Word and sentence level tests of morphological awareness in reading

Reading and Writing - Common tests of morphological awareness measure both morphology and syntax by requiring participants to fit words and pseudowords into sentences by adding or removing affixes....     

Lawyer and counselor as an interdisciplinary team serving the terminally ill

Mental health professionals consult with the terminally ill and provide therapy to the client, spouse, and family. Some clients have been forewarned and have a carefully drafted estate plan that incorporates all the nuances of property and personal planning. In addition, the client may have an interest in donating his or her body or its parts as an anatomical gift or may inquire concerning the right to die a natural death. He or she may further be concerned with the appropriateness of a power of attorney or a living trust. Whatever the inquiry, the mental health professional should be ready, willing, and able to offer informed data regarding questions in these areas and then to serve with the attorney as an interdisciplinary team to respond quickly and effectively to these legitimate personal concerns.     

Neurobehavioral factors associated with referral for learning problems in a community sample: evidence for an adaptational model for learning disorders

We evaluated community general education (CGE; n = 178), community special education (CSE; n = 30) and hospital-referred (HR, n = 145) children (ages 7-6 to 11-11) prospectively over a 2-year period. During this period, 17 CGE children were referred for evaluation (community referred; CR). Prior to referral, CR children performed more poorly than community-nonreferred (CNR) children on cognitive ability, academic achievement, attention problems, and information processing. CR group performance was equivalent to that of CSE and HR groups, but HR children showed poorer academic achievement. Referred children performed more poorly on all measures than nonreferred, whether they met formal diagnostic criteria for a learning disorder or not. Learning disorders may be better conceptualized as a context-dependent problem of functional adaptation than as a disability analogous to physical disabilities, raising questions about the validity of using psychometric test scores as the criterion for identification.     

The new environmental paradigm scale: Reassessing the operationalization of contemporary environmentalism

Researchers have long aimed to quantify environmental attitudes, subsequently incorporating them into more comprehensive models of values, attitudes, and behaviors. However, many metrics, notably the New Environmental Paradigm scale, conflate a situated, incomplete set of environmental attitudes with pro-environmental worldviews generally. Further, the measurement of environmental worldviews is often used instrumentally to engender pro-environmental behaviors, proving problematic both theoretically and pragmatically. Three dimensions are suggested to better explain the diversity of contemporary environmentalism—view of technology, view of societal response, and view of nature. This article argues that any multi-item scale will be limited in its ability to capture a dynamic concept like environmentalism, but when used appropriately quantitative scales can engender individual and community empowerment; therefore, reassessment rather than rejection is the appropriate way forward.     

Health-enhancing physical activity and sedentary behaviour in children and adolescents

We provide a wide-ranging review of health-related physical activity in children and adolescents using a behavioural epidemiology framework. In contrast to many other reviews, we highlight issues associated with true sedentary behaviours alongside physically active behaviours. Specifically, we review the evidence concerning the links between physical activity and cardiovascular disease, overweight and obesity, psychosocial measures, type II diabetes, and skeletal health. Although the evidence is unconvincing at times, several factors lead to the conclusion that promoting physical activity in youth is desirable. A review of the prevalence of physical activity and sedentary behaviours shows that many young people are active, but this declines with age. A substantial number are not adequately active for health benefits and current trends in juvenile obesity are a cause for concern. Prevalence data on sedentary behaviours are less extensive but suggest that total media use by young people has not changed greatly in recent years. Most children and adolescents do not exceed recommended daily hours of TV viewing. Physical activity is unrelated to TV viewing. We also identified the key determinants of physical activity in this age group, highlighting demographic, biological, psychological, behavioural, social and environmental determinants. Interventions were considered for school, family and community environments. Finally, policy recommendations are offered for the education, governmental, sport and recreation, health, and mass media sectors.