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- I am a quantitative methodologist with experience in linear, mixed, and structural equation models. I \have participa... moreI am a quantitative methodologist with experience in linear, mixed, and structural equation models. I \have participated in research involving children with Spina Bifida, prematurity, traumatic brain injury, and economic disadvantages.edit
Research Interests: Magnetoencephalography, Speech perception, Aging, Reading, Face recognition (Psychology), and 21 moreLanguage, Adolescent, Neuroimmunology, Brain Mapping, Brain, Norms, Humans, Child, Female, Neuroimage, Male, Diagnostic Imaging, Aged, Middle Aged, Adult, Functional Neuroimaging, Reproducibility of Results, Left Hemisphere, Functional Laterality, Psychomotor Performance, and superior temporal gyrus
Women with diverse disabilities (N = 213), recruited through 10 centers for independent living (CILs), were randomly assigned to either a personal safety awareness program or usual care. The 8-week program, led by CIL staff, was designed... more
Women with diverse disabilities (N = 213), recruited through 10 centers for independent living (CILs), were randomly assigned to either a personal safety awareness program or usual care. The 8-week program, led by CIL staff, was designed to increase safety awareness, abuse and safety knowledge, safety skills, safety self-efficacy, social support, and safety promoting behaviors. All participants completed pre-, post-, and 6-month follow-up questionnaires. Results revealed that participation in a brief safety awareness program may improve safety protective factors among women with disabilities who vary widely in their experience with abuse. The program holds promise for enhancing safety among women with disabilities.
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This study examined, via structural equation modeling, early predictors of children's 8 year reading decoding and 10 year comprehension at later school age. Maternal verbal scaffolding indirectly influenced both decoding and... more
This study examined, via structural equation modeling, early predictors of children's 8 year reading decoding and 10 year comprehension at later school age. Maternal verbal scaffolding indirectly influenced both decoding and comprehension, through its support of children's language abilities at 3 and 4 years of age. Additionally, there was a trend for a direct effect of 4 year child language on reading comprehension at 10 years. As maternal verbal scaffolding was assessed during every day routines, this suggests that rich language input in the broad social context of the home promotes language and, in turn, later reading skills. Given that maternal verbal scaffolding can be enhanced through interventions, these results have important educational implications.
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The purpose of this study is twofold: (a) to examine the efficiency of a set of selected variables for predicting postsecondary employment success for young adults classified as learning disabled in high school and (b) to provide a... more
The purpose of this study is twofold: (a) to examine the efficiency of a set of selected variables for predicting postsecondary employment success for young adults classified as learning disabled in high school and (b) to provide a portrayal of employment adjustment in the first years after exiting high school. Data on both employment stability and job status were gathered through telephone interviews. Of the 284 students with learning disabilities who exited the four participating high schools between 1986 and 1989, contact was made with 175 (62%). This sample was composed of 75% males, who ranged in age from 18 to 23 years. Statistical tests reveal that students (a) with high math ability, (b) who were employed during high school, and (c) whose parents actively participated in their education were more likely to experience employment success after high school. Overall, 86% of the sample was employed either full- or part-time, with the majority in entry-level, unskilled jobs. In terms of postsecondary education, 26% completed at least one semester of college or technical school, though at the time of follow-up only 13% were enrolled in school.
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Medically high-risk (HR), low birth weight (LBW) preterm infants (n = 11 with significant degrees of intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) were seen at 12 and 24 months of age. This HR group was compared with a low-risk (LR) LBW preterm group... more
Medically high-risk (HR), low birth weight (LBW) preterm infants (n = 11 with significant degrees of intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) were seen at 12 and 24 months of age. This HR group was compared with a low-risk (LR) LBW preterm group (n = 16) with respiratory distress syndrome or mild grades of IVH, and a normal full-term (FT) group (n = 12). Infants and their mothers were observed in a 10-min toy-centered play interaction to determine if more advanced exploratory play occurred in association with specific maternal attention-directing behaviors. Results showed that the FT infants were able to respond with advanced exploratory play to unstructured as well as structured strategies, but that higher level play for the LR infants was associated with structured strategies. The HR infants showed fewer play responses than the other two infant groups regardless of whether mothers used structured or unstructured strategies. All infant groups showed more exploratory play behavior in relation to mothers' maintaining versus redirecting behavior.
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Disadvantaged mothers' use of interactive strategies which maintained their infants' focus of attention were examined at 6, 12, and 24 months to evaluate for patterns in this interactive strategy and determine if patterns could be... more
Disadvantaged mothers' use of interactive strategies which maintained their infants' focus of attention were examined at 6, 12, and 24 months to evaluate for patterns in this interactive strategy and determine if patterns could be predicted from early infant and maternal characteristics. Four distinct clusters were identified with mothers in each cluster increasing in their use of maintaining over time but differing in the age at which the increase occurred. While infants' biologic risk was unrelated to cluster membership, more positive scores on mothers' perceptions of child rearing history, child rearing attitudes, self-esteem, and social support when the infants were 6 months old were reported by mothers who displayed a pattern of high levels and steady increase in maintaining. More negative scores on these characteristics were reported by mothers who displayed low levels of maintaining and delays in increasing this interactive strategy. Results are discussed in light of disadvantaged mothers' ability to adapt to their infants' changing needs and early identification of mothers' who may have greater difficulty in the adaptational process.
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Natural consonant–vowel syllables are reliably classified by most listeners as voiced or voiceless. However, our previous research [Liederman, J., Frye, R., Fisher, J.M., Greenwood, K., Alexander, R., 2005. A temporally dynamic context... more
Natural consonant–vowel syllables are reliably classified by most listeners as voiced or voiceless. However, our previous research [Liederman, J., Frye, R., Fisher, J.M., Greenwood, K., Alexander, R., 2005. A temporally dynamic context effect that disrupts voice onset time discrimination of rapidly successive stimuli. Psychon Bull Rev. 12, 380–386] suggests that among synthetic stimuli varying systematically in voice onset time (VOT), syllables that are classified reliably as voiceless are nonetheless perceived differently within and between listeners. This perceptual ambiguity was measured by variation in the accuracy of matching two identical stimuli presented in rapid succession. In the current experiment, we used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to examine the differential contribution of objective (i.e., VOT) and subjective (i.e., perceptual ambiguity) acoustic features on speech processing. Distributed source models estimated cortical activation within two regions of interest in the superior temporal gyrus (STG) and one in the inferior frontal gyrus. These regions were differentially modulated by VOT and perceptual ambiguity. Ambiguity strongly influenced lateralization of activation; however, the influence on lateralization was different in the anterior and middle/posterior portions of the STG. The influence of ambiguity on the relative amplitude of activity in the right and left anterior STG activity depended on VOT, whereas that of middle/posterior portions of the STG did not. These data support the idea that early cortical responses are bilaterally distributed whereas late processes are lateralized to the dominant hemisphere and support a “how/what” dual-stream auditory model. This study helps to clarify the role of the anterior STG, especially in the right hemisphere, in syllable perception. Moreover, our results demonstrate that both objective phonological and subjective perceptual characteristics of syllables independently modulate spatiotemporal patterns of cortical activation.
Research Interests: Algorithms, Individuality, Magnetoencephalography, Speech perception, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, and 21 moreLaterality, Temporal dynamics, Speech Processing, Speech, Brain Mapping, Right Hemisphere Functions, Temporal Lobe, Humans, Female, Neuroimage, Male, Context Effect, Voice Onset Time, Adult, Inferior frontal gyrus, Frontal Lobe, Region of Interest, Functional Laterality, Acoustic Stimulation, Psychomotor Performance, and superior temporal gyrus
Digitized images of 1,556 squamous metaplastic cells from the sputum of 15 patients with confirmed squamous-cell carcinoma of the lung and 13 subjects without apparent neoplasia were analyzed to determine if features existed within these... more
Digitized images of 1,556 squamous metaplastic cells from the sputum of 15 patients with confirmed squamous-cell carcinoma of the lung and 13 subjects without apparent neoplasia were analyzed to determine if features existed within these relatively normal cells that could be used to differentiate between the two populations. Results indicate that such marker features do exist. A cross-validation study using an additional 465 cells confirmed the conclusion that squamous metaplastic cells from patients with squamous-cell carcinoma of the lung do differ from those of subjects without cancer. While such marker features alone are not reliable enough to assist pathologists in the diagnosis of squamous-cell carcinoma of the lung, they might, in sufficient numbers, be used to identify patients for whom follow-up testing would be advised.
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... This pattern was ex-pected to demonstrate the type of catch up in development frequently reported NEURODEVELOPMENTAL PATTERNS 61 Page 4. across the first 2 years of life for medically low-risk PT infants (Landry, Fletcher, Denson,... more
... This pattern was ex-pected to demonstrate the type of catch up in development frequently reported NEURODEVELOPMENTAL PATTERNS 61 Page 4. across the first 2 years of life for medically low-risk PT infants (Landry, Fletcher, Denson, & Chapieski, 1993). ...
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Clinical supervisors “oversee” client care and transmit skills and knowledge of the profession to the next generation of psychologists. Given the large impact that supervisors have on trainees and clients, it seems practical to expand our... more
Clinical supervisors “oversee” client care and transmit skills and knowledge of the profession to the next generation of psychologists. Given the large impact that supervisors have on trainees and clients, it seems practical to expand our knowledge about supervisor development. The purpose of this study was to estimate temporal stability, internal consistency, interrater reliability, and concurrent validity of the Psychotherapy Supervisor Development Scale (PSDS), a theory-driven measure of supervisor development. Findings support the PSDS as a general assessment of supervisor development with highly homogenous items capable of yielding stable scores across a four week time period. A moderate relation was found between supervision theory complexity and complexity level as reflected in overall PSDS scores.
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Children who experience traumatic brain injury (TBI) often show cognitive impairments postinjury, some of which recover over time. We examined the recovery of motor response inhibition immediately following TBI and over 2 years. We... more
Children who experience traumatic brain injury (TBI) often show cognitive impairments postinjury, some of which recover over time. We examined the recovery of motor response inhibition immediately following TBI and over 2 years. We assessed the role of injury severity, age at injury, and lesion characteristics on initial impairment and recovery while considering the role of pre-injury psychiatric disorder. Participants were 136 children with TBI aged 5-16 years. Latency of motor response inhibition was measured with the stop-signal task within 1 month of the injury and again at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months. The performance of the TBI participants at each measurement occasion was standardized with 117 children of similar age, but without injury. Residualized latency scores were calculated. Growth curve analyses showed an initial impairment in response inhibition and improvement over the 2 years following injury. Younger TBI patients were initially more impaired although they exhibited greater recovery of response inhibition than did older TBI patients. Longer duration of coma, but not reactivity of pupils or Glasgow Coma Scale score, predicted initial deficit. Lesion characteristics or pre-injury attention deficit hyperactivity disorder did not predict initial impairment or recovery. Replication with longitudinal testing of a comparison group of children sustaining extracranial injury is necessary to confirm our findings.
Research Interests: Psychology, Cognitive Science, Adolescent, Response Inhibition, Humans, and 14 moreChild, Female, Male, Developmental neuropsychology, Developmental, Time Factors, Developmental Neuropsychology, Neurosciences, Cognition disorders, Brain injuries, Neuropsychological Tests, Injury Severity Score, Recovery of Function, and Child preschool
The reliability and validity of a time-domain, amplitude-based automatic Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) scoring software program were investigated in two studies. The software was designed to mark the articulations and pauses inherent in... more
The reliability and validity of a time-domain, amplitude-based automatic Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) scoring software program were investigated in two studies. The software was designed to mark the articulations and pauses inherent in rapid-naming tasks. In Study 1, the RAN letters subtest digital wave files of 44 primary grade students were scored using the automatic scoring software program. The pause
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ABSTRACT
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Parsimonious models of word recognition and reading comprehension were validated in a sample of third-grade readers. Word recognition was modeled as phonological awareness, decoding skill, and word processing rate. This model demonstrated... more
Parsimonious models of word recognition and reading comprehension were validated in a sample of third-grade readers. Word recognition was modeled as phonological awareness, decoding skill, and word processing rate. This model demonstrated the importance of unitization of letter clusters for efficient word reading. A curvilinear relation between word-processing rate and word recognition was also shown, and is interpreted as evidence that word-processing speed in excess of the rate necessary for adequate processing is not predictive of more accurate word reading. Reading comprehension was shown to be an additive model consisting of decoding and listening-comprehension skills. Results of the reading-comprehension model are consistent with the findings of Dreyer and Katz (1992) and Tiu, Thompson, and Lewis (2003). The word-recognition and reading-comprehension models demonstrate that the attainment of complex reading skills are associated with the development of expertise in more basic subskills of reading. These subskills can be taught to students by teachers who understand the complexities of the reading process.
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Four components of a comprehensive, responsive parenting style (Responsiveness to Signals, Maintaining Attentional Focus, Rich Language, and Warmth) have been previously identified [Landry, S. H., Smith, K. E., & Swank, P. R. (in press).... more
Four components of a comprehensive, responsive parenting style (Responsiveness to Signals, Maintaining Attentional Focus, Rich Language, and Warmth) have been previously identified [Landry, S. H., Smith, K. E., & Swank, P. R. (in press). Responsive parenting: Establishing early foundations for social, communication and independent problem solving. Developmental Psychology]. In the current study, Latent Class Analysis revealed classes (profile groups) of mothers who demonstrated 4 distinct patterns of skills across these parenting factors. Latent Transition Analysis revealed that mothers randomly assigned to a parenting intervention were more likely than comparison mothers to transition from weaker to stronger profile groups; e.g., 60% of comparison group mothers who were in the lowest profile group at pre-intervention remained in the lowest profile group at post-intervention, versus 17% of intervention group. Mental health symptoms, social support, and parenting beliefs individually predicted profile group membership prior to treatment, but only parenting beliefs predicted pre-intervention profile group membership using a multivariable model. Social support predicted positive change among intervention mothers. Implications include the potential importance of assessing parents' initial behavioral profiles and parenting beliefs to tailor interventions to individual strengths and weaknesses.
Research Interests: Psychology, Cognitive Science, Developmental Psychology, Mental Health, Social Support, and 14 moreBeliefs, Individual Differences, Early Childhood, Problem Solving, Applied, Intervention, Applied Developmental Psychology, Group membership, Social Communication, Infant Development, Parent Training Programs, Group Intervention, Latent Class Analysis, and Parenting Style
Mothers of infants with varying degrees of medical risk were grouped according to their perception of acceptance or rejection in childhood. Those who recalled the highest degree of acceptance showed greater warmth and flexibility as... more
Mothers of infants with varying degrees of medical risk were grouped according to their perception of acceptance or rejection in childhood. Those who recalled the highest degree of acceptance showed greater warmth and flexibility as parents, regardless of their infants' degree of medical risk. However, infant medical risk was an important moderator in relations between maternal perceptions of childhood rejection and parental behavior.
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To understand whether a responsive parenting intervention for socially disadvantaged mothers was related to preintervention parenting resources, the authors examined both of these conditions as moderators of behavior change in 264... more
To understand whether a responsive parenting intervention for socially disadvantaged mothers was related to preintervention parenting resources, the authors examined both of these conditions as moderators of behavior change in 264 participating families (term, n = 120; very low birth weight, n = 144). Families were randomly assigned to an intervention that targeted responsive behaviors or received developmental information. Limited internal resources, particularly higher levels of anger/hostility, were related to less positive change for the broadest range of responsive behaviors for mothers in the information-only condition but not those in the intervention. Decreased social support moderated less change in provision of rich language input. A systematic session format and parent facilitator may be keys to understanding why a responsive parenting intervention can be effective in spite of limited parental resources.
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We compared functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) for the mapping of receptive language function. Participants performed the same language task in the two different imaging environments. MEG... more
We compared functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) for the mapping of receptive language function. Participants performed the same language task in the two different imaging environments. MEG activation profiles showed prominent bilateral activity in superior temporal gyrus and left-lateralized activity in middle temporal gyrus. fMRI activation profiles revealed bilateral activity in prefrontal, superior temporal, middle temporal, and visual areas. Laterality quotients derived from the two modalities showed poor agreement between the two methods for commonly active regions of interest. Locations of peak activity also varied considerably within participants between the two methods.
Research Interests: Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, Brain Imaging, Magnetoencephalography, Speech perception, and 13 moreMagnetic Resonance Imaging, Functional MRI, Language, Brain Mapping, Brain, Humans, Female, Male, Adult, Auditory evoked Potentials, Statistical Methods for Neuroscience, Neurosciences, and superior temporal gyrus
Behavior change is integral to the prevention and treatment of many disorders associated with deleterious lifestyles. Rigorous scientific testing of behavior change interventions is an important goal for nursing research. The stage model... more
Behavior change is integral to the prevention and treatment of many disorders associated with deleterious lifestyles. Rigorous scientific testing of behavior change interventions is an important goal for nursing research. The stage model for behavioral therapy development is recommended as a useful framework for evaluating behavior change strategies. The NIH model specifies three stages from initial testing of novel behavioral therapies to their dissemination in community settings. Definitions of each step in a Stage I trial and a case example of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in therapeutic community treatment are provided. It is feasible to adapt a behavioral therapy such as MBSR using the stage model framework. Steps in the process include: (a) determining pilot study design and describing the population; (b) modifying the intervention and developing the manual; (c) training the teachers; (d) implementing a pilot study; and (e) monitoring treatment integrity. The development of behavior therapies requires the same scientific rigor used in pharmacotherapy research. Stage I of the model enables consideration of the "dose" of a behavioral intervention necessary to achieve behavior change in a defined population. The stage model offers an excellent approach to achieving rigor in a variety of potentially useful therapies of interest to nurse researchers.
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Research Interests: Health Psychology, Perception, Education, Health Behavior, Psychometrics, and 24 moreCancer, Breast Cancer, Health, Public Health, Risk assessment, Disease susceptibility, Prospective studies, Humans, Risk Perception, Effect size, Questionnaire, United States, Female, Attitude, Social Environment, Mammography, Health Status, Aged, Middle Aged, Questionnaires, Time Factors, Health surveys, Risk Assessment, and Prospective Study
This trial compared Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, adapted for therapeutic community treatment (MBTC), with treatment as usual (TAU) for reducing stress and increasing retention in a residential facility for substance use disorders.... more
This trial compared Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, adapted for therapeutic community treatment (MBTC), with treatment as usual (TAU) for reducing stress and increasing retention in a residential facility for substance use disorders. Four-hundred and fifty-nine participants, who met DSM-IV criteria for substance dependence were recruited (TAU = 164, MBTC = 295). A survival analysis of time to dropout did not show a significant difference between groups, however level of participation in MBTC was associated with decreased likelihood of dropout (p = < .01), and higher Symptoms of Stress Inventory (SOSI) scores at baseline were associated with increased likelihood of dropout (p = .03). The association between retention and level of stress on intake as well as level of participation in MBTC provides support for further research on integrating MBTC into therapeutic community treatment.
Research Interests: Psychology, Addiction, Stress, Treatment Outcome, Drug, and 12 moreHumans, Female, Male, Drug Addiction, Reduction, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, Adult, Public health systems and services research, Time Factors, Therapeutic Community, Substance-Related Disorders, and Residential Treatment Care
As infants develop skills that allow for increasing independence in social and cognitive domains, they acquire the ability to identify goals, sequence behaviors to carry out goals, and to flexibly use strategies for attaining goals in... more
As infants develop skills that allow for increasing independence in social and cognitive domains, they acquire the ability to identify goals, sequence behaviors to carry out goals, and to flexibly use strategies for attaining goals in both social and independent play contexts. Little is known about how brain injury in young children may disrupt the precursors to such executive processes. In this study, we examined social and cognitive competence in 25 infants ages 3 to 23 months who sustained moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) secondary to physical abuse and in 22 healthy community comparison children. Children with TBI were evaluated an average of 1.6 months after the injury. A toy-centered activity with the examiner was used to capture joint attention and social behavior and an exploratory toy play situation was used to measure independent goal-directed play. The inflicted TBI group showed significant reduction in both social and cognitive domains relative to the comparison group. Canonical correlation analyses disclosed that inflicted TBI was associated with reduction in (a) initiation of social interactions, (b) responsiveness to interactions initiated by the examiner, (c) positive affect, and (d) compliance. The groups performed comparably on indexes of gestural and verbal communication and for the occurrence of negative affect. Joint attention was an area of vulnerability for the TBI group in both social initiation and response contexts. Although general cognitive and motor scores were lower in the inflicted TBI group, the complexity of independent toy play did not differ across groups. Early brain injury causes significant disruption in behaviors regulating initiation and responsiveness in social contexts. Longitudinal follow-up will characterize the long-term consequences of early disruption in joint attention and other behaviors on the development of social and cognitive precursors to executive processes.
Research Interests: Psychology, Cognitive Science, Demography, Traumatic Brain Injury, Cognition, and 27 moreSocial Interaction, Comparative Study, Social behavior, Prospective studies, Humans, Social Competence, Female, Male, Verbal behavior, Infant, Developmental disabilities, Follow-up studies, Developmental neuropsychology, Developmental, Analysis of Variance, Young Children, Reproducibility of Results, Developmental Neuropsychology, Social Behavior, Neurosciences, Nino, Motor activity, Brain injuries, Trauma Severity Indices, Neuropsychological Tests, Child preschool, and Competitive Behavior
Research Interests: Psychology, Cognitive Science, Developmental Psychology, Communication, Education, and 24 moreEarly Intervention, Child Development, Attention, Language Development, Communication Skills, Early Childhood, Social behavior, Humans, Intervention, Female, Male, Communication Skill, Infant, Follow-up studies, Interpersonal Relations, Risk factors, Learning Strategies, Developmental, Maternal Behavior, Age Factors, Risk Factors, Social Behavior, Cooperative Behavior, and Child preschool
... PAUL R. SWANK & HEATHER M. HEBERT University of Texas Medical School - Houston ... ment were enhanced most effectively by programs that were theoretically grounded, focused, and relatively brief in duration (ie, less than... more
... PAUL R. SWANK & HEATHER M. HEBERT University of Texas Medical School - Houston ... ment were enhanced most effectively by programs that were theoretically grounded, focused, and relatively brief in duration (ie, less than 15 sessions; Bakermans-Kranen-burg et al., 2003 ...
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... RONALD D. TAYLOR, Department of Psychology, Columbia College MICHAEL P. BRADY, PAUL R. SWANK & JACQUELINE HAWKINS, Department of ... high potential for increasing levels of stress and the probability of subsequent pathology... more
... RONALD D. TAYLOR, Department of Psychology, Columbia College MICHAEL P. BRADY, PAUL R. SWANK & JACQUELINE HAWKINS, Department of ... high potential for increasing levels of stress and the probability of subsequent pathology (Pryor-Brown, Cowen, Hightower & ...
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The aim of this study was to determine whether the presence of intracranial pathophysiology on computed tomography (CT) scans obtained within 24 hours of mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) in children adversely affects neuropsychological... more
The aim of this study was to determine whether the presence of intracranial pathophysiology on computed tomography (CT) scans obtained within 24 hours of mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) in children adversely affects neuropsychological outcome during the 1st year postinjury. A prospective longitudinal design was used to examine the neuropsychological outcomes in children (ages 5-15 years) who had been treated for MTBI, which was defined as a loss of consciousness for up to 30 minutes and a lowest Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of 13-15. Exclusion criteria included any preinjury neurological disorder. Outcome assessments were performed within 2 weeks and at 3, 6, and 12 months postinjury. Outcomes were compared between patients with MTBI whose postinjury CT scans revealed complications of brain pathophysiology (32 patients, CMTBI group) and those with MTBI but without complications (48 patients, MTBI group). Significant interactions confirmed that the pattern of recovery over 12 months after injury differed depending on the intracranial pathology, presence and severity of injuries to body regions other than the head, preinjury attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and socioeconomic status. Children in the CMTBI group had significantly poorer episodic memory, slower cognitive processing, diminished recovery in managing cognitive interference, and poorer performance in calculating and reading than patients in the MTBI group. Among the patients with mild or no extracranial injury, visuomotor speed was slower in those in the CMTBI group; and among patients without preinjury ADHD, working memory was worse in those in the CMTBI group. Neuropsychological recovery during the 1st year following MTBI is related to the presence of radiographically detectable intracranial pathology. Children with intracranial pathology on acute CT performed more poorly in several cognitive domains when compared with patients whose CT findings were normal or limited to a linear skull fracture. Depending on the presence of preinjury ADHD and concomitant extracranial injury, working memory and visuomotor speed were also diminished in patients whose CT findings revealed complications following MTBI. Computed tomography within 24 hours postinjury appears to be useful for identifying children with an elevated risk for residual neuropsychological changes.
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This longitudinal study evaluated the effects of early maternal warm responsiveness on later child social skills, investigating the roles of maternal discipline and child language as possible intervening and reciprocal influences.... more
This longitudinal study evaluated the effects of early maternal warm responsiveness on later child social skills, investigating the roles of maternal discipline and child language as possible intervening and reciprocal influences. Mother–child dyads (n=252) were assessed when the children were at 12, 24, 40, and 54 months of age. Structural equation modeling (SEM) results indicated that early maternal warm responsiveness has a direct effect on later child social skills above and beyond concurrent effects and indirect effects through other variables, emphasizing the far-reaching influence of maternal warm responsiveness early in the child's life. Additionally, maternal disciplinary preferences were found to play a mediating role between early maternal warm responsiveness and later child social skills. Child language did not play a mediating role, though reciprocal relationships between maternal and child variables were found.
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Inhibition was studied in 12 children who had had sustained as severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) at least 1 year earlier and in 15 control children. On the flanker task, which involved pressing a button corresponding to the direction of... more
Inhibition was studied in 12 children who had had sustained as severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) at least 1 year earlier and in 15 control children. On the flanker task, which involved pressing a button corresponding to the direction of an arrow, the TBI group performed less accurately than controls under interference (flankers were incongruent with arrow) and go-no-go (adjacent stimulus signaled child to withhold response) conditions, but not neutral or facilitation (flankers were congruent) conditions. Response latency was related to age and task condition, but not group. Severe TBI in children may disrupt development of distributed networks mediating inhibition.
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This study examined the relation between a preterm birth and reading ability and whether children born preterm with poorer reading were more likely to show lower cognitive and executive functioning skills compared to children born at term... more
This study examined the relation between a preterm birth and reading ability and whether children born preterm with poorer reading were more likely to show lower cognitive and executive functioning skills compared to children born at term with poor reading ability. Participants born at term (N = 97) and preterm (n = 156) were studied using the Woodcock-Johnson Test of Achievement Word Attack subtest (WJWA), Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, Comprehensive Evaluation of Language Fundamentals, and executive function tasks during the 3rd, 5th, and 7th grades. Children born prematurely were divided into low (N = 94) and high (N = 62) risk groups based on severity of neonatal complications. Growth in WJWA scores was used to cluster the sample into three reading ability groups. Contrary to predictions, children born preterm were not more likely to be in the poor reading group. Poorer reading ability was associated with lower language and cognitive scores. The effect of premature birth demonstrated fewer and weaker associations with such scores. A significant interaction between reading ability and birth status indicated that high risk prematurely born children with poor reading ability were more likely than the other groups to perform poorly on executive function tasks. These data suggest that better reading ability is associated with better neuropsychological function independent of prematurity.
Research Interests: Psychology, Cognitive Science, Cognition, Risk, Language, and 21 moreAdolescent, Dyslexia, Executive Function, Problem Solving, Humans, Child, Female, Male, Cluster Analysis, Developmental neuropsychology, Developmental, Risk Factor, Age Factors, Developmental Neuropsychology, Preterm Birth, Neurosciences, Premature Birth, Cognition disorders, Cohort Studies, Nino, and Neuropsychological Tests
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This study examined whether complexity in mothers' early thoughts of child development related directly to later child social responsiveness versus indirectly via maternal interactive behaviors. Two hundred eighty-seven families with a... more
This study examined whether complexity in mothers' early thoughts of child development related directly to later child social responsiveness versus indirectly via maternal interactive behaviors. Two hundred eighty-seven families with a low socioeconomic status were evaluated longitudinally across 1, 2, and 41⧸2 years of age. The study included children known to vary in their early development to examine whether variability in children's early cognitive and perceptual–motor skills were also important in understanding mothers' parenting behaviors and children's later social responsiveness. As hypothesized, the influence of early maternal thoughts on children's later social responsiveness was indirect through its relation with mothers' warm sensitivity at 2 years of age, which showed a direct, positive influence on children's social responsiveness at 41⧸2 years of age. Although variability in children's early developmental skills did not directly influence their later social responsiveness, these skills did significantly predict mother's use of maintaining, which was significantly related to warm sensitivity. Results demonstrated the importance of a parent's ability to think complexly about children to understand the use of behaviors that promote more optimal social outcomes.
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Botox injection into the thyroarytenoid muscle is thought to alter the glottal competence and laryngeal adduction of patients with adductor spasmodic dysphonia (ADSD). Hypofunctional responses to treatment have been rated subjectively and... more
Botox injection into the thyroarytenoid muscle is thought to alter the glottal competence and laryngeal adduction of patients with adductor spasmodic dysphonia (ADSD). Hypofunctional responses to treatment have been rated subjectively and inferred from postinjection breathy voice, aphonia, midline glottal gap, or subclinical aspiration. Clinical experience suggests that temporary hypofunction varies in duration and severity among patients. This study used electroglottographic measures to examine changes over time in glottal competence during the relatively stable phonation produced by 5 patients with ADSD. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to test 3 hypotheses: (a) that reduced laryngeal adduction would occur during the first 3 weeks postinjection, followed by a reversal; (b) that patients' hypofunctional response curves would differ one from another; and (c) that changes in adduction, if present, would be related to changes in severity ratings of ADSD symptoms. For 3 participants, significant hypoadduction occurred after injection and reversed toward preinjection level over an 8-week period. Two participants demonstrated a flat or increasing vocal fold contact response curve during the early postinjection period. Observations were consistent with the previously reported differences and possibly complex relation between the resolution of breathy hypofunction and ultimate return of ADSD symptoms.
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Responsiveness and initiating were examined as separate aspects of social competence across 6 and 12 months of age in two contexts for medically high risk (HR; n = 89) and low risk (LR; n = 123) preterm and full-term (FT; n = 128)... more
Responsiveness and initiating were examined as separate aspects of social competence across 6 and 12 months of age in two contexts for medically high risk (HR; n = 89) and low risk (LR; n = 123) preterm and full-term (FT; n = 128) infants. Compared to FT infants, HR infants showed global problems with initiating while LR infants had greater initiating difficulties in the more attentionally demanding toy play context.
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Research Interests: Mathematics, Neurosurgery, Special Education, Intelligence, Traumatic Brain Injury, and 16 moreReading, Early Childhood, Prospective studies, Humans, Child, Female, Resuscitation, Male, Glasgow Coma Scale, Clinical Sciences, Longitudinal Studies, Educational Status, Neurosciences, Cohort Studies, Brain injuries, and Child preschool
This study examines whether neurologic examinations at 6 and 12 months of age can predict developmental patterns in very low birth weight infants and fullterm controls through 40 months of age. We performed neurologic examinations at 6... more
This study examines whether neurologic examinations at 6 and 12 months of age can predict developmental patterns in very low birth weight infants and fullterm controls through 40 months of age. We performed neurologic examinations at 6 and 12 months; the Bayley Scales of Infant Development at 6, 12, and 24 months; and the Stanford-Binet and the McCarthy Motor scale at 40 months. The very low birth weight infants were categorized on the basis of socioeconomic status and high or low risk for early medical complications. More abnormal neurologic scores predicted greater deceleration of cognitive development for high-risk infants only. The 12-month neurologic examination predicted the degree of deceleration in motor development. Medical risk was an independent predictor of curvature of the psychomotor development curve. We conclude that neurologic examinations during the 1st year of life might be used with other factors in decision concerning referrals to early-intervention programs.
Research Interests: Cognition, Child Development, Forecasting, Linear models, Prospective studies, and 18 moreHumans, Female, Male, Infant, Developmental disabilities, Risk factors, Health Status, Newborn Infant, Psychological Tests, Behavioral and Developmental Pediatrics, Analysis of Variance, Chi Square Distribution, Risk Factors, Sensitivity and Specificity, Reference Values, Case Control Studies, Psychomotor Performance, and Neurologic Examination
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Visual–spatial impairment and neuroanatomical abnormalities are considered hallmark features of neurofibromatosis, type I (NF-I). Numerous studies have demonstrated visual–spatial deficits in children with NF-I, but few relations between... more
Visual–spatial impairment and neuroanatomical abnormalities are considered hallmark features of neurofibromatosis, type I (NF-I). Numerous studies have demonstrated visual–spatial deficits in children with NF-I, but few relations between these deficits and neuroanatomical abnormalities have been identified. We compared the functional neuroanatomy of cerebral regions involved in the spatial transformation of alphanumeric stimuli in individuals with NF-I and healthy control participants using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Given the prevalence of visual pathway abnormalities and visual–spatial deficits in NF-I, we hypothesized that less neuronal hemodynamic activity would be found in occipital and parietal cortices in this group compared with controls. However, NF-I participants relied to a greater degree than controls on posterior cortex (including occipital, parietal, and middle temporal cortices) relative to lateral and inferior frontal regions during visual–spatial analysis. This pattern was significantly related to their behavioral performance on the fMRI task, which in turn was also positively correlated with reading scores. These findings support evidence of frontal cortical anomalies in NF-I and may provide a pathophysiological basis for cognitive deficits in NF-I.
Research Interests: Psychology, Cognitive Science, Spatial Analysis, Cognition, Visual perception, and 23 moreMagnetic Resonance Imaging, Functional MRI, Adolescent, Learning Disabilities, Space perception, Brain Mapping, Vision, Humans, Child, Cerebral Cortex, Female, Functional Imaging, Male, Mental rotation, Neurofibromatosis, Mental processes, Neuropsychologia, Learning Disabled, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Neurosciences, Frontal Lobe, Nino, and Visual Pathway
This research examined the relation between female adolescents' general alcohol use and their experience of relationship violence. This relation was examined both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, controlling for the proximal (i.e.,... more
This research examined the relation between female adolescents' general alcohol use and their experience of relationship violence. This relation was examined both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, controlling for the proximal (i.e., situational) effects of alcohol use. One hundred and six female high school students reported on their experiences of physical violence and sexual coercion by boyfriends, general patterns of alcohol use, victimization experiences while drinking, and hypothesized covariates including demographic and relationship variables and illicit drug use. Variables were assessed at 2 time points 4 months apart. Results indicated that general alcohol use was related to victimization both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, but different findings emerged for different forms of victimization (physical-only victimization vs. both physical and sexual victimization).
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The purpose of this longitudinal study was to evaluate changes in neurologic abnormalities in 212 preterm and 128 full-term children. Preterm infants with severe medical complications were considered at high risk, while those with milder... more
The purpose of this longitudinal study was to evaluate changes in neurologic abnormalities in 212 preterm and 128 full-term children. Preterm infants with severe medical complications were considered at high risk, while those with milder complications were considered at low risk for neurodevelopmental abnormality. The patterns of change in neurologic status for the high- and low-risk preterm and term groups across 6, 12, 24, 40, and 54 months of age were compared using growth modeling analysis. As expected, the term group showed minimal change, while the two preterm groups demonstrated complex, nonlinear patterns of change in neurologic abnormalities. While the results demonstrate improvement over time in both groups of preterm infants, 35% of the children in the high-risk group had neurologic scores in the borderline or abnormal range at 54 months. These findings demonstrate that neurologic deficits are still evident at preschool age in some preterm children and that these deficits are related to the severity of neonatal complications.
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Effects of pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) on social problem-solving were examined in a longitudinal study of 103 children with moderate-to-severe TBI (n = 52) or orthopedic injury (OI; n = 51) using the Interpersonal Negotiation... more
Effects of pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) on social problem-solving were examined in a longitudinal study of 103 children with moderate-to-severe TBI (n = 52) or orthopedic injury (OI; n = 51) using the Interpersonal Negotiation Strategies task (INS). Children solved age-appropriate hypothetical social conflicts, with responses for four problem-solving steps scored by developmental level. The OI group performed better than the TBI group, but rate of change in performance over time did not differ between groups, suggesting improvement in children with TBI was not due to recovery from injury. Strong relations between INS performance and memory and language skills emerged, but emotional processing was only weakly related to INS performance. Frontal focal lesions influenced INS performance in younger (but not older) children with TBI. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), revealed strong relationships between the INS and increased apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measures indexing connectivity in the dorsolateral and cingulate regions in both TBI and OI groups, and in the temporal and parietal regions in the TBI group. These findings inform studies of social problem-solving skills during the first year post TBI. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved).
Research Interests: Psychology, Neuropsychology, Intelligence, Social Problems, Traumatic Brain Injury, and 24 moreMagnetic Resonance Imaging, Language, Adolescent, Memory, Problem Solving, Social behavior, Humans, Child, Language Skills, Female, Male, Social Conflict, Apparent Diffusion Coefficient, Longitudinal Studies, Longitudinal Study, First Year, Chi Square Distribution, Social Behavior, Indexation, Cross Sectional Studies, Neurosciences, Brain injuries, Neuropsychological Tests, and Recovery of Function
Using structural equation modeling techniques, we evaluated the effect of academic self-concept (ASC) on the development of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and antisocial behaviors in early adolescence. Participants (n =... more
Using structural equation modeling techniques, we evaluated the effect of academic self-concept (ASC) on the development of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and antisocial behaviors in early adolescence. Participants (n = 445) were recruited from the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research study. Eligibility was determined by the presence of complete data for the following variables at the specified time periods: reading at age 7, teacher reports of ADHD and antisocial behaviors at age 7, self-ratings of ASC at ages 9 and 11, and teacher reports of ADHD and antisocial behaviors at age 13. The results indicated that ASC is an important construct that directly contributes to the development of antisocial behaviors rather than to symptoms of ADHD. The results also indicated that children's early history of behavioral problems and academic performance contribute to the development of a more robust understanding of the impact of ASC on the development of disruptive behaviors in early adolescence.