Neurological impairment in maltreated children

The neurological competency of maltreated children was assessed by comparing physically abused children not known to have sustained serious head trauma, neglected children, and normally raised children from the same socioeconomic milieu. Each child underwent physical and neurological examinations including EEGs, supplemented by perceptual-motor tests devised to detect subtle evidence of neurological dysfunction. Obstetrical and developmental histories, as well as intelligence test protocols, were available. Blind ratings by a pediatric neurologist using all available information revealed significantly more impairment in the maltreated groups with more than 50% of the abused children in the moderate or severely impaired category. The complex relationship between the maltreating environment and neurological disorders in these populations is discussed including the need to routinely search for evidence of subtle neurological impairment when maltreatment is known or suspected.     

Making a difference with evidence

In this column, the editor of The Journal of Perinatal Education describes how, despite the many challenges confronting childbirth educators today in our complex health-care environment, there is still a ray of hope that committed individuals translating evidence into practice can make a difference. The editor also describes the contents of this special issue, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of Lamaze International and offers a broad range of resources, research, and inspiration for childbirth educators in their efforts to promote natural, safe, and healthy birth.     

True and false memories in maltreated children

Differences in basic memory processes between maltreated and nonmaltreated children were examined in an experiment in which middle-socioeconomic-status (SES; N = 60), low-SES maltreated (N = 48), and low-SES nonmaltreated (N = 51) children (ages 5-7, 8-9, and 10-12 years) studied 12 Deese-Roediger-McDermott lists. Using recall and recognition measures, the results showed that both true and false memories increased with age and, contrary to some speculation, these trends did not differ as a function of maltreatment status. However, there were differences in overall memory performance as a function of SES. These results are discussed in the broader framework of children's memory development and the effects of the chronic stress associated with child maltreatment on basic memory processes.     

Battered children grown up: a follow-up study of individuals severely maltreated as children.

Despite intensive research interest, the field of child abuse has produced few long-term follow-up studies. This paper describes the adult functioning of a group of 19 individuals who were severely battered as young children. Results indicate highly variable outcomes for the group: Some individuals exhibited limited autonomy and few adult coping skills while others were raising families, holding jobs, and maintaining functional social ties. There was little evidence of overt aggression in the group but resentment and suspiciousness scores were high. Many subjects maintained ties with their troubled parents while others sought out birth parents after losing contact with them in childhood. Several had developed long-term stable marriages, and social supports appeared adequate for most subjects in the group. Overall, study findings indicate that early abusive trauma and adult functioning have no simple relationship.     

Dissociation in maltreated versus nonmaltreated preschool-aged children.

OBJECTIVE: Dissociation is linked to the experience of child maltreatment for adults and for school-aged children. The goals of the current paper were: First, to extend existing research and examine the link between child maltreatment and preschool-aged children; and second, to examine which subgroups of maltreated preschoolers are most likely to evidence dissociation. METHOD: A well-validated measure of dissociation in children, The Child Dissociative Checklist (CDC; Putnam, Helmers, & Trickett, 1993), was utilized in a sample of low SES maltreated and nonmaltreated preschoolers (N = 198). A measure of internalizing and externalizing symptoms was also utilized. The maltreated children were assessed for sexual abuse, physical abuse, neglect, and also for severity, chronicity, and multiple subtypes of maltreatment. RESULTS: The sexually abused, physically abused, and neglected groups each demonstrated more dissociation than did the nonmaltreated group. Dissociation in the clinical (psychopathological) range was associated with physical abuse. Moreover, maltreatment severity, chronicity, multiple subtypes, and internalizing and externalizing symptomatology were each related to dissociation. CONCLUSIONS: Child maltreatment is a factor in dissociation in preschool-aged children as it is in older children and in adults. Sexual abuse, physical abuse, neglect, severity, and chronicity are all implicated. Developmentally sensitive interventions that look beyond comorbidity with behavioral symptoms for dissociative preschool-aged children are needed.     

Perceived and actual academic competence in maltreated children

OBJECTIVE: The aims were twofold: 1) to determine whether maltreated and nonmaltreated children differed in the accuracy of their self-assessments of academic achievement; and 2) to determine whether discrepancies between perceived and actual academic competence were related to perceptions of social support from mothers, teachers, and peers. METHOD: A sample of 195 maltreated children known to a state protective service agency was compared to a control group of 179 nonmaltreated children. The groups were matched on child's gender, age, ethnicity, and birth order; socioeconomic ranking of neighborhood; and family structure. RESULTS: Although maltreated children had significantly lower achievement scores than did nonmal-treated children, the two groups did not differ on perceived academic competence. With regard to discrepancies between perceived and actual competence, maltreated children were more likely than nonmaltreated children to overestimate their level of competence, particularly for reading and arithmetic. Overall, children who reported low maternal support were more likely to overestimate reading competence than were those who reported average or high maternal support. When maltreatment status was considered, maltreated children with low support seemed likely to overestimate abilities, whereas nonmaltreated children with low support seemed likely to underestimate competence. CONCLUSIONS: Maltreated children may overestimate their academic abilities in order to compensate for self-perceptions of low self-worth. Efforts to improve academic performance in maltreated children should focus not only on increasing academic skills but also on enhancing self-esteem.     

Small Talk: Identifying communication problems in maltreated children

Development of speech and language is rapid in early years, yet if developmental problems in speech and language are not addressed they are likely to continue and impact negatively on a child's overall development and their life trajectory. Children who have experienced abuse and or neglect are particularly vulnerable. The aim of this study was to develop a tool to assist in identifying a child's need for assessment by a speech pathologist so that there could be early identification of problems. A culturally sensitive tool was developed to be completed by the child's carer included questions on language, speech and hearing, voice, fluency, understanding sentences, vocabulary and expression. Sixty-five children aged between 4 and 8 years, who had experienced abuse and/or neglect participated in the study. Fourteen percent were Aboriginal. A speech pathologist undertook an assessment for each child and the results were compared with the information on the Small Talk tool. The Tool was found to be high in sensitivity but low in specificity, requiring further refinement. However, it has the potential to assist non speech pathologists to identify a child's need for speech and language assessment with the findings identifying the Tool as promising practice.     

Coping resources of maltreated children in the family: a salutogenic approach.

OBJECTIVE: Most research in child maltreatment within family focuses mainly on the pathological damage caused to the battered child. This study, based on a salutogenic approach, focuses on the resources that may help maltreated children to cope with their state and stay well. METHOD: Resilience was measured by two variables: perceived competence and psychological distress. The moderating or buffering variables that may contribute to better coping were: sense of family coherence, psychological sense of school membership, and social support. Two hundred and twenty-six 8th graders answered an anonymous self-report inventory. Based on the students' answers, they were divided into two groups: those who reported that they had been maltreated (MC) (n = 81) and those who did not (NMC) (n = 145). RESULTS: The study revealed a significantly high percentage of adolescents (35.6%) who reported having been maltreated within their families. A significant difference was found between the MC and the NMC in levels of perceived competence (higher for the NMC) and psychological distress (higher for the MC group). The moderating variables were found to have a differential effect on the dependent variables within the two groups. Sense of family coherence was found to be the main contributor to variance explanation of perceived competence among the MC, while sense of school membership had the main effect among NMC. CONCLUSIONS: The findings support a salutogenic approach in studying maltreated children. Implications on the possible detection of maltreated children in the community and on their coping resources that may contribute to resilience are discussed.     

Computers for Literacy: Making the difference?

Starting from the premise that literacy is a set of practices situated within particular contexts, and that any practice of literacy always involves technologies which affect its forms and use, this paper draws on three diverse examples of classroom and curricular practice, in order to explore how particular forms of cultural difference are being produced through different practices of literacy pedagogy. One form of literacy pedagogy uses drill-forskill programs via information and communication technologies (ICTs) for reasons of efficiency. Where such programs are used, they may promote assimilation in several overlapping forms. In a second form of pedagogy ICTs are used for enhancement or amplification. But even a liberal constructivist environment may lead to the reproduction of a schooled sameness - of information, types of text, and the literacy practices that teachers and students accept as the norm. A third pedagogical approach encourages transformation through new genres and new hypermedia literacy practices. Where a curriculum is driven by teachers' intentions to negotiate difference explicitly, they and their students may use ICTs to manipulate texts, knowledge and positions for comprehending and composing. Nonetheless, given the complex relationships among teachers, students, classrooms and ICTs, no practice is likely to be 'pure' or certain in its effects. Partly for these reasons teacher educators need to help pre- and in-service teachers to be scrupulous in analysing the role of ICTs in pedagogic work with least-advantaged groups of students.     

Making a difference for minorities: Evaluation of an educational enrichment program

A comprehensive, quantitative evaluation of an educational intervention program designed to reduce the attrition of minorities from the biological sciences was undertaken to ascertain whether such efforts adequately address the problem. Program participants had greater odds of persisting in basic math and science courses, and of graduating in biology, than did a comparison group, controlling for demographics and academic preparation. Undergraduate research greatly increased the odds of positive graduation outcomes. Program participants were also more likely to pursue graduate study than were university graduates overall. This evaluation demonstrates the value of such programs in increasing the representation of minorities in science. ? 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 861‐881, 2004.     

Enhancing attachment organization among maltreated children: results of a randomized clinical trial

Young children who have experienced early adversity are at risk for developing disorganized attachments. The efficacy of Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC), an intervention targeting nurturing care among parents identified as being at risk for neglecting their young children, was evaluated through a randomized clinical trial. Attachment quality was assessed in the Strange Situation for 120 children between 11.7 and 31.9 months of age (M = 19.1, SD = 5.5). Children in the ABC intervention showed significantly lower rates of disorganized attachment (32%) and higher rates of secure attachment (52%) relative to the control intervention (57% and 33%, respectively). These results support the efficacy of the ABC intervention in enhancing attachment quality among parents at high risk for maltreatment.     

Making a world of difference: Collaboration.Excellence for intercultural teams

Cultural awareness training that emphasizes communication delivers only a partial solution to the challenges that intercultural work teams face. Improving collaboration requires a strong foundation of performance management before a work team can determine how they will cooperate to perform to excellence. Against the backdrop of the authors' experiences, the program Collaboration.Excellence offers a three‐phase approach that performance improvement professionals can take to build effective intercultural work teams.     

Incarcerated mothers' perceptions and interpretations of their fatally maltreated children

Fatally maltreated children are an elusive component in the complex interaction that has led to their premature deaths. Retrospective research with women imprisoned for fatal child maltreatment indicated recurring themes of maternal interpretations of their children as rejecting and developmentally abnormal, either advanced or delayed. Separations and difficulties during reunions were critical. The fatality was not a one-time event, but the exit point of a recurrent cycle of abusive interaction.     

Experiences in day care and social competence among maltreated children

The experience of 39 preschool-age maltreated children from 13 child care facilities was examined to determine the extent to which the children's social development was related to the quality of day-care service. Maltreated children assigned by the Arkansas Department of Social Services to three different types of child care facilities were observed: specialized day-care programs, regular day-care centers and family day homes. The children scored below average in intelligence and were rated by their parents as displaying higher than normal rates of disturbed behavior. While no comparison group of non-maltreated children was included in the study, observations of the maltreated children in the child care setting revealed substantially more positive than negative social behavior. The children were reasonably effective in interacting with adult caregivers in day care. The maltreated children were also productive in most encounters with peers. Ratings of the quality of care received in day care were significantly correlated with the children's social competence in child care. Aspects of social behavior in maltreated children were related to the organization of the program, the physical facilities, traits of the caregiver, and caregiver expectations for the children.