Browsing by Subject "Child Psychology"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Effects of a specialized early intervention for children with severe language impairment
    (2008-09-18) Salazar, Vanessa Renee; Hughes, Carrol W.
    Children with language impairment experience difficulties in grammar, vocabulary, and phonological skills, and they are susceptible to developing learning disorders without intervention (Scarborough, 1990; Tallal, Ross,&Curtiss, 1989; Van der Lely&Stollwerk, 1996). Intervention is imperative to prevent further delays in language and potential emotional and social problems stemming from poor communication skills (Bruce&Hansson, 2008). Speech-language therapy is effective for these children (Law, Garrett,&Nye, 2003), and various interventions have been investigated with mixed results. Certain factors have been found to be associated with language outcome, including expressive language difficulties (Law, Garrett,&Nye, 2004), nonverbal cognitive ability (Bishop&Edmundson, 1987; Oliver, Dale,&Plomin, 2004), age (Schery, 1985), and initial type of impairment (Boyle, McCartney, Forbes,&O'Hare, 2007; Law et al., 2004). No empirical investigations have been published on the effects of the Montessori Method Applied to Children At-Risk for learning disabilities (Pickering, 1988) or the DuBard Association Method (DuBard&Martin, 2000), two central components of a specialized language intervention program at the Shelton School in Dallas, Texas. This program evaluation examines change in the language skills of 20 children ages 3 to 9 with language impairment during participation in this three-year intervention, the Shelton Early Intervention Language Learning Program. Variables associated with language outcomes are also examined. Using one-way repeated measures analyses of variance, significant improvement was found on measures of expressive language, expressive vocabulary, and articulation; significant decline was found on measures of receptive language and receptive vocabulary. No interaction effects were found between baseline nonverbal intelligence or age and language outcomes. Reliable change indices showed that a minimal proportion of participants improved, with the exception of the articulation measure, on which the majority of participants improved. A two-way contingency table analysis revealed that a relationship existed between baseline language impairment type and receptive language outcome, in which children who did not respond to intervention had a higher likelihood of having more pervasive language impairment at baseline than children who declined. Further research on the apparent differential response to expressive and articulation measures versus receptive measures is warranted
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    Executive Functioning In Child Survivors of Pediatric Cerebellar Astrocytomas
    (2008-05-13) Perez, Rogelio; Stavinoha, Peter L.
    Twenty children who underwent surgery for CPA and were between the ages of eight and 16 years participated in the study. Each child was administered a multidimensional neuropsychological battery of EF, which consisted of the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, and the subtests comprising the Working Memory Index from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Fourth Edition. Parents and teachers completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and the Behavior Assessment System for Children - Second Edition (BASC-2). No significant differences were found between the CPA group's performance on the clinical measures and the normative test means. Teacher ratings on the BRIEF showed that the CPA group exhibited significantly more difficulties with working memory, whereas parent ratings showed significantly more difficulties with inhibition, mental flexibility, emotional control, initiation of activities, working memory, planning/organization, and monitoring behavior. In terms of emotional and behavioral functioning on the BASC-2, parents rated the CPA group as exhibiting significantly more difficulties with depression, withdrawal, and overall behavioral problems. Parent ratings on the BASC-2 also showed significantly more problems in several areas of adaptive functioning. This study did not replicate the findings of previous studies on EF in pediatric CPA samples. Although EF impairments were not evident, the CPA sample exhibited subtle and mild EF and behavioral/emotional difficulties.
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    Influence of Motor Function on a Continuous Performance Test with Suspected Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
    (2009-06-17) Kandalaft, Michelle Rima; Silver, Cheryl H.
    Clinicians and researchers have expressed concern about the potential confound of psychomotor skills on Continuous Performance Test variables commonly used in AD/HD assessments. Several studies have addressed this relationship but with limitations. Evidence for this potential influence as well as evidence of slow processing and motor speed in samples of children with known attention and motor deficits are demonstrated in the research. Due to the increasing rate of referrals for AD/HD diagnoses, the increasing use of CPTs, and the lack of knowledge about the influence of psychomotor functioning on these measures, an examination of this relationship is considered necessary to address the use of CPTs in AD/HD evaluations. The sample consisted of 99 children with suspected attention deficits between the ages of 6 and 16 years. Psychomotor functioning was assessed by the WISC-IV Processing Speed Index and the Beery VMI. Attention was measured with the WISC-IV Working Memory Index and subscales of the parent-rated BASC-2. Results of this study revealed that psychomotor and attention measures on the WISC-IV related to and accounted for variance in T.O.V.A. variables to a moderate degree. Stepwise regressions indicated the WISC-IV Processing Speed Index predicted both Response Time and Response Time Variability. In contrast, another measure of psychomotor skills, the Beery VMI, did not predict T.O.V.A. variables. Interestingly, the Working Memory Index accounted for variance in Commission Errors, a measure of impulsivity, but not Omission Errors, a measure of sustained attention. Also, unexpected, differences among primary T.O.V.A. variables were not found across sub-samples when grouped by BASC-2 scores. These significant but modest results suggest that when evaluating a child for AD/HD, clinical consideration of the influence of psychomotor skills, as measured by the WISC-IV, on T.O.V.A. Response Time and Response Time Variability is warranted. Furthermore, the use of both the WISC-IV Working Memory Index and the T.O.V.A. is useful for assessing varying components of attention, such as focused and sustained attention.
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    Parent-Reported Anxiety in Children with Secondary Generalized Seizures
    (2010-11-02T18:10:23Z) Benitez, Oscar J.; Stavinoha, Peter L.
    This study examined the role of seizure type in determining different levels of parent-reported anxiety, when taking demographic, medically-related, and medication-related variables into account. One-hundred nineteen children with epilepsy aged 4 to 17 years old underwent a retrospective chart review. Demographic, medically-related, and medication-related variables, such as age, gender, ethnicity, handedness, median household income, age of onset, seizure etiology, lateralization, EEG findings, MRI findings, number of antiepileptic drugs prescribed, side-effect profile of medication, and therapy regimen, were reviewed as well as parent-reported anxiety and depression on the Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition (BASC-2). Findings of the current study replicated previous research suggesting that children with epilepsy have higher average levels of depression and anxiety than the normative population. Children with epilepsy had similar levels of depression, regardless of seizure type. Children with partial seizures with secondary generalization had higher levels of anxiety symptoms compared to children with generalized seizures, but similar levels to those with partial seizures. The current study’s findings could have occurred due to the possible cueing components associated with having partial seizures with secondary generalization. The findings suggest a negative impact that behavioral symptoms of depression and anxiety may have on seizure-related care. The current study expanded upon previous research by using a parent-report measure in which both depression and anxiety scales were normed with the same sample of children. Furthermore, the current study focused on children with secondary generalized seizures as a unique subtype and addressed anxiety specifically, which has been less researched than depression.