Patricia C. Pothier

HOSPITALIZED CHILDREN WITH HISTORY OF SEXUAL ABUSE: Incidence and Care Issues

This study used a questionnaire to identify the incidence of sexual abuse history and behavioral characteristics of prepubertal children in 110 psychiatric inpatient settings. Suggestions of clinical care issues that arise for staff working with this population were generated. Implications of the findings are considered and the need for development of special staff training programs and milieu treatment planning is highlighted.

Effects of receptive language training on receptive and expressive language development.

The effects of a six-month training program in receptive language on receptive and expressive language development were investigated. Developmentally retarded preschoolers were pretested and posttested on one standardized test of receptive language and two tests of expressive language. Both the training and control groups participated in a preschool program. In addition, the training group received a two-sequence training program: (1) reinforcement for matching responses to modeling cues and accompanying verbal requests, and (2) reinforcement for appropriate responses to verbal requests alone. The training group demonstrated a significant increase in appropriate responses to verbal request over base-rate performance after the training and also demonstrated a significantly improved posttest performance on one test of expressive language as compared to the control group.