Assessment of Cognitive Abilities in Children with a Pervasive Developmental Disorder Using the Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test

This study was designed to examine the utility of the Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test (UNIT; Bracken & McCallum, 1998) for use with children who have been diagnosed with a pervasive developmental disorder (e.g., autistic disorder, asperger’s disorder, pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified). The goal was to determine whether distinct cognitive profiles on the UNIT exist within this population and between those with and without a pervasive developmental disorder: a) Do children with a pervasive developmental disorder earn significantly lower mean scores than a demographically matched control group on the UNIT Full Scale Intelligence quotient? b) Do children with a pervasive developmental disorder earn a significantly higher mean score on the UNIT Nonsymbolic quotient versus the Symbolic quotient? c) Do children with a pervasive developmental disorder earn significantly different mean scores on the UNIT Reasoning and Memory quotients? Examiners administered the UNIT to 43 children with a pervasive developmental disorder. Data from 31 children who received raw scores of at least 1 on every subtest were used for statistical analyses. Data from an additional 31 children who participated in the UNIT standardization process were also included as the control group. The group with a pervasive developmental disorder had significantly lower scores (p\u3c.001) on every quotient of the UNIT when compared to the control group. When the mean Full Scale Intelligence quotients were compared, the difference of approximately 22 points was significant, t(26) = 4.46, p = .000. Within the group with a pervasive developmental disorder, the mean score of the Nonsymbolic quotient was approximately 4 points higher than the Symbolic quotient; this difference was not significant, t(30) = 1.59, p \u3e .05 (onetailed). When the Memory and Reasoning quotients were compared, the mean difference of .19 was not significant, t(30) = .068, p = .947. Based on mean difference analysis of this sample, there does not seem to be a unique cognitive profile for this population on the UNIT

Understanding Adolescent Intentions to Smoke: An Examination of Relationships Among Social Influence, Prior Trial Behavior, and Antitobacco Campaign Advertising

Telephone interviews were conducted with more than 900 adolescents aged 12 to 18 as part of a multimillion dollar, statewide, antitobacco advertising campaign. The interviews addressed two primary questions: (1) Do counter-advertising campaign attitudes directly affect antismoking beliefs and intent in a manner similar to those of conventional advertisements? and (2) Can advertising campaign attitudes have a stronger effect on beliefs and intent for adolescents with prior smoking behavior and for adolescents exposed to social influence (i.e., friends, siblings, or adult smoker in the home)? The authors\u27 findings show that advertising campaign attitudes, prior trial behavior, and social influence all directly affect antismoking beliefs and that advertising campaign attitudes interact with prior trial behavior to strengthen antismoking beliefs. The results indicate that attitudes related to the campaign, prior trial behavior, and social influence directly influence intent, and advertising campaign attitudes interact with social influence and prior trial behavior to attenuate adolescent intent to smoke. In addition, the effect of advertising campaign attitudes in attenuating social influence and prior trial behavior effects on adolescent intent to smoke persists even when the authors account for strongly held beliefs about smoking. The authors discuss implications for countermarketing communications and the design and understanding of future antismoking campaigns

Saving face: Managing rapport in a Problem-Based Learning group

This qualitative study investigated the complex social aspects of communication required for students to participate effectively in Problem-Based Learning and explored how these dynamics are managed. The longitudinal study of a group of first-year undergraduates examined interactions using Rapport Management as a framework to analyse communication with regard to the concepts of face, sociality rights and interactional goals. Problem-Based Learning requires students to engage in potentially face-threatening interactions as they discuss subjects of which they have little prior knowledge, placing them in situations that require negotiation using face-saving strategies in order to meet objectives to share their learning with others. The study described within this article focuses on the key role of the Problem-Based Learning chair and shows how failure by the chair to manage rapport effectively can influence the quality of group learning. The findings suggest that educators need to understand the complex interactional demands students have to face in undertaking Problem-Based Learning and support students to overcome these difficulties considering the three bases of rapport managemen

Latent rank change detection for analysis of splice-junction microarrays with nonlinear effects

Alternative splicing of gene transcripts greatly expands the functional capacity of the genome, and certain splice isoforms may indicate specific disease states such as cancer. Splice junction microarrays interrogate thousands of splice junctions, but data analysis is difficult and error prone because of the increased complexity compared to differential gene expression analysis. We present Rank Change Detection (RCD) as a method to identify differential splicing events based upon a straightforward probabilistic model comparing the over- or underrepresentation of two or more competing isoforms. RCD has advantages over commonly used methods because it is robust to false positive errors due to nonlinear trends in microarray measurements. Further, RCD does not depend on prior knowledge of splice isoforms, yet it takes advantage of the inherent structure of mutually exclusive junctions, and it is conceptually generalizable to other types of splicing arrays or RNA-Seq. RCD specifically identifies the biologically important cases when a splice junction becomes more or less prevalent compared to other mutually exclusive junctions. The example data is from different cell lines of glioblastoma tumors assayed with Agilent microarrays.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/10-AOAS389 the Annals of Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

The public image of the social worker.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston Universit

Examining Self-Determination Skills Training for Students with Disabilities to Improve Postsecondary Outcomes

Individuals with mild disabilities are graduating high school and struggling to succeed in higher education and the workplace. An examination of how educators prepare students to develop the necessary skills for successful postsecondary outcomes was warranted in a western state to improve the success rate for individuals with mild disabilities. The framework for this project study was Wehmeyer and Schwartz’ theoretical framework for promoting enhanced self-determination as a means of achieving positive postsecondary outcomes. The research question guiding the study focused on how educators in a school district helped students with mild disabilities develop self-determination skills. The research design was a qualitative case study. Twelve high school teachers, a transition specialist, and a job developer were invited to participate in this study, utilizing semistructured interviews as one avenue to collect data for this study. Interview data were recorded, transcribed, coded and analyzed to develop common themes. Students’ Individual Transition Plans were collected and analyzed, using a thematic analysis with open coding, to identify transition goals and any gaps in transition goals related to self-determination. The findings from this study indicated that these special educators’ lacked experiences with self-determination skills training which led them to feel underprepared to adequately instruct their students on how to develop self-determination skills. A 3-day professional development series was developed as a project to address these findings. The project could lead to improved post-secondary outcomes for students with disabilities in the areas of education and employment, resulting in social change through sustained student employment and positive educational outcomes

Triggering change: Towards a conceptualisation of major change processes in farm decision-making

In this paper, we present a broad conceptualisation of major change in farm level trajectories. We argue that as a result of path dependency, major changes in farming practice primarily occur in response to 'trigger events', after which farm managers intensify their consideration of the options open to them, and may set a new course of action. In undertaking new actions, the farm system enters a period of instability, while new practices become established. Over time these new practices, if successfully achieving anticipated aims, lead to a further period of path dependency. Recognising and capitalising upon this pattern of events is important for the development of policies oriented towards incentivising major change in farming practices, and may explain why similar projects and/or policies influence some 'types' of farmers differently, and at different times. To illustrate our arguments, examples of this process are described in relation to empirical examples of major on-farm change processes, drawn from qualitative interviews with organic and conventional farmers in two English case study area

Triggering change: Towards a conceptualisation of major change processes in farm decision-making

In this paper, we present a broad conceptualisation of major change in farm level trajectories. We argue that as a result of path dependency, major changes in farming practice primarily occur in response to 'trigger events', after which farm managers intensify their consideration of the options open to them, and may set a new course of action. In undertaking new actions, the farm system enters a period of instability, while new practices become established. Over time these new practices, if successfully achieving anticipated aims, lead to a further period of path dependency. Recognising and capitalising upon this pattern of events is important for the development of policies oriented towards incentivising major change in farming practices, and may explain why similar projects and/or policies influence some 'types' of farmers differently, and at different times. To illustrate our arguments, examples of this process are described in relation to empirical examples of major on-farm change processes, drawn from qualitative interviews with organic and conventional farmers in two English case study area

“Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know”: the pervasive socio-medical and spatial coding of mental health day centres

In a research area typically dominated by the biomedical field, this paper seeks to explore the emotional experiences of long-term, mental health service users who attend charitable day centres. Academic literature has predominantly focussed on a macro-analysis of the social, political and geographical position of those with mental health distress. Subsequently, service users have been positioned as a largely homogenous group who mainly reside on the boundaries of social integration due to the negative social representations of mental health impairment. These postulations can advocate a romanticised notion of how service users engage in consensual and non-judgemental social norms in terms of social inclusion of those within therapeutic spaces. Thus, indicating that a high level of mutual camaraderie exists within a day centre. However, this approach can negate the realities encountered by service users on a daily basis whereby differing medical ascriptions such as ‘depression’ and ‘schizophrenia’ can not only influence a service user’s own self-identity and behaviour but ultimately, the acceptance of other members. In conclusion, this work indicates that rather than a discrete linear position between the ‘otherness’ of mental health distress and ‘normative’ human geographies, this area remains a complex phenomenon with levels of diversity when linked to diagnostic criteria

Systematic review of arts and culture-based interventions for people living with dementia and their caregivers

Aims: To explore and summarize studies investigating the effect of arts and culture interventions for people living with dementia and their caregivers on the well-being and cognition of the person living with dementia and, caregiver strain. Methods: We carried out a systematic search of five electronic databases (PubMed, PsychINFO, Embase, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library).  We included original research published in peer-reviewed journals including both qualitative and quantitative studies.  We assessed quality of included studies using the Cochrane Collaboration’s Risk of Bias tools.   A narrative synthesis was conducted of all included studies. Results Of the 4827 articles screened, 34 articles met inclusion criteria. A variety of interventions were identified, with more than half taking place in a museum or gallery. Five RCTs showed improvements in wellbeing outcomes but no cognitive improvements except in some subscales in a music intervention. Most non-randomised studies reported cognitive improvements and well-being improvements for people living with dementia  and their caregivers. Studies primarily focused on individuals with mild to moderate dementia. Conclusions: The use of arts and culture interventions may provide benefits for people living with dementia and their caregivers. However, heterogeneity of the interventions and outcome measures prevented generalization of the results. Further research of arts and culture interventions for people living with dementia and their caregivers should utilize larger controlled trials, standardized outcome measures and include individuals with moderate to severe dementia