The battered-child syndrome

The battered-child syndrome, a clinical condition in young children who have received serious physical abuse, is a frequent cause of permanent injury or death. The syndrome should be considered in any child exhibiting evidence of fracture of any bone, subdural hematoma, failure to thrive, soft tissue swellings or skin bruising, in any child who dies suddenly, or where the degree and type of injury is at variance with the history given regarding the occurrence of the trauma. Psychiatric factors are probably of prime importance in the pathogenesis of the disorder, but knowledge of these factors is limited. Physicians have a duty and responsibility to the child to require a full evaluation of the problem and to guarantee that no expected repetition of trauma will be permitted to occur.     

Effects of Supervisors' Sex,Focus, and Experience on Preferences for Interpersonal Power Bases

The authors examined the effects that supervisor's sex, amount of supervisory experience, and supervisory focus had on preferences for the referent, expert, and legitimate power bases. Supervisors from seven counseling center training programs (20 women, 36 men) rated the utility of responses reflecting each power base in enhancing the professional development of a female trainee. Results indicated that men preferred the referent power base to a greater extent than did women and that supervisors with relatively little experience preferred the referent power base to a greater extent than did supervisors with more experience. Supervisors who focused on trainee self-awareness preferred the expert power base to a greater extent than did supervisors who focused on the trainees' conceptualization skills. Significant differences were not found in the preferences for the legitimate power base. Results were discussed in terms of differences between counseling and supervisory-relationships and the characteristics of each power base.     

Coenrollment for students who are deaf or hard of hearing: friendship patterns and social interactions

Third- and fourth-grade students in two separate classrooms--one a classroom with only hearing students and the other a coenrolled classroom with hearing, hard of hearing, and deaf students--were assessed to determine friendship patterns, attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions about sign language and deafness. Sociograms, interviews, and videotape analysis of the students' responses were done. Results suggest that hearing students in the coenrolled classroom had better sign language skills, a more positive attitude toward deafness, and an improved awareness of certain aspects of hearing loss (such as speech and amplification). Deaf and hard of hearing students' social acceptance was similar to that of their hearing peers.     

Use of grade-based norms versus age-based norms in psychoeducational assessment for a college population

Considerable discussion has occurred about the most appropriate methods for diagnosing learning disabilities (LD) in postsecondary students. Two of the many areas of controversy that have emerged include the appropriate diagnostic criteria to use and the appropriate referent group. A review of previous court cases demonstrates that the issue of whether to compare an individual to the general population or to a smaller referent population has not been adequately clarified. Furthermore, few empirical studies have examined the impact of choosing different referent groups on the likelihood that one will be diagnosed with LD. Therefore, this correlational study described the levels of agreement between three diagnostic models of LD, using both age- and grade-based norms to represent two referent groups for each of the three models. The sample included 155 postsecondary students referred for testing due to academic difficulties. The findings indicated that in two of the three models tested, comparing individuals to their grade-matched peers (i.e., using grade-based norms) resulted in more LD diagnoses than comparing individuals to their age-matched peers (i.e., age-based norms).     

An Examination of Counselor Preparation Doctoral Program Goals

Doctoral counselor education programs nationwide were surveyed to determine their relative emphases on the professional roles of instruction, supervision, scholarship, clinical practice, and leadership, and how they carried it out.     

Enhancing preservice teachers’ professional competence through experiential learning

This report introduces a way of engaging preservice teachers in experiential learning activities to enrich their pedagogical content knowledge and skills. The framework suggested can be applied to instruction in a wide range of disciplines in different contexts. It calls on teacher educators to work on similar experiential learning initiatives to equip novice teachers with the necessary pedagogies and competence for their future careers.