A 22 year old right-handed man suffered a viral meningoencephalitis, possibly herpetic, resulting in bilateral damage to the temporal lobes as confirmed by appropriate clinical, electrophysiological and neuroradiological studies. Extended clinical neuropsychological evaluation documented all the characteristic features of the syndrome described by Klüver and Bucy following bilateral ablation of the temporal lobes in adult Rhesus monkeys, including "psychic blindness," oral exploration, hypermetamorphic impulse to action," lack of emotional responsiveness, aberrant sexual behavior, and an insatiable appetite. Additionally, a severe Wernicke's aphasia and a profound memory disorder were evident. The significance of these features as regards limbic function in the human is discussed.
This article describes a cognitive-behavioral approach to teaching metacognitive executive thinking strategies to children with disorders of executive function. The intervention is based on the notion that some children with disorders of executive function have disorders of higher level language, which predispose them to the executive impairments. It is proposed that teaching and reinforcing metacognitive thinking strategies may help advance verbal mediation of complex tasks and self-regulation of behavior. Despite the growing literature on developmental executive disorders, little has been written about interventions that may enable the children to acquire some of the requisite adaptive skills. The ideas expressed herein should be considered an invitation for the initiation of empirical studies of intervention and outcome effects.
Reading provides the major focus this month. Marlowe, Egner, and Foreman provide a study on reading comprehension; Jackson describes a procedure for teaching word recognition to nonreaders, and Williamson examines the concurrent validity of the Wide Range Achievement Test.The Programs, Materials, and Techniques column is pleased to report a study by Stowitschek and Stowitschek on handwriting performance, a rarely examined basic skill. The final issue is one central to this column, the question of assessment and treatment validity by Hofmeister. -D.A.S.
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