Marburg, Universiẗat, Diss., 2000.

Thesis (D. H. Sc.)--Deakin University. / "February 2005." Title taken from title screen (viewed October 8, 2007). Includes bibliographical references (p. 345-370) and appendices.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Baylor University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 123-135).

Thesis (D.C.P. / M. Sc.)--School of Psychology, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, 2007. / Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology/Master of Science to the School of Psychology. Title from title screen (viewed 15 January 2009). Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.

No description available.

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of whether Behavioral Skills Training (BST) was effective in teaching PEAK-DT to parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Along with, if parent implementation of PEAK was effective in increasing the children’s PEAK scores. Three parents and their child with autism were participants in the current study using the PEAK Relational Training System-Direct Training module (PEAK-DT). The procedure first required the parents to read information on how to implement the programs found in the introduction of the PEAK-DT module. Following this step, parents observed their child’s therapy sessions conducted at an ABA clinic by student therapists. Next, the parents were instructed to implement three programs and received feedback from the child’s therapist. Implementation fidelity was collected based on the parent performance and child progress was recorded based on percent correct responding within the actual program. Each parent was able to successfully implement programs within the PEAK-DT module within their child’s therapy sessions and the children were accurately responding and two of the three children had increases in skill acquisition. The results of the present study suggest that training parents using a BST model to implement PEAK-DT was effective in teaching children with autism.

Current diagnostic criteria for autism are guided by the 'Triad of Impairments' (Wing & Gould, 1979), of which 'social impairment' forms an individual category. Social difficulties have been observed in children with autism under the age of two years and the difficulties continue throughout adulthood. Few studies have used computer-based training packages (CBTP's) to facilitate social competency in individuals with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). The present study was completed in two phases: Phase I -compared 14 individuals with ASD (IQ ý: 70), ten individuals with no disabilities (ND) and eight individuals with mild mental retardation (MR; IQ 50-70) on their ability to identify appropriate and inappropriate social interactions using 12 scenarios on a tailor-made DVD. Phase H- the ASD group was divided into two groups. Eight individuals were trained using six of the scenarios from Phase I and eight new scenarios. Following training, both groups with ASD re-viewed the 12 scenarios shown in Phase I. The results showed that individuals with ASD were less able_to identify appropriate and inappropriate social skills than individuals with MR (t (18) = 4.9, p<00 1) or ND (t (13) = 7.5, p<00 1). The severity of the autistic symptoms negatively impacted on performance (r (14) =- . 83, p<. 001). The training group significantly improved their performance (z = -2.52, p= . 05) on both trained (z = -2.207, p= . 027) and untrained scenarios (z = -2.032, p . 042). The untrained group scores showed no significant difference between Phase I and Phase II. The current study identified that individuals with autism have more difficulty understanding inappropriate and appropriate behaviour than their MR and ND peers. However the DVD was an effective method of training a component of social competency for this population. Within the trained group, ability improved on untrained as well as trained scenarios, this suggests a generalisation of skills rather than rote learning or practice effects. Future studies would benefit from addressing how to generalise this skill from computers to 'real-life' situations.

Emotional disorders are common in people with brain damage. It is often difficult to determine whether such disorders are a result of a deficit in recognition, expression, or regulation of emotion due to brain damage per se, or if they are reactive to other functional limitations. The Victoria Emotion Recognition Test (VERT) was developed to provide a standardized tool for the assessment of deficits in the recognition of facial and tonal affect. The VERT was constructed on the basis of neurophysiological and behavioural theories of emotion and neuropsychological theories of agnosia. The VERT consists of three subtests in which four emotions (angry, sad, happy and afraid) are presented at three levels of intensity. The visual subtest presents photographs of faces; the auditory subtest, audiotaped voice clips; and the auditory/visual subtest, both photographs and voice clips. Psychometric results of the standardization studies suggest that the VERT measures an aspect of the recognition of facial and tonal emotion that is independent of more basic skills in face recognition and auditory nonverbal memory. The theoretical construct of recognition of emotion was investigated within the framework of an "affective agnosia". The results suggest that a broader concept of agnosia is necessary in order to include failures in recognition of emotion within this framework. / Graduate

The principal intention of this study was to explore the heuristic value of the story of the alchemical vessel in understanding borderline conditions and pursuing their psychotherapy. It establishes the pertinence of the case study as a method of exploring the content and process of psychotherapy. The essential nature of story-telling is examined and the hypothesis is made that psychotherapy, borderline conditions, the myth of the alchemical vessel and the case study all reflect instances of story-telling. Towards the end of examining their mutual reflection, and thus heuristic value, elements of Jungian theory, the phenomenology of borderline conditions and case material are examined. Through the examination of certain shared themes which emerge from the story of the alchemical vessel and the material of psychotherapy it is established that there is indeed a metaphoric resonance between the different stories. Furthermore this resonance is useful in that it provides a secure vantage point as well as guidance towards effecting transformation for the client. The validity of the metaphoric resonance is examined and areas of weakness highlighted. Some suggestions are made concerning further research.

abstract: Knowing that disorder is related to crime, it has become essential for criminologists to understand how and why certain individuals perceive disorder. Using data from the Perceptions of Neighborhood Disorder and Interpersonal Conflict Project, this study uses a fixed photograph of a neighborhood, to assess whether individuals "see" disorder cues. A final sample size of n=815 respondents were asked to indicate if they saw particular disorder cues in the photograph. The results show that certain personal characteristics do predict whether an individual sees disorder. Because of the experimental design, results are a product of the individual's personal characteristics, not of the respondent's neighborhood. These findings suggest that the perception of disorder is not as clear cut as once thought. Future research should explore what about these personal characteristics foster the perception of disorder when it is not present, as well as, how to fight disorder in neighborhoods when perception plays such a substantial role. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Criminology and Criminal Justice 2013