Treinamento de mães: instruções e fichas no auxílio à tarefa escolar

This study investigated the effects of instructions or instructions plus tokens training procedures, used by mothers, on the following behavioral categories: “praise the child’s behavior”, “instruct the child”, and “do the task for the child”. Seven (7) mother-child pairs participated in the study. Mothers were chosen randomly and placed in two groups (Group 1 and Group 2). During Phase 1 of the study, mothers were asked to help their children with one task including math figures and problems. In Phase 2, mothers of Group 1 and 2 received instructions about how to help their children with their homework. The mothers of Group 2 used tokens additionally, as a consequence, for the mothers’ behavior of praise the child’s behavior and instruct the child instead of doing their homework. In Phase 3, the procedures from Phase 1 were used with both groups. Data from the study suggest that the training method used did not have any effect on the results. In addition, results show that individualized training can meet the specific needs of mothers more efficiently, and are more interesting than group training. Key words: mothers training, tokens and instructions, school homework.Este estudo investigou os efeitos de procedimentos de treino de mães que utilizam instruções ou instruções e fichas sobre as categorias comportamentais “elogiar o comportamento da criança”, “instruir a criança” e “fazer o exercício pela criança”. Participaram do estudo 7 duplas de mães e filhos organizadas aleatoriamente em dois grupos (Grupos 1 e 2). Na Fase 1 do estudo, pediu-se às mães para ajudarem seus filhos a realizar tarefas constituídas por contas ou problemas de Matemática e a interação de cada dupla mãe-criança foi filmada. Na Fase 2, as mães dos Grupo 1 e 2, individualmente, receberam instruções sobre como ajudar os filhos na realização da tarefa. As mães do Grupo 2 receberam adicionalmente, fichas como conseqüência para ocorrências de comportamentos de elogiar acertos dos filhos e de dar instruções para a realização da tarefa. Na Fase 3, repetiram-se os procedimentos da Fase 1 com todos os grupos. Os dados obtidos sugerem que a forma de treinamento empregada não produziu diferenças nos resultados obtidos. Além disso, os resultados sugerem que treinamentos individualizados possibilitam o atendimento de necessidades mais específicas das mães e, com isso, revelam-se mais eficazes e interessantes do que um trabalho em grupo. Palavras-chave: treino de mães, fichas e instruções, tarefa escolar

Methylphenidate as a cognitive enhancer in healthy young people

ABSTRACT The so-called cognitive enhancers have been widely and increasingly used by healthy individuals who seek improvements in cognitive performance despite having no pathologies. One drug used for this purpose is methylphenidate, a first-line drug for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Objective: The aim of the present study was to test the effect of acute administration of varying doses of methylphenidate (10 mg, 20 mg, 40 mg and placebo) on a wide range of cognitive functions in healthy young people. Methods: A total of 36 young university students and graduates participated in the study. The participants underwent tests of attention and of episodic, and working memory. Results: No differences in performance were observed on any of the tests. There was a dose-dependent (40 mg > placebo) effect on self-reported wellbeing. Conclusions: According to the recent literature, psychostimulant medications, such as methylphenidate, improve performance when cognitive processes are below an optimal level, which was not the case for the subjects of the present study. We suggest the impression that methylphenidate enhances cognitive performance in healthy young people, justifying its use, may be due to improvements in subjective wellbeing promoted by the drug

Methylphenidate as a cognitive enhancer in healthy young people

ABSTRACT The so-called cognitive enhancers have been widely and increasingly used by healthy individuals who seek improvements in cognitive performance despite having no pathologies. One drug used for this purpose is methylphenidate, a first-line drug for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Objective: The aim of the present study was to test the effect of acute administration of varying doses of methylphenidate (10 mg, 20 mg, 40 mg and placebo) on a wide range of cognitive functions in healthy young people. Methods: A total of 36 young university students and graduates participated in the study. The participants underwent tests of attention and of episodic, and working memory. Results: No differences in performance were observed on any of the tests. There was a dose-dependent (40 mg > placebo) effect on self-reported wellbeing. Conclusions: According to the recent literature, psychostimulant medications, such as methylphenidate, improve performance when cognitive processes are below an optimal level, which was not the case for the subjects of the present study. We suggest the impression that methylphenidate enhances cognitive performance in healthy young people, justifying its use, may be due to improvements in subjective wellbeing promoted by the drug

Dementia in Parkinson's disease: a Brazilian sample

To determine the prevalence of dementia associated with Parkinson's disease (PD-D) in a Brazilian sample adopting clinical and diagnostic procedures recommended by the Movement Disorders Society (MDS). Sixty-seven patients were consecutively submitted to neurological, neuropsychological and functional examinations. PD-D was established according to MDS clinical criteria (Level II) and clinical procedures for PD-D (Level I) and prevalence rate was compared between the levels adopted. Ten patients (14.9%) were diagnosed as demented by Level I criteria whereas sixteen (23.8%) were diagnosed based on Level II criteria. Level I criteria had low sensitivity in detecting PD-D (31.25%), but greater specificity (90.19). The PD-D group had significantly worse performance on all neuropsychological tests, were older (p<0.001), had an older age of onset ofdisease (p<0.01), had lower educational level (p<0.02) and had higher scores on functional scales. Current age (p=0.046) and Hoehn & Yahr score (p=0.048) were predictors for developing PD-D