RESUMEN
Nearly 50 years of research show persistent racial disproportionality in the identification of special education disabilities, but the underlying mechanisms for these disparities remain largely unexplored. Because ambiguous regulations defining disabilities may allow subjectivity and unlawful differential treatment (i.e., racial bias or discrimination) in the special education eligibility process, an important target of study is disparate treatment of students by race in evaluations required to determine eligibility. School psychologists have long been recognized as highly influential in this process and in schools' resultant decisions. We used a 3â¯×â¯2 mixed factorial experimental design in three studies with simulated case report data to measure the influence of race and assessment data on school psychologists' perceptions of students' eligibility for special education in cases centering on emotional disturbance, intellectual disability, or autism, respectively. Participants included 302 practicing school psychologists in three states across the three experiments. There was little evidence of racial disparity, but participants tended to render decisions unsupported by, and even contrary to, evaluation data. Implications for research, practice, and professional development are discussed.
Asunto(s)
Actitud del Personal de Salud , Educación Especial/estadística & datos numéricos , Disparidades en Atención de Salud/estadística & datos numéricos , Psicología/estadística & datos numéricos , Racismo/estadística & datos numéricos , Servicios de Salud Escolar , Niño , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Grupos Raciales/estadística & datos numéricosRESUMEN
Parental behavioral and relational engagement in school include components of trust, communication, and respect that are positively predictive of student academic success. Parents who report high levels of trust with their child's teacher are more likely to be involved in school and related programs and events. Direct teacher-parent communication has been demonstrated to strengthen parental trust, thereby increasing parental engagement. The parent wise feedback intervention is a relational technique that communicates high expectations from one person to another while simultaneously creating a space for reciprocal dialogue to strengthen trust. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of this intervention on parental behavioral and relational engagement and student behaviors through a double-blind randomized control trial. The sample consisted of 51 students in third through fifth grade whose parents demonstrated low levels of engagement. Results demonstrated a significant increase in parental behavioral and relational engagement for the majority of parents in the intervention condition. In addition, changes in parental responses were positively correlated with changes in student behaviors. Educators can easily implement this low-cost, parent-directed intervention to enhance parental behavioral and relational engagement in populations that demonstrate high levels of mistrust with school personnel. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
Asunto(s)
Comunicación , Retroalimentación , Padres/psicología , Instituciones Académicas , Confianza , Éxito Académico , Niño , Método Doble Ciego , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Relaciones Padres-Hijo , Maestros , EstudiantesRESUMEN
Neural network models that guide neuropsychological assessment practices are increasingly used to explicate depression, though a paucity of work has focused on regulatory systems that are under development in adolescence. The purpose of this study was to evaluate subsystems of attention related to executive functioning including alerting, orienting, and executive attention networks, as well as sustained attention with varying working memory load, in a sample of depressed and well adolescents. Neuropsychological functioning in 99 adolescents diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) and 63 adolescent healthy controls (M = 16.6 years old) was assessed on the Attention Network Test (ANT) and the Continuous Performance Test, Identical Pairs. Adolescents with MDD, particularly those who were not medicated, were slower to process conflict (slower reaction time on the Executive Attention scale of the ANT) compared to controls, particularly for those who were not undergoing psychopharmacological treatment. Tentative evidence also suggests that within the MDD group, orienting performance was more impaired in those with a history of comorbid substance use disorder, and alerting was more impaired in those with a history of a suicide attempt. Adolescents with depression showed impaired executive attention, although cognitive performance varied across subgroups of patients. These findings highlight the importance of examining neurocognitive correlates associated with features of depression and suggest an avenue for future research to help guide the development of interventions.
Asunto(s)
Atención , Trastorno Depresivo Mayor/fisiopatología , Función Ejecutiva , Adolescente , Estudios de Casos y Controles , Trastorno Depresivo Mayor/psicología , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Memoria a Corto Plazo , Pruebas Neuropsicológicas , Desempeño Psicomotor/fisiología , Tiempo de ReacciónRESUMEN
Neuroimaging research has implicated abnormalities in cortico-striatal-thalamic-cortical (CSTC) circuitry in pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). In this study, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (R-fMRI) was used to investigate functional connectivity in the CSTC circuitry in adolescents with OCD. Imaging was obtained with the Human Connectome Project (HCP) scanner using newly developed pulse sequences which allow for higher spatial and temporal resolution. Fifteen adolescents with OCD and 13 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (ages 12-19) underwent R-fMRI on the 3T HCP scanner. Twenty-four minutes of resting-state scans (two consecutive 12-min scans) were acquired. We investigated functional connectivity of the striatum using a seed-based, whole brain approach with anatomically-defined seeds placed in the bilateral caudate, putamen, and nucleus accumbens. Adolescents with OCD compared with controls exhibited significantly lower functional connectivity between the left putamen and a single cluster of right-sided cortical areas including parts of the orbitofrontal cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, insula, and operculum. Preliminary findings suggest that impaired striatal connectivity in adolescents with OCD in part falls within the predicted CSTC network, and also involves impaired connections between a key CSTC network region (i.e., putamen) and key regions in the salience network (i.e., insula/operculum). The relevance of impaired putamen-insula/operculum connectivity in OCD is discussed.
Asunto(s)
Mapeo Encefálico , Encéfalo/fisiopatología , Imagen por Resonancia Magnética/métodos , Vías Nerviosas/patología , Trastorno Obsesivo Compulsivo/fisiopatología , Corteza Prefrontal/fisiopatología , Tálamo/fisiopatología , Adolescente , Encéfalo/patología , Estudios de Casos y Controles , Corteza Cerebral/patología , Niño , Cuerpo Estriado/patología , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Núcleo Accumbens/fisiopatología , Trastorno Obsesivo Compulsivo/diagnóstico , Putamen/fisiopatología , Procesamiento de Señales Asistido por Computador , Tálamo/patología , Adulto JovenRESUMEN
BACKGROUND/AIMS: Suicide is one of the most serious public health challenges; yet determining optimal methods for preventing suicide in adolescents continues to be an elusive goal. The aim of this study was to investigate possible benefits and untoward effects of suicide-prevention public service announcements (PSAs) for adolescents. METHODS: Adolescent participants (N = 426; 56% female) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (a) a billboard simulation, (b) a 30-s TV ad simulation, and (c) a no-information condition. RESULTS: The results of this study suggest some benefits for the information conveyed by the TV ad (e.g., more knowledgeable about depression). Few benefits were noted for adolescents who were exposed to billboard simulation, and the results raised substantial concerns about possible untoward effects, particularly in adolescents who were exhibiting depressive or suicidal symptoms. Billboard viewers were less likely to favor help-seeking attitudes, perceived PSAs as being less useful, and endorsed more maladaptive coping. CONCLUSIONS: More research is urgently needed so that well-intended efforts to prevent suicide can more optimally serve the desired goals.