A Basis for Preventive Psychiatry

Abstract

MF-$0.65 HC-$3.29 *Emotionally Disturbed; *Exceptional Child Research; *Intervention; Learning Disabilities; Neurologically Handicapped; *Perceptually Handicapped; Primary Grades; Program Effectiveness; Psychological Evaluation; *Screening Tests Screened for psychiatric, neurologic, perceptual, psychologic, and educational deficits were 168 New York City first graders; and provided was an intervention program for 29 children judged to be perceptually handicapped, Socioeconomic and racial data showed Ss to be 79% white, 12% black, 9% oriental; and 23% of the sample to be from Spanish speaking homes. Intelligence levels followed the average distribution curve. Twelve percent of the children showed symptoms of emotional decompensation, while 25% were considered well adjusted, and the remaining 66% showed mild or moderate symptoms of emotional stress. Seventy to eighty percent of the children had difficulty with finger-gnossis, right-left discrimina.,ion, and synkinesis in the neurological examination. The intervention group was selected by the following criteria: presence of perceptual deviations in spatial and temporal organization, evidence that cerebral dominance for language was not yet established, and poor fine motor coordination. The intervention group tended to cluster in the lower socioeconomic groups; to show some degree of psychiatric impairment and to have low initial reading sccces. Readministration of educational tests at the end of the first grade revealed that the children in the intervention group were ine.;.stinguishable in their reading achievement from the total first grade. The study indicated the effectiveness of integrating the skills of a medical center with those of the public schools. The stay was replicated the following year with similar findings. (D3) FILMED FROM BEST AVAILABLE COPY