Review for Midterm Psychology of the Exceptional Child
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Review for Midterm – Psychology of the Exceptional Child
Carolyn R. Fallahi, Ph. D.
Your exam will consist of the following: short essays and “ID’s” (Identification). The IDs should be 2-3 sentences long. The short essays are ½ to 1 page.
Introduction to the study of abnormal child psychology
1) The case of Genie
2) Defining abnormal behavior – what is the critiera that we use to determine if a child has a disorder?
3) Developmental pathways. Know the difference between multifinality (similar early experiences lead to different outcomes) versus equifinality (different early experiences lead to similar outcomes).
4) Risk and resilience
5) Why are certain disorders seemingly increasing? We talked about the history of ADHD and current issues in the Autistic spectrum disorders.
6) What are some of the well known risk factors with the development of a psychiatric disorder?
7) Sex differences in the development of a psychiatric disorder – remember the magic age is 3 years old.
8) Rates and expressions of mental disorders, e.g. ethnicity. Why do different minority groups get diagnosed with psychiatric disorders more often?
Models of psychopathology – Who is at risk?
1) What does etiology mean?
2) What is the diathesis stress model?
3) What is the liability threshold model?
4) Huntington’s disease or Huntington’s chorea
5) Multifactorial transmission
6) Categorical approach to classification, e.g. DSM-IV-TR
7) Issues with the upcoming DSM-V (2012)
8) Dimensional approach to classification
9) Family research used for figuring out the genetic loading, e.g. identical versus fraternal twins, concordance rates
10) Can genes be modified? Understand the main point of the Ghost in your Genes documentary.
11) Neural plasticity and the role of experience
12) Brandi Binder case
13) Research looking at rats in an enriched environment
14) David Snowden’s work with nuns
Conducting research in childhood psychopathology
1) Case studies
2) Epidemiology
3) Prevalence
4) Incidence
5) The liability threshold model (risk factors and protective factors that might lead to the development of a psychiatric disorder)
6) Ho and Ha hypotheses
7) Independent and Dependent variables
8) Operationalizing your DV
9) What are confounding variables? Can you get rid of confounding variables?
10) Matching versus randomization
11) What is an analog study?
12) Know the different designs presented in class, e.g. ABAB, within subjects design, between subjects design, mixed designs
13) Interviews, surveys, clinical interviews
14) Cross-sectional versus longitudinal designs
15) Experiment
16) Correlational studies
17) Probability, p-values, statistical versus practical significance
Ethical issues
1) We have a number of laws that govern psychologist’s conduct. What are some of those laws? (e.g. sexual contact, confidentiality, keeping records).
2) APA professional organization – what can they do if there is an ethical breech?
3) An understanding that ethical behavior reflects the culture – examples?
4) How do you handle an ethical situation when there is a difference between what the patient (child) wants and what the parent wants out of therapy?
5) Ethics involved in doing research with children, e.g. informed consent versus assent.
6) Know some of the horrible research practices in the history of our country, e.g. the 1896 study examining whether or not we could give a spinal tap without harm; how institutionalized children were experimented upon; the Tuskegee study; the Willowbrook state school study.
7) The famous Parham v. J. R. (1979) landmark case.
8) Know the basic APA principles for psychologists, e.g. beneficence vs. nonmaleficence.
9) What is confidential with children and what isn’t?
10) Can we force children to participate in research? Therapy?
11) IRB or HSC (Institutional Review Board or Human Subjects Committee).
Assessment, classification, and treatment
1) Projective tests, e.g. Rorschach, TAT, CAT, Incomplete sentences blank. Understand the theory behind projectives.
2) The Dictionary of Disorders; Rosenhan’s article; Szaz’s article
3) The antipsychiatry movement
4) Issues related to diagnosis – are they reliable? Stigma, etc.
5) DSM-IV-TR
6) Why would psychologists want to classify a patient with the DSM?
7) Objective personality tests, e.g. MMPI2.
8) Intelligence testing, e.g. WISC-IV.
Behavioral disorders
1) Understand the symptoms involved with diagnosing Conduct Disorder (CD) and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)
2) What are the issues with defining “bad behavior”?
3) Should ODD and CD be on a continuum?
4) Frick et al (1993)’s meta-analytic study of CD.
5) Problems with CD diagnosis, e.g. lack of developmental norms, the same diagnostic label being applied to children of very different behavioral presentations, not taking into account the environmental influences that might lead to the diagnosis of CD.
6) Associated problems with CD, e.g. intelligence, achievement, academics, problems with family and peers.
7) Common co-occurring diagnoses associated with CD.
8) Differences in behavioral presentation for boys versus girls.
9) Etiological explanations for CD, e.g. genetic and environmental explanations, birth complications, parental explanations, neurophysiological responding, temperament.
10) What are some of the treatments we use for CD? ODD?
11) Understand the symptoms involved with diagnosing ADHD. What are the different types or presentations?
12) What are the current issues with diagnosis?
13) What are the common co-occurring disorders associated with ADHD?
14) What are the common problems associated with ADHD?, e.g. intelligence, academics, emotion dysregulation, parent and peer problems, sleep problems, etc.
15) What is the developmental course of ADHD?
16) What are the genetic explanations for ADHD? Deficits in arousal? Brain structure abnormalities? Neurotransmitter research? Pregnancy and birth complications?
17) How do we treat ADHD?