Biomedical subjects
H S Adelman
Publications and source records attributed to H S Adelman.
Early school adjustment problems: some perspectives and a project report.
A kindergarten and elementary school intervention program for dealing with early school adjustment problems is described. It is designed to accommodate greater individual differences in classrooms, improve and augment regular support, and provide specialized staff development and interventions. Initial findings are presented, and the evolution of the program so as to address problems of school newcomers is discussed.
School avoidance behavior: motivational bases and implications for intervention.
Intrinsic motivational constructs relevant to understanding and ameliorating school avoidance are discussed. Specifically, the concepts of self-determination, competence, and relatedness are highlighted in differentiating proactive and reactive avoidance behavior. From this perspective, five groups are described. Intervention implications are illustrated for proactive and reactive school avoiders, with special attention to strategies for the crucial period of transition back to school.
Motivational readiness and the participation of children with learning and behavior problems in psychoeducational decision making.
Efficacy of a brief cognitive-affective intervention to enhance motivational readiness for participating in a psychoeducational decision-making conference was explored. Although outcomes specific to the preconference intervention were not found, findings of relevance to the hypothesized positive relationship between motivational readiness and actual participation in decision making are reported. The positive and negative findings are discussed in terms of implications for enhancing motivational readiness and for understanding the limited impact of skill training to improve participation and decision making.
Intrinsic motivation and school misbehavior: some intervention implications.
The intrinsic motivational concepts of self-determination, competence, and relatedness to others are highlighted to underscore their value in identifying motivational underpinnings for deviant and devious behavior. These constructs are woven into a working schema to differentiate intentional misbehavior in terms of whether it is reactive or proactive. Finally, from the perspective of such motivational thinking, implications for formal intervention research and experimental practice are illustrated.
Minors' dissatisfaction with their life circumstances.
To expand the scope of clinical research on youngsters' subjective well-being, the present work gathered data on the degree of satisfaction/dissatisfaction with respect to major aspects of daily living and on the relationship between life dissatisfaction and perceived control at school of children and adolescents. The self-reports of students in regular classrooms and those referred for mental health services are contrasted. In addition, data on the relationship between dissatisfaction and scores on the Children's Depression Inventory are reported for the mental health sample.
Learning problems, anger, perceived control, and misbehavior.
Fifty-four students diagnosed as having learning disabilities (LD) and 73 students in regular education were administered the School Anger Inventory and the Perceived Control at School Scale. Teachers and parents rated student deportment and motivation. Predictably, those in the LD sample indicated higher school anger levels and were rated as exhibiting more negative behavior, less positive behavior, and lower motivation for on-task performance. The samples did not differ in their ratings of perceived control, which was moderate, and were given comparable positive teacher ratings for recall of relevant and interesting material. Significant correlations between school anger and behavior were found only in the LD sample, and there was no significant overall relationship between school anger, behavior, and perceived control within either sample. Overall, however, students who reported both a high level of anger and high perceived control were found to exhibit more negative behavior than those with high anger and low perceived control.
Toward a procedure for minimizing and detecting false positive diagnoses of learning disability.
Assessment procedures that can significantly enhance motivation to perform are needed so that poor performance due to low or avoidance motivation is not misdiagnosed as indicating ability deficits or as symptomatic of learning disabilities (LD). In this connection, research is under way to investigate the degree to which a highly motivating computer game learning task can improve differential diagnoses of LD. Findings from the initial investigation indicate that a large proportion of students diagnosed as LD were able to learn effectively when pursuing such a task. The results illustrate the key role motivation plays in determining the validity of diagnostic assessment and demonstrate the potential value of similar tasks for use in differentiating, from among individuals diagnosed as LD, those who do not have impaired learning processes.
Beyond the learning mystique: an interactional perspective on learning disabilities.
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Toward solving the problems of misidentification and limited intervention efficacy.
The learning disabilities (LD) field has "boxed itself in" and, as a result, is not making satisfactory progress in reducing misdiagnoses and improving intervention efficacy. Evolving trends are not seen as reflecting fundamental changes in thinking and practice. With a view to the future, the position is taken that the field must (1) address causality in differentiating LD from other learning problems, (2) expand prevailing approaches to individualizing instruction so that intrinsic motivation is accounted for in a systematic and comprehensive manner, and (3) move beyond piecemeal programs to implement a fully integrated and coordinated continuum of interventions.
Diagnostic classification of learning problems: some data.
Despite the large body of literature on diagnoses related to learning problems, little systematic information has been gathered on the specific labels assigned by professionals and the bases for their determination. In this study of children enrolled in a clinical school program, only one diagnosis out of fifteen resulted from a consistent pattern of test findings, while over half the diagnoses were based primarily on observation, and a third were arrived at despite contradictory evidence. Implications for current clinical and research practices are considered.
Paradigm accountability (reaction paper to Heshusius' "The Newtonian Mechanistic...").
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Perceptions of control at school among students in special education programs.
Data are reported on special and regular education students' perceptions of control at school and the importance to the students of having such control. For both special and regular education populations, comparisons were made between students enrolled in experimental and nonexperimental programs. Findings indicate comparability among the four groups with regard to areas in which control is valued. Perceptions of control at school for those in the standard special education group were lower than the ratings of regular education students and lower than those given by special education students in the experimental program.