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Effects of early manual instruction on the oral-language development of two deaf children.

The speech and language training provided to deaf children at our clinic is done by the Kanazawa Method, which consists of reception and expression training in sign communication and auditory/oral language, as well as written-language training. In our investigation, we analyzed the acquisition of passive and active vocabulary in sign and oral language. The subjects were two children congenitally deaf at the 105 dB level or greater. Recorded-language samples through the age of 54 months were analyzed. Acquisition of sign occurred more quickly than oral-language acquisition. The children's production of active nouns, function words, and "wh-" question words in sign was equivalent to that of hearing peers, and later this proficiency transferred to oral language. These results suggest that early presentation of sign is effective in the acquisition of function words and interrogative sentences, both of which are especially challenging for the Deaf.

Child Development

Life expectancy of children in a persistent vegetative state.

The persistent vegetative state (PVS) is a state of wakeful unconsciousness occurring in adults and children. Despite preservation of vegetative functions, PVS patients have a shortened life-span, although accurate information concerning this issue remains limited. The survival of children in PVS was examined to determine whether age, etiology of the vegetative state, or type of residence in which the patient lived affected the estimated survival. The data of 155,851 developmentally disabled California state residents were reviewed using the Client Development Evaluation Report (CDER). Criteria from the CDER were selected to define the vegetative state and included: lack of interaction with peers; absence of auditory, visual, and expressive or receptive language function; no hand or arm use; inability to eat, sit, roll over, or lift head; and no bowel or bladder control. There were 847 patients who met these criteria on the initial and follow-up CDERs. A product limit survival model was used to develop survival curves and to calculate the median survival time for patients grouped by age, etiology, and type of residence. Median survival (yrs) for patients who remained in PVS for the following age groups was: < 1 yr: 2.6, 1 < 2 yrs: 4.2, 2-6 yrs: 5.2, 7-18 yrs: 7.0, > or = 19 yrs: 9.9. Median survival based on etiology varied from 3.0 to 8.6 years; no consistent relationship existed between etiology and duration of survival. Survival (yrs) for patients younger than age 18 years based on type of residence included: own home: 4.5, institutions: 5.2, skilled nursing facility/private hospital: 3.2, and other community care facilities: 3.7.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Activities of Daily Living

Analysis of a double-layered support system.

This analysis focuses on the support functions of a social network consisting of the families, educational staff, and peers of 33 adolescent females. These women were lower-class school dropouts who joined the Israeli Army and--toward the end of their service--participated in a six-month intensive program of educational upgrading. The program was administered by the Israeli Army and operated by female soldiers close in age, but not in social background and education, to the program's participants. Data were collected by a semi-structured interview and analyzed in terms of the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral support functions of the social network. Analysis shows that (1) whereas the educational staff and the peers provide the young women with all three types of support, their parents' is limited to some aspects of emotional support, and is conditional (to success); (2) the educational staff also induced the peers to act as supporters; and (3) as a result, the participants had access to a "double layer" of emotional, cognitive, and behavioral support, and benefited from being both recipients and providers of support, in the coping-enhancing conditions of sociocultural and situational similarity.

Adolescent

Personality functioning and clinical presentation in early adolescence. II.

This study describes the presentation of early adolescents on clinical examination and its relation to personality function competence. As part of a longitudinal study 63 non-clinical subjects at age 13 underwent a semi-structured psychiatric interview. On the basis of their responses their phenomenology, attitudes, defence mechanisms and degree of relatedness to significant others were assessed independently and blindly by two psychiatrists. Our findings show that a significant minority of early adolescents have a definite personality function disturbance and that these adolescents differ from their more competent peers on a number of characteristics identifiable in a clinical interview. Such a relationship was observed in boys as well as girls, with girls presenting no greater amount of turmoil than boys. These results indicate that adolescents cannot be adequately described as a homogeneous group. Differences in individual personality functioning result in differences in the presentation and internal experience of the early adolescent.

Adolescent

Complete dentures for a child with hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia: a clinical report.

Young children with anodontia caused by hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia not only have difficulties in eating and speaking but can also sense that their appearance is different than others. Enabling children with HED to look and act more like their peers through the use of well-fitting and functioning dentures with age-appropriate denture teeth will greatly assist in their transitioning into the school years. Although denture fabrication requires multiple patient appointments and good cooperation, it is shown that even young children can cooperate for the denture-making process. The desire to be like others who have teeth can be a motivator for cooperation in even the young child. Children should be given every opportunity to develop to their fullest potential. The dentist can make a significant contribution to the overall development and well being of a child with HED.

Anodontia

Delayed female sexual maturation. How to approach differential diagnosis.

Delayed sexual development is present when an adolescent girl fails to experience, at an age that is beyond the average for her peers, those pubertal events that are indexes of gonadal function. Adolescent girls whose sexual development is delayed can be divided into three groups: (1) those who have not menstruated but have well-developed secondary sexual characteristics, indicating that they have a functioning hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian mechanism, (2) those with poorly developed secondary sexual characteristics whose hypothalamus and pituitary are functional but who have ovarian failure, as indicated by high levels of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) (hypergonadotropic hypogonadism), and (3) those with poorly developed secondary sexual characteristics whose normal ovaries are not functioning because of a hypothalamic or pituitary disorder, as indicated by low or low normal serum FSH/LH levels (hypogonadotropic hypogonadism). There are, in addition, individuals with a female habitus and external female genitalia who were reared as females but have an XY karyotype and come to the physician with a complaint of delayed female sexual maturation.

Adolescent

Goal structure effects on social interaction: nondisabled and disabled elementary students.

This study compared social interaction behavior between nondisabled and disabled students, as a function of the way tasks were structured during a peer integration program. Of the eight pairs of students, four pairs were assigned to an individualistic goal-structured condition; the other four pairs, to a cooperative condition. For nondisabled students, the cooperative condition was associated with more social interaction during activity and free play sessions. For disabled students, the cooperative condition was associated with more social interaction during activity sessions, but not during free play sessions.

Adolescent

Aerobic and resistive exercise modify risk factors for coronary heart disease.

An awareness of the health-related benefits of regular physical activity, prudent diet, and cessation of cigarette smoking are some of the mechanisms by which risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD) and the incidence of complications of atherosclerosis have declined in the American population. Exercise training is associated with improvements in lipid and glucose metabolism that are manifested by enhanced insulin sensitivity, improved glucose tolerance, increased high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, reduced triglyceride and low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, and reductions in blood pressure. In addition to reduced risk factors for atherosclerosis, physically conditioned individuals have better cardiovascular function at rest and during exercise than their inactive peers. Thus, exercising training reduces morbidity and mortality from atherosclerotic complications through both direct (cardiovascular) and indirect (risk factor modification) mechanisms. Many studies demonstrate a strong association between regular physical activity and reduced risk for CHD. This article provides a review of risk factors for CHD and the potential health benefits of aerobic and resistive exercise. The time seems apt for the institution of multifactorial cardiovascular risk prevention programs in which aerobic and resistive exercise are combined with prudent diet therapy and smoking cessation to reduce risk factors for CHD.

Coronary Disease

The maternal representation. A comparison of caregiver- and mother-reared toddlers.

Two groups of toddlers and their caregivers were observed at the Margaret S. Mahler Observational Research Nursery on different days. In one group (the caregiver group) the children of full-time employed mothers were cared for at home by paid caregivers. In the other group (the mother group) the children were cared for full-time by their actual mothers. These two groups are compared in terms of the children's expression of affect, interest in peers, identifications, separation protests, signals of communication, and symbolic functioning. Contributions from infant research are used to illustrate how recent conceptualizations about the construction of the maternal representation further understanding about the child's experience of multiple caregivers.

Adult

[The nurse's role in a child psychiatric unit of St. Sophia Children's Hospital, Athens, Greece].

The role of the nurse in a child psychiatric unit is defined by the systems: a. Nurse-child b. Nurse-child-family c. Nurses-children d. Nurses-disciplinary team (a). In these systems the nurse: assesses the child, identifies the problems, sets the goals, provides care, educates the child. (b). Reinforces the parents' role, intervenes to help the relationships in the family. (c). Facilitates the team interactions and also the healthy behaviour in the peer group team, provides secure relationships. The nurse also functions as a reinforcement which leads to maturity. (d). The nurse is an equal member in the therapeutic team, is the link for communication and the main source for information. He participates in the organization and management of the team. Many nurses are specialized in psychiatric and child psychiatric nursing. All nurses believe in the continuing education and they attend various seminars. Through the activities in the unit the nurses have an update information on the subject of their work. Supervisions with educational character have been established for the nursing team. The nurse works on the base of the "special nurse-child" relationship and has the full responsibility of the child. The special nurse fulfills the nursing history. Systematic observation and evaluation are performed by the special nurse: he identifies the problems, sets the goals, formulates a programme, writes down and evaluates the results which means that he works with the implementation of the nursing process.

Child

Child competence and psychiatric risk. III. Comparisons based on diagnosis of hospitalized parent.

The school competence of children whose parents were previously hospitalized for psychiatric disorder was studied. These children, at risk themselves for behavioral disorder, were compared to classmates as well as to each other based upon the diagnosis of the hospitalized parent. Four diagnostic groups were employed: narrowly defined schizophrenic, broadly defined schizophrenic, affective psychotic, and hospitalized nonpsychotic patients. Significant differences between the risk sample and classmates are reported along with differences among the diagnostic groups. Sons of nonpsychotic hospitalized patients were functioning most poorly and were in marked defiance of peer and adult norms. Parental and child IQ were found to have had little impact upon the data and were not considered major interactive variables. Issues concerning systems of diagnoses and the developmental implications of the findings are presented.

Achievement

Lateral specialization and social-verbal development in preschool children.

Forty-two 2 1/2- to 5 1/2-year-old children's social and verbal behaviors were observed during free play in a preschool. A test measuring lateral specialization of verbal function and a standardized psychometric test of verbal ability were also administered. Analysis of variance indicated that the right ear (left hemisphere) is predominant in processing verbal stimuli in children as young as 2 1/2. Multiple regression analyses revealed significant relations between the right ear accuracy score for dichotically presented verbal stimuli and both psychometrically measured verbal ability and a social-verbal factor score derived from play behavior. After the increase related to age was statistically partialled out from both verbal ability and social-verbal scores, verbal expression, length of verbal utterances, time spent in conversation, and peer social interactions increased and parallel play decreased as a function of right ear (left hemisphere) accuracy for verbal stimuli. The relationship between left ear (right hemisphere) accuracy scores for verbal stimuli and social-verbal behavior, however, was not linear. Very high and very low levels of left ear recall predicted an increase in the frequency of parallel play and low social-verbal behavior while moderate levels of left ear accuracy scores predicted the reverse.

Auditory Perception

Infants in play groups: time related changes in behavior toward mothers, peers, and toys.

Twenty-one 13-month-old infants, nine male and 12 female, were assigned to one of seven playgroups convening for 15 consecutive weekdays . Present at each 20-minute play session were three same-sexed peers with their mothers and an assortment of toys. There were systematic fluctuations in infants' attention to mother, peers, and toys. There findings suggest that a mother may serve different functions at different points in time: (a) as a secure base in initial sessions, (b) as a refueling stop when the infant grew tired, and (c) as an attractive alternative when the infant became bored with toys and peers. Within-day analyses revealed that activity level and toy exploration linearly decreased over time, while intentional contact with mother significantly increased. Social interaction with peers correlated negatively with interaction with mother over the course of the study. Sex differences over time were found to be significant: boys on day one were more interactive with both peers and toys but this level declined thereafter, while girls on day one spent more time in close proximity to mother and later, on subsequent days, increased their peer and toy play.

Child Development

Form and function in early communication: language and pointing gestures.

Pointing gestures of verbally advanced 2-year-olds were contrasted with those of less advanced peers, in order to examine the relationships of gesture to language during the acquisition of each. Hypotheses regarding the replacement of gestural functions by speech as verbal skills improve, regarding developmental correspondences between the two communicative domains, and regarding the independence of language acquisition from nonverbal developments were drawn from evolutionary, structuralist, and nativist viewpoints, respectively. Both formal and functional aspects of each communicative skill were measured, and were shown to be largely unrelated, particularly in the gestural domain. No evidence that language replaced gesture for communication in ontogeny was obtained. Correspondences between gesture and language occurred only between functional aspects of each, and the independence of developing language from gestural advances was suggested by the findings.

Child, Preschool

Differential influence of parental smoking and friends' smoking on adolescent initiation and escalation of smoking.

Smoking-related behaviors and attitudes of significant others (especially friends and parents) are among the most consistent predictors of adolescent smoking. However, theorists remain divided on whether the behaviors of significant others influence adolescent smoking directly or indirectly, and the relative influence of parental and peer smoking on adolescents' own smoking is still a matter of debate. In addition, little research has examined the role of significant others' behavior on different stages of smoking onset. In particular, not much information is available regarding gender and ethnic differences in social influences on smoking behavior. We use structural equation modeling to address these issues. Different theoretical perspectives from cognitive-affective theories (Ajzen 1985; Ajzen and Fishbein 1980) and social learning theories (Akers et al. 1979; Bandura 1969, 1982, 1986) have been integrated into a structural model of smoking influence. The results show that friends' smoking affects adolescent initiation into smoking both directly and indirectly, whereas parental smoking influences smoking initiation only indirectly. The data also show that friends' and parents' smoking affect smoking escalation only indirectly. In general, friends' smoking has a stronger effect on adolescents' smoking behavior, particularly on initiation. Multiple group comparisons of the structural models predicting smoking initiation among males and females reveal that parental approval of smoking plays a significant mediating role for females, but not for males. Comparisons of Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, and other ethnic groups reveal that there are some significant differences in the pathways of friends' influences among the four groups.

Adolescent

Psychosocial functioning in children after the death of a parent.

Eight weeks after the death of a parent, children from stable families (N = 38) were compared to depressed inpatients (N = 38) and normal children (N = 19). School behavior, interest in school, peer involvement, peer enjoyment, and self-esteem were similar for bereaved and normal children. Bereaved children functioned significantly better than depressed inpatients. As a group, the bereaved children from stable families did not experience significant, acute psychosocial dysfunction.

Adaptation, Psychological

The social behavior of peer-identified aggressive, withdrawn, and aggressive/withdrawn children.

The behavioral patterns associated with peer ratings of aggression and withdrawal were explored. First, a discriminant function analysis (N = 74) using seven observational variables was found to significantly identify groups of Aggressive, Withdrawn, and Contrast fourth- and fifth-grade girls and boys. Aggressive/Withdrawn children were not distinguishable from Contrasts. In subsequent analyses comparing the behaviors of children in the four groups at two schools (total N = 117), children in the Aggressive and Withdrawn groups each showed distinctive patterns of social behavior, which were consistent across the two schools. The behavior of the Aggressive/Withdrawn children was not significantly different from that of Contrast children. However, results from one school suggested that Aggressive/Withdrawn children may receive a disproportionate amount of aggression from peers. Finally, the behavior patterns displayed by the deviant groups were similar for girls and boys, allowing for sex differences in base rates of playground behavior. These results confirm the observability of peer-identified patterns of aggression and withdrawal, and provide a detailed description of the behavior of such children in a free-play situation.

Aggression