On the record

"Boys very often experience their mothers as trying to unravel them or get at some secret. The thing that nobody discusses is that boys have such an intense masturbatory life in the years 14, 15, 16, that they don't actually want to tell anybody what's going on in their heads. They shut down because they're so involved with themselves."

--Michael Thompson, PhD, a staff psychologist at an all-boys school on the difficulties mothers and adolescent boys have in communicating. Chicago Tribune, Sept. 24.

"Too much of the time we think the computer is supposed to do it all, and we don't really appreciate how important the people are....You want to be sure your children are comfortable in the complex, messy, shades-of-gray world of people and in the clean, black-and-white world of machines."

--Sherry Turkle, PhD, on how parents should approach computer use for their young children in light of a growing number of educators, child-development experts and doctors speaking out against early computer use. U.S. News & World Report, Sept. 25.

"About half the children [with Attention Deficit Disorder] we treat get off medication completely. The other half reduce their medication."

--Robert Reynolds, PhD, who operates a clinic specializing in treating children with ADD using neurofeedback in conjunction with family counseling and behavioral therapy. New York Times, Sept. 26.

"Having to reconnect can be a painful journey. There is a painful past that some of us try to forget or disconnect ourselves from. But going back to see it, there's no question it is therapeutic."

--Charles Mate-Kole, PhD, on visiting Ghana, once a departure point for millions of Africans headed to the United States as slaves, during an Association of Black Psychologists meeting last summer. Washington Post, Oct. 2.

"Why would anyone spank an infant or toddler? There is nothing he or she can learn from it other than to distrust bigger and more powerful people."

--Ron Lally, EdD, co-director of the San Francisco-based Center for Child and Family Studies, on the findings of a recent survey of U.S. adults on spanking, which found that, despite numerous recommendations from experts against spanking young children, a majority said that they apporve of the practice. CNN.com, Oct. 5.