Children with ADHD Symptomatology: Does POET Improve Their Daily Routine Management?

Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) struggle with executive delays while managing their daily tasks. This is a secondary analysis of existing data from open-label research examining the efficacy of Parental Occupational Executive Training (POET). It further examines POET’s efficacy in increasing young children’s (3.83 to 7.08 years) executive control over daily routines, and in decreasing their ADHD symptoms. Additionally, the second analysis investigates which of the children’s increased capabilities is better associated with the change in their daily routine management following the intervention. Parents of children with ADHD symptomatology (N = 72, 55 boys) received eight POET sessions. They completed standardised ADHD symptomatology, executive management of daily routines, and executive functions (EF) questionnaires at pretest, post-test, and 3-month follow-up. Children’s ADHD symptoms and their management of daily routines significantly improved following the POET intervention. The children’s score changes in EF accounted for 37% of the variance in their improved routine management. These findings suggest that interventions aiming to increase children’s executive control over their daily routines should improve their broader array of EF besides decreasing core ADHD symptoms

Autism in Early Childhood: An Unusual Developmental Course—Three Case Reports

Autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) is typically characterized by either an emerging and gradual course or developmental regression in early childhood. The versatile clinical course is progressively acknowledged in recent years. Children with developmental disorders in general are referred to the Child Development Center for a multidisciplinary assessment, investigation, treatment and followup. We report three infants with an initial diagnosis of developmental delays, recovery of normal development following intervention in a multidisciplinary center, and subsequent regression into classic autism following their discharge from the program. An extensive medical workup was noncontributory. This unusual presentation, to our knowledge not reported previously, should be recognized by professionals involved in child development and psychiatry

A Virtual Meal-Making Environment as a Platform to Measure the Effect of Affective Stimuli on Emotional Response and Task Performance in Children with and without Cerebral Palsy

The study examined whether a functional virtual environment (VE) may be used to provide affective stimuli (AS) that lead to changes in the emotional responses and task performance of children with and without cerebral palsy (CP). Fifteen children with CP and 19 typically developing (TD) peers (6 to 12 years) prepared seven virtual meals in a predefined order within the Emotional Meal-Maker (EMM), a virtual meal-making VE, run on a 2D video capture VR platform. Six meals included either a negative, positive, or neutral visual stimuli, selected from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). Heart rate (HR) and skin conductance were recorded online, synchronized with stimulus onset. Significant differences were found between groups in task performance and heart rate variability (HRV) components, e.g., higher low frequency (LF)/ high frequency (HF) ratio in CP during the EMM task (U=2517.5, p<001), regardless of type of AS. No significant changes in autonomic responses as a function of AS were found. The implications of these results are discussed

A Virtual Meal-Making Environment as a Platform to Measure the Effect of Affective Stimuli on Emotional Response and Task Performance in Children with and without Cerebral Palsy

The study examined whether a functional virtual environment (VE) may be used to provide affective stimuli (AS) that lead to changes in the emotional responses and task performance of children with and without cerebral palsy (CP). Fifteen children with CP and 19 typically developing (TD) peers (6 to 12 years) prepared seven virtual meals in a predefined order within the Emotional Meal-Maker (EMM), a virtual meal-making VE, run on a 2D video capture VR platform. Six meals included either a negative, positive, or neutral visual stimuli, selected from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). Heart rate (HR) and skin conductance were recorded online, synchronized with stimulus onset. Significant differences were found between groups in task performance and heart rate variability (HRV) components, e.g., higher low frequency (LF)/ high frequency (HF) ratio in CP during the EMM task (U=2517.5, p<001), regardless of type of AS. No significant changes in autonomic responses as a function of AS were found. The implications of these results are discussed

A Virtual Meal-Making Environment as a Platform to Measure the Effect of Affective Stimuli on Emotional Response and Task Performance in Children with and without Cerebral Palsy

The study examined whether a functional virtual environment (VE) may be used to provide affective stimuli (AS) that lead to changes in the emotional responses and task performance of children with and without cerebral palsy (CP). Fifteen children with CP and 19 typically developing (TD) peers (6 to 12 years) prepared seven virtual meals in a predefined order within the Emotional Meal-Maker (EMM), a virtual meal-making VE, run on a 2D video capture VR platform. Six meals included either a negative, positive, or neutral visual stimuli, selected from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). Heart rate (HR) and skin conductance were recorded online, synchronized with stimulus onset. Significant differences were found between groups in task performance and heart rate variability (HRV) components, e.g., higher low frequency (LF)/ high frequency (HF) ratio in CP during the EMM task (U=2517.5, p<001), regardless of type of AS. No significant changes in autonomic responses as a function of AS were found. The implications of these results are discussed

Women Emotional, Cognitive and Physiological Modes of Coping with Daily Urban Environments: A Pilot Study

Studies on the effect of urban environments on human risk to health and well-being tend to focus on either physiological or cognitive and emotional effects. For each of these effects, several indicators have been proposed. They are determined either by a physiological-emotional theory or by a cognitive theory of direct attention. However, the interrelationships between these indices have not been thoroughly investigated in environmental contexts. Recently, a neuro-visceral model that incorporates all three aspects has been proposed. The present article focuses on understanding the mechanism of coping with urban environments. More specifically, we analyze the interrelations among nine of the more commonly used indices that represent the physiological, emotional and cognitive aspects of coping with urban environments. The data were collected in the following four environments: home, park, city center and residential area. The participants were 72 healthy, middle-class mothers with either high school or postgraduate education. They wherein their fertile age (20&ndash;35) with average Body Mass Index (BMI) of 22.2 and S.D. of 0.8 (48 Arab Muslims and 24 Jewish). They were recruited in a snowball method. Path analysis and principal component analysis are used in order to identify the interrelations among the physiological, cognitive and emotional indices and the directions of these interrelations. According to the findings, the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS), as measured by Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and primarily the parasympathetic tone (High frequency-HF) is the pivotal mechanism that modulates emotional and cognitive responses to environmental nuisances. The ANS response precedes and may trigger the emotional and the cognitive responses, which are only partially interrelated. It appears that the autonomic balance measured by Standard Deviation of NN interval (SDNN) and HF, the cognitive index of restoration and the emotional indices of discomfort and relaxation are closely interrelated. These seemingly disparate operands work together to form a comprehensive underlying network that apparently causes stress and risk to health in urban environments while restoring health in green environments

Ethnic Differences in Home-Related Maternal Stress: Muslim and Jewish Mothers

Parental stresses are normal responses to raising children. They are affected by stresses parents and children accumulate and bring to their interrelations. Background factors like economic difficulties or the relations between the parents may affect parental stresses as well as demographic and environmental factors like noise and access to urban parks. Most studies on parental stress are based on a verified psychological questionnaire. We suggest using frequency domain heart rate variability index (HRV) to measure parental stress enabling, by thus, the measurement of physiological aspects of stress and risk to health. Parental stress is measured as the difference between HRV accumulated at home while staying with the children and without the husband and HRV measured in the neighborhood while staying without the children and the husband. We use the index to compare differences among Muslim and Jewish mothers in exposure to maternal stress at their homes and to expose the factors that predict differences in maternal stress. We found that Muslim mothers suffer from home-related maternal stress while Jewish mother do not. Number of children and ethnically related environmental aspects predict differences in maternal stress between Muslim and Jewish mothers. Muslims&rsquo; lower access to parks stems from lack of home garden and parks in their neighborhoods in the Arab towns but mainly by restrictions on Muslim mothers&rsquo; freedom of movement to parks. Despite differences in levels of noise at home and in the status of the mother in the household, these factors did not predict differences in maternal stress. Instead, the study highlights the crucial role of greenery and freedom of movement to parks in moderating home-related maternal stress