Annual progress in child psychiatry and child development, 1976

188

Journal o f School P s y c h o l o g y

applications of psychological principles to educational problems. At the Colloquium a need was expressed to improve international communication so that we can learn from the experiences of our colleagues, wherever they may be. As a first step toward that goal, practicing school psychologists from various parts of the world were asked to describe the history, current state, and future directions of the discipline in their country or region, as well as the training common to most practitioners. Catterall has selected descriptions from 15 psychologists. Six are from European countries, two from Canada, and one each from Latin America, Colombia, New Zealand, Australia, Taiwan, and Pakistan. In addition, one author discusses the state of the art in the overseas American Dependent Schools. Many of the authors were faced with an impossible task. Janzen, in writing about school psychology in English-speaking Canada, was handicapped by being 2,000 miles away from the majority of the country's practitioners. Ardila tried to cover all of Latin America, despite the enormous socioeconomic and professional differences between, for example, Argentina and Mexico on the one hand and countries with 80% illiteracy on the other. Most of the articles, however, are well written and informative, giving the reader at least a feeling for the type of work being carried out and the social milieu which produced it. In some areas the profession has a 50-year history, in others it is only now beginning to emerge. Usually, though, it can trace its origins to either school counseling or to special education. Generally, a far-sighted administrator has seen a need for some specialized assistance for students with special needs and has sought the professionals necessary to cope with the problem. In nearly all areas of the world, as in the United States, service to special education is the focal point for the school psychologist. He is called upon to identify youngsters with special needs, to recommend special education placements, and to design suitable remedial programs. I found it interesting to note that testing or diagnostics is not always the predominant role. In West Germany and Denmark, for example, counseling (both personal and educational/vocational) seems to be the most important function. The training school psychologists receive, whether their primary identification is with psychology or education and wherever they are placed administratively differs greatly from one country to another. In New Zealand they take a specific 3-year training program as teachers with specializations in psychology and work in one of 25 government-sponsored centers. In Norway they take a 6- to 7-year training program in psychology and work for a local board of education but under federal funding. In Colombia there is no fixed training program outside of general psychology and the normal place of employment is one or more specific elementary or secondary schools. I found it quite fascinating to read the various approaches to the professional role. Frankly, I could see a great deal of merit in several of those with which I had not been familiar. If nothing else, I began to see some possible directions we in North America should be working toward in the future. All too often we have had a tendency to assume we have found the best way to go about our job of helping students. Gaining an international perspective has forced me to question my smugness. I suspect it will do the same to---and for--you. Alan Krichev The Lakehead Board of Education Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 3A7

Chess, S., & Thomas, A. (Eds.). Annual progress in child psychiatry and child development, 1976. New York: Bruner/Mazet Publishers, 1977. Pp. viii + 744, $17.50 cloth. Once again in this year's edition of the Annual Progress in Child Psychiatry and Child Development, Drs. Chess and Thomas have attempted the unwieldy task of trying to organize the awesome mass of child literature which is designed to prove appealing to all professionals interested in both normal and abnormal child development and treatment; and once again, one wonders why.

R e v i e w s o f School Psychological Materials

189

The Annual Progress is a collection of research and review articles reprinted from professional journals and judged by Drs. Chess and Thomas to have made a significant contribution to the child literature during the previous year. Considering the fact that all the articles in the collection could be found in publication elsewhere, an immediate question concerning the value of the contribution arises. What is the value of a book that republishes articles that could be found in most good libraries or that are already reviewed by child psychology scholars? Considering this question, it would appear that the value of the work of Drs. Chess and Thomas rests on at least two factors: (1) the contribution made by the editors toward an organization of the burgeoning literature in child study, and (2) the editor's contributions with regard to their selection of a representative sample of articles which bears some resemblance to the various perspectives of researchers engaged in the field. If these criteria are met, then the book would be a worthwhile scholarly contribution and easily worth its price, especially for those who have neither the time nor access to the journals necessary to keep up with the latest research and writings. Let us now compare the Annual Progress against each of these standards. As stated above, the first standard concerns itself with the organization of the literature. Is the scope of the literature to be organized clearly defined, and if so, what is the conceptual framework used to organize the literature? In defining the scope of the literature it is suggested that the Annual Progress samples "the most significant and valuable work in every aspect of the normal and disturbed child." The content of this year's volume is divided into 13 sections. These are Developmental Influences, Developmental Patterns, Parent-Child Interactions, Minority Issues, Adoption Studies, Reading Disabilities, Clinical Issues, Autism, The Family, Violence and Child Abuse, Problems of Drug Abuse, Adolescent Violence, and Mental Health Services. It would appear that because of the generality of these topics, probably most of the research conducted in child development could be included under one heading or another. In order to determine this, one would need to know what Drs. Chess and Thomas consider relevant (e.g., under their definition of Developmental Patterns). The book is structured in such a way that this information could be provided in the introduction to each of the sections. However, it is not. For example, if someone were interested in keeping abreast of the exciting work presently going on in developmental psycholinguistics, where does she/he look? After searching the volume cover to cover, one would find no articles reporting the work done in this field. Does this mean that nothing significant has been done during the past year or that developmental psycholinguistics is not an area within the scope of child development? Aside from the fact that there is no statement defining the scope of the sections, one would at least expect some review of the relevant issues encompassed under the headings; a statement regarding the contribution of the article included in the edition; and, finally, some statement regarding the direction future research needs to take. However, Drs. Chess and Thomas come nowhere near that end. Most of the commentaries provided at the beginning of each section introduce the research to be presented by providing a very brief abstract of what is to be said. Little effort is made to synthesize the articles into an organized whole for easier digestion. Most of the introductions are only one or two paragraphs long. In fact, they are so superficial that in the section on Minority Issues, in a single paragraph Drs. Chess and Thomas describe the two articles to follow, much to the confusion of the reader who finds three articles in the section. With respect to the second standard, concerning the sampling of articles chosen for the collection as representative of the current thought in the areas of child study, the Annual Progress measures quite weak. Although the collection of articles does sample quite a few journals (we believe the figure is 20 although we can't be sure because the original source of the article by Banks and Kahn on "Sibling Sub-Systems" is not referenced), the distribution and types of journals sampled provide a flavor of the diversity of thought represented in the collection. Out of the 40 articles presented, seven originally appeared in the American Journal of Ortho-psychiatry, five in the Archives of General Psychiatry, while three articles each are represented from the American Journal of Psychiatry and the British Journal of Psychiatry. Although many of the .articles are quite good, they are primarily representative of research being conducted within a restricted medical perspective imbued with psychodynamic thinking. Many of the theoretical perspectives (e.g., social learning theory), technical advances (e.g., behavior technology), and varied methodologi(:al approaches (e.g., time series research) which are certainly important contributers to the £urrent thinking in child development, are ignored. This, unfortunately, provides readers with a psychodynamic bias, a narrow perspective indeed. Despite all its shortcomings, there are some redeeming qualities of Annual Progress. First, all articles are reprinted in their entirety, including all references. Secondly, there are many good articles in the collection. Most notable is the lead article by Arnold Sameroff, who effectively

190

Journal o f School P s y c h o l o g y

details some research questioning the more apparent than real "continuities" in development that have rigidly directed our thinking for such a long time. His proposed transactional model for viewing development which places more emphasis on defining the situational--environmental factors in understanding behavior is timely. This refreshing perspective is moving developmentalists one step closer to a more viable S-O-R model. In conclusion, if you are considering purchasing this book we would recommend an examination beforehand. This will allow you to determine its degree of interest to you and will protect you from being misled into thinking it reports on "every aspect of the normal and disturbed child." To the editors, we recommend that similar endeavors in the future could be significantly enhanced if the scope of the undertaking were to be more limited and better defined and that if the perspective of the book is to remain as narrow as it is presently, then it should be so stated. Anthony A. Cancelli Assistant Professor Educational Psychology The University of Arizona Tucson, Arizona 85721 Thomas R. Kratochwill Associate Professor Educational Psychology The University of Arizona Tucson, Arizona 85721