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Helping your handicapped child
370
BOOK REVIEWS
“Anomalous Monism” or Hilary Putnam’s “Functional State Identity Theory”. Whether any of these doctrines succeed in what they are trying to do, however. remains an open question. My personal favourite in this anthology is Thomas Nagel’s paper “What is it like to be a bat?” Nagel stresses the unique character of the mind-body relationship which renders irrelevant the analogies which the identity theorists like to parade to show how, as a result of scientific discoveries, one sort of an entity can become identified with a quite different sort of an entity. He reaches the conclusion that: “physicalism is a position we cannot understand because we do not at present have any conception of how it might be true”, My own intuitions, in the meanwhile. tell me that it is not true but clearly most of the contributors to this compilation think otherwise. JOHN BELOFF
J. CARR: Helping Your Handicapped CMd. Penguin
Books,
Harmondsworth
(1980). 271 pp. f 1.95.
This book manages to convey the theory and practice of behaviour modification in a simple language that can be readily understood by the parents for whom it is written. Not only parents but also teachers, nurses and others working with mentally handicapped children will find this an extremely useful book containing excellent practical advice for the wide range of problems encountered in the daily lives of such children. The book arose from a series of courses organized for parents by the author at a school in Kingston-uponThames. There are two parts to the book: “Ways of Teaching” and “Some Things to Teach”, together with some useful appendices. In part one, each chapter tackles one aspect of behaviour modification e.g., observation, reinforcement, tokens etc. Part two covers various self-help skills, language, play and getting over phobias and obsessions. The final chapter in this section is “Keeping Going” an important problem area which is frequently overlooked. Good cross referencing exists throughout and the main points are summarized at the end of each chapter. Also included are “practice problems”. These are always useful and frequently humorous or thought-provoking. For example, in her chapter on “Learning Not To” the author asks us to consider how we would change the behaviour of a public figure we dislike by using (a) extinction and (b) time out. Answers to this and other practice problems are given in the first appendix. The other appendices give information about useful addresses, useful books and aids and equipment. He/ping Your Handicapped Child is already being recommended to parents by psychologists working in the field. In addition to parents of mentally handicapped children, selected chapters have been used with parents of non-handicapped children and those with children recovering from severe head injury and other traumatic brain damage. It deserves this widespread use because of its common sense, humour and practicality. Important concepts are explained sensibly yet the book is always easy and interesting to read. Probably the first parents’ guidebook written specifically for parents of mentally handicapped children, it is also one of the best written and least patronizing. This book would appear to be assured of success for many years to come. BARBARA WILSON
A. CLARK: Psychological Models and Neural Mechanisms. Clarendon
Press, Oxford
(1980). ix + 206 pp. f 11.50.
At first sight this volume has little relevance to behaviour therapy. At the practical level this impression would be correct. Nevertheless, behaviour therapists are often rightly concerned about the kinds of model or theory that are, or are not, appropriate for the explanation and control of the phenomena in which they are interested. The almost ritual attacks on ‘the medical model’ are an illustration of this. It is therefore not possible to completely opt out of thinking about the nature of the models that are in use. Clark’s book is a commendably succinct attempt to get to grips with the problem of relating psychological models to physiological processes. In doing so he refers to examples of interest to clinical psychology e.g., relating the learned-helplessness and catecholamine theories of depression. Essentially his basic thesis is that explanatory reduction of psychological models to physiology is possible but that this does not, and in fact cannot, make the psychological model redundant. The latter still fills an important role that cannot be replaced by a physiological explanation. This is a viewpoint with which the reviewer has considerable sympathy, and it does have implications for the significance of medical models in dealing with abnormal behaviour. This is not a book that will appeal to all readers of this journal. Readers unfamiliar with philosophical arguments may find it a little heavy going, but not excessivelyso. Those who have a serious concern with the nature of the explanatory models that they use, and in particular with the ways in which they relate to physiological (and hence medical) explanations, will find this book useful and thought-provoking. In summary, this is undoubtedly a significant piece of work but not everyone’s cup of tea. EDGAR MILLER
BOOK REVIEWS
“Anomalous Monism” or Hilary Putnam’s “Functional State Identity Theory”. Whether any of these doctrines succeed in what they are trying to do, however. remains an open question. My personal favourite in this anthology is Thomas Nagel’s paper “What is it like to be a bat?” Nagel stresses the unique character of the mind-body relationship which renders irrelevant the analogies which the identity theorists like to parade to show how, as a result of scientific discoveries, one sort of an entity can become identified with a quite different sort of an entity. He reaches the conclusion that: “physicalism is a position we cannot understand because we do not at present have any conception of how it might be true”, My own intuitions, in the meanwhile. tell me that it is not true but clearly most of the contributors to this compilation think otherwise. JOHN BELOFF
J. CARR: Helping Your Handicapped CMd. Penguin
Books,
Harmondsworth
(1980). 271 pp. f 1.95.
This book manages to convey the theory and practice of behaviour modification in a simple language that can be readily understood by the parents for whom it is written. Not only parents but also teachers, nurses and others working with mentally handicapped children will find this an extremely useful book containing excellent practical advice for the wide range of problems encountered in the daily lives of such children. The book arose from a series of courses organized for parents by the author at a school in Kingston-uponThames. There are two parts to the book: “Ways of Teaching” and “Some Things to Teach”, together with some useful appendices. In part one, each chapter tackles one aspect of behaviour modification e.g., observation, reinforcement, tokens etc. Part two covers various self-help skills, language, play and getting over phobias and obsessions. The final chapter in this section is “Keeping Going” an important problem area which is frequently overlooked. Good cross referencing exists throughout and the main points are summarized at the end of each chapter. Also included are “practice problems”. These are always useful and frequently humorous or thought-provoking. For example, in her chapter on “Learning Not To” the author asks us to consider how we would change the behaviour of a public figure we dislike by using (a) extinction and (b) time out. Answers to this and other practice problems are given in the first appendix. The other appendices give information about useful addresses, useful books and aids and equipment. He/ping Your Handicapped Child is already being recommended to parents by psychologists working in the field. In addition to parents of mentally handicapped children, selected chapters have been used with parents of non-handicapped children and those with children recovering from severe head injury and other traumatic brain damage. It deserves this widespread use because of its common sense, humour and practicality. Important concepts are explained sensibly yet the book is always easy and interesting to read. Probably the first parents’ guidebook written specifically for parents of mentally handicapped children, it is also one of the best written and least patronizing. This book would appear to be assured of success for many years to come. BARBARA WILSON
A. CLARK: Psychological Models and Neural Mechanisms. Clarendon
Press, Oxford
(1980). ix + 206 pp. f 11.50.
At first sight this volume has little relevance to behaviour therapy. At the practical level this impression would be correct. Nevertheless, behaviour therapists are often rightly concerned about the kinds of model or theory that are, or are not, appropriate for the explanation and control of the phenomena in which they are interested. The almost ritual attacks on ‘the medical model’ are an illustration of this. It is therefore not possible to completely opt out of thinking about the nature of the models that are in use. Clark’s book is a commendably succinct attempt to get to grips with the problem of relating psychological models to physiological processes. In doing so he refers to examples of interest to clinical psychology e.g., relating the learned-helplessness and catecholamine theories of depression. Essentially his basic thesis is that explanatory reduction of psychological models to physiology is possible but that this does not, and in fact cannot, make the psychological model redundant. The latter still fills an important role that cannot be replaced by a physiological explanation. This is a viewpoint with which the reviewer has considerable sympathy, and it does have implications for the significance of medical models in dealing with abnormal behaviour. This is not a book that will appeal to all readers of this journal. Readers unfamiliar with philosophical arguments may find it a little heavy going, but not excessivelyso. Those who have a serious concern with the nature of the explanatory models that they use, and in particular with the ways in which they relate to physiological (and hence medical) explanations, will find this book useful and thought-provoking. In summary, this is undoubtedly a significant piece of work but not everyone’s cup of tea. EDGAR MILLER