Peer-mediated procedures to induce swallowing and food acceptance in young children.

Two studies demonstrated a functional relationship between a peer modeling procedure and the treatment of feeding disorders with 2 young children. In the first experiment, the use of a peer model treatment package was shown to induce swallowing in a child with dysphagia who had never swallowed food or liquid. In the second experiment, a child who consistently declined food was induced to increase food acceptance as a function of the same peer modeling package.

Infantile colic: a review.

Infant colic is an extremely common but poorly understood symptom complex, causing great distress for infant, parents, and physician. Many theories have been suggested to explain this entity, but none are widely accepted. Numerous therapies have been proposed; however, few are helpful.

Psychogenic chest pain in children.

Thirty-six children with psychogenic chest pain were studied. A specific stressful situation causally related to the onset of symptoms could be identified in most patients with psychogenic chest pain. Fifty-five per cent of children with psychogenic chest pain had a history of other recurrent somatic complaints and 30% had a history of significant sleep disturbances.

Hypophosphatemic rickets in an adolescent cured by excision of a nonossifying fibroma.

An adolescent girl complaining of chronic heel pain was found to have acquired hypophosphatemic rickets and a nonossifying fibroma of the femur. The hypophosphatemic rickets was completely corrected by surgical excision of the bone lesion. This case represents another example of tumor-induced osteomalacia.

Chronic neurotic encopresis as a paradigm of a multifactorial psychiatric disorder.

Chronic neurotic encopresis (CNE), a childhood psychiatric disorder characterized by inappropriate fecal soiling, necessitated the formation of the following specific etiological factors: a) a neurologically immature developmental musculature, an organic condition which may complicate toilet training; b) premature or harsh toilet training; c) a family constellation in which the father is frequently absent and the mother erratic, emotionally inappropriate, and distant; d) the child's formation of a noncommunicative, passive, dependent personality. All of these factors are helpful in explaining the occurrence of CNE, which is thus seen as the result of a synergistic interaction among them. The complexity of etiological agents dictates a multifactorial rather than unicausal model of mental illness.

Assessment of ambulatory care: application of the tracer methodology.

Utilizing a tracer method in the assessment of care was investigated in a large pediatric clinic. A set of tracers were selected and agreement was obtained concerning the relevance of care criteria by at least 80 per cent of the facility physicians. One tracer, iron-deficiency anemia, was studied using two nonphysician abstractors to review a sample of 100 patient records with hemoglobins of 11.

Tine test compliance in a clinic setting.

Parental compliance in keeping a return appointment for the purpose of having their child's Tuberculin Tine test read was studied in the setting of a large urban pediatric clinic. This compliance rate was found to be 72%. Various factors which could potentially affect compliance with this procedure were examined, and the only factor which correlated significantly was family size.