Development of role-taking skills in young children.

A role-taking hierarchy was developed based on analysis of the H. Borke (see record 1972-00686-001), the N. Burns and L. Cavey (1957), and the M. J. Chandler and S. Greenspan (see record 1973-02093-001) role-taking tasks, and on 2 new tasks constructed by the authors, all of which deal with the same affective content. Tasks were presented to 7 girls and 7 boys in each of 3 age groups (3 yrs 0 mo to 3 yrs 11 mo, 4 yrs 0 mo to 4 yrs 11 mo, and 5 yrs 0 mo to 5 yrs 11 mo). Data were analyzed by a scalogram and a cluster analysis. The hypothesis that these tasks would form a hierarchy such that the skills needed for the early tasks are logically prerequisite to those needed for the later tasks was supported. A fundamental structural difference--sequential vs simultaneous decentering--was identified. The multidimensional nature of role-taking tasks is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Computerized cognitive training for severely emotionally disturbed children with ADHD

An experiment was conducted to investigate the influence of Captain's Log (a computerized cognitive-training system) on the behaviors and performance capabilities of 4 severely emotionally disturbed children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), ages 7 to 11. Behavioral scales, spectral electroencephalograms, and intelligence and performance tests were assessed pre- and posttreatment. A behavioral point system and monitoring of progress on computer tasks were used throughout treatment to evaluate ongoing improvements. There were 64 training sessions administered over a 16-week period. Outcome of treatment was determined by computer advancement, changes in behavioral points, and pre- and postmeasures. Results support the expectation that children who were most successful in the training would demonstrate the highest levels of generalization of those skills that were the focus of treatment.     

Low metal levels in emotionally disturbed children.

Investigated possible relationships of metal levels to childhood behavioral disorders. Hair-metal concentrations in 22 emotionally disturbed children (mean age 8.72 yrs) were compared to hair-metal levels in 25 control Ss (mean age 8.4 yrs) drawn from the general school population. Each S was also rated on the Walker Problem Behavior Identification Checklist (WPBIC). Disturbed Ss had significantly higher hair-lead levels. Correlations were run between hair-metal levels and WPBIC ratings for the 2 groups. Arsenic, cadmium, and aluminum levels correlated positively and significantly with the WPBIC total scale score for the disturbed group. A continuing reexamination of metal-poisoning concentrations is needed because metals levels previously thought harmless may be associated with behavioral impairments in children. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety and digit span performance in emotionally disturbed children.

Administered the Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale and a digit span task to 38 emotionally disturbed children in residential treatment. Results support the multidimensionality of trait anxiety, at least with emotionally disturbed children. The study also demonstrates the utility of identifying factors within an instrument and the importance of evaluating factor-specific scores. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Electrodermal reactivity and rated behavior in emotionally disturbed children.

A group of 34 emotionally disturbed children was subdivided according to 2 measures of electrodermal reactivity and the resulting subgroups were compared on 18 rating scales. The High reactors showed less appropriate affectivity, and tended to be less active motorically. It was concluded that Jone's concept of internalization should be redefined to exclude the implication that high autonomic reactivity accompanied by socially adjustive behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Locus of control and academic achievement in emotionally disturbed children.

Administered a standard achievement test and the Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale for Children to 48 emotionally disturbed children (mean age, 11.4 yrs). Results indicate that those emotionally disturbed children who perceive a relationship between their own behavior and resulting consequences obtain higher achievement scores than those who do not. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distinguishing learning-disabled and emotionally disturbed children on the WISC-R.

Isolated the distinctive WISC-R subtest patterns that would differentiate the performance of emotionally disturbed and learning-disabled children. A stepwise discriminant analysis was used to evaluate the subtest scores of 60 learning-disabled 6–13 yr olds and a matched sample of 60 emotionally disturbed children. Four subtests of the WISC-R differentiated significantly between diagnostic categories. Learning-disabled Ss performed predictively poorer on the Block Design, Picture Arrangement, and Object Assembly subtests and higher on Vocabulary than their emotionally disturbed counterparts. Results are interpreted as a deficit in perceptual organization for children with specific learning problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of comparison training on children's referential communication.

Assessed whether teaching children to engage in comparison activity improves their referential communication performance. In contrast to previous communication training studies, the training focused on a specifiable unitary skill, employed a teaching procedure with known effectiveness, and controlled for practice and other familiarity effects. Two training experiments with 3rd- and 4th-grade children were conducted. Results from Exp I indicate that 33 trained Ss improved more than 32 control Ss in communication accuracy. Furthermore, gains were maintained at the 1-mo follow-up. Exp II (20 undergraduates; 43 children) examined training effects on message appraisal as well as message production. Results indicate significant training effects on both tasks. Results demonstrate that inadequate comparison processing contributes to children's poor communication performance. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Follow-up study of children identified early as emotionally disturbed.

2 consecutive groups of 1st-grade children classified for their potential for being emotionally disturbed were reexamined upon reaching 7th grade. Children manifesting high potential for being disturbed (labeled Red Tag) were compared, on school record and special test measures, with peers evidencing low potential for disturbance (labeled Non-Red Tag). These measures reflected achievement, classroom behavior, peer perceptions, attendance, and school nurse referral. Both groups of Red Tag children scored significantly more negatively than Non-Red Tag children on 10 of 47 measures in one case and on 13 of 42 in the other. These findings support the hypothesis that early disturbance in children is not ephemeral and is a portent for later difficulty. Implications of such results for programs in early identification and prevention were discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stability of personal and social preferences in emotionally disturbed and normal children.

Preferences for friends, colors, and food were studied in institutionalized disturbed children and normal elementary school children, subgrouped at 3 age levels. Stability of preferences for friends and for food indicated at the beginning and end of a 20-min. interval revealed an orderly developmental progression within the normal group. Such consistent developmental trends were not found within the disturbed group and comparison with the normal children showed significantly higher proportions of stable friendship choices and stable food preferences in the normal group. No significant differences in stability of color preferences were found either within or between the groups. Attitudinal stability, within the limits of this exploratory investigation, tended to be specific to each of the 3 areas rather than a general personality characteristic. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How feedback from a listener affects children's referential communication skills.

Investigated how feedback from a listener helps young children attend to message quality and how such feedback affects speaking and listening skills. 84 kindergartners watched a speaker doll and a listener doll play a communication game in which the speaker was supposed to verbally distinguish one item from among several for the listener. In fact, however, the speaker always gave ambiguous messages. The listener attempted to select the item described by the speaker and either made a correct selection, made an incorrect selection, or asked for more information. Ss then evaluated the adequacy of the speaker's message. One week later they completed a speaking and a listening task. Results indicate that at this age children learn to assess message adequacy through observing listeners flounder with inadequate messages. Only with explicit feedback detailing the nature of the ambiguity, however, do children improve their own speaking and listening skills. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Time orientation and interpersonal relations of emotionally disturbed and normal children.

5 hypotheses about time-orientation and interpersonal relations were tested using 11-year-old boys in a residential psychiatric treatment center, summer camp, and public school. To investigate time-orientation a story-completion method was used, and to measure interpersonal relations assessments of fluctuations in friendship patterns were made. The emotionally disturbed children showed more unstable friendship patterns, although their story completions were not more present-oriented. In the disturbed group, the more present-oriented a child was on the fantasy measure, the more stable were his friendships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

MMPI characteristics for parents of emotionally disturbed and learning-disabled children

Compared MMPI profiles for the parents of 90 preadolescents (aged 73–148 mo) diagnosed as having either a conduct disorder (CD), personality problem (PP), or learning disability (LD). Data indicate that mothers of CD children presented a relatively more introverted, depressed, interpersonally sensitive picture. Mothers of LD and PP children were rather defensive, and the latter reported more physical complaints than did mothers of CD children. With the exception of the elevation in depression for fathers of CD children, the results for fathers were unremarkable. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reflection-impulsivity, persistence behavior, and locus of control in emotionally disturbed children.

Reports results of a study which suggest that although persistence behavior is related to the reflection-impulsivity dimension, in that Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFFT) latency was related to duration of persistence, other factors are also involved, since persistence was not significantly related to MFFT errors. In addition, locus of control was related to externals being more impulsive in their cognitive tempo. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Frequency of the Rorschach human-movement response in Negro and White emotionally disturbed children.

The study was concerned with testing the following hypotheses: (a) Emotionally disturbed, young Negro children produce more human-movement (M) responses on the Rorschach than do comparable white children; (b) emotionally disturbed Negro children show a decrease in M production as they approach adolescence, whereas comparable white children increase M production as they approach adolescence. The Ss, 197 Negro and 196 white emotionally disturbed children 5-17 yr. were administered a standard test battery which included the Rorschach. Results corroborated the hypotheses for Negro males. In addition, a significant increase in M production among emotionally disturbed Negro males 7-9 yr. was found. Implications of the findings and specific suggestions for further research were discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

MMPI comparisons between parents of young emotionally disturbed and organically retarded children.

Compared MMPI profiles for parents of 2 groups of young deviant children matched in age and sex 12 Ss diagnosed as severely emotionally disturbed with no medically determined organic signs, and 12 Ss retarded on an organic basis with no signs of emotional disturbance. Results showed differences between the 2 groups of mothers, and only minimal differences between the 2 groups of fathers, on the MMPI. Both groups of parents had several significantly elevated MMPI scales when compared with the Minnesota norm groups. A parental stress reaction was emphasized as a possible basis for the MMPI elevations in both groups, and an organic, rather than a functional, etiology for children diagnosed as severely emotionally disturbed in early childhood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social schemata of emotionally disturbed boys.

2 experiments, using Kuethe's techniques were designed to demonstrate that children defined as emotionally disturbed differ predictably from normal children in the ways they organize social stimuli. When emotionally disturbed and normal boys placed pairs of felt figures on flannel boards, normals placed child figures closer to mother than to father or peer figures; emotionally disturbed children did the reverse. When disturbed and normal boys replaced pairs of human and geometric figures previously set 15 in. apart, the disturbed boys replaced the human figures farther apart than the nonhuman figures significantly more often than did the normals. Results were interpreted as reflecting a tendency for emotionally disturbed children to construe people, and especially females, more negatively than do normal children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)