American journal of mental retardation : AJMR最新文献

To address the unusual peer-related social competence difficulties characteristic of young children with mild developmental delays, we conducted a randomized clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a comprehensive, developmentally oriented, highly individualized intervention extending over a 2-year period. Outcome measures emphasized generalization of peer interactions in unfamiliar playgroups. Results revealed modest effects of the intervention, with children who had lower cognitive levels benefiting most. Intervention effects were best conceptualized as preventative, minimizing the negative features and atypical patterns of children's social play with peers. Our discussion of future work was focused on alternative implementation models to enhance intervention intensity, inclusion of specific subgroups of children, and direct measurement of children engaging in social tasks.

Our aim was to extend the literature by examining the presence of manic symptoms in persons with intellectual deficits with and without bipolar disorder for 3 years. Three groups (bipolar, psychopathology other than bipolar disorder, and no Axis I diagnosis) were formed with 14 participants in each group. Initially, the presence of mania symptoms were examined across diagnostic groups. The bipolar group had significantly greater endorsements on the Parent Version of the Young Mania Rating Scale and the DASH-II Mania subscale item "decreased need for sleep" than did the other groups. A 3 (group) x 3 (year) ANOVA revealed that the item endorsements differed significantly over time for the bipolar group but not the other groups. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Using observational methods, we examined the social influences on laughing and smiling behavior in children with Angelman syndrome by systematically manipulating aspects of social interaction. Seven boys and 4 girls who were between 4 and 11 years of age and who had a confirmed maternal deletion of chromosome 15q11-q13 completed the study. Each child was observed while repeatedly exposed to three conditions in which parameters of social interaction were manipulated. Laughing and smiling behavior varied across all children and was significantly heightened in a condition involving adult speech, touch, smiling, laughing, and eye contact. The findings highlight the importance of examining environmental and social influences on purported phenotypic behavior in genetic syndromes.

Oppositely valenced forces may be at work to influence rates of placement of children into mental retardation programs. On one hand, educational policies regarding intellectual disability and concerns about overrepresentation of minorities in special education may contribute to lower placement rates; on the other hand, more difficult intelligence test norms may be a countervailing force, increasing placement rates. An analysis of longitudinal data on state and national level placement rates reveals that a lengthy and steep 12-year decline in students receiving mental retardation services reversed shortly after the introduction of the WISC-III in 1991. This phenomenon has relevance for death-penalty cases, because this historical pattern may affect the ability to establish whether an adult meets the developmental period onset criterion for mental retardation.

Differential effects of three training procedures to teach sight words to 13 children with moderate to mild mental retardation were investigated in an alternating treatments design. Number of correct responses was assessed during probe sessions in word-alone (word was presented without picture), integrated-picture (word was presented with integrated picture, no fading), and picture-fading (integrated picture was faded out) conditions. Results show that most children learned to identify sight words fastest in the word-alone condition. Effects were largely maintained during follow-up at 2 to 5 weeks after training.

Expressed emotion measures the emotional climate of the family and is predictive of symptom levels in a range of medical and psychiatric conditions. This study extends the investigation of the effects of expressed emotion to families of individuals with autism. A sample of 149 mothers co-residing with their adolescent or adult child with autism over an 18-month period was drawn from a large multiwave longitudinal study. High expressed emotion was related to increased levels of maladaptive behavior and more severe symptoms of autism over time. Also, characteristics of the son or daughter influenced levels of maternal expressed emotion over time. Although autism is a complex genetic disorder, the effect of the family environment in shaping the behavioral phenotype should not be underestimated.

Our aim in this study was to validate a stress-process model for Hispanic caregivers of adults with mental retardation that incorporates family functioning. The model postulates that maladaptive adult behaviors are related to poorer family relationships and higher levels of family burden, which in turn is related to caregiver psychological distress and self-reported health. The 153 Hispanic caregivers were interviewed in their homes with structured interviews and self-report measures. We analyzed cross-sectional data using structural equation modeling. The hypothesized model provided an excellent fit to the data. Also, family relationships mediated the relationship between maladaptive adult behaviors and family burden, and higher levels of family burden were related to greater caregiver distress. Acculturation was negatively related to caregiver distress.

Delays in development of early social behaviors in babies with Down syndrome are likely to affect patterns of interaction with their caregivers. We videotaped 23 babies in face-to-face interaction with their mothers at 8 and 20 weeks of age and compared them to 23 typically developing infants and their mothers. Social behaviors, mothers' behaviors, and quality of interaction were rated. At 8 weeks, babies with Down syndrome were significantly less communicative and lively than the typically developing babies. Their mothers' behaviors did not differ at 8 weeks, but did at 20 weeks. Although the social behaviors of babies with Down syndrome improved over time, qualitative differences remained.