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Special educators are a high risk group, prone to low job satisfaction, low self-efficacy, and increased stress and burnout. The attrition rate of special educators is particularly high, contributing to an overall shortage of qualified teachers throughout the United States. While the problems of special educators are widely discussed in the literature, scant intervention research has targeted this population, and what has been done suffers from design limitations, lack of a guiding theoretical framework, and a focus on symptom reduction, rather than mediating psychological processes. Acceptance and commitment therapeutic (ACT) interventions hold promise for addressing special education teacher burnout.

This three year longitudinal study examined the effects of IQ, age of diagnosis, school socioeconomic status (SES) and participation in desegregation programs on the remediation of learning disabilities. Participants included 176 children who were diagnosed with a learning disability, 44 of whom were participants in a voluntary transfer program. Baseline discrepancies between standardized cognitive and achievement scores were obtained at the time of the initial learning disability diagnosis. The effect of remediation was measured at a three-year re-evaluation period. Results indicated that IQ and age at diagnosis were significant predictors of remedial success, while school SES and transfer status were not. Students with higher IQ scores, who were identified at an earlier age, showed greater remedial gains. The results underscore the importance of early identification and suggest more intensive services and follow-up be given to children with lower IQ. (Contains 2 tables.)

Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) responses on a picture-naming task were used to test the hypothesis that dyslexia involves phonological, but not semantic, processing deficits. Participants included 16 children with dyslexia and 31 control children between 8 and 10 years of age who did not differ in receptive vocabulary. As hypothesized, children with dyslexia demonstrated more TOTs and proportionally more errors in the phonological, but not semantic, step of word retrieval. Longer and low-frequency words also prompted more TOTs. The groups did not differ in phonological errors on a follow-up recognition task. The results provide evidence of text-independent, on-line phonological processing deficits in readers with dyslexia. (Contains 4 tables.)

The authors examined the associations of 3 types of psychological coping (task-based, emotion-based, avoidance), 2 types of religious coping (positive, negative), and their interactions with grief of 57 mothers bereaved by the sudden death of a child. Results indicated that mothers who use emotion-based coping report significantly higher levels of grief, whereas mothers who use avoidance coping report lower levels of grief. The interaction of task coping and positive religious coping was also associated with lower self-reported grief. The findings support the differential utility of various coping styles on mothers' grief reactions to the sudden death of a child.

This study investigated mental health professionals' assessment of the pathognomonic significance of religious beliefs. A total of 110 participants reviewed 3 vignettes depicting individuals possessing the religious beliefs associated with Catholicism, Mormonism, and Nation of Islam. The religious beliefs of the individuals in the vignettes were identified as either being integral to a religious tradition or not and also as either resulting in a threat to harm another or not. Identifying beliefs as religious resulted in lower ratings of pathology for 2 of the religions, and beliefs that did not involve a threat to harm also were rated lower for the same 2 religions. The results reveal a disjuncture between recommendations of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) and clinicians' judgments.

Examines the relation between toys and intentions, focusing on preschoolers. Toys reveal important cultural concerns, help develop valued attributes, and can be sensitive indicators of historical change. Toys and play allow children freedom to express personal intentionality regarding cultural intentions. (SM)

Background and Aims: Homelessness is one of the most significant harms associated with gambling and appears to affect older adults disproportionately, but the relationship has received little research attention. This exploratory study investigated how gambling and homelessness is linked in older adults. Methods: Using qualitative research methods, we undertook in‐depth semi structured face‐to‐face individual and group interviews to gather data from a purposive sample (n = 48) of key informants working in service provision for older adults (aged 50+ years) experiencing gambling‐related harm and/or homelessness in Victoria, Australia. Thematic analysis of data focused on evaluating mechanisms and identifying contextual conditions that activate pathways between gambling and homelessness. Results: The relationship between gambling and homelessness in older adults is often indirect and non‐linear, and can represent a reflexive cycle. Experiencing periods of homelessness into older age can contribute to gambling, often because the adverse impacts of homelessness on older adults' mental and material wellbeing increase the appeal of gambling. Additionally, comorbidities (e.g. substance use, mental illness, past trauma) and structural conditions (e.g. gambling accessibility, poverty, housing insecurity) can activate gambling. Furthermore, because gambling in the older homeless adult population is frequently hidden and regularly overlooked by service providers, it often continues unabated. Gambling in older adults can also contribute to the onset of first‐time homelessness. Large and rapid losses from high‐intensity gambling frequently characterize this route to homelessness. Such gambling is often triggered by major life events and changes (e.g. bereavement, job loss, relationship difficulties), and the outcomes are often worsened by the conduct of gambling operators and creditors. Conclusions: The link between gambling and homelessness in older adults is complex, with connecting mechanisms often contingent upon individual, interpersonal and structural conditions and contexts. There is potential for preventative and ameliorative action given many of the underlying conditions appear modifiable through policy intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined associations among parental divorce, family conflict, sex, and young men's and women's achievement of intimacy. Analyses indicated that family conflict and sex, but not divorce, were significantly related to intimacy. Examination of those within the divorced group suggest that time of divorce, along with family conflict, were related to intimacy.

This study investigated factors influencing the adjustment of families of 49 autistic children (38 boys, 11 girls) to the stress of raising an autistic child. Analysis indicated that the severity of the child's disorder (stress), mother's social support (resources), and mother's perceived locus of control (perception) were significant factors in family adjustment. In addition, evidence suggested that agency affiliation also was an unexpected, yet important factor.