Parent training for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Its impact on parent functioning

This study examined changes in parent functioning resulting from parental participation in a behavioral parent training (PT) program specifically designed for school-aged children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Relative to wait list controls, subjects who completed the nine-session PT program showed significant posttreatment gains in both child and parent functioning, which were maintained 2 months after treatment. In particular, there were PT-induced reductions in parenting stress and increases in parenting self-esteem, which accompanied parent-reported improvements in the overall severity of their child's ADHD symptoms. In addition to their statistical importance, these findings are discussed in terms of their clinical significance, utilizing methods developed by Jacobson and Truax (1991)

College: An Option for People with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities

In August of every year, a familiar scene unfolds in communities across the nation. The exodus from home communities to college campuses has begun! This is an exciting, but anxiety-producing time for many young adults. It is a time of letting go for their parents. Visualize cars loaded down with the trappings for a college dorm, the student seeing their college housing complexes, parents carrying all those boxes in, and the newly minted freshmen surveying the landscape nervously but with happy anticipation. A student sees possibilities at every turn, but the parent is conflicted about the “launch.” Sons and daughters convince moms and dads that it is time to leave. It is a benchmark event in most young adults’ lives as record numbers of graduates continue their education after high school

The role of parent training groups in the treatment of Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder

Within the fields of child development and child clinical psychology, recognition is growing of the important role that families, in particular parents, play in the growth and development of children. Compared with a simplistic unidirectional view, researchers and clinicians increasingly have conceptualized parent-child influences from a more realistic transactional pattern or a systems perspective.For example, developmental researchers such as Baumrind, Maccoby and Martin,and Schaefer have consistently found that healthy child development is most likely to occur in the context of high levels of parental warmth and acceptance, consistent behavioral control, and acceptance and encouragement of individuality and psychological autonomy. Consideration of parental influence is, however, important when development is disrupted in some way

The assessment of cognition/intelligence in infancy

This article will review the development of infant cognitive assessment and will describe selected tests. Considerations in choosing, administering, and interpreting the results of infant intelligence/cognitive assessment instruments will be outlined. Finally, the usefulness of cognitive assessment will be discussed along with new approaches to assessment

Behavioral Treatment of CPR Anxiety: A Case Study

A 23-year-old mother with a previously documented psychiatric history experienced extreme anxiety regarding the potential need to resuscitate her infant from recurrent life-threatening apnea. Before discharge on a home monitor, the mother was treated with systematic desensitization and response prevention techniques for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) anxiety Following 4 days of therapy, the mother successfully completed the CPR training course. At 4-month follow-up, the mother reported that she was able to use CPR successfully and could respond to apnea alarms within 10 seconds Implications of this technique for other health care concerns are discussed

How to Avoid Stumbling While “Walking the Talk”: Supporting the Promise of Authentic Partnerships

This article discusses challenges faced by research centers engaging in community partnerships, as well as potential solutions. While many challenges in community-campus partnerships involve the engagement of community and the characteristics of the partnership, some university structures and policies can impede the collaboration even given a strong partnership. The lessons shared highlight potential pitfalls that need to be addressed as well as possible solutions that can support the campus in developing authentic collaboration

Psychiatric and psychological morbidity as a function of adaptive disability in preschool children with aggressive and hyperactive-impulsive-inattentive behavior

Children with high levels of aggressive-hyperactive-impulsive-inattentive behavior (AHII; n = 154) were subdivided into those with (n = 38) and without (n = 116) adaptive disability (+AD/-AD) defined as a discrepancy between expected versus actual adaptive functioning. They were compared to each other and a control group of 47 normal children. Both AHII groups were more likely to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder, and conduct disorder than control children; more symptoms of general psychopathology; greater social skills deficits; more parental problems; and lower levels of academic achievement skills. Compared to AHII - AD children, AHII + AD children had (1) more conduct disorder; (2) greater inattention and aggression symptoms; (3) more social problems, less academic competence, and poorer self-control at school; (4) more severe and pervasive behavior problems across multiple home and school settings; and (5) parents with poorer child management practices. Thus, adaptive disability has utility as a marker for more severe and pervasive impairments in AHII children

An Attribution Training Program with Learning Disabled Children

Based on the success of attribution training programs in alleviating learned helplessness and upon current research suggesting that some learning disabled children may be experiencing learned helplessness, it was the purpose of the present investigation to determine whether altering causal attributions for failure would enable helpless learning disabled children to deal more effectively with failure in an experimental reading situation. Sixteen "helpless" learning disabled students were assigned to an attribution training group or to an assessment control group. The results revealed that following training, the subjects in the attribution training group demonstrated greater reading persistence, showed significant increases in effort attributions for failure as well as more internal attributions for achievement situations when compared to subjects in the control group. Treatment gains for effort attributions and for reading persistence were maintained at follow-up. Implications for remedial programs are discussed

Multimethod psychoeducational intervention for preschool children with disruptive behavior: Two year post-treatment follow-up

This paper describes the 2-year post-treatment follow-up of preschool children identified as having high levels of disruptive behavior at kindergarten entry. They were assigned to four treatment conditions: A no-treatment group, parent-training only, treatment classroom only, and the combination of parent training with the treatment classroom. Interventions lasted the entire kindergarten academic year. Initial post-treatment results reported previously indicated no effects for the parent-training program but some efficacy for the classroom intervention program. For this report, the disruptive behavior (DB) children were subdivided into those who did (n = 74) and did not (n = 77) receive the treatment classroom. Two-year post-treatment follow-up results indicated no differences between the classroom treated and untreated DB groups. These groups also failed to differ in the percentage of children using available treatments across the follow-up period. The DB children in both groups had significantly more symptoms of ADHD and ODD than a community control group (N = 47) at follow-up. They also received higher ratings of externalizing problems on the parent Child Behavior Checklist, more severe ratings of behavior problems at home, and ratings of more pervasive behavior problems at school, and had poorer academic skills. Results suggested that early intervention classrooms for DB children may not produce enduring effects once treatment is withdrawn, and that better approaches are needed for identifying those DB children at greatest risk for later maladjustment

The history and diagnosis of attention- deficit/ hyperactivity disorder

This paper briefly discusses the history of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) before proceeding to review and critique the recently published DSM-IV criteria for ADHD as well as the draft ICD-10 criteria proposed for its counterpart, the hyperkinetic disorder. In addition to covering the similarities and differences between these two systems, this paper critically discusses continuing limitations in these approaches to clinical diagnosis. Despite these ongoing diagnostic limitations, substantial research in both Great Britain and North America exists to show that ADHD is a valid condition that is separable from yet often associated with conduct disorder and hostile-defiant behaviour. Further research will no doubt help to resolve the current problems with diagnostic criteria to yield even greater separation of the construct of ADHD from other childhood psychological disorders