Arte-terapia no desenvolvimento visomotor de crianças deficientes auditivas / Art-therapy toward visomotor development in children with hearing disorders

Este estudo tem por objetivo avaliar a contribuiçäo da Arte-Terapia no desenvolvimento visomotor de crianças deficientes auditivas, com a aplicaçäo do Teste Gestáltico Visomotor Bender, antes e depois das sessöes de Arte-Terapia

Megavitamins and learning disorders: a controlled double-blind experiment.

The study investigated the effectiveness of large amounts of ascorbic acid, niacinamide, calcium pantothenate, and pyridoxine when added to a low carbohydrate-high protein diet with 20 learning disabled children. After a double-blind, 6-month period of treatment, the addition of vitamins to the diet failed to produce significant improvements when compared to the diet alone on a variety of intellectual, school achievement, perceptual, and behavioral, measures. Regardless of their group assignment, 18 children showed improvements on a parent-administered behavior checklist. However, without a diet-placebo control group, these gains may have been produced by parental enthusiasm or the children's maturation rather than dietary control. The children's urinary excretion of kryptopyrrole was unrelated to whether or not they showed pre-, post-test gains and, therefore, proved to be invalid as a screening test for "vitamin dependent (on pharmacologic doses) learning disorders."

Minimal brain dysfunction, stimulant drugs, and autonomic nervous system activity.

Autonomic base levels and responsivity to stimuli were investigated in normal and minimally brain dysfunctioned (MBD) children. Continuous recordings of skin conductance, heart rate, skin temperature, and respiration rate were made during rest, at presentation of tones, and when performing a reaction time task. No significant differences in base levels were obtained between normal and MBD children when not taking drugs, but stimulant medication increased skin conductance and heart rate and decreased skin temperature and reaction time. The MBD children were less reactive, autonomically, to all types of stimuli. Stimulant drugs decreased electrodermal responsivity, which was predictable from concurrent changes in base line skin conductance and skintemperature. The MBD performance deficits are not related to lower autonomic responsivity or lower absolute base levels of arousal, but MBD children may perform better at relatively high autonomic base levels.

Can hyperbaric oxygenation improve cognitive functioning in the organically impaired elderly?: a critical review.

The present article reviews experimental investigation concerned with the effect of hyperbaric oxygenation upon cognitive functioning in the organically-impaired elderly. The conclusion of the Jacobs et al. studies was that hyperbaric oxygenation in cases of chronic organic brain damage (regardless of etiology) leads to improvement in cognitive functioning and general behavior on the ward. Goldfarb et al. (1972) found no evidence to support this conclusion. A critique of the above studies indicates several methodological weaknesses. First, there are serious reservations concerning the makeup of the samples employed in the Jacobs et al. (1969, 1971, 1972, 1973) investigations: it is highly uncertain that most of the Jacobs et al. subjects were suffering from moderate or severe chronic organic brain damage. One reason for the discrepancy between the Jacobs and Goldfarb studies is that the subjects in the later study were more deteriorated and perhaps not as amenable to hyperbaric oxygenation. Secondly, the Bender-Gestalt Test and Tien's Organic Integrity Test have not been validated in an elderly sample. The gain evidenced on the Stockton Geriatric Rating Scale (Jacobs et al., 1969, 1971, 1972) may have little practical significance, and since the data were pooled across groups, the so-called falloff effect could not have been measured. Third, and most significantly, the experimental designs employed in the Jacobs et al., the Goldfarb et al., and the Jacobs followup investigations have such serious shortcomings that the findings must be regarded as inconclusive. Such factors as experimenter attention, testing effects, and familiarity with the experimenter could account for the change in cognitive functioning. Further, in the case of the Jacobs et al. study, the ward personnel may have treated the control group differently after learning that they were expected to improve. Additionally, the subjects in the Jacobs et al. study (1969) themselves may have heard about this prognosis and may have become more interested in performing well on the psychological tests. Thuse, there is no unambiguous evidence that hyperbaric oxygenation was responsible for the changes or lack of changes in cognitive functioning in the samples presented in these studies.

Psychological changes correlated with thalamotomy site.

The effects of surgically placed thalamic lesions on cognitive skills, as measured by psychological tests, are dependent upon the nature of the skill and the site of the lesion. Lesions within the limits of the centrum medianum nucleus produce few deficits, whereas lesions outside its limits result in deficits for a greater number of skills. In general, the more complex skills revealed more impairment and the deficits were long lasting.