The present volume has been prepared during the International Year of the Child. Designation of a special year devoted to children underscores the widespread recognition of the importance of scientific advances and humane concern over the welfare of children. Clinical child psychology, the topic of the present serial publication, is especially important in recognition of the year of the child. Clinical child psychology at once combines areas of basic and applied research. The subject matter is concerned with understanding the nature of child development and the many influences upon which such development depends. Moreover, the clinical orientation emphasizes the extension of this research to top­ ics that directly affect the welfare of children and adolescents. Advances in Clinical Child Psychology publishes scholarly reviews and evaluations of many different areas of research and application. In the current volume, the third in the series, a variety of topics are addressed. These include the development of social behavior, the emergence and modification of sex-typed behavior, family systems, self-help proce­ dures to train parents, assessment of intelligence, childhood obesity, the development and treatment of asthma, pediatric psychology, treatment of severely disturbed children, language development, and education of disadvantaged elementary school students.

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1 Promoting Social Development: Developmental Implications for Treatment.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Selection of Target Behaviors.- 2.1. Normative Approach.- 2.2. Social Validity.- 2.3. Current and Future Adjustment.- 2.4. Summary.- 3. Traditional Behavioral Techniques.- 3.1. Reinforcement.- 3.2. Punishment.- 3.3. Modeling.- 3.4. Self-Control.- 4. Innovative Techniques.- 4.1. Rules and Concepts.- 4.2. Rationales.- 4.3. Social Cognitive Skills.- 4.4. A Functional Approach.- 5. Conclusion.- 6. References.- 2 Sex-Role Socialization: A Field in Transition.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Sex Roles in North American Society.- 2.1. Definitions.- 2.2. Sex-Role Characteristics and Consensus.- 2.3. Aspects of Sex Roles and Sex Typing in Young Children.- 3. Correlates of Sex Typing.- 3.1. Mental Health.- 3.2. Sex Differences in Academic Performance and Cognitive Skills.- 3.3. The Consequences: Cancer and Pre-Professional Training.- 4. Measurement of Sex Roles in Young Children.- 4.1. Issues in Measurement.- 4.2. Measures of Sex Typing in Young Children.- 5. How Sex Roles Are Learned: Influences on Sex Typing and Sex-Role Acquisition.- 5.1. Sources of Sex-Role Acquisition.- 6. Modification of Sex-Role Behavior in Applied Settings.- 6.1. Environmental Control of Sex-Typed Behaviors in Gender-Disturbed Boys.- 6.2. Is Sex-Typed Behavior in Normal (Non-Gender-Disturbed) Children under Environmental Control?.- 7. Some Clinical Issues.- 8. Conclusion.- 9. References.- 3 Deviant Family Systems.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Systems.- 3. Assessment.- 3.1. Observational Methods.- 3.2. Outcome Measures.- 3.3. Methodological Issues.- 3.4. Assessment of "Nonprescription" Programs.- 3.5. Generality.- 3.6. "Deviant" versus "Normal" Families.- 4. Parent/Child Training.- 5. Family Communications.- 6. Marital Relationships.- 7. Summary.- 8. References.- 4 Self-Help Behavior Therapies in Parent Training.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Review of Experimental Studies.- 2.1. Broad-Focus Manuals.- 2.2. Narrow-Focus Manuals.- 3. Important Parameters.- 3.1. Target Behaviors.- 3.2. Therapeutic Procedures.- 3.3. Experimental Issues.- 3.4. Cost Effectiveness.- 4. Conclusions.- 5. References.- 5 Issues in Psychological Assessment: Interpreting the WISC-R Intelligently.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Implications of WISC-R Research for Interpretation.- 2.1. Factor Analysis.- 2.2. Subtest Specificity.- 2.3. Scatter.- 3. Application of Theory to WISC-R Profiles.- 3.1. The Meaning of V-P Discrepancies.- 3.2. The Distractibility Factor.- 4. Processing Models and the Assessment of Minorities.- 5. References.- 6 Obesity among Children and Adolescents: The Problem Belongs to Everyone.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Prevalence of Obesity among Young Persons.- 2.1. Race, Sex, Socioeconomic Class.- 3. Juvenile Obesity Tends to Persist.- 4. Obesity and Health.- 4.1. Cardiovascular Disease.- 4.2. Weight and Blood Pressure.- 4.3. Weight and Serum Cholesterol.- 4.4. Weight Loss and Reduced Risk.- 4.5. Childhood Weight and Adult Health.- 4.6. Other Physical Characteristics.- 4.7. Social-Psychological Implications.- 5. Response to Treatment Programs.- 6. The Hypercellularity Hypothesis.- 7. Treating Obesity: Some Promising Directions.- 7.1. Behavioral Treatment of Obesity in Children.- 7.2. Food Selection and Eating Behavior.- 7.3. Not Everyone Needs Everything.- 7.4. Learning and Performance.- 7.5. Intensive Treatment to Promote Performance.- 7.6. Involving Family Members.- 7.7. Contingency Contracting with Parents.- 7.8. Food Intake and Activity Patterns.- 7.9. Infancy and Obesity Prevention.- 8. The Problem Belongs to Everyone.- 8.1. Why Just Obesity?.- 8.2. Who Should Be Treated?.- 9. References.- 7 The Treatment of Psychosomatic Disorders: Bronchial Asthma in Children.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Psychological Aspects of Asthma.- 2.1. Psychological Studies.- 2.2. Psychophysiological Studies.- 3. Behavior Therapy and Asthma.- 3.1. Relaxation as Adjunctive Treatment.- 3.2. Other Behavioral Methods.- 4. Evaluation and Conclusions.- 5. References.- 8 Pediatric Psychology: An Appraisal.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Experimental Validation.- 3. Feasibility.- 4. Current Status of Validation and Feasibility Efforts.- 5. Future Directions.- 5.1. Health Care Delivery.- 5.2. Medical Compliance.- 5.3. Experimental Validation of Procedures.- 5.4. Social Validation.- 5.5. Exchange of Information.- 5.6. Training Opportunities in Pediatric Psychology.- 6. Concluding Remarks.- 7. References.- 8. Selected Bibliography.- 9 Institutional Treatment of Severely Disturbed Children: Fact, Possibility, or Nonsequitur?.- 1. Introduction.- 1.1. Definition of the Population.- 1.2. Prevalence and Prognosis.- 2. History of Institutional Care.- 2.1. The Institution.- 2.2. Recent Societal Trends.- 3. Legal Aspects of Institutional Care.- 4. Treatment Approaches.- 4.1. Psychotherapy.- 4.2. Behavior Modification.- 4.3. Milieu and Adjunctive Therapies.- 5. Conclusion.- 6. Commentary.- 7. References.- 10 Pragmatics and Language Development.- 1. Introduction: History.- 2. Current Status: Pragmatics.- 2.1. Definitions.- 2.2. The Context of Normal Language Development.- 3. Implications for the Clinician.- 3.1. The Training Context Should Either Be, or Replicate, the Context of Use.- 3.2. Training Should Focus on Function.- 3.3. Training Should Focus on Rate of Use.- 3.4. Particular Topographies of Language Should Be Differentially Trained Only after the Rate of Language Use Is High.- 3.5. Assessment Must Be Made in the Context of Use.- 3.6. Clinicians Need to Collect and Disseminate Pragmatic Data.- 3.7. Clinicians Need to Become Environmental Engineers.- 4. References.- 11 Direct Instruction: An Effective Approach to Educational Intervention with the Disadvantaged and Low Performers.- 1. Introduction.- 2. The Direct Instruction Model in Project Follow Through.- 2.1. The Educational Models.- 2.2. Method.- 2.3. Tests.- 2.4. Results: Follow Through versus Non-Follow Through.- 2.5. Results: Normative Performance.- 2.6. Results: Sponsor-Collected Data.- 2.7. Summary of Results.- 3. Implications of Project Follow Through.- 3.1. Will Money and Comprehensive Services Do the Job?.- 3.2. Does Individualization Require Many Approaches?.- 3.3. Is Self-Directed Learning Best?.- 3.4. Does Curriculum Make a Difference?.- 3.5. Why Is Improvement in Reading Comprehension Hard to Achieve?.- 4. A Closer Look at the Direct Instruction Model.- 4.1. Program Design Features.- 4.2. Teaching Basic Discriminations.- 4.3. Teaching Related Discriminations.- 4.4. Teaching Rules.- 4.5. Teaching Cognitive Operations.- 4.6. Teaching Preskills.- 4.7…