Transforming engagement: a case study of building intrinsic motivation in a child with autism

This longitudinal case study of a 10‐year‐old girl with autism and severe communication impairment measures the impact of the MORE (Means, Opportunities, Reasons and Expectations) approach to enhancing engagement and communication. Through detailed observation of video data over a period of 28 months, engagement behaviours including interaction with adults and following adult directions increased, while resistant behaviours such as kicking, hitting and pushing adults away decreased. Fluctuation between different ‘states’ demonstrated that the frequency and duration of engagement was influenced by the MORE approach and an emphasis on developing intrinsic motivation. In order to enable further efficacy research, core features of the intervention and the changes in engagement over time are described.     

Paying back student loans: Demographic,human capital and other correlates of default and repayment difficulty

Government‐sponsored student loans have emerged over the decades as a primary method of financing post‐secondary education across most North American jurisdictions. Despite this, the empirical literature examining the correlates of repayment difficulty and default in Canada has remained stagnant in recent years. This study taps into an underutilised data source—the 2013 National Graduates Survey—to examine the relationship between demographics, human capital, borrowing behaviour and other known predictors and repayment difficulty. Our logistic regression models demonstrate that disability status, geographic region and borrowing behaviour are correlated with loan default and repayment difficulty, while failing to verify the existence of other demographic effects routinely found in the existing literature. We discuss the implications of these findings, along with multiple avenues for further empirical work on this topic within Canada.     

Relations Among the Home Language and Literacy Environment and Children’s Language Abilities: A Study of Head Start Dual Language Learners and Their Mothers

Research Findings: This study explored the relations between Spanish–English dual language learner (DLL) children’s home language and literacy experiences and their expressive vocabulary and oral comprehension abilities in Spanish and in English. Data from Spanish–English mothers of 93 preschool-age Head Start children who resided in central Pennsylvania were analyzed. Children completed the Picture Vocabulary and Oral Comprehension subtests of the Batería III Woodcock–Muñoz and the Woodcock–Johnson III Tests of Achievement. Results revealed that the language spoken by mothers and children and the frequency of mother–child reading at home influenced children’s Spanish language abilities. In addition, the frequency with which children told a story was positively related to children’s performance on English oral language measures. Practice or Policy: The findings suggest that language and literacy experiences at home have a differential impact on DLLs’ language abilities in their 2 languages. Specific components of the home environment that benefit and support DLL children’s language abilities are discussed.     

‘Let the People Sing’: J.B. Priestley and the Significance of Music

Abstract

In a writing life that spanned the 1910 to 1970s, J.B. Priestley engaged with a variety of subjects, across various literary forms, ranging from politics, popular culture and Englishness through to theories of time. However it has rarely been noted that he also wrote passionately and knowledgeably about music, with the latter playing an important role in key novels, plays and nonfiction. Priestley also promoted chamber festivals, wrote the libretto for an opera ‘The Olympians’, and even occasionally performed himself. Priestley’s writings on music fitted into his concerns about the rise of an Americanized mass order, and his mistrust of commericalized musical forms was shared by other critics of the time. However, Priestley’s work is more significant than a binary high/low low cultural validation of classical music/dismissal of more popular musical forms. He was often critical of jazz and ragtime, but more positive about popular music that was produced in, reflected, and empowered the individual and community. Priestley’s writings on music marked a genuine attempt at understanding the role of music in culture, and contributed to his democratic critique of the mass society.     

The relation between abuse and violent delinquency: the conversion of shame to blame in juvenile offenders

Objective

While the relationship between abusive parenting and violent delinquency has been well established, the cognitive and emotional processes by which this occurs remain relatively unidentified. The objective of this work is to apply a conceptual model linking abusive parenting to the conversion of shame into blaming others and therefore to violent delinquency.

Methods

A retrospective study of 112 adolescents (90 male; 22 female; ages 12-19 years; M = 15.6; SD = 1.4) who were incarcerated in a juvenile detention facility pending criminal charges, completed measures of exposure to abusive and nonabusive discipline, expressed and converted shame, and violent delinquency.

Results

Findings tend to confirm the conceptual model. Subjects who converted shame (i.e., low expressed shame, high blaming others) tended to have more exposure to abusive parenting and showed more violent delinquent behavior than their peers who showed expressed shame. Subjects who showed expressed shame (i.e., high expressed shame, low blaming others) showed less violent delinquency than those who showed converted shame.

Conclusions

Abusive parenting impacts delinquency directly and indirectly through the effects of shame that is converted. Abusive parenting leads to the conversion of shame to blaming others, which in turn leads to violent delinquent behavior.

Practice implications

For juvenile offenders, the conversion of shame into blaming others appears to contribute to pathological outcomes in relation to trauma. Translation of this work into clinical practice is recommended.     

Age and gender differences in children's and adolescents' adaptation to sexual abuse

OBJECTIVE: How children manifest psychological distress following the discovery of sexual abuse requires a better understanding of individual differences in developmental capacities and vulnerabilities. This study examined how age at the time of the abuse discovery and gender of victim are related to psychological distress. METHOD: One hundred and sixty-nine participants (96 children, 73 adolescents) were interviewed within 8 weeks of discovery of the abuse. Multivariate analyses were used to examine how age at discovery, and gender, with abuse characteristics as covariates, were related to shame, attribution style, depression, self-esteem, and traumatic events sequelae. RESULTS: Adolescents compared to children report a higher level of depressive symptoms, negative reactions by others, and lower levels of self-esteem, social support, and sexual anxiety. Girls compared to boys report higher levels of intrusive thoughts, hyperarousal, sexual anxiety, personal vulnerability, and perceiving the world as a dangerous place and lower levels of eroticism. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest the importance of considering individual differences in age and gender for understanding patterns of symptom expression. Treatment strategies need to reflect these individual differences in adjustment, such as targeting issues of sexual anxiety for girls and self-esteem for adolescents.