Out of Sight or Out of Mind? Another Look at Deception in Autism

The penny-hiding game is a deception game that occurs naturally in parent-child and child-child interaction. It involves minimal linguistic demands, and is lots of fun. Oswald and Ollendick (1989) employed it with subjects with autism and reported an impaired capacity for deception. They also found that this correlated with performance on both a false belief ("theory of mind") test as well as various measures of social behaviour. The experiment reported here set out to replicate Oswald and Ollendick's important results, and then extend them by using a new technique for error analysis. We succeeded in replicating the autism-specific deception impairment as well as the finding that deception capacity correlates highly with performance on a false belief test. In addition, the new analytic technique discriminated the group with autism from controls more clearly than the traditional index of deception. Specifically, subjects with autism, whilst fully capable of enjoying the game as a game of object occlusion (keeping things out of sight), failed to perceive the game as a game of information occlusion (keeping things out of mind), unlike normal children or subjects with a mental handicap of an equivalent or lower mental age. The dissociation in autism between occluding objects vs occluding information is discussed in relation to other research showing that subjects with autism are impaired in understanding the principle that "seeing leads to knowing".     

The Development and Validation of Australian Indices of Child Development—Part I: Conceptualisation and Development

The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) is a major national study examining the lives of Australian children, using a cross-sequential cohort design and data from parents, children, and teachers for 5,107 infants (3–19 months) and 4,983 children (4–5 years). Its data are publicly accessible and are used by researchers from many disciplinary backgrounds. It contains multiple measures of children’s developmental outcomes as well as a broad range of information on the contexts of their lives. This paper reports on the development of summary outcome indices of child development using the LSAC data. The indices were developed to fill the need for indicators suitable for use by diverse data users in order to guide government policy and interventions which support young children’s optimal development. The concepts underpinning the indices and the methods of their development are presented. Two outcome indices (infant and child) were developed, each consisting of three domains—health and physical development, social and emotional functioning, and learning competency. A total of 16 measures are used to make up these three domains in the Outcome Index for the Child Cohort and six measures for the Infant Cohort. These measures are described and evidence supporting the structure of the domains and their underlying latent constructs is provided for both cohorts. The factorial structure of the Outcome Index is adequate for both cohorts, but was stronger for the child than infant cohort. It is concluded that the LSAC Outcome Index is a parsimonious measure representing the major components of development which is suitable for non-specialist data users. A companion paper (Sanson et al. 2010) presents evidence of the validity of the Index.     

Global eradication of poliomyelitis: Is the end of the campaign in sight?

“The world may be on the brink of achieving a great public health victory. Progress towards eradication of poliomyelitis is outlined highlighting remaining problems.”     

Where in the World Am I? Where Should I Be? Experiences and Exhortations of an Itinerant Pediatric Nurse Practitioner

This article describes the development of a lifelong interest in and commitment to the well-being of the world's children. Following a trip to Africa as a teenager, the author chose nursing as a vehicle for involvement with the delight, diversity, and disparities among children. The "accidents" of birth and the impact of geography and poverty on child health are demonstrated in global statistics but are better grasped by experiences in resource-poor countries such as Haiti, as presented here. Interest, involvement, and advocacy by pediatric nurse practitioners are encouraged and needed.     

Newborn screening in Canada – Are we out of step?

OBJECTIVES

To review the status of universal newborn screening programs in Canada.

METHODS

A brief questionnaire (seven questions) was circulated to one key individual in each province (n=10) and territory (n=3). These individuals were usually physicians or clinical biochemists closely involved in the diagnosis and treatment of genetic metabolic diseases.

RESULTS

Universal newborn screening is under provincial jurisdiction. The number of diseases screened for varies and ranges from three to 28. Nine provinces/territories have a central computerized system for tracking initially positive cases. Only five provinces/territories have adequate personnel and resources for follow-up and treatment. Treatment costs are only partially covered in most jurisdictions. Only five provinces/territories have formal advisory committees with official mandates. Expensive, restricted access treatment products for adults with inherited metabolic diseases are only fully available in six provinces/territories. There is very limited access to these products in an additional four provinces/territories. To date, specific informed consent for newborn screening is not required in any province or territory.

CONCLUSIONS

Canada is far behind the rest of the developed (and some ‘emerging’) countries of the world in the field of universal newborn screening. New strategies for advocating expanded screening, follow-up and (long-term) payment of treatment costs on behalf of the potentially affected infants and their families must be devised, and such initiatives should include participation from the new Public Health Agency of Canada.     

Burn out – slow down?

The article focuses on multitasking and virtual mobility in young people’s everyday life. The author demonstrates how paradoxes of a digital high speed society massively influence both the educational sphere and young people’s leisure time and encourage thinking about strategies concerning the work-life balance and burnout prevention in young target groups.     

The Development and Validation of Australian Indices of Child Development—Part II: Validity Support

The two outcome indices described in a companion paper (Sanson et al., Child Indicators Research, 2009) were developed using data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). These indices, one for infants and the other for 4 year to 5 year old children, were designed to fill the need for parsimonious measures of children’s developmental status to be used in analyses by a broad range of data users and to guide government policy and interventions to support young children’s optimal development. This paper presents evidence from Wave 1data from LSAC to support the validity of these indices and their three domain scores of Physical, Social/Emotional, and Learning. Relationships between the indices and child, maternal, family, and neighborhood factors which are known to relate concurrently to child outcomes were examined. Meaningful associations were found with the selected variables, thereby demonstrating the usefulness of the outcome indices as tools for understanding children’s development in their family and socio-cultural contexts. It is concluded that the outcome indices are valuable tools for increasing understanding of influences on children’s development, and for guiding policy and practice to optimize children’s life chances.     

Newborn Screening Guidelines for Congenital Hypothyroidism in India: Recommendations of the Indian Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Endocrinology (ISPAE) – Part I: Screening and Confirmation of Diagnosis

The Indian Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Endocrinology has formulated locally relevant Clinical Practice Guidelines for newborn screening, diagnosis and management of primary congenital hypothyroidism (CH). Recommendations: Screening should be done for every newborn using cord blood, or postnatal blood, ideally at 48 to 72 h of age. On this screen sample, neonates with TSH?>?20 mIU/L serum units (or >34 mIU/L for samples taken between 24 to 48 h of age) should be recalled for confirmation. For screen TSH?>?40 mIU/L, immediate confirmatory venous T4/FT4 and TSH, and for milder elevation of screen TSH, a second screening TSH at 7 to 10 d of age, should be taken. Preterm and low birth weight infants should undergo screening at 48–72 h postnatal age. Sick babies should be screened at least by 7 d of age. Venous confirmatory TSH >20 mIU/L before age 2 wk and >10 mIU/L after age 2 wk, with low T4 (<10 μg/dL) or FT4 (<1.17 ng/dL) indicate primary CH and treatment initiation. Imaging is recommended by radionuclide scintigraphy and ultrasonography after CH is biochemically confirmed but treatment should not be delayed till scans are performed. Levothyroxine is commenced at 10 to 15 μg/kg in the neonatal period. Serum T4/FT4 is measured at 2 wk and TSH and T4/FT4 at 1 mo, then 2 monthly till 6 mo, 3 monthly from 6 mo-3 y and every 3–6 mo thereafter. Babies with the possibility of transient congenital hypothyroidism should be re-evaluated at age 3 y, to assess the need for lifelong therapy.