Surveys empirical literature pertaining to phobias of blood, injury, or illness (BII); defines BII phobia as selectively associated with vasovagal fainting response upon exposure to phobic stimuli. Presents clinical, demographic, and etiological information from 15 BII phobics and suggests that BII phobia warrants diagnostic category separate from…

This article provides an introduction to the use of event-related potential (ERP) approaches to study language processes. First, a brief history of the emergence of this technology is presented, followed by definitions, a theoretical overview, and a practical guide to conducting ERP studies. Examples of language studies that use this technique are…

This article criticizes the term "comorbidity" used to describe the overlap of developmental syndromes or disorders. Data from 179 school-age children are evaluated for criteria of seven disorders. Since fully 50 percent of the sample met the criteria for at least two diagnoses, the premise that these disorders are discrete categories on…

This investigation compared five parameters of phonatory function in an examination of the use of acoustic measures in differential diagnosis in 39 subjects in 3 neuropathological groups (Parkinson, Huntington, cerebellar ataxia) and a normal control group. Results indicated higher variability in perturbation in all the neuropathological groups.…

Four experienced stuttering researchers viewed videodisks of spontaneous speech from chronic stutterers and attempted to locate the precise onset and offset of individual stuttering events. Results showed interjudge disagreements that challenge the reliability and validity of onset and offset judgments. Highly agreed stuttering events were…

The study of 297 institutionalized adults with mental retardation found no symptom of Rett syndrome occurred more frequently in males than in females and no single cluster of symptoms appeared to differentiate males from females. Only females were found to meet the necessary criteria for diagnosis of Rett syndrome. (Author/DB)

The Psychopathology Instrument for Mentally Retarded Adults was used to diagnose 163 mentally retarded institutionalized adults according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-III axis 1 categories. Nine factors were extracted which contained 49.3 percent of the data variance and categorized correctly 69.3 percent of the cases. Factors included…

This study examined whether dynamic measures of postural stability differentiated stereotyped movement disorder from dyskinetic movement disorder in a severely mentally retarded population. Participants (N=20) with either stereotypy or dyskinesia movement disorders and a control group were given a goal-oriented postural stability task. Both groups…

Institutionalized patients with Down syndrome (N=307) were monitored for 5 to 10 years to determine prevalence of Alzheimer-type dementia. Prevalence increased from 11% between ages 40 and 49 to 77% between 60 and 69. All patients 70 and over had dementia. Mean age of onset of dementia was 56 years. Neuropathological findings were consistent with…

Temporal envelope and spectral cue resolution were evaluated simultaneously in seven adults with severe/profound hearing impairments. Results revealed that the Auditory Numbers Test (ANT) is differentially sensitive to responses based upon gross temporal envelope and spectral cues in the speech signal. The ANT is endorsed as a screening tool for…

The Tasks of Emotional Development is an apperceptive test that has the additional advantage of a specific developmental focus. Test administration and interpretation are described, focusing on use with adults with mental retardation. It is concluded that the test minimizes many biases plaguing accurate psychodiagnosis with this group. (JDD)

Subjects who self-reported episodes of abusing a child were compared to those without a history of child battery. It was concluded that self-identified child abusers have increased lifetime rates of antisocial personality disorder, alcoholism, and depression. (DB)

The validity of the schizophrenia subscale of the Psychopathology Instrument for Mentally Retarded Adults (PIMRA) was evaluated with 65 adults having mild to moderate mental retardation as well as either schizophrenia, depression, or no psychopathology. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted, as were interrater reliability analyses.…

The psychometric characteristics of 12 adults with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) and a group without PWS but with other similar traits were compared. Results found cognitive, behavioral and educational traits often associated with PWS to be present in both groups, illustrating the importance of control/comparison groups in research establishing…

This experiment sought to define a confidence limit for maximum word-recognition scores obtained from 212 young and elderly adults with confirmed cochlear hearing loss. A 95% confidence limit was found and supported through analysis, although it is suggested that, in some cases, word recognition should be measured at additional levels to obtain…