Janine M. Jones

Early development of language by hand: composing, reading, listening, and speaking connections; three letter-writing modes; and fast mapping in spelling.

The first findings from a 5-year, overlapping-cohorts longitudinal study of typical language development are reported for (a) the interrelationships among Language by Ear (listening), Mouth (speaking), Eye (reading), and Hand (writing) in Cohort 1 in 1st and 3rd grade and Cohort 2 in 3rd and 5th grade; (b) the interrelationships among three modes of Language by Hand (writing manuscript letters with pen and keyboard and cursive letters with pen) in each cohort in the same grade levels as (a); and (c) the ability of the 1st graders in Cohort 1 and the 3rd graders in Cohort 2 to apply fast mapping in learning to spell pseudowords. Results showed that individual differences in Listening Comprehension, Oral Expression, Reading Comprehension, and Written Expression are stable developmentally, but each functional language system is only moderately correlated with the others. Likewise, manuscript writing, cursive writing, and keyboarding are only moderately correlated, and each has a different set of unique neuropsychological predictors depending on outcome measure and grade level. Results support the use of the following neuropsychological measures in assessing handwriting modes: orthographic coding, rapid automatic naming, finger succession (grapho-motor planning for sequential finger movements), inhibition, inhibition/switching, and phonemes skills (which may facilitate transfer of abstract letter identities across letter formats and modes of production). Both 1st and 3rd graders showed evidence of fast mapping of novel spoken word forms onto written word forms over 3 brief sessions (2 of which involved teaching) embedded in the assessment battery; and this fast mapping explained unique variance in their spelling achievement over and beyond their orthographic and phonological coding abilities and correlated significantly with current and next-year spelling achievement.

Executive Functions in Becoming Writing Readers and Reading Writers: Note Taking and Report Writing in Third and Fifth Graders

Results are reported for a study of 2 separate processes of report writing—taking notes while reading source material and composing a report from those notes—and related individual differences in executive functions involved in integrating reading and writing during these writing activities. Third graders (n = 122) and 5th graders (n = 106; overall, 127 girls and 114 boys) completed two reading–writing tasks—read paragraph (mock science text)–write notes and use notes to generate written report, a reading comprehension test, a written expression test, four tests of executive functions (inhibition, verbal fluency, planning, switching attention), and a working memory test. For the read–take notes task, the same combination of variables was best (explained the most variance and each variable added unique variance) for 3rd graders and 5th graders: Wechsler Individual Achievement Test–Second Edition (WIAT–II) Reading Comprehension, Process Assessment of the Learner Test for Reading and Writing (PAL) Copy Task B, WIAT–II Written Expression, and Delis–Kaplan Executive Function System (D–KEFS) Inhibition. For the use notes to write report task, the best combinations of variables depended on grade level: For 3rd graders, WIAT–II Reading Comprehension, WIAT–II Written Expression, D–KEFS Verbal Fluency, and Tower of Hanoi; for 5th graders, WIAT–II Reading Comprehension, D–KEFS Verbal Fluency, WIAT–II Written Expression, and PAL Alphabet Task. These results add to prior research findings that executive functions contribute to the writing development of elementary-grade students and additionally support the hypothesis that executive functions play a role in developing reading–writing connections.

Exposure to Chronic Community Violence Resilience in African American Children

In many African American communities, violence and poverty are often part of daily living. As a result, children are at risk for difficulties in all aspect of their lives, particularly their emotional well-being. This study explored the relationship between exposure to chronic community violence and the development of complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD), a constellation of symptoms that occur as a result of repeated exposure to traumas, in the context of specific African American cultural beliefs and values that are used as coping mechanisms. It was anticipated that the coping mechanisms would act as stress moderators, or buffers, to the development of symptoms of C-PTSD. Participants in the study included 71 African American children between the ages of 9 and 11 years who lived in a high-crime, high-poverty community in Houston, Texas. The results indicated that formal kinship and spirituality, along with high levels of combined supports, demonstrated buffering effects on exposure to violence.

Culturally Responsive Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Making the Case for Integrating Cultural Factors in Evidence-Based Treatment

This case study provides an analysis of culturally responsive cognitive behavioral therapy with a 15-year-old African American female. The focus of this case study is on the course of treatment and how it was influenced by the implementation of the Jones Intentional Multicultural Interview Schedule (JIMIS)—a process that was completed at the beginning of treatment. A total of 20 therapy sessions were recorded and transcribed for the analysis. The research team analyzed the data qualitatively by identifying culturally salient codes that were stated within each session and coding transcripts using Dedoose software version 6.1.18. Results showed that four culturally salient codes were prominent throughout treatment and that these codes were strongly related to African American culture: gender norms, informal kinship, socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity. The connections between the coded themes, the cultural values of the client, as well as the implications for treatment outcomes are described. This study provides evidence of the value of initiating discussion of cultural factors at the beginning of treatment to shape the direction of evidence-based treatment. The study also suggests that integrating cultural factors with African American clients is important and does not reduce the quality of care or diminish from the fidelity of the evidence-based treatment. Based on these findings, recommendations for researchers and clinicians are also discussed.

Multicultural Counseling Competence Training: Adding Value with Multicultural Consultation.

ABSTRACT This study addresses the culturally responsive training process and highlights the integration of multicultural competence building in counseling consultation. Consultation was structured as client-centered case consultation. Before and after the intervention, clinician competence was assessed with the California Brief Multicultural Counseling Competence Scale (CBMCS). Half the clinicians were trained in a culturally responsive model of cognitive behavior therapy (CR-CBT) while the other half were trained in traditional cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). All clinicians participated in weekly client-centered case consultation. The change in CBMCS scores was analyzed and a case study of the sessions comparing two clinicians was completed. The combination of direct training in culturally responsive treatment and case consultation led to significantly greater cultural competence for clinicians in the CR-CBT group. The findings indicate that an intentional effort is required for integrating cultural factors into treatment—one cannot rely solely on the client to acknowledge cultural factors in therapy.

Comparing Communities: The Cultural Characteristics of Ethnic Social Capital

Social capital includes access to resources based on social networks, similar to how economic capital is access to fiscal resources. We explore ethnic social capital as a variant of social capital that includes the social resources that are available to a person as a result of being a member of an ethnic and cultural network. This study identifies the way that ethnic social capital is important for understanding the resilience of ethnic minority youth in the context of inequality including living in impoverished and high-crime neighborhoods. This study examines social capital in 239 males and females aged 14 to 22 years from a racially and ethnically diverse urban community with neighborhoods impacted by high levels of crime in the northeast United States. Compared with results from a racially homogeneous (non-Hispanic White) population living in an urban area of the Midwest, the diverse sample demonstrated different aspects of social capital that are highly correlated with the cultural value of collectivism. Specifically, the diverse sample showed significantly higher participation in their community and reaching out to support others. The sample in the Midwest, demonstrated greater feelings of safety in the community, greater satisfaction with their position in life, and greater ability to ask others for help. Both samples showed an equal level of tolerance for diversity. Results are discussed in terms of examining the cultural manifestations of ethnic social capital and resilience with ethnic minority populations.