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Biomedical subjects

J L Matson

Publications and source records attributed to J L Matson.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Training social interpersonal skills in two autistic children.

Two children, a 10-year-old girl and a 9-year-old boy both of whom were autistic and mentally retarded and one of whom was also hyperactive, were treated for social skill deficits. Targets of treatment were refraining from perseveration, appropriate affect, appropriate content of speech, appropriate sitting, and eye contact. Training included modeling, instructions, performance feedback, role-playing, rehearsal, and tangible and social reinforcers. A multiple baseline within subjects and across behaviors design was employed. Marked improvements were noted soon after treatment was implemented. The significance of these effects and their implications for future research are discussed.

Autistic Disorder↗
PubMed1988

Depression in mentally retarded children.

Thirty-one mentally retarded emotionally disturbed children, hospitalized within a university medical school's psychiatric intensive care program, were matched on age and sex and compared to 31 children from a normal school setting on depression. Measures included the Child Depression Inventory (CDI) and the Child Behavior Profile (CBP), with children being compared on total and subfactor scores for both measures. Depression and its various subcomponents were more prevalent in the mentally retarded group. There were no significant sex or age differences. Degree of overall psychopathology and depression were highly related. The relationship between criteria for depression on the CDI and CBC were also made. Correlational data showed a strong relationship between the cut-off scores for both measures, an important finding because they were based on norms established with children of normal intelligence. These data suggest that similarities exist between depression in mentally retarded children and those without such cognitive handicaps. The relationship of depression to other forms of psychopathology in the group of 31 emotionally disturbed mentally retarded children was also examined. A wide range of disorders including schizophrenia, aggression, withdrawal, and hyperactivity were evaluated. These are the first empirical data with mentally retarded children in the United States that are aimed specifically at evaluating depression, and should be useful to the clinicians in better understanding the phenomenon.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Training social skills to severely mentally retarded multiply handicapped adolescents.

Three severely mentally retarded, multiply handicapped, adolescents were treated in a classroom setting for social skills deficits. Two of these children exhibited symptoms of autism including periods of echolalia, and fascination with tactile and visual stimulation. One of the pair was deaf. The third child was profoundly mentally retarded and had minimal expressive language skills. All had received sign language training to facilitate communication. Treatment focused on increasing the frequency of eye contact, in seat and response to verbal prompt behaviors, skills deemed necessary to facilitate use of sign language communication and to increase social interaction. Baseline and treatment were evaluated in a multiple baseline, alternating treatment design across children. Baseline was taken on responses to 10 standard questions, asked by the teacher, based on verbal presentation and sign language. This same procedure was then continued during the initial treatment phase following training sessions. During training, the children received social reinforcement, performance feedback and edible reinforcement, in the form of candy, for appropriate performance. Physical and verbal prompts as well as pictorial cues were employed to shape appropriate behavior. In the second treatment phase, training was implemented in the classroom in which baseline data had been collected. Improvement in target behaviors, via training sessions held four days a week, was noted. These data suggest that use of a combination of visual stimuli, operant and social learning methods can remediate social skills deficits in children with multiple psychological and physical deficits. The implications of these findings for current and future research are discussed.

Achievement↗
PubMed1988

The relationship of depression to social skills and intellectual functioning in mentally retarded adults.

Ninety-nine mild to severely mentally retarded adults were evaluated on a variety of measures. The battery included the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT), the Psychopathology Instrument for Mentally Retarded Adults, the Social Performance Survey Schedule, Hamilton Rating Scale of Depression, the Beck Depression Inventory and Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale. Depression and social skills measures correlated significantly with each other on self-report and informant reports. Receptive vocabulary did not significantly correlate with depression or social skills measures, irrespective of self or other report format. Additionally, demographic variables such as intellectual level were not significant. The PPVT mean scores differed significantly by level of mental retardation as might be expected. The significance of these data and their implication for further study are reviewed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Self-injury and its relationship to diagnostic schemes in psychopathology.

It is argued that self-injury should be conceptualized within accepted diagnostic schemes prevalent in the United States and abroad. This approach is viewed as having several benefits including better and more clearly emphasizing to practitioners the nature of the problem by inclusion in DSM III and related diagnostic systems that are readily available in applied settings. It is believed that encorporating self-injury more clearly as a diagnostic entity would also have the result of further legitimizing it for reimbursement by third party payers who routinely use DSM III categories. Additional issues pertaining to the relationship of self-injury to diagnosis are discussed.

Compulsive Behavior↗
PubMed1986

A review of treatment research for aggressive and disruptive behavior in the mentally retarded.

This study reviews current treatment research on aggression of mentally retarded persons. Twenty-seven studies meet methodological criteria from an initial pool of 47. All the studies reviewed were empirical and had been published in national and internationally recognized journals. Treatments were behavioral and level of mental retardation and ages of the persons studied varied widely. Age and level of mental retardation proved to be significant factors in predicting treatment outcome. Also, it was found that some types of behaviors were treated more frequently than others, with inappropriate verbal responses being the most common, followed by aggression toward others and noncompliance. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Scholarly productivity in mental retardation.

The most productive institutions in social, educational, and psychological research in mental retardation were identified by noting the affiliations of authors who have published recently in the field. A frequency count was made of the studies published, giving credit to universities on the basis of the percentage of the total contribution provided by particular investigators, up to a maximum of one full publication. Also, the number of publications represented by each particular university was computed. The implications of these particular data are briefly discussed.

Efficiency↗
PubMed1986

Teaching computation/shopping skills to mentally retarded adults.

Three moderately/mildly retarded adults, ranging in age from 32 to 53 years, were trained in adaptive community skills. Behaviors identified for intervention (computational and shopping skills) were the same for all three clients. Assessment followed a multiple-baseline design across skills for each subject. The subjects were assessed in a classroom and in grocery stores in the community. Following baseline, treatment was provided that involved instructions, performance feedback, social reinforcement, in-vivo modeling, self-evaluation, and social and tangible reinforcement. Gains on both computational and shopping skills were stable or decreased during baseline, but rapid and dramatic improvements occurred soon after treatment began. Skills generalized to other stores, and these gains were maintained at a 2-month follow-up. Implications of the findings were discussed.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1985

Psychometric properties of the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY) with emotional problems and self concept in deaf children.

In Study One the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY) was scored by teachers for 96 deaf children ranging from normal intelligence through mentally retarded. Inter-item and split-half correlations were high, and internal consistency of particular items correlated to the scale as a whole was high. Items that were particularly spurious were looking and smiling at others, an interesting finding since these social behaviors are frequently targeted in treatment research. Therefore, re-evaluating behaviors which should receive priority for treatment may need to be considered at least with deaf children. In Study Two, these children were evaluated on social (MESSY) and emotional behavior (AML), and self-concept (Piers-Harris). Correlations between scales showed the greatest relationship between social and emotional responses. The implications of these data are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Biosocial theory of psychopathology: a three by three factor model.

An effort has been made in this paper to describe a broad based theoretical scheme for understanding emotional disorders in mentally retarded individuals. Incorporating research from a broad group of professionals and researchers is stressed, and some efforts to point out where additional research can further clarify the postulates noted here were made. Although the emphasis has been on the mentally retarded, it is likely that the implications of this view of psychopathology have credence for other populations as well. It cannot be stressed enough that those who propose theoretical models should also be willing to conduct many experimental studies as a means of supporting or refuting claims, and as a means of further clarifying theories that have been proposed. Efforts of this sort have rarely been the case and may be due to the long term dedication and hard work required. The work of Ellis, and Zeamon and House, who have conducted research on memory and learning strategies, are two of the welcome but rare exceptions to this criticism in the general literature. Similarly, Zigler and Menolasceno's efforts provide fine examples of how theoretical models might be empirically validated. The hypotheses in this theory have been made in a loosely constructed descriptive fashion to take into account a broad array of research, and to allow for later modifications based on the findings that emerge from studies on the topic. It is stressed that a link must be drawn between etiology, assessment, and treatment, if a model with maximum practical benefit is to emerge. This situation can only happen when information and developments from various disciplines and empirically supported theoretical views are synthesized.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1985

A review of treatment research for self-injurious and stereotyped responding.

A review of current research in the treatment of self-injurious and stereotyped behaviour is made using rule-out criteria for methodologically inadequate studies and meta-analytic procedures. It was found that profoundly mentally retarded persons between 16 years of age and over are the most likely to be effectively treated. Sex of the subject seemed to have no effect, while the level of mental retardation and the degree to which it was a factor in treatment effectiveness was unclear. The behaviour most frequently treated were head hitting and body rocking. It may also be the case that reinforcement is more effective than frequently believed when compared to punishment. The greatest effectiveness was apparent with DRO, lemon juice therapy, time-out, air splints, and DRO plus overcorrection. The implications of these data for clinicians and future research are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

An inventory to assess psychopathology of mentally retarded adults.

An inventory of psychopathology (self-report and informant versions) was developed for mentally retarded adults. The inventory was administered to 110 retarded adults from institutional (n = 59) and community (n = 51) settings. Data indicated that both versions of the instrument showed acceptable levels of internal consistency and test-retest reliability. In addition, the correlations between self-report and informant versions were low but significant for selected symptom clusters. To provide preliminary evidence regarding the clinical utility of the measure, we examined the relationship of diagnosis of depression (based on informant ratings) to other measures of psychopathology. The diagnosis of depression on the informant version of the inventory corresponded to other self-report and clinical ratings of dysfunction. The feasibility of this instrument in identifying psychopathology among retarded persons and its future use as a screening instrument for additional psychiatric evaluation were discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗