Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Public Service: Allan G. Barclay.

Recognizes Allan G. Barclay with the 2000 Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Public Service. The award was given for his lifelong advocacy for the mentally retarded and developmentally disabled, his years of service as a child clinical psychologist, and his efforts on behalf of the profession of psychology at local, state, national, and international levels.He has worked to advance human welfare by establishing public policies and practices that promote humane and meaningful assessment and treatment for children with developmental disabilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexual abuse treatment for persons with developmental disabilities.

Recent research by the Sexual Abuse and Disability Project at the University of Alberta included a survey of 119 sexual abuse (SA) victims with developmental disabilities (DDs). Their responses indicated that SA treatment services for people with DDs are typically inaccessible, unavailable, and inappropriate. Inadequate treatment services appear to be due to the paucity of qualified professionals in the area of SA and DDs coupled with the slow development of appropriate SA treatment approaches. The application of adapted therapy approaches for people with DDs and examples of adapted SA treatment for children and women abused as children are presented. SA treatment issues for the developmentally disabled are discussed for practitioners' considerations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Parent-child interaction and development disabilities: Theory, research, and intervention.

Reviews the book, Parent-child interaction and development disabilities: Theory, research, and intervention by Kofi Marfo (see record 1988-98167-000). The growing interest in social support family-centered interventions for developmentally disabled children has found expression in this volume. The editor has outlined an ambitious set of objectives for the book, including "the integration of theoretical, research and clinical perspectives" on parent-child interactions with handicapped children. While certainly not the first attempt to apply a family focus to this population (e.g., Gallagher & Vietze, 1986), this book provides both a multidisciplinary approach to the field with an emphasis on data presentation. The book is divided into four major parts: (1) social-emotional aspects of parent-child interaction, (2) maternal response style and language development, (3) issues in intervention and evaluation, and (4) a review of parent-child observational systems. Each section is preceded by a brief introduction to the authors and topics to be covered. Although this method of organization enhances the cohesion of each section, certain topics are covered in much greater depth than others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Handbook of severe disability.

Reviews the book, Handbook of severe disability by W. Stolov and M. Clowers (1981). This book has many strengths that make it a mandatory reference manual for professionals who work with individuals with severe illness and disability. First, the chapters have been written by highly regarded professionals who have clinical and research experience with the disability group about which they write. Thus there is an understanding of the scope of the rehabilitation problem and a commitment to the disability group in question that is apparent in the manner in which the chapters have been written. Second, the scope of the book makes it a useful reference tool for those who work in rehabilitation settings that serve clients with a variety of disabilities. Third, the price of the book is less than $20, which makes it affordable by those who need the information most. Any psychologist who works with a variety of severely disabled persons should be familiar with the information contained in this book. Ordinarily this takes years of on-the-job experience and reading. Thus this book can shorten the learning period considerably. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Families of the developmentally disabled: A guide to behavioral intervention.

Reviews the book, Families of the developmentally disabled: A guide to behavioral intervention by Sandra L. Harris (1983). Harris states that Families of the developmentally disabled is intended for clinicians who have a basic knowledge of behavior modification, but who may not have experience in applying behavior modification procedures to families with developmentally disabled children. The primary focus of the book is on providing practicing clinicians with a conceptual framework for incorporating behavioral interventions into family treatment situations and parent training programs. The book is divided into five chapters. Each chapter begins with a case study that highlights the issues to be addressed within the chapter, and generally provides the perspective of the author regarding the topic to be addressed. The remainder of each chapter is then devoted to providing a rationale for the perspective, usually containing a liberal number of references to support the author's viewpoint. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Managing physical handicaps: A practical guide for parents, care providers, and educators.

Reviews the book, Managing physical handicaps: A practical guide for parents, care providers, and educators by Beverly A. Fraser and Robert N. Hensinger. This is a well-written, information-packed potential source of assistance to those working with the more severely involved members of the physically disabled population. The book contains 14 chapters organized into four sections: (1) Looking Beyond the Patient to the Person, (2) About Physical Handicaps, (3) Techniques and Tips for Helping Those with Severe Impairments, and (4) Looking Ahead. The orientation of the book is centered on the management of the physical disabilities of the childhood population under discussion. This book would serve a very practical purpose not only as a desk reference for teachers and others caring for the severely physically disabled child and young adult in the school system, but in the preservice classrooms of those students preparing for careers in this area. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of My journey with Jake: A memoir of parenting and disability.

Reviews the book, My journey with Jake: A memoir of parenting and disability by Miriam Edelson (see record 2000-16338-000). Jake was born with lissencephaly, a rare genetic disorder (1 in 300,000 births) in which the brain stops developing between 12 and 14 weeks after conception. Seizures, low muscle tone, sucking and swallowing problems are common. Such children are given a very guarded prognosis, with feeding problems and aspiration pneumonia often leading to death. Edelson traces her journey from Jake's birth through traumatic days at Toronto's Sick Children's Hospital and then at home, and describes her struggles with decisions about heroic measures and her battles to find sympathetic doctors. In addition to highlighting her own experiences as a parent, Edelson provides figures regarding the numbers of children with disabilities in Ontario, and information about service delivery and policy issues. She describes the battles that parents continue to fight to maintain residential facilities for children with disabilities, using the move to close Thistletown Regional Centre in Toronto as an example. Edelson's experiences with health professionals provide important information for educators and clinicians about the ways in which families can be either thwarted or empowered when dealing with extremely difficult decisions about a child's care. This book provides valuable insights relevant to clinicians, policy makers, educators, researchers, and families with a particular interest in developmental disability. In addition, it includes a useful list of resources for parents, as well as some suggestions for parents and professionals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Art and disabilities.

Reviews the book, Art and disabilities by F. Ludin Katz and E. Katz (1983). This book describes the mechanics of establishing an art center for persons with disabilities. Although the authors purport to discuss the philosophical and conceptual importance of encouraging an artistic outlet for disabled individuals, the text's real contribution lies in its methodical and detailed "how-to" discussion of implementing an art center. The book is designed to provide a step-by-step account of problems to anticipate and solutions to be tried. Its authors clearly delineate how to establish an independent art center for people with disabilities. From discussion of by-laws to consideration of public relations and financial support, the reader is shown in the most concrete of ways how to establish such a center. In summary, while variable in quality, this book meets its primary objective of presenting a "cookbook" to those hoping to establish a creative arts center. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Current topics in rehabilitation psychology.

Reviews the book, Current topics in rehabilitation psychology edited by Charles J. Golden (1984). Every few years an edited volume of chapters on rehabilitation psychology is published. The latest contribution, Current Topics in Rehabilitation Psychology, edited by Charles Golden, is written for students, professionals, and educated lay people who want to learn about some of the recent advances in the field. Golden makes clear, and quite correctly so, that the volume is not a comprehensive coverage of all the areas of research, training, and service that are in the domain of rehabilitation psychology. Instead, after two chapters giving an overview of the field, several specific areas are addressed. They include management of chronic pain, cognitive retraining in brain damaged patients, rehabilitation and aging, adjustment of people with spinal cord injury, vocational training of people with severe developmental disabilities, biofeedback, and the role of personality in attitudes toward those with physical disabilities. The book would have profited greatly from more careful editing. Although the quality of writing varies from author to author, the grammatical errors, misspellings, and garbled sentences are uniformly so numerous that they sometimes distract the reader from the valuable content of the chapters. Nevertheless, the book is worthwhile as one that gives an overview of several specific topics and supplies rich bibliographies to those wishing to learn more. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Intercultural counselling and assessment: Global perspectives.

Reviews the book, Intercultural Counselling and Assessment: Global Perspectives edited by Ronald J. Samuda and Aaron Wolfgang (1985). Intercultural Counselling and Assessment is an edited volume of papers presented to an invited Symposium on Intercultural Counselling held at Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, 1983. The intention of the publication, as stated by the editors, was to fill the gap in guidelines and methods in intercultural counselling by providing source material that is both theoretical and practical. The book is geared to professionals in the field of education, psychology, and social work, with the goal of engendering "greater sensitivity and a more professional approach to the task of coping with an increasingly varied and mixed population of students in schools" (p. xvii). The strength of the book lies in its comprehensive coverage. The philosophy of counselling conveyed in the book reflects the orientation of multiculturalism in Canadian immigration policy. Six chapters address the issues and answers in counselling specific ethnic and cultural groups, including Chinese immigrants, South Asian immigrants, West Indian immigrants, European immigrants, Native Canadians, and foreign students. Another six chapters provide the background and guidelines for counselling minorities in specific environments, such as in employment, correctional service, disability service, and education. It is a comprehensive volume and has highlighted the important issues that counsellors should become familiar with in an intercultural society. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Barriers to the provision of mental health services to individuals with severe physical disability.

Surveyed 86 consumer advocates (67 with physical disabilities), 157 rehabilitation counselors, 94 rehabilitation administrators, 323 mental health administrators and professionals, and 145 severely disabled Ss concerning Ss' perceptions of the nature and extent of mental health services, barriers to mental health service provision for individuals with severe physical disabilities, and personal data. Overall, there was a general consistency among the sample groups in their perceptions of the extent to which each of 10 variables is a barrier to service delivery. The lack of accessible public transportation, especially in nonmetropolitan areas, and the accompanying limitation on costly mental health outreach services were viewed as serious problems. The limited knowledge and skills of many mental health professional regarding severe physical disability was perceived to be a moderate to substantial barrier to service provision. Findings indicate that individuals with severe physical disability are an underserved group. Recommendations regarding policy and program development and training of professionals are offered. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychotherapeutic issues for the learning disabled adult.

Discusses previously held misconceptions about learning disabilities in childhood and their effects on subsequent adolescent and adult development. As a result of these misconceptions, learning disabled children were often told at the time of diagnosis that they were likely to spontaneously outgrow their affliction before reaching adulthood. Follow-up studies have shown this not to be true, and many adults are now presenting with a variety of emotional problems either directly or indirectly related to their learning disabilities. Obstacles to the development of normal interpersonal relationships at school and in the family are described. The effects of this impaired development on adult functioning and the types of problems that typically result are outlined. Modifications of traditional psychotherapy techniques that have helped to assure successful treatment of this type of patient and the case example of an 18-yr-old learning disabled male are presented. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Vocational rehabilitation and supported employment.

Reviews the book, Vocational rehabilitation and supported employment edited by Paul Wehman and Sherril Moon (1988). As the preface to this sourcebook notes, this collection of 23 articles from 39 contributors "represents only a beginning" to the formulation and critical assessment of supported employment (SE). Rehabilitation professionals should become familiar with this monograph because of the pivotal role of the contributors in the SE movement. Organizationally, this text is well conceived, consisting of five wide-ranging sections. The topic selection demonstrates a sensitivity to the kinds of questions rehabilitation workers are asking about SE. The first section provides the philosophical underpinnings of SE, a recent history of vocational rehabilitation, and a cost-benefit analysis. The three middle sections address a range of implementation issues. Topics include community consensus building, curricula for training rehabilitation staff, job development, and performance indicators. The fifth section consists of applications to specific populations: mental retardation, autism, traumatic brain injury, chronic mental illness, and physical disabilities. This book is an intelligent, up-to-date introduction that will find a wide audience among state planners, program administrators, employment specialists, and researchers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Behavioral and emotional disorders in adolescents: Nature, assessment and treatments.

Reviews the book, Behavioral and emotional disorders in adolescents: Nature, assessment and treatment by David A. Wolfe and Eric J. Mash (see record 2005-16249-000). The primary goal of this edited volume is to capture the current state of knowledge about the important behavioural and emotional adjustment problems and disorders of adolescence. Through 20 chapters by foremost experts, the reader is apprised of the unique features of these disorders in adolescents in comparison with children and adults, and of the importance of developmental issues and a developmental perspective. Any thought that adolescent disorders are adequately addressed by upward extension of knowledge of child disorders and downward extension of knowledge of adult disorders is compellingly dispelled. The unique compilation of empirical findings specifically for adolescents is a boon to those pursuing research, teaching or evidence- based practice with this age group. This book will be mandatory reading for any mental health professional, including academics, graduate students, and clinicians working with or teaching about troubled adolescents. As a text, it is excellent for a graduate course on the subject, and an essential reference source for those teaching abnormal development at the undergraduate level or providing clinical service to adolescents and their families. The book will be a classic in the field and a mandatory starting point for any professional interested in a detailed overview of the state of the art in Western societies, including researchers interested in an overview of areas outside their own specific expertise. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pregnancy-related impairments and the Americans with Disabilities Act

Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. The ADA's overriding purpose is to provide a national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities. This article addresses the emerging relationship between pregnancy-related disabilities and the employment provisions of the ADA, set forth in title I of the Act. In view of the high percentage of women who will become pregnant and their potential need for workplace accommodations during and after pregnancy, it is crucial that health professionals understand the impact of the ADA's employment provisions.     

Review of Neuropsychological validation of learning disability subtypes.

Rourke's present edited work, a welcome sequel or "companion volume" to his 1985 book, focuses primarily on evaluating the internal and external validity of existing learning disabilities (LD) typologies within a "confirmatory hypothesistesting framework" initially described by Skinner (1981). Within this framework, studies examining the internal validity of typologies are concerned with issues relating to their reliability and replicability (i.e., the degree to which the typologies' derivation is independent of specific statistical or sampling techniques). External validation studies, on the other hand, attempt to demonstrate that reliably-derived subtypes differ in a meaningful and predictable manner on variables (i.e., external criteria) not initially used to develop the typology. This edited volume will be of interest to research scientists, both within and outside the realm of neuropsychology, interested in classification theory and methods; to clinicians faced with the dual tasks of assessing disabled learners and facilitating rational and productive instructional decisions; and to academics, especially at the college and university level, entrusted with the education of learning-disabled adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of aerobic exercise on psychological and behavioral variables of individuals with developmental disabilities: a critical review

Physical fitness of persons who are developmentally disabled has received relatively little attention in the special education literature when compared to intellectual functioning (e.g., learning, memory, and language) and to acquisition of functional skills (e.g., self-care, community, and vocational). Despite an increased interest in recreational programming stimulated by the concept of functional curricula, teachers may still be reluctant to include physical fitness activities in their students' schedules. Perhaps physical fitness programming for those with developmental disabilities would have wider appeal and application if it were embedded in the broader context of psychological and behavioral change (i.e., engagement in exercise produces generalized changes beyond direct improvement in physical well-being). This article is a review and critique of literature that focuses on the effects of participation in aerobic exercise on three classes of psychological/behavioral variables for persons with mental retardation and associated disabilities. The methodology that characterizes this literature is analyzed, and recommendations for future research are proposed.     

Review of Psychological and behavioral aspects of physical disability—A manual for health practitioners.

Reviews the book, Psychological and behavioral aspects of physical disability—A manual for health practitioners by James E. Lindemann (1981). According to the authors indication in the preface, this book is a guide for professionals who work with people with serious physically disabling conditions. It aims to provide information and "how-to" suggestions for evaluation and treatment of physical disabilities. The book focuses on helping people make decisions, acquire skills, and seek experiences that permit them most fully to enjoy the competency and satisfaction of human existence. It is based on the emerging development in behavioral medicine and health psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Preschool screening: Identifying young children with developmental and educational problems.

Reviews the book, Preschool screening: Identifying young children with developmental and educational problems by R. Lichtenstein and H. Ireton (1984). With the appearance of this book, school psychologists and other professionals now have access to an up-to-date and practical discussion of the issues, research, and instrumentation in the preschool assessment process. This book represents a scholarly collection of six chapters that address matters of philosophy and policy to matters of practice. The book introduces questions about the effectiveness of preschool screening programs as they are characteristically implemented while offering constructive guidelines for improvement to the conscientious professional. Appropriate for use in upper level graduate courses and by professionals working in school and agency settings, this book makes a valuable contribution to the preparation and continuing education of school psychologists and educators who serve preschool-age children and their families. This well-focused and comprehensive volume is recommended highly to university trainers and practitioners in the fields of school and clinical child psychology, as well as early childhood education, special education, and pediatrics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Learning About Learning Disabilities, Third Edition.

This article reviews the book, "Learning about Learning Disabilities, Third Edition" (see record 2004-21912-000), edited by Bernice Wong. This book is comprised of a selection of chapters authored by well-known authors in the field of learning disabilities. The book was developed for use with advanced undergraduate and graduate students with the intent to provide current information soundly based in research in the field. The chapters in the book are organized into three thematic sections. The first section deals with conceptual, historical, and research aspects of learning disabilities. The second section comprises chapters on reading comprehension, writing, math, social competence, strategy instruction, working with adolescents, issues in service delivery, and developing communities of practice. The third section focuses on a life span approach to learning disabilities. This book does what it purports to do. This is a well put together selection of readings. It may not be appropriate for advanced undergraduate students with no previous background knowledge or experience with learning disabilities due to the level of the book. The information provided in each chapter is current and soundly based in research. In addition to the research presented, the majority of the chapters also include practical implications of the research to teaching settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)