of the autonomic nervous system. It is suggested that the threshold of responsivity in limbic and hypothalamic structures to unfamiliarity and challenge is tonically lower for inhibited than for uninhibited children.     

反思型教师教学行为特点研究

反思型教师在教学行为上具有以下特点 :在教学过程中 ,不仅与教材对话、与学生对话 ,而且特别强调与自己对话 ;既重视教学的科学层面 ,更关注教学的艺术层面 ;自觉地把教学过程中形成的隐性知识显性化 ,使其成为一种明确的知识 ;主张人人都是研究者。     

The meaning of heritability in the behavioral sciences 1

The concept of heritability in quantitative genetics is defined and discussed in terms of its implications for individual and group differences in behavioral traits, with particular reference to studies of the heritability of IQ. Common misconceptions concerning the relevance of heritability analysis for individual scores and the roles of genotype x environment covariance and interaction are clarified. Some of the popular criticisms of heritability analysis as applied to mental ability are shown to be misconceived.