Parents’ Perceptions of the Philly Goat Project’s All Abilities RAMble: A Qualitative Study of Animal-Assisted Intervention for Intellectual and Developmental Disorders

Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are a growing population. Considering the wide diversity in IDD and the financial burden of traditional treatment modalities, Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAI) has emerged as an innovative and non-traditional treatment for individuals with a range of disabilities, including individuals with IDD. To the authors’ knowledge, the present study was one of the first to explore a goat-assisted therapy experience for children with IDD. This study explored the experiences of 23 children with the All Abilities RAMble – a goat-assisted therapeutic activity offered by the Philly Goat Project (PGP). Key themes in our study included the RAMble activating joy, RAMble as a place to practice skills, RAMble as a unique service providing transferable skills, RAMble as a personalized and child-directed program, and RAMble providing a sense of community. This research provides valuable insight into the child’s experience with goat-assisted therapy, which can inform future goat-assisted therapy interventions for children with IDD. The results suggest there are several positive impacts from the All Abilities RAMble, further supported by the literature on AAI and IDD. Additionally, the emergence of social skill(s) and communication skill development, transferability of acquired skills, and sense of community prompted provided strength in this exploratory inquiry of this specific form of AAI. Goat-assisted therapeutic activities, such as the PGP All Abilities RAMble, is an opportunity to practice skills and develop relationships that are often under-examined in this specific population. This study demonstrates the need for more empirical research on goat-specific AAI with children with IDD, and their families. Future research recommendations include exploration of siblings and parents’ experience at the RAMble and further inquiry into what contributes to outdoor or nature-based programming beneficial to people with disabilities

Ventral subicular interaction with the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus: Evidence for a relay in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis

The axonal projections of the ventral subiculum to the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST) were examined in the rat with the anterograde neuronal tracer Phaseolus vulgaris - leucoagglutinin (PHA-L). Axons originating in the ventral subiculum coursed to the BST through either the fimbria-fornix, or a pathway involving the stria terminalis via the amygdala. Ventral subicular axons gave rise to dense terminal networks that were preferentially distributed in medial and ventral subregions of the BST. The distribution of subicular fibers and terminals was examined in relation to BST neurons that project to the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN). In these cases, discrete iontophoretic injections of the retrograde tracer Fluoro-gold were made in the PVN, with PHA-L delivered to the ipsilateral ventral subiculum. An immunocytochemical double-labeling protocol was then employed for the simultaneous detection of PHA-L and Fluoro-gold, and provided light microscopic evidence for subicular input to PVN-projecting cells located within the BST. In a second series of experiments, the Γ-amino butyric acid (GABA)ergic nature of the BST was examined by in situ hybridization histochemistry for detection of transcripts encoding GAD 67 mRNA. The studies revealed that a high proportion of BST neurons express GAD 67 transcripts. Also, experiments combining Fluoro-gold tracing with GAD 67 in situ hybridization suggested that a proportion of PVN-projecting neurons in the BST are GABAergic. Taken together, the results of these sets of studies suggest that the inhibitory influences of the hippocampus on the PVN might be relayed through specific portions of the BST. These findings may have important implications for our understanding of the neural regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/50057/1/903320102_ftp.pd

Hippocampal Volume Reduction in Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome

Children with congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS), a genetic disorder characterized by diminished drive to breathe during sleep and impaired CO2 sensitivity, show brain structural and functional changes on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, with impaired responses in specific hippocampal regions, suggesting localized injury

Clozapine's functional mesolimbic selectivity is not duplicated by the addition of anticholinergic action to haloperidol: a brain stimulation study in the rat

This study examined whether the anticholinergic potency of the clinically superior antipsychotic drug clozapine contributes to clozapine's anatomically-selective functional inhibition of the mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system, using an electrical brain-stimulation reward (BSR) paradigm in rats that has been previously shown to be highly sensitive to clozapine's mesolimbic functional selectivity. Rats were chronically administered saline, clozapine, haloperidol, or haloperidol plus the anticholinergic compound trihexyphenidyl, and threshold sensitivity of the mesolimbic and nigrostriatal DA systems was assessed using the BSR paradigm, to infer degree of functional DA blockade produced by the chronic drug regimens. Chronic saline produced no change in either DA system. Congruent with previous findings, chronic clozapine powerfully inhibited the mesolimbic DA system but spared the nigrostriatal DA system. Also congruent with previous findings, chronic haloperidol powerfully inhibited both DA systems. Compared to chronic haloperidol alone, chronic haloperidol plus chronic trihexyphenidyl exerted diminished anti-DA action in both the mesolimbic and nigrostriatal DA systems. These results suggest that clozapine's anticholinergic potency is not an adequate explanation for its functional mesolimbic selectivity.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46341/1/213_2005_Article_BF02246960.pd

"Signs on a white field": James Joyce, Ulysses, and the postcolonial sublime

The purpose of this study is to examine the ways in which James Joyce's Ulysses is imbued with a kind of Postcolonial sublime. In doing so my hope is to prove that Joyce's text is, in a way, a performance: through his wide-ranging use of distinct figures, tropes, and motifs, Joyce acts out and reconciles himself with the trauma of colonization. Most importantly, however, in Ulysses Joyce attempts to articulate the ontological status of a group--the colonized--that has heretofore gone radically unarticulated. "Nothing can describe well enough the extraordinary deficiency of the colonized," Albert Memmi writes, pointing to the colonial subject's under-representation; but in Ulysses, Joyce without question succeeds in figuring this "deficiency" by upending traditional notions of "text," "identity," and "language." In the end, Joyce subverts the very medium in which he writes: he appropriates the tongue of the colonizer in order to re-establish himself in the aftermath of colonization

Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) as an Adjunctive Treatment for Eating Disorders: Exploration of AAT through the lens of Attachment and Affect Regulation

This research investigated the connection between attachment, affect regulation, eating disorders and Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT), a connection that has not previously been examined. The conceptual lenses for this research identified eating disorders as one of many possible examples of difficulties in regulatory functioning and attachment. The connection between attachment and affect regulation, combined with the literature on eating disorders that identifies affect dysregulation as a primary factor in the etiology of eating disorders, provided the conceptual grounding for the research. This exploratory study, through intensive interviews, examined 20 adult women’s experience of AAT among women who used AAT in their eating disorder treatment. The results of this exploratory study suggest that the symptoms of ED may have a relational functionality for the individual, even if there are other developmental, cognitive, and physical costs associated with these same symptoms. Through the lens of attachment theory, eating disorders can be seen as having an “attachment function”; a way to maintain connection even if it is an inauthentic interpersonal connection. Then, the eating disorder is an imperfect, or partial solution for the individual who both desires connection but cannot tolerate being “known” authentically for fear of rejection. Therefore, AAT may provide, either within individual or group modalities, potentially reparative experiences that help foster a strong link between affect and body experiences for women struggling with eating disorders. The results of this study may have clinical and treatment implications for eating disorders. In particular, eating disorder treatment may benefit from thinking about the individuals’ attachment representations, and the development of creative, sensory engaging, and restorative interventions as an adjunct to other therapies

Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) as an Adjunctive Treatment for Eating Disorders: A Qualitative Exploration

The current research aimed to test the hypothesis of whether AAT relates to important aspects of attachment experience and affect regulation abilities – areas associated with the diagnosis of eating disorders. Because AAT can activate the attachment system and provide new opportunities for experiencing affect, the current study hypothesized that AAT may offer helpful additions to eating disorder treatment. Forty in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with self-identified female adults (ages 21 – 40) who were diagnosed with an eating disorder in the last ten years and used AAT in their ED treatment. Interviews elicited participants’ experience of AAT, including how they thought the AAT impacted with their ED treatment and their ED. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded thematically using NVivo qualitative software, guided by the principles of grounded theory. Findings highlight that the relational comfort afforded through experiencing the animal as unconditional, nonjudgmental, intuitive, and safe may have led to an impact on emotions, treatment experience, relational learning, and affective regulation. This paper presentation will highlight my completed qualitative study and, specifically, focus on my qualitative research methods, analytical techniques using NVivo software, and an overview of the techniques (i.e. concept maps) used to organized and analyze my data