Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 48-02, page: . Advisers: Shreela Sharma; R. Sue Day. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D. in Nursing) -- University of Colorado Denver, 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 138-153). Online version available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-22T20:50:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-11-25 / Objetivo: caracterizar um grupo de pré-escolares com Transtorno Fonológico segundo a gravidade do transtorno, o nível de consciência fonológica e o desempenho em provas de praxia articulatória, e investigar a existência de correlações entre essas variáveis. Método: Participaram 56 pré-escolares (meninos e meninas) na faixa etária entre 04 anos a 06 anos e 11 meses, com e sem queixa relacionada à fala. Foram separados em Grupo Pesquisa – GP (28 pré-escolares) e Grupo de Comparação – GC (28 pré-escolares pareados aos do GP) segundo a presença ou ausência de alterações de fala, respectivamente. Foram avaliados quanto à fala por meio do Teste de Linguagem Infantil - ABFW - Parte A: Fonologia, proposta por Wertzner (2004), que possibilitou a análise dos processos fonológicos e a posterior identificação da gravidade do transtorno fonológico por meio do cálculo da Porcentagem de Consoantes Corretas - PCC (Shriberg, Kwiatkowski,1982). As habilidades de Consciência Fonológica foram estudadas a partir do teste Consciência Fonológica: Instrumento de Avaliação Seqüencial (CONFIAS), elaborado por Moojen et al. (2003). Avaliaram-se as praxias articulatórias por meio do Protocolo de Avaliação das Praxias Articulatórias e Buco-faciais (Campos, Hage, 2001). Os dados foram tabulados e analisados por meio do aplicativo Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) versão 16.0. Aplicou-se o teste não-paramétrico de Mann-Withney U e o teste Wilcoxon para comparar variáveis intragrupo e intergrupo e o teste de correlação bivariada, por meio do coeficiente de Spearman, para correlacionar as variáveis. Foi adotado o intervalo de confiança de 95%. Resultados: Os pré-escolares com Transtorno Fonológico apresentaram desempenho inferior aos seus pares sem alterações de fala em tarefas de consciência fonológica e praxia articulatória. A gravidade do Transtorno Fonológico mostrou correlação estatística de fraca a moderada, com consciência fonológica e praxia articulatória. A praxia articulatória mostrou correlação estatística fraca com consciência fonológica em nível de fonema nos pré-escolares com Transtorno Fonológico. Em ambos os grupos foi constatada a existência de correlação positiva moderada entre consciência fonológica total, consciência fonológica nível de sílaba e consciência fonológica nível de fonema. Conclusão: O grupo de pré-escolares com Transtorno Fonológico caracterizou-se pela maior quantidade de meninos, da faixa etária de 5 anos e do grau de gravidade levemente-moderado. A gravidade do Transtorno Fonológico apresentou correlação com a consciência fonológica e com a praxia articulatória. A praxia articulatória apresentou correlação com a consciência fonológica em nível de fonema nos pré-escolares com Transtorno Fonológico. / TEDE / BV UNIFESP: Teses e dissertações

A Organização Mundial de Saúde (OMS) classifica o excesso de peso (sobrepeso e obesidade) como epidemia, uma vez que é um dos dez principais problemas de saúde atuais. Sua etiologia é multifatorial: genética, endócrina, metabólica, comportamental e ambiental. Tendo em vista estes fatores e os primeiros cinco anos de vida, cruciais para o desenvolvimento de hábitos saudáveis, é necessário conhecer o ambiente, bem como as influências a que a criança está exposta. Assim, este estudo teve como objetivo identificar, conhecer e analisar percepções e crenças de pais e educadores de pré-escolares acerca de sobrepeso e obesidade infantil. Trata-se de estudo qualitativo exploratório, realizado por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas com quatro educadores, cinco mães e um pai de crianças de duas pré-escolas, uma pública e outra privada, localizadas em São Bernardo do Campo (SP). As entrevistas foram realizadas entre maio e dezembro de 2008. Para a análise dos dados foi utilizada a Análise Temática de Conteúdo de Bardin e o referencial da Bioecologia do Desenvolvimento Humano de Bronfenbrenner. Este propõe um sistema composto por vários níveis: micro, meso, exo e macro, além da própria criança, um sistema por si só, os quais se articulam de modo que os mais amplos vão sucessivamente englobando os menores, em um sistema de círculos concêntricos. O microssistema é o mais próximo da criança e abarca o local no qual faz as refeições, as interações com adultos e pares, as práticas e estratégias utilizadas durante os momentos de alimentação e atividade física. O mesossistema, por sua vez, consiste na interação entre os microambientes, nos quais a criança participa ativamente (família e pré-escola). O exossistema é composto da família extensa, da comunidade, da mídia, do trabalho parental, bem como pela forma de organização dos ambientes urbanos (disponibilidade de alimentos e ambientes públicos de lazer). Afeta a criança intensamente, tanto na alimentação quanto nas oportunidades para brincar e praticar atividades físicas ao ar livre. O macrossistema é constituído por práticas culturais ligadas à alimentação, influência do pertencimento social e econômico, influência do clima e da política governamental. Os entrevistados têm maior clareza acerca da influência dos componentes mais concretos de seu cotidiano. Assim, conseguem perceber, por exemplo, a influência das práticas familiares e da pré-escola, mas tem dificuldade para perceber que falta uma política de segurança que possibilite o uso dos poucos locais públicos de lazer e atividade física. Conclui-se, assim, que as crianças pré-escolares deste estudo estão expostas a muitas influências negativas nos diversos sistemas, o que pode prejudicá-las quanto à aquisição de bons hábitos alimentares e de atividade física, prejudicando-as consequentemente quanto à manutenção de um peso corporal saudável. A temática estudada tem implicações para a profissão de enfermagem em termos de assistência direta, ensino e pesquisa. Propõe-se a continuidade das pesquisas, especialmente levando-se em conta a influência de fatores relacionados ao macrossistema, que geralmente são pouco considerados na gênese do excesso de peso, mas que se revelaram importantes de acordo com os depoimentos estudados. / The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies excessive weight (overweight and obesity) as an epidemic, once it is one of nowadays main ten problems. Its etiology is multifactorial: genetic, endocrine, metabolic, behavioral and environmental. Considering these factors and a persons first years of life, which are crucial for the development of healthy habits, it is necessary to know the environment and the influences children are being exposed to. Thus, this study aims at identifying, understanding and analyzing parents and preschool educators beliefs and perceptions about childhood overweight and obesity. This is an exploratory and qualitative study which was conducted through semi-structured interviews with four educators, five mothers and one father of children from two preschools, one of which was public and the other was private, both located in São Bernardo do Campo (SP). The interviews were conducted from May to December 2008. In order to analyze the data, Bardins Thematic Content Analysis and Bronfenbrenners Bioecology and Human Development referential were used. This suggests a system composed of several levels: micro, meso, exo and macro, and also the children themselves, who represent one entire system. These levels are articulated and the widest ones successively encompass the smaller ones in a system of concentric circles. The microsystem is the closest one to the child and it encompasses the place in which the child has their meals, where they interact with adults and peers, the practices and strategies used during their feeding and physical activities. The mesosystem is the interaction between microenvironments, in which the child actively participates (family and preschool environment). The exosystem corresponds to the extended family, the community, media, parental jobs, as well as the form in which the urban environments are organized (availability of food and entertainment public places). It intensely affects children in their feeding and in the opportunities they have to play and practice outdoor physical activities. The microsystem consists of cultural practices related to feeding habits, influence of social and economic status, and to climate and political government influence. Those interviewed are more aware of the influence of more concrete components in their everyday lives. Thus, they can notice, for example, the influence of family and preschool practices. However, it is hard for them to realize they lack a security policy which allows the utilization of the few public places meant for recreation and physical activities. Therefore, it is possible to conclude that the preschool children who participated in this study are exposed to many negative influences in the various systems, which may harm their acquisition of healthy eating habits and physical activities, thus harming their maintenance of a healthy body weight. The thematic studied in this paper has implications for the nursing profession in terms of direct care, teaching and research. It is suggested that this research be continued, especially taking into account the influence of factors related to the macrosystem, which are not often taken into consideration in the overweight genesis, but which have been proven to be important according to the statements analyzed.

Submitted by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2016-07-28T11:38:20Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Malaine Morais Alves Machado - 2016.pdf: 2904043 bytes, checksum: 5751c4710f6fe819bd63107c0e75a614 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2016-07-28T11:40:05Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Malaine Morais Alves Machado - 2016.pdf: 2904043 bytes, checksum: 5751c4710f6fe819bd63107c0e75a614 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-28T11:40:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Malaine Morais Alves Machado - 2016.pdf: 2904043 bytes, checksum: 5751c4710f6fe819bd63107c0e75a614 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-25 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Goiás - FAPEG / Intense changes in lifestyle of the populations have been occuring, particularly in relation to dietary patterns, with increased consumption of energy-dense foods, and reduced consumption of healthy foods, which culminates in the increase of health problems prevalence, including the pediatric population from two to five years. The aims of the present study were to identify the dietary patterns of preschoolers in Goiania and determine its associated factors. It is a cross-sectional study of population and household base with 412 children between 24 and 59 months, living in the urban area of Goiânia, Goias. It was used cluster sampling in multiple stages and standardized questionnaire with socioeconomic and demographic issues, food consumption, lifestyle and anthropometry. Dietary intake was assessed by a food frequency questionnaire, from which were applied the factor analysis of main components with Varimax orthogonal rotation for deriving, a posteriori, of dietary patterns. The patterns found were denominated in processed/ultra-processed, traditional and mixed. Multiple linear regression models were applied to evaluate the factors associated with the identified patterns. The processed/ultra-processed pattern had greater adherence by children who had the habit of eating in front of the television and change the dinner for snacks and lower adherence among children with older mothers. The traditional pattern, however, was more present among children of younger mothers and higher body mass index values and less present among children who made the exchange of dinner for snacks. The mixed pattern of consumption was less frequent among children who swapped dinner for snacks. Therefore, consumption of snacks instead of conventional dining implies less healthy food choices. The patterns were associated with sociodemographic, anthropometric and lifestyle variables,thus, older mothers seem to do more appropriate food choices for their children. / Têm ocorrido intensa mudança nos hábitos de vida das populações, em especial em relação aos padrões alimentares, com elevação do consumo de alimentos altamente energéticos e redução do consumo de alimentos saudáveis, o que culmina na elevação de prevalências de agravos à saúde, inclusive na população pediátrica dos dois aos cinco anos. O presente estudo teve como objetivo identificar os padrões alimentares de pré-escolares de Goiânia e determinar os seus fatores associados. Trata-se de estudo transversal de base populacional e domiciliar com 412 crianças, entre 24 e 59 meses, residentes na área urbana de Goiânia, Goiás. Utilizou-se amostragem por conglomerados em múltiplos estágios e questionário padronizado com questões sociodemográficas, consumo alimentar, estilo de vida e antropometria. O consumo alimentar foi avaliado por meio de um Questionário de Frequência Alimentar, a partir do qual aplicou-se a análise fatorial de componentes principais com rotação ortogonal Varimax para derivação, a posteriori, dos padrões alimentares. Os padrões alimentares encontrados foram denominados em processados/ultraprocessados, tradicional e misto. Modelos de regressão linear múltipla foram aplicados para avaliação dos fatores associados aos padrões identificados. O padrão processados/ultraprocessados teve maior adesão pelas crianças que apresentavam o hábito de comer diante da televisão e de trocar o jantar por lanches e menor adesão entre as crianças com mães mais velhas. O padrão tradicional, no entanto, esteve mais presente entre os filhos de mães mais jovens e com maiores valores de índice de massa corporal e menos presente entre as crianças que realizavam a troca do jantar por lanches. O consumo do padrão misto foi menos frequente entre as crianças que trocavam o jantar por lanches. Portanto, o consumo de lanches ao invés do jantar convencional implica em escolhas alimentares menos saudáveis. Os padrões estiveram associados com variáveis sociodemográficas, antropométricas e com o estilo de vida, de modo que, mães mais velhas parecem realizar escolhas alimentares mais adequadas aos seus filhos.

Orientador: Marinês Nobre dos Santos / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Odontologia de Piracicaba / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-19T10:40:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Parisotto_ThaisManzano_D.pdf: 30029160 bytes, checksum: d03297a7286e77f810a149c8b3feb336 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Resumo: A cárie precoce da infância (CPI) é considerada um problema de saúde significativo no Brasil devido a sua alta prevalência. Como o perfil dessa doença na população infantil não é estático, estudos que avaliem o desenvolvimento da cárie, assim como sua etiologia são de grande importância para a prevenção e controle da CPI. Esta tese, constituída por 4 capítulos teve como objetivos: 1.avaliar o comportamento das lesões de manchas brancas ativas (LMB) na dentição decídua em um ano de acompanhamento; 2.explorar a associação entre desenvolvimento de cárie, colonização por bactérias cariogênicas e fatores imunológicos inerentes à saliva; 3.avaliar o poder de predição do fluoreto presente no biofilme dentário no desenvolvimento da CPI, considerando-se a exposição aos açúcares; 4.avaliar a associação entre os polissacarídeos extracelulares insolúveis (PECIs) do biofilme dentário, exposição aos açúcares, microrganismos cariogênicos e a CPI, assim como realizar um screening da habilidade das cepas de Streptococcus mutans (S.mutans) de produzir glucano in vitro. Para a realização desses estudos, pré-escolares (n=179, n=40, n=31, n=65, capítulos 1, 2, 3 e 4 respectivamente) de 3-4 anos, do município de Itatiba-SP foram acompanhados por um ano. Os exames clínicos para diagnóstico de cárie (critério OMS+LMB) foram realizados após verificação de presença/ausência de biofilme visível nos incisivos superiores. Depois disso, as crianças foram divididas nos grupos: livres de cárie e cárie ativos/inativos. O biofilme dentário foi coletado das superfícies lisas livres com auxílio de alças esterilizadas para contagem de microrganismos ou com palitos de madeira para dosagem de flúor e PECIs. A exposição aos açúcares foi avaliada por diário de dieta. As análises imunológicas e da capacidade das cepas de S.mutans de produzir glucano foram realizadas por meio ensaios no Luminex100 e zimografia, respectivamente. Após análise estatística (?=0,05) verificou-se que a maioria das LMB permaneceram ativas ou remineralizaram após um ano e que as crianças com atividade de cárie no baseline apresentaram maior risco de desenvolver novas superfícies cariadas que aquelas livres de cárie. Além disso, crianças com lactobacilos, menores níveis de IgA salivar anti-GbpB, presença de biofilme visível, maior exposição ao açúcar sólido, menor concentração de flúor e maior concentração de PECIs no biofilme mostraram maior chance de desenvolver CPI comparadas àquelas que não apresentavam essas condições. Não foi verificada correlação entre a habilidade das cepas de S.mutans de produzir glucanos e a concentração de PECIs no biofilme. Porém, as cepas que mais produziram glucano foram encontradas em crianças que desenvolveram cárie. Conclui-se que o monitoramento das LMB deve ser o tratamento de escolha no manejo da CPI, visto que a maioria remineralizou/permaneceu ativa, que o sistema imunológico sofreu maturação significativa no período do estudo e que a amplitude de resposta da IgA salivar contra os epítopos de S. mutans pode influenciar o grau com que esses microrganismos causam doença. Ainda, considerando-se a exposição à açúcares, a composição bioquímica e microbiológica do biofilme dentário influencia o desenvolvimento da CPI e a capacidade das cepas de S.mutans produzirem glucano in vitro não pôde refletir a concentração de PECIs no biofilme na população estudada / Abstract: Early childhood caries (ECC) is considered a significant oral health problem in Brazil due to its high prevalence. As caries profile in the pediatric population is not static, studies assessing the development of caries, as well as its etiology are of prime importance for ECC prevention and control. This thesis consists of 4 chapters aiming to: 1.evaluate the behaviour of early caries lesions (ECL) in early childhood; 2.explore the association between caries development, colonization with caries-associated microflora and immunity related to saliva; 3.assess the predictive power of dental plaque fluoride in early childhood caries development regarding sugar exposure conditions; 4.assess the associations between dental plaque extracellular insoluble polysaccharide (IP), sugar exposure, cariogenic microorganisms and ECC; and also to perform a screening of Streptococcus mutans (S.mutans) strains' ability to produce glucan in vitro. To perfom these studies, preschool children aging 3-4 years, from Itatiba-SP were followed for one year (n=179, n=40, n=31, n=65, chapters 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively). Clinical examinations for caries diagnosis (WHO criteria+ECL) were performed after recording the presence/absence of visible dental plaque on maxillary incisors. After that, children were divided in groups: caries free and caries active/inactive. Dental plaque was collected from smooth surfaces using sterilized handles for microorganisms' enumeration or wooden sticks for fluoride and IP analyses. Immunological analysis and S.mutans ability to produce glucan were performed by Luminex100 assays and zimography, repectively. The frequency of sugar exposure was assessed by a diet chart. After statistical analysis (?=0.05) it was shown that most ECL remained active/remineralized after one year and that children with caries activity at baseline had higher risk for developing new carious surfaces than those caries free. In addition, children with lactobacilli, lower levels of salivary IgA anti-GbpB, presence of dental plaque, increased exposure to solid sugar, lower fluoride concentration and higher concentration of IP in dental plaque showed more chances for developing ECC than those who did not show these conditions. There was no correlation between the ability of S. mutans to produce glucan and IP concentration in the plaque. However, the strains with higher glucan production were found in children who developed caries. We conclude that the management of ECL should be conservative, as the majority remineralized/remained active, the secretory immune system is undergoing significant maturation during the period studied, and that the breadth of mucosal IgA response to epitopes of S.mutans virulence components may influence the degree to which these cariogenic microorganisms can cause disease. Still, considering sugar exposure, microbiological and biochemical composition of dental plaque influence the development of ECC, and the ability of S.mutans strains to produce glucan in vitro could not reflect IP concentration in dental plaque in the studied population / Doutorado / Odontopediatria / Doutor em Odontologia

The present study examined psychological factors associated with individual variation in children's adjustment following minor surgery, and focused specifically on the process of coping with postoperative pain. Sixty children and adolescents (7 to 16 yrs) were interviewed on the day following surgery. They provided ratings and descriptions of their postoperative pain experience, perceived capacity for pain control, spontaneous coping strategies, and emotional distress. Parents also provided information about their efforts (both historical and present) to facilitate their child's coping, their own emotional distress, and perceptions of their child's distress following surgery. Thirdly, nurses rated children's pain behaviours displayed on the ward. Finally, information about analgesic medications and physical complications following surgery was recorded from children's medical charts. Qualitative data concerning the process of coping with postoperative pain and specific parental influences on children's coping were presented within a conceptual model adapted from the adult stress and coping literature. The data were also analyzed for age/developmental differences between older children (10 to 16 yrs) and younger children (7 to 9 yrs). Finally the predictive role of demographic, child coping process, and parental influence variables, in accounting for variations in child coping outcome, was analyzed. Results indicated that children and adolescents experienced moderate to severe pain following minor surgery. They reportedly tried a number of different cognitive and behavioural methods to deal with postoperative pain. Also, parents took an active role in facilitating children's coping. Age group differences were revealed in children's descriptions of postoperative pain, their reported ways of coping with pain, and their perceptions of control over pain and recovery. Age effects were interpreted with caution, however, since age and sex were confounded in this sample. Children who reported the most pain and emotional distress following surgery also reported more catastrophizing cognitions, felt less in control of their recovery, and reported having tried a greater number of behavioral coping strategies to manage pain. These results emphasize the role of children's appraisal processes in predicting coping effectiveness, and demonstrate that more coping does not imply better outcome. Future research directions and potential clinical appplications that follow from these findings were discussed. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

Memory and metamemory were examined in 30 hyperactive and 30 nonhyperactive children matched on age, grade, and IQ (as measured by the Vocabulary and the Block Design subtests of the WISC-R), within the context of a broad range of tasks. The five tasks investigated in this study were: (a) a prospective memory task, (b) a feeling-of-knowing task, a visual retention task, (c) a word generation task, (d) and (e) an object span and recall task. Previous research has demonstrated considerable variability in the performance of hyperactive children on memory tasks. They have been shown to perform as well as normal children on tasks of cued recall, paired associates for meaningful words, and on tests of recognition memory. They are distinguished from normal children by their poor performance on tasks of uncued recall, paired associates learning for semantically unrelated words, and in addition, often display performance decrements when task demands increase. The results of this study suggest that hyperactive children are less efficient in metamemory knowledge and skills than normal children. These findings are consistent with the proposal that the difficulties hyperactive children demonstrate on memory tasks may result from a deficiency in their ability to efficiently engage in metamemory processes. The hyperactive children in this study generally had more difficulty than the control children with recall on all the tasks. These included tests of both verbal and nonverbal memory, short and long-term memory, and prospective remembering. Further, they did not derive a memorial benefit, as the control subjects did, when generating their own recall items, or when recalling visual stimuli that could be more easily verbally encoded than others. The hyperactive subjects demonstrated their recall abilities by performing as well as the normal subjects on the recall of read words in the word generation task, and on the recall of the low and medium level of labelability items in the visual retention task. Also, the recall performance of the hyperactive subjects differed significantly between a no-strategy and a provided strategy condition on the prospective memory task. Moreover, there were no group differences on the recognition memory test of the feeling-of-knowing task. The results of this study are consistent with the previous investigations of memory performance in hyperactive children. The present findings further extend the past research by demonstrating selective memory deficits in the hyperactive subjects that are consistent with deficits in metamemory abilities. The proposition that metamemory skills are implicated in the difficulties that the hyperactive children demonstrated in this study is further supported by the difficulty they experienced in describing how they remembered the task items. The hyperactive subjects had more difficulty than the control subjects when attempting to describe a strategy that they used to aid recall. The strategies they described, relative to the control subjects, tended to be vague and poorly defined. These findings suggest that there may be both qualitative and quantitative differences in the way in which hyperactive and normal children use strategies. In summary, the findings of this study suggest that hyperactive children, relative to normal children, seem to be deficient in both their metamemory knowledge and the ability to monitor and control their memory performance. Questions addressing whether these children cannot or do not employ these skills were introduced. The clinical implications of the findings were considered and recommendations were made for future research. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

Pain behavior of neonates was compared across sleep/waking states and sex. From Gate-Control Theory (Melzack and Wall, 1982) it was hypothesized that pain behavior would vary depending on the ongoing functional state of the infant, in contrast with Specificity Theory (Mountcastle, 1980), from which one would expect neonatal pain expression to be solely a function of degree of tissue damage. The findings of facial action variation across sleep/waking state was interpreted as consistent with Gate-Control Theory. Awake alert infants responded with the most facial activity, which supported Brazelton's (1973) view that infants in this state are most receptive to environmental stimulation. Fundamental frequency of cry was not related to sleep/waking state. This suggested that findings from the cry literature on pain cry as a reflection of nervous system "stress", in unwell newborns, do not generalize directly to healthy infants under varying degrees of stress as a function of state. Sex differences were apparent in speed of response, with boys showing shorter time to cry and facial action following heel-lance. Issues raised by the study include the importance of using measurement techniques which are independent of pre-conceived categories of affective response, and the surprising degree of responsivity of the neonate to ongoing events. Exploratory analyses suggested obstetric factors were related to overall facial action. Caution was expressed in this interpretation due to the great complexity of the inter-relationships of medical, physiological and maternal variables which go far beyond the scope of this study. It was concluded that obstetric features such as mode of delivery should be considered in sample selection for neonatal pain studies, in contrast to current practise which has been to assume healthy newborns form an homogeneous population. It was clear from these findings that the issues are multifaceted, and the optimal way to proceed with research in the area of neonatal pain is with an interdisciplinary team format. / Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies / Graduate

The present study examined stimulus control in autistic children. A matching-to-sample procedure was employed in all experiments. In the first part of Experiment I, autistic and control subjects were trained to discriminate between a vertical line and a line tilted at an angle of 33 degrees from vertical. Following training, subjects were given a generalization test to determine the degree of dimensional control by line tilt. In the second part of Experiment I, subjects were trained to discriminate between a vertical line and lines tilted progressively closer to vertical. Experiment II was also a test for the degree of dimensional control by the line tilt. In Experiment I, the autistic subjects took a greater number of trials than the controls to reach the criterion of 24 consecutive correct trials. However, the difference in the number of trials taken by the two groups was not large. There was also little difference between the autistic and control subjects in part two of Experiment I. All of the autistic subjects successfully discriminated between a vertical line and a 2 degree line tilt to a criterion of eight consecutive correct trials. In the generalization tests in Experiments I and II, there was little difference between the autistic and control subjects in dimensional stimulus control. In Experiment III, the autistic subjects were examined for acquisition of a multidimensional discrimination. Both autistic and control subjects were trained to match a standard stimulus with one of four comparison stimuli that were varied in shape and in the presence and absence of a star within the shape. The autistic subjects took a greater number of trials than the controls to reach the criterion of eight consecutive correct trials. However, the difference between the autistic and control subjects in the number of trials taken to reach criterion was not large. In summary, the study found little difference between autistic and control subjects in the acquisition of simple or multidimensional discrimination. As well, there was little difference between the autistics and the controls in dimensional stimulus control. The results of the study suggest that the autistic child's problem is not one of stimulus selectivity. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate