Responses to interactive stress: infants who are deaf or hearing

Comparação das formas de aplicação papel e caneta e eletrônica do índice de estresse parental versão reduzida (PSI-SF)

Objetivo avaliar se a aplicação eletrônica do Índice de Estresse Parental – versão reduzida (PSI-SF) é comparável à aplicação em formato papel e caneta. Verificar o estresse em pais de crianças com desenvolvimento normal. Métodos quarenta adultos, pais de crianças entre seis meses e 10 anos, foram divididos em quatro grupos, sendo pareados por idade, sexo, escolaridade e idade da criança. Cada participante completou o questionário em duas ocasiões, com intervalo de sete a dez dias, nas versões: papel-caneta/papel-caneta (PP), papel-caneta/eletrônico (PE), eletrônico/eletrônico (EE), eletrônico/papel-caneta (EP). O PSI-SF apresenta 36 afirmações, divididas em três subescalas: Sofrimento Parental (SP); Interações Disfuncionais entre Pai e Criança (IDPC) e Criança Difícil (CD). Para análise dos dados foram realizadas as correlações (Pearson) e comparação da pontuação do PSI-SF intra e inter-grupos. Resultados foram obtidas correlações positivas fortes e médias e significantes entre a pontuação total e das subescalas do PSI-SF na primeira e segunda aplicação, para todos os grupos. Diferenças significantes foram observadas entre as médias das pontuações para o grupo PP (subescala “Criança Difícil”;) e grupo EE (subescala “Criança Difícil”; e pontuação total). No entanto, tais diferenças de pontuação não alteraram a interpretação do resultado do questionário. Não houve diferença significante entre os grupos para as quatro subescalas analisadas, confirmando equivalência da variância entre os grupos. O estresse dos participantes, em todas as subescalas, recaiu dentro da normalidade. Conclusão a aplicação no formato eletrônico do questionário PSI-SF apresenta resultados semelhantes à aplicação papel e caneta. Os níveis de estresse observados foram considerados normais.

Joint attention in toddlerhood predicts internalizing problems at early school age

The authors examined the longitudinal relation between joint attention and socioemotional functioning in a low-risk, typically developing sample of children when the children were toddlers and again during the early school-age years. Fifty-eight mothers and their children were observed in the home or laboratory engaging in 1 unstructured and 4 semistructured tasks designed to assess joint attention episodes when the children were toddlers. Approximately 4 years later, the mother-child dyads were contacted again and mothers completed the Child Behavior Checklist as a measure of their children's socioemotional outcome at the early school years. The authors found that lower frequencies of joint attention episodes at toddlerhood predicted higher internalizing behaviors at early school age. Preliminary findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical implications for work on early mother-child interactions and children's typical and atypical sociemotional development.

Joint attention in parent-child dyads involving children with selective mutism: a comparison between anxious and typically developing children

Although joint attention processes are known to play an important role in adaptive social behavior in typical development, we know little about these processes in clinical child populations. We compared early school age children with selective mutism (SM; n = 19) versus mixed anxiety (MA; n = 18) and community controls (CC; n = 26) on joint attention measures coded from direct observations with their parent during an unstructured free play task and two structured tasks. As predicted, the SM dyads established significantly fewer episodes of joint attention through parental initiation acts than the MA and CC dyads during the structured tasks. Findings suggest that children with SM may withdraw from their parents during stressful situations, thus missing out on opportunities for learning other coping skills. We discuss the implications of the present findings for understanding the maintenance and treatment of SM.

Intelligence, parental depression, and behavior adaptability in deaf children being considered for cochlear implantation

Cognitive ability and behavioral adaptability are distinct, yet related, constructs that can impact childhood development. Both are often reduced in deaf children of hearing parents who do not provide sufficient language and communication access. Additionally, parental depression is commonly observed due to parent-child communication difficulties that can lead to parents' feelings of inadequacy and frustration. We sought to assess whether adaptive behavior in deaf children was associated with nonverbal intelligence and parental depression. Parents of precochlear implant patients seen for neuropsychological assessment were administered the Parenting Stress Index and Vineland Behavior Adaptive Scales to obtain measures of parental distress and child's behavioral adaptability. Precochlear implant patients' cognitive functioning was assessed via the Mullen Scales of Early Learning or the Leiter International Performance Scale-Revised, depending on the child's age at the time of testing. Regardless of age or neurological status, the deaf child's adaptive behavior consistently showed a strong relationship with intelligence. Moderate correlation between parental depression and the child's adaptive behavior was observed only in the younger group. The relationship between parental depression and communication subscale was moderated by intelligence for deaf children without neurological complications. The findings provide important implications for promoting family-centered interventions with early communication and language development.

The development of siblings of children with autism at 4 and 14 months: social engagement, communication, and cognition

AIMS

To compare siblings of children with autism (SIBS-A) and siblings of children with typical development (SIBS-TD) at 4 and 14 months of age.

METHODS

At 4 months, mother-infant interactional synchrony during free play, infant gaze and affect during the still-face paradigm, and infant responsiveness to a name-calling paradigm were examined (n = 21 in each group). At 14 months, verbal and nonverbal communication skills were examined as well as cognition (30 SIBS-A and 31 SIBS-TD).

RESULTS

Most SIBS-A were functioning as well as the SIBS-TD at 4 and 14 months of age. However, some differences in early social engagement and later communicative and cognitive skills emerged. Synchrony was weaker in the SIBS-A dyads, but only for infant-led interactions. Infant SIBS-A revealed more neutral affect during the still-face procedure and were less upset by it than was true for the SIBS-TD. A surprising result was that significantly more SIBS-A responded to their name being called by their mothers compared to SIBS-TD. At 14 months, SIBS-A made fewer nonverbal requesting gestures and achieved lower language scores on the Bayley Scale. Six SIBS-A revealed a language delay of 5 months and were responsible for some of the significant differences between SIBS-A and SIBS-TD. Furthermore, infant SIBS-A who showed more neutral affect to the still face and were less able to respond to their name being called by their mothers initiated fewer nonverbal joint attention and requesting behaviors at 14 months, respectively.

DISCUSSION

Focused on the genetic liability for the broad phenotype of autism as well as the possible influence of having a sibling with autism.