This study arose from an intervention programme aimed to develop the communication and social interaction skills of Barney, a six-year-old child diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder (Autistic Spectrum). The approach we take is a social constructionist one that challenges the assumption of a Western psychiatric approach emphasising the impairment and deficits associated with autism. Conversation analysis is employed as a method of elucidating the collaborative mechanisms employed by Barney and his co-participants in making sense of one another. The aim of this study was to closely examine the communicative behaviour and interactive styles of Barney and his co-participants, their implications for communicative success (co-ordinated interaction) or breakdown (discordant interaction), and the implications for ways in which the child is positioned within the discourse in relation to his co-participants. Our constructions of the data suggested the following: A playful, activity-based interactive style constituted by non-verbal turns, affection, and short, simple utterances enhanced co-ordinated interaction. Discordant interaction seemed to result from a tendency of the co-participants to dominate the interaction (e.g., frequent and repetitive questioning) which directed and constrained interaction and resulted in the child's withdrawal. Other implications are highlighted, This research informs intervention efforts and encourages co-participants to reflect on ways in which interaction is co-constructed between themselves and the child with autism.

The Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM) test is internationally recognised as a culture-fair test of non-verbal intelligence, designed for use with children between the ages of 51/4 and 111/2 years. The Raven's CPM is used extensively across a wide variety of settings in South Africa. However, more appropriate local normative data has yet to be established. This pilot study seeks to establish normative data for this instrument for a population of isiXhosa-speaking primary school children in a peri-urban area of the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The booklet version of the test was used in group format and according to an alternative method of test administration (using isiXhosa instructions) developed by Vass (1992). The final normative sample consisted of 197 male and 182 female isiXhosa-speaking children in Grades 2 to 7 (n = 379). This study presents a set of local norms for the age group, 6 to 11 years. In addition, it was found that older children (>11 years of age) who have not yet reached certain educational levels, have also not reached the plateau, as anticipated, in their performance on this test. In addition, therefore, is a set of 'older norms' also presented and the issues related to grade versus age norms are debated. The tendency for this normative sample to perform lower than their Western counterparts on this test was also noted and debated. The tendency for males to outperform females was also recorded and it was found that this is in line with previous research on similar populations. The study concludes that there is an urgent need for more appropriate South African normative data for this test; and that, when assessing African children from disadvantaged backgrounds, further research into the effects of cultural and socio-economic factors and gender on non-verbal analogical reasoning tasks (and performance on this test in particular) is required.

The help seeking patterns of 139 secondary school youth between the ages of 14 and 22 in two peri-urban and one rural secondary school in the Eastern Cape, and one urban and one rural secondary school in KwaZulu-Natal were studied. Youth were interviewed in focus groups about their problems and whether or not they seek help for these problems. Possibilities of, and problems with, help resources were also discussed. Data were analysed using qualitative data analysis software and interpreted in terms of the contextual dynamics which facilitate or hinder access to help seeking resources. This study illustrates the intricacy of help seeking behaviour. Contextual factors were found to be significant mediators of help seeking behaviour.

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Child-centered play therapy describes the therapeutic relationship between the child and play therapist as a facilitative environment that provides the child with an experience of congruence within their sense of self, promoting self-directed healing. Within this environment, the child is able to confront emotional pain imbedded in lived, relational experiences, processing and gaining mastery over it through repetitive symbolic play. However, very little research exists regarding repetitive symbolic play as a therapeutic process. This article aims to illustrate, through the use of a qualitative, interpretative case study and hermeneutic enquiry, how a 6-year-old boy's use of repetitive symbolic play assisted him toward healthier adjustment in his home and school environments. Hermeneutic analysis suggests that the child's use of repetitive symbolic play became a therapeutic process in and of itself that contributed toward self-directed change within his sense of self, which promoted healthier adjustment within his environment.