Marion Blank

The Effectiveness of Various Soothing Techniques on Human Neonates

&NA; In a study of the efficacy of soothing stimuli presented in different sensory modalities to human neonates, auditory, oral, vestibular, and thermal stimuli were compared and a nonstimulus control period was included. Behavioral ratings and heart rate measurements indicated that the soothing stimuli were all effective as compared with the control period, but no one stimulus was more effective than any other. Neonates could be characterized by over‐all differences in their ability to be soothed. On the test‐retest data, infants were consistent both on measures of over‐all soothability and in terms of the individual soothing agents which proved most effective.

Behavioral inhibition in neonates produced by auditory stimuli.

The capacity of the newborn infant to respond to auditory stimulation with increased activation has been observed and studied by neonatal psychophysiologists for many years. Recent research (Bartoshuk, 1962; Bridger, 1961) has focused on the infants capacity to become habituated to tones and to discriminate between tones of varying frequencies. In these studies an attempt was made to have the neonates quiescent prior to stimulation in order to achieve maximum receptivity. The ability of the infant to be soothed by auditory stimulation, although well known to mothers, has received little attention from those concerned with the scientific investigation of neonates. Music, the hum of motors, and the human voice are reported by mothers to calm irritable babies. However, these stimuli are complex, often involve other modalities, and may involve learning. As part of a research project investigating soothing and inhibition in neonates, an experiment was performed to measure the relative efficacy of a series of tones in soothing excited neonates. An attempt was made to see whether infants in high arousal levels would respond differentially to tones of various frequencies and, further, whether the rhythm of the sound would also be a factor that would facilitate or limit soothing.

Situational specificity of behavior in young children.

ROSE, SUSAN A.; BLANK, MARION; and SPALTER, IRENE. Situational Specificity of Behavior in Young Children. CmmD DEVELOPMENT, 1975, 46, 464-469. Preschool children were rated in a variety of classroom situations (e.g., alone, playing with other children) to determine if they displayed consistent behaviors within and across settings. Each assessment was based on a 15minute observation of the child in a particular setting. When the children were observed in the same type of situation, stable patterns of behavior were found after an interval of 4 months. Across situations, however, behavioral patterns showed variability even from day to day. These results suggest that enduring response patterns can be identified, but only in relation to particular situations.

Talking Things Through Roles of Instructional Discourse in Children's Processing of Expository Texts

Academic success depends heavily on students’ ability to acquire information, but expository texts are difficult to process and comprehend, particularly for students with language difficulties. Support can be provided through instructional discourse, the interactive adult–student conversations that scaffold comprehension and content learning. This article suggests ways in which teachers and speech–language pathologists (SLPs) can collaborate in using instructional discourse to guide students in the processes of attending to text, relating implied to stated information, connecting text content to background knowledge, and applying text content to students’ own experiences. SLPs and teachers can promote comprehension within discourse as they modify text demands and apply strategies pertaining to questioning, responding, commenting, and extending discussions. This article reviews the literature in the area of instructional discourse and illustrates strategies that can be implemented to facilitate students’ ability to participate in class discussions and process expository texts.

Dimensional learning across sensory modalities in nursery school children.

Abstract The cross-modal paradigm was used to determine whether dimensional shifting represents mediated learning or a more limited form of discrimination learning bound to the specific sensory modality of training. Using the dimensions of form and texture, S s in the 4-yr range were found to achieve cross-modal dimensional learning (tactual to visual) as readily as ipsi-modal dimensional learning (visual to visual). Since no relevant verbal labels could be elicited, the findings suggest that at least some forms of dimensional learning in young children represent nonverbally mediated learning. Two possible mechanisms for this transfer were proposed: one involved the use of imagery to mediate the specific dimension; the other referred to a more efficient analysis of complex sensory input which would be independent of the specific dimensions and serve to mediate many multidimensional shift problems.

THE MOTHER'S ROLE IN INFANT DEVELOPMENT: A REVIEW

Mother-child interaction ha s been a subject of considerable interest [or many years . It is genera l1y accepted that mothering affects th e childsdevelopment. However, th ere is considerable controversy about which patte rns of mothering influence th e child and wha t processes are involved. Because of the di fficulties in human mother-child research, itis not possibl e at present to offer any defini te answers to these problems, However, a review of th e major ideas pursued to date seems valuable both: ( I) to evalua te th e th eories th at have been proposed, (2) to indica te the lines for future research.

The effects of training and verbalization on reversal and extra-dimensional learning

Abstract The effects of undertraining, criterion learning, and overtraining on the subsequent ability of nursery school children to achieve reversal and extradimensional shifts were studied. Sixty-eight Ss were trained on a size sorting discrimination problem and then tested on a reversal shift or an extra-dimensional shift. Three conditions of training were employed, all of which allowed the subjects to solve the training problem but with different amounts of experience. The conditions were: (1) undertraining by informing the subjects of the solution, (2) undertraining as in condition 1, but then giving the Ss 20 additional overtraining trials, and (3) experience with the problem until S achieved an independent solution. The results demonstrated an inverse relationship between the number of trials on the training problem and the number of trials required for reversal learning. The use of language did not facilitate the reversal performance. No relation was found between degree of training and ease of extra-dimensional shifting.

Soviet research on speech and language: An American perspective∗

The authors present a critical review of selected Soviet papers on early speech development, which they see as dealing with a variety of important issues and presenting data which has great research implications. While pointing out methodological weaknesses, they stress that the Russian studies show a willingness to grapple with some of the most interesting problems in the area of language development, and demonstrate remarkable ingenuity and flexibility in designing experimental tasks to elucidate these questions. In addition to analyzing each of the Russian papers, they point out three dominant themes in Soviet studies: concern with analyzing the ways in which mental processes differ from other (e.g., motor) reactions; emphasis on facilitating development; and stress on the role of social context in the development of higher mental functions. This review, together with the Russian papers, is highly relevant to those concerned with preschool education. ∗ This work was supported by USPHS Grant K MH 10749 ...

THE MOTHER'S ROLE IN INFANT DEVELOPMENT

Mother-child interaction ha s been a subject of considerable interest [or many years . It is genera l1y accepted that mothering affects th e childsdevelopment. However, th ere is considerable controversy about which patte rns of mothering influence th e child and wha t processes are involved. Because of the di fficulties in human mother-child research, itis not possibl e at present to offer any defini te answers to these problems, However, a review of th e major ideas pursued to date seems valuable both: ( I) to evalua te th e th eories th at have been proposed, (2) to indica te the lines for future research.