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Retardation and developmental disabilities
have been largely Ignored by Amertcan psychotherapists. this IS not necessarily to thetr drsadvantagc. Rather, tt may bc that SLT could usefully help middle-class clients caught on the endless and expensive merry-go-round of long-term psychotherapy A final note of cautton: t9.00 is a hefty sum for a poor man’s psychotherapy. parttculsrly as half the volume is taken up wtth appendtces. and several of the studies cited m the book have been reported tn detail elsewhere. hH% S. MAK~ILLI~K
J. WORTIS (Ed.): Reratdarror~ ard Drrc~/opmv~tul York (1973). xviii + 217 pp. f5.6CtS12.50.
Disahilirirs
An Annual
Review. Volume
V. Brunner
Maze1 New
The fifth volume of this well established review of progress in the field of mental retardation has for the first time been extended to include more specific developmental disabilittes and this is reflected m an increase in the range of topics which are covered. It has the great advantage over many other annual compendia in comprising not merely a collection of papers previously published elsewhere but of specially commissioned review articles and great credit is due to the editor for the careful and thoughtful balance of topics which has been achieved. As in previous volumes in the series the opening section by Kir,man gives an erudite and broad overview of clinical research and this is followed by two reviews by Meyers and Berkson on Psychometrics and Behaviour which will be of particular interest to readers of this Journal. The first, a critical account of the limitations of psychological assessment in the retarded. also includes a useful summary of the increasing range of techniques which are now available. Dr. Wortis makes a plea in his preface for a re-appratsal of the role of educanon in the field of mental retardation and a move away from narrow concepts of psychometric testing towards an approach which will assist teachers in making observations about the child‘s ability to learn. Thus both Meyers’ brooding of the concept of assessment and Birkson’s conclusion that the process analysis approach. whtch has become mfluential in the last decade. has a more direct impact on treatment than concepts directed merely towards prediction, are especially welcome and will hopefully be reflected more wtdely tn the psychological approach to the retarded in this country. A useful review of the literature on cerebral palsy with over three hundred references would perhaps have benefited from a more critical but less over inclusive approach: for while most schools of therapy are dismtssed in a few brief lines the strong warning that the mother should never be expected to become a theraptst for her child is surely arguable. There are somewhat disappointing accounts of services and recent research in West Germany. New Zealand, Japan and the Soviet Union. and although an interesting contrast emerges between parent initiated services in the first two countries and the state operated and more essentially pedagogic approach m the East: there is in each case a clear lack of scientifically based evaluation of the different approaches. With an increasingly multidisciplinary involvement in mental retardation thts book will be of most interest to the individual worker who feels a need to increase his appreciation of advances in related fields and as such will be a valuable source of up to date stimulation for all those working m this area JOHN A. CORBI:TT
M. A. KOZLOFF: Rruckirzg t/w Aurisric (1973). xiit + ~45 pp. Price unknown.
Child:
.4 pmwr
mrir~iry
pmgrtr~~~.
Research
Press.
Champagne,
Illinois.
The author presents four case studies demonstrating the use of operant conditioning techniques in the alleviation of many of the problems associated with childhood auttsm. The elationshtp between the autistic child and his parents is examined in terms of social exchange theory. in which both parties involved in the exchange are seen as reinforcmg the other’s inappropriate behaviour. For cxamplc. “When the autistic child engages in head-banging. hts parents’ attention is the reciprocation. and it is often a rewarding consequence. And when the parent gtves the child attention, the fact that the child temporarily .s[o/J.\ banging his head is the reciprocation and it too is. in the short run at least, rewarding to the parents”. This point of view stresses the necessity of changing parents’ behaviour towards their child if changes in the child‘s hehavtour are IO lye successfully effected. The approach is essentially operant in nature hut is presented m a new Jargon. the only advantage of which is to
J. WORTIS (Ed.): Reratdarror~ ard Drrc~/opmv~tul York (1973). xviii + 217 pp. f5.6CtS12.50.
Disahilirirs
An Annual
Review. Volume
V. Brunner
Maze1 New
The fifth volume of this well established review of progress in the field of mental retardation has for the first time been extended to include more specific developmental disabilittes and this is reflected m an increase in the range of topics which are covered. It has the great advantage over many other annual compendia in comprising not merely a collection of papers previously published elsewhere but of specially commissioned review articles and great credit is due to the editor for the careful and thoughtful balance of topics which has been achieved. As in previous volumes in the series the opening section by Kir,man gives an erudite and broad overview of clinical research and this is followed by two reviews by Meyers and Berkson on Psychometrics and Behaviour which will be of particular interest to readers of this Journal. The first, a critical account of the limitations of psychological assessment in the retarded. also includes a useful summary of the increasing range of techniques which are now available. Dr. Wortis makes a plea in his preface for a re-appratsal of the role of educanon in the field of mental retardation and a move away from narrow concepts of psychometric testing towards an approach which will assist teachers in making observations about the child‘s ability to learn. Thus both Meyers’ brooding of the concept of assessment and Birkson’s conclusion that the process analysis approach. whtch has become mfluential in the last decade. has a more direct impact on treatment than concepts directed merely towards prediction, are especially welcome and will hopefully be reflected more wtdely tn the psychological approach to the retarded in this country. A useful review of the literature on cerebral palsy with over three hundred references would perhaps have benefited from a more critical but less over inclusive approach: for while most schools of therapy are dismtssed in a few brief lines the strong warning that the mother should never be expected to become a theraptst for her child is surely arguable. There are somewhat disappointing accounts of services and recent research in West Germany. New Zealand, Japan and the Soviet Union. and although an interesting contrast emerges between parent initiated services in the first two countries and the state operated and more essentially pedagogic approach m the East: there is in each case a clear lack of scientifically based evaluation of the different approaches. With an increasingly multidisciplinary involvement in mental retardation thts book will be of most interest to the individual worker who feels a need to increase his appreciation of advances in related fields and as such will be a valuable source of up to date stimulation for all those working m this area JOHN A. CORBI:TT
M. A. KOZLOFF: Rruckirzg t/w Aurisric (1973). xiit + ~45 pp. Price unknown.
Child:
.4 pmwr
mrir~iry
pmgrtr~~~.
Research
Press.
Champagne,
Illinois.
The author presents four case studies demonstrating the use of operant conditioning techniques in the alleviation of many of the problems associated with childhood auttsm. The elationshtp between the autistic child and his parents is examined in terms of social exchange theory. in which both parties involved in the exchange are seen as reinforcmg the other’s inappropriate behaviour. For cxamplc. “When the autistic child engages in head-banging. hts parents’ attention is the reciprocation. and it is often a rewarding consequence. And when the parent gtves the child attention, the fact that the child temporarily .s[o/J.\ banging his head is the reciprocation and it too is. in the short run at least, rewarding to the parents”. This point of view stresses the necessity of changing parents’ behaviour towards their child if changes in the child‘s hehavtour are IO lye successfully effected. The approach is essentially operant in nature hut is presented m a new Jargon. the only advantage of which is to