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Biomedical subjects

M L Speltz

Publications and source records attributed to M L Speltz.

32 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1993

Psychological functioning of children with craniofacial anomalies and their mothers: follow-up from late infancy to school entry.

Twenty-three mothers and their 5- to 7-year-old children with craniofacial anomalies (CFA) who were assessed during the child's infancy were followed. Three types of CFA were included: cleft lip and palate (CLP), isolated cleft palate (CP), and sagittal synostosis. Measures of child status focused on behavior-problem frequency and self-concept. Mothers completed self-report measures of emotional well-being, marital satisfaction, and social support. Results indicated that (1) a sizable minority (18%) of the children with CFA had clinically significant behavior-problem scores shown in concordant reports by parent and teacher of behavior problems; (2) individual differences in child functioning within the CFA group were predicted by observational measures of earlier mother-infant interaction during play and teaching situations; (3) mothers of children with CLP reported less favorable social support than mothers of children with CP or sagittal synostosis.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1992

Exploration of variables related to children's behavioral distress during electrodiagnosis.

To investigate variables potentially related to children's distress during electromyography/nerve conduction studies (EMG/NCS), mothers of 39 children ages two to 17 years reported the child's gender, experience with EMG/NCS, previous negative medical/dental experiences, general response to painful procedures, information-seeking style prior to procedures, health care fears, and information about the mothers' own health care fears and their anxiety regarding EMG/NCS. Physicians who performed the studies completed a behavioral distress checklist for each child. Results indicated that children exhibiting more behavioral distress were younger, had been uncooperative with previous painful procedures, were more likely to have had more negative medical/dental experiences, and had mothers who themselves reported greater fear and anxiety about undergoing EMG/NCS. Regression analyses indicated that previous negative medical/dental experiences accounted for additional variance in distress beyond that attributed to the child's age. Significant positive correlations between children's distress and specific previous negative medical/dental experiences were found.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Effects of craniofacial birth defects on maternal functioning postinfancy.

This study examined the relationships between children with craniofacial anomalies (cleft lip and palate, cleft palate only, and sagittal synostosis) and their mothers during late infancy and toddlerhood in an effort to identify early factors leading to the psychosocial problems that have been observed in this population of children at school age. Dyadic interaction was observed in play and teaching situations. Maternal self-reports of psychological/emotional status and the quality of relationships with spouse and others were gathered. As compared with mothers of healthy children matched for age and SES, mothers of children with craniofacial anomalies reported higher levels of stress, lower evaluations of self-competence, and a higher degree of marital conflict. The observational measures revealed no group differences in maternal response to the child or in the behavior and responsiveness of the children themselves. The implications of these findings for longitudinal research with children with craniofacial birth defects are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1990

Assessment of injury risk in young children: a preliminary study of the injury behavior checklist.

There is a need for practical and cost-effective measures of the behavioral characteristics that predict subsequent injury in children. Previous research has focused on the predictive power of child problem behavior (e.g., hyperactivity, aggression, noncompliance) and has found reliable, but relatively weak associations with injury frequency. In an effort to improve upon this level of prediction using child behavioral measures, a care-giver report checklist of specific "risky" behaviors was developed for toddlers and preschoolers, called the Injury Behavior Checklist (IBC). A preliminary test of the reliability and validity of this instrument was undertaken in a sample of middle-class families (N = 253). Results indicated that the IBC has acceptable reliability (internal consistency = .87; 1-month test-retest correlation = .81) and is able to significantly discriminate children with two or more injuries from those with one or none (p less than .001). Multiple regression analyses indicated that the IBC was a better predictor of injury than parent-reported levels of child problem behavior using the Conners Parent Rating Scale.

Accident Proneness↗
PubMed1989

Effects of social integration on preschool children with handicaps.

This study examined the effects of (a) integrating handicapped and nonhandicapped children in preschools and (b) a condition designed to promote social integration. Fifty-six children with mild and moderate handicaps were randomly assigned to four experimental conditions: integrated/social interaction, integrated/child-directed, segregated/social interaction, and segregated/child-directed. Observation revealed a higher proportion of interactive play, as well as higher language development, in the social interaction conditions; and children in the integrated/social interaction condition received significantly higher ratings of social competence. These data suggest that structuring social interaction between higher and lower performing children can result in benefits to the lower performing students.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1982

Procedural variations in group contingencies: effects on children's academic and social behaviors.

There has been little research on the effects of the many procedural variables in applied group contingencies. In the present study, an individualized contingency and three group contingencies with different "responder" criteria (e.g., reward based on the group average, reward based on the work of a designated, low-achieving student, or reward based on the work of a randomly selected student) were applied to the academic work of primary grade children in a learning disabilities classroom. Group social interaction during each contingency was measured systematically. Although there were large individual differences in students' academic and social responses to the different contingencies, some consistent effects were observed. Two of the four low-achieving target students did their best academic work during the group contingency which focused on their performance as a designated responder. This type of contingency also produced high levels of positive social interaction in three of four groups of children observed.

Achievement↗
PubMed1979

Implicit preadmission screening criteria in an alcoholism treatment program.

The fact that alcoholism programs are biased in terms of the kind of patients admitted to treatment is well recognized. The authors examined the possible bias of preadmission screening procedures in an alcoholism treatment program and investigated some of the criteria used by staff clinicians in determining an applicant's acceptability for treatment. They found that accepted and rejected applicants had highly similar characteristics, differing only in age (accepted applicants were slightly younger than those rejected) and source of referral. The overall findings suggest that clinicians implicitly evaluate problem drinkers along dimensions related to their perceived "treatability" in a given therapeutic setting.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Correlates of clinicians' perceptions of patients in alcoholism treatment.

Previous research has shown that clinicians' perceptions of alcoholic patients' interpersonal attractiveness exert an influence on clinical decision processes. The present study investigated the relationship between clinicians' perceptions of alcoholic patients, as measured by Byrne's Interpersonal Judgment Scale, and patients' personality, cognitive, and demographic characteristics. The results suggest that the male alcoholic patient is more likely to be perceived favorably if he is young and exhibits behaviors that correspond to clinicians' treatment expectations. Overall, the measured personality characteristics of patients accounted for only small proportions of the variance in clinician's ratings of patients attractiveness. Alternative interpretations of these data are discussed with reference to subsequent research efforts.

Age Factors↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Cognitive and psychomotor development of infants with orofacial clefts.

OBJECTIVE: To compare at ages 3, 12, and 24 months the cognitive and psychomotor development of 29 infants with cleft lip and palate (CLP), 28 infants with cleft palate only (CPO), and a demographically matched comparison (COMP) group of 69 infants; to examine predictors of cognitive status at age 24 months in the cleft group. METHODS: Infants were administered the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID), mother-infant interactions were observed, and medical records were reviewed. RESULTS: CLP and CPO groups scored lower than the COMP group on the BSID, but did not differ from one another. Cleft group infants scored lower than COMP group infants on BSID items assessing nonverbal and expressive language skills. Quality of maternal interaction predicted the 2-year Mental Development Index (MDI) scores of infants with clefts. CONCLUSIONS: Infants with clefts show relative deficits in cognitive and psychomotor development. Cognitive deficits are apparent in nonverbal as well as verbal areas of performance.

Child Development↗