Biomedical subjects
M D Sheridan
Publications and source records attributed to M D Sheridan.
The Stycar language test.
The principles and practical application of the STYCAR Developmental Language Test are briefly described. The test, which is one of the STYCAR series (Sheridan Tests for Young Children and Retardates, Sheridan 1973), consists of three widely overlapping testing procedures i.e. the Common Objects Test (one to two years), the Miniature Toys Test (21 months to 4 1/2 years) and the Picture-book Test (2 1/2 to seven years). The picture-book includes lists of speech sounds, words and sentences for recognition and repetition, to detect and define difficulties of auditory discrimination, articulation and sequencing of sounds. The tests are designed to provide the examiner with considerable choice in individual application, but differential diagnosis calls for experienced clinical judgement. Since the tests are not intended to produce pass/fail results, descriptive recording and clinical assessment on a three- or five-point scale is recommended.
Follow-up at 11 years of children who had marked speech defects at 7 years.
The results of a follow-up study at 11 years of 215 children in the National Child Development Study who were reported to show marked speech defects at 7 years are presented. Information regarding social welfare, health and scholastic attainments was available for 190 children (88%). Over a third of these had been formally 'ascertained' for special educational treatment. Of the 124 children remaining in ordinary schools, 56% still had residual speech problems while 44% were reported to have acquired satisfactory speech. The health and scholastic attainments of these two groups are described and discussed in relation to each other and to controls. A note regarding significant items in the original reports of 25 'missing' children at 7 years is provided, indicating that the large proportion had serious additional handicaps at 7 years. The importance of effective identification, full paediatric and educational assessment and the provision of appropriate help at or preferably before school entry is stressed.
Follow-up ?at II years of 46 children with severe unilateral hearing loss at 7 years.
In the ongoing NCDS, 44 children of the 46 identified at 7 years as having a serious unilateral hearing loss were followed up at II years. Half of them had recovered normal bilateral hearing, the remainder still had serious deafness in one ear. Although at 7 years the 46 children as a group had shown backwardness in oral ability, speech and reading, at II years both the "recovered" and the "persistent" were similar to their age peers in scholastic attainment. Despite their original apparent difficulty it was encouraging to find that several children in both subgroups were noted as possessing outstanding academic ability. It is concluded that with prompt follow-up by an alerted school doctor, children with unilateral deafness at age 7 years are likely to progress satisfactorily in later childhood.
Observations on the development of spontaneous tele-kinesic communication in babies and young children.
Specialized body movements are universally employed to convey information between individuals and groups across some distance, near or far. The natural development of facial expressions, limb gestures and whole body movements, for the purpose of interpersonal communications in young children, is briefly discussed.
Follow-up to 16 years of school children who had marked speech defects at 7 years.
In this paper we present the results of a follow-up study to age 16 years of 215 children in the National Child Development Study who were reported to show marked speech defects with normal hearing at 7 years. At 16 years information was available for 180 (85%) of the surviving 212 children. 30% of these children were in special schools and of the 70% in ordinary schools, 51% were reported still to have a residual speech problem. Additional health and social problems were frequent among the study group children and with very few exceptions they did badly at school. The findings at 16 years strongly reinforce our earlier conclusions that markedly defective speech at 7 years indicates the likelihood of continued backwardness in the development of acceptable verbal communication, social maturity and scholastic attainments.
The fashioning of a human life-style.
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