Fostering Full Implementation of Evidence-Based Practice.

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a widely endorsed concept, but many occupational therapy practitioners would like to be more informed and supported in its full implementation. They need information on the evolving definitions and concepts of EBP, encouragement to develop and adopt EBP models that link to occupational therapy's professional values, and methods that translate evidence into answers for clinical questions. This column discusses these needs and makes recommendations to the American Occupational Therapy Association for addressing them.

Towards a modified consumer haptic device for robotic-assisted fine-motor repetitive motion training.

Purpose: To develop, test and evaluate affordable haptic technology to provide robotic-assisted repetitive motion fine-motor training.

Methods: A haptic computer/user interface was modified by adding a pantograph to hold a pen and to increase the haptic workspace. Custom software moves a pen attached to the device through prescribed three-dimensional (3D) stroke sequences to create two-dimensional glyphs.

The effect of sensory stories on targeted behaviors in preschool children with autism.

This study examined the effectiveness of Sensory Stories on "circle time" behaviors in preschool children with autism. This single-system ABA design with a convenience sample of four participants consisted of one week for each A phase and two weeks for the B phase. The intervention phase (B) consisted of reading a Sensory Story from one to three times per day to each child.

Outcomes associated with a summer handwriting course for elementary students.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the benefits of a summer handwriting instruction course offered to community elementary-age students.

Methods: Twenty-six students participated in the study and attended instruction for 1 hour per day for 2 weeks. Pre- and posttesting with the Evaluation Tool of Children's Handwriting (ETCH) were conducted.

The role of fungal pathogens in flower size and seed mass variation in three species of Hydrophyllum (Hydrophyllaceae).

Identifying ecological factors that affect seed number and seed size is key to understanding the persistence of large seed mass variation in some plant species. Pathogens may increase seed mass variation by increasing resource demand over the growing season such that late fruits experience higher resource competition than early fruits. We tested whether Fusarium sp.

Seed fitness of hermaphrodites in areas with females and anther smut disease: Silene acaulis and Microbotryum violaceum.

Sex-dependent infection rates could change the effective sex ratio of a population. Here, I tested whether females and hermaphrodites of Silene acaulis were equally likely to be infected by Microbotryum violaceum, a fungus that sterilizes the host, and whether sex allocation in hermaphrodites differed between low and high disease plots. Sex ratios of healthy and diseased plants were estimated in five natural plots.

Fine motor activities in Head Start and kindergarten classrooms.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe and compare the fine motor activities in Head Start and kindergarten classrooms in order to open a dialogue between the two contexts about the fine motor activities children in preschool will face in kindergarten.

Methods: Children in 10 Head Start and 10 kindergarten classrooms were observed for 1 day each. Time spent in activities was categorized into four groups: fine motor activities with no academic purpose, fine motor activities with academic purpose, academic activities with no fine motor component, and nonacademic activities with no fine motor component.

Effect of pollinator-inflicted ovule damage on floral abscission in the yucca-yucca moth mutualism: the role of mechanical and chemical factors.

The long-term persistence of obligate mutualisms (over 40 Mya in both fig/fig wasps and yucca/yucca moths) raises the question of how one species limits exploitation by the other species, even though there is selection pressure on individuals to maximize fitness. In the case of yuccas, moths serve as the plant's only pollinator, but eggs laid by the moths before pollination hatch into larvae that consume seeds. Previous studies have shown that flowers with high egg loads are more likely to abscise.

Consistency of handwriting in early elementary students.

Objective: The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine the consistency of handwriting in children from the beginning of kindergarten to the middle of the first-grade year. Consistency was defined as retaining the same qualitative performance and relative ranking over time.

Method: Ninety-three children were tested at the beginning of the kindergarten year and again in the middle of the first-grade year on the Scale of Children's Readiness In PrinTing (SCRIPT).

Predicting handwriting performance of early elementary students with the developmental test of visual-motor integration.

The purpose of this study was to examine use of the Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration in predicting handwriting performance of early elementary students and the contribution of sex. An additional purpose was to examine whether successful completion of the first nine figures or the oblique cross from the test predicted handwriting. 101 children were tested at the beginning of their kindergarten year and again in the middle of the first-grade year on the Scale of Children's Readiness In PrinTing (SCRIPT).

Coexistence of mutualists and antagonists: exploring the impact of cheaters on the yucca - yucca moth mutualism.

Mutualists and non-mutualistic cheaters commonly coexist, but the effect of mutualist-cheater interactions on the evolution and stability of mutualisms or persistence of cheater populations is not well understood. Yuccas and yucca moths are an example of an obligate mutualism in which cheaters are frequently present. Larvae of both pollinators and cheaters eat developing yucca seeds, but cheaters no longer pollinate and rely on the mutualist species for seed availability.