Search

BackgroundResearch findings suggest that direct support staff use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) inconsistently. Various staff-related factors have been identified, and researchers agree that these factors somehow interrelate. Therefore, we approached AAC use as a behavioural process and examined the synergy between staff-related factors. MethodFifteen direct support staff and 10 speech-language/occupational therapists who work with adults who have an intellectual disability and use AAC were individually interviewed. Transcripts were studied using thematic analysis. ResultsThree main themes were discerned: consistent versus inconsistent AAC usage in direct support staff; time as a real and virtual barrier; friction in the peer–expert relationship. ConclusionsDirect support staff primarily used AAC when there was an acute need for communication support. In contrast, both direct support staff and speech-language therapists felt that direct support staff should consistently provide augmented input. This discrepancy was driven by team dynamics as well as actual and perceived lack of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background In spite of the profound cognitive and physical problems, people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities ( PIMD) are able to develop joint attention behaviours ( JAB) and benefit from positive interactions. Aims To investigate which context factors influence the JAB of people with PIMD. Method Based on video recordings of 45 participants, JAB and context factors were analysed. Results An unstructured interaction situation produced the most responses of a person with PIMD, whereas a structured interaction situation produced the most initiatives. Furthermore, the familiarity of the partner and the familiarity of objects used in the interaction had no influence on the JAB. The sensitivity of the interaction partner was positively related to the presence of JAB. Conclusions Interaction partners of people with PIMD should be aware of both the ability of people with PIMD to use JAB and the influence of different context factors on these JAB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities ( PIMD) meet other children with PIMD in day care centres or schools. This study explores the peer-directed behaviours of children with PIMD, the peer interaction-influencing behaviour of the direct support workers and the children's positioning. Method Group activities for children with PIMD initiated by a direct support worker were video-recorded. The behaviour and positioning of the children and the behaviour of the direct support workers were coded. Results Limited peer-directed behaviour of the children with PIMD and peer interaction-influencing behaviour of the direct support workers are observed. Weak associations were found between the positioning or peer interaction-influencing behaviours and the behaviour of children with PIMD. Conclusions Children with PIMD show social interest in each other during group activities. More knowledge is needed to create an environment which facilitates peer-directed behaviours of persons with PIMD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of sign characteristics in a key word signing (KWS) system on the functional use of those signs by adults with intellectual disability (ID). Method: All 507 signs from a Flemish KWS system were characterized in terms of phonological, iconic, and referential characteristics. Phonological and referential characteristics were assigned to the signs by speech-language pathologists. The iconicity (i.e., transparency, guessing the meaning of the sign; and translucency, rating on a 6-point scale) of the signs were tested in 467 students. Sign functionality was studied in 119 adults with ID (mean mental age of 50.54 months) by means of a questionnaire, filled out by a support worker. Results: A generalized linear model with a negative binomial distribution (with log-link) showed that semantic category was the factor with the strongest influence on sign functionality, with grammatical class, referential concreteness, and translucency also playing a part. No sign phonological characteristics were found to be of significant influence on sign use. Conclusion: The meaning of a sign is the most important factor regarding its functionality (i.e., whether a sign is used in everyday communication). Phonological characteristics seem only of minor importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social interactions may positively influence developmental and quality of life outcomes. Research in persons with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) mostly investigated interactions with caregivers. This literature review focuses on peer interactions of persons with PIMD. A computerized literature search of three databases was conducted. Based on specific inclusion criteria eight articles were selected. In these studies, social peer interaction was not clearly operationalized. More interactions with typically developing peers were observed compared to interactions with peers with PIMD. Both groups of peers can be trained to interact or to use technological support systems during peer interactions. After training, interactions with peers increased and interactions with professionals during peer interactions decreased. Interactions with normally developing peers positively influenced specific behaviours of persons with PIMD. Not much research is available on peer interactions of persons with PIMD, especially peer interactions between persons with PIMD remain unclear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to test whether the effect of the pile-up of demands associated with a disability on quality of life, was mediated by resilience, quantity and quality of social support for adolescents with a disability and their parents. One hundred and thirty two parents, 90 mothers and 42 fathers and 111 adolescents, aged between 16 and 24 years completed measures of the pile-up of demands, social support, resilience and quality of life. Structural equation modeling with the bootstrap resampling method showed that the impact of the disability of their son/daughter on the quality of life of the parents was fully mediated through the parents' resilience and the quantity of social support and that resilience, however only partly, mediates the effect of adaptive skills on the quality of life of the adolescents with a disability. Limitations of the study and clinical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being confident as attachment figures is not self-evident for parents of children with severe or profound intellectual disabilities (SPID) given the children’s limited clear communicative responses. The current study drew upon the Attachment Strengths and Needs Interview to get an overview of factors that parents identify as influencing their parent-child attachment relationships. Inductive semantic thematic analysis was conducted on 23 semi-structured interviews (including responses of 35 parents). These were the parents of children (1–9 years) with a severe or profound intellectual (or multiple) disability. The results showed that parents mentioned a large number of inhibiting and facilitating factors related to developing attachment relationships with their children. Adopting an ecological systems perspective, these influences were organised in a micro-, meso-, macro-, exo- and chrono-level. This implies that not only factors related to the child (and his/her disability) were mentioned, but also factors related to (amongst others) the parents, the parent-child and family interactions, the broader environment and policy. Concluding, from parents’ perspectives, it seemed that the factors influencing the (development of) attachment relationships can be positive and negative, are versatile, layered in different levels, interconnected and not necessarily linked to their children’s disability. Both generic factors across parents and specific factors, related to individual families, should be taken into account to provide tailored support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Individuals with developmental language disorder or Williams syndrome are reported to use more gestures than individuals with typical development. However, these two groups differ considerably in visuospatial and language skills, two skills that are hypothesized to shape gesture rate. Aims: We first examined whether children with both developmental language disorder and children Williams syndrome do indeed use more gestures. Our second aim was to disentangle the role of vocabulary and visuospatial skills in the use of supplementary gestures (i.e., containing unique information). To account for participant heterogeneity, analyses included both group comparisons and vocabulary and visuospatial skills at an individual level. As a third aim, the role of visuospatial skills was further examined in relation to gestures containing spatial content. Methods & Procedures: In a cross‐sectional group design, three participant groups watched and then retold a cartoon: children with typical development (n = 25), children with developmental language disorder (n = 25) and children/young people with Williams syndrome (n = 14). Their narrations were transcribed and hand gestures were coded based on gesture–speech integration (redundant, adds information to particular lexical items, gives information that is entirely absent from speech) and spatial content. Participants' expressive vocabulary and visuospatial skills were measured. Outcomes & Results: Between‐group comparisons showed that individuals with developmental language disorder or Williams syndrome did indeed use more gestures. Poisson loglinear modelling demonstrated that a relative higher use of supplementary gestures was determined by lower expressive vocabulary skills. Neither the group distinction nor visuospatial skills shaped the supplementary gesture rate nor spatial gesture rate. Conclusions & Implications: Regardless of neurodevelopmental condition or typical development, a higher use of supplementary gestures was influenced by expressive vocabulary skills. Children with lower vocabulary skills spontaneously capitalized on the multimodality of communication to express constituents that were not present in their verbal speech. This finding is a promising starting point for future gesture intervention studies examining whether implicit modelling of gesture use can encourage gestures even more in these children and if this allows them to achieve higher linguistic complexity. On a methodological note, the observed intra‐group skill variability demonstrates that group comparisons need to be complemented with correlational measures accounting for skills at an individual level. What this paper adds: What is already known on the subject: Children with developmental language disorder and children with Williams syndrome are more inclined to use gestures than typically developing children. Research conducted in adults with typical development points towards the role of lexical and visuospatial skills in gesture use, but it is unclear how these skills shape gesture use in children with atypical development. What this paper adds to existing knowledge: This study compares the rate of gestures that convey meaning that is not expressed in speech between the three aforementioned populations. Novel is the inclusion of the group distinction, individual lexical skills, and visuospatial skills in one encompassing statistical model. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?: The inclination to use gestures that replace speech is related to lexical skills. Visuospatial skills do not seem to play a role and should not be considered as a factor when thinking about gesture intervention. Understanding how gestures relate to specific skills is a first step to understanding how gesture interventions can bolster language production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Contrary to the extensive amount of empirical findings about parental perceptions, parenting cognitions, and coping in families with a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), research about parenting itself is very scarce. A first goal of this study was to examine the factor structure and internal consistency of two scales to measure parenting behaviour: the Parental Behaviour Scale-short version (PBS, ) and a new scale to measure parenting behaviours more specifically relevant to children with ASD. A second goal was to compare general and more specific parenting behaviour among parents of children with and without ASD. The participants were 305 parents of a child with ASD between 8 and 18 years old and 325 parents of a typically developing child between 8 and 18 years old. Parents completed both scales. Exploratory factor analysis of the new scale resulted in two factors: Stimulating the Development and Adapting the Environment. Multisample confirmatory factor analyses showed good fit indices for the noninvariant model of both the PBS and the new scale. Mean level analyses revealed significant main effects of group with higher mean scores for the control group in comparison with the experimental group for the subscale Harsh Punishment and the reversed effect for the subscale Stimulating the Development. We concluded that it is possible to use the parenting constructs of the PBS-short version to investigate parenting behaviour of parents with and without children with ASD. Furthermore, the new scale showed a relatively stable two factor structure for the control group as well as for the experimental group. The two factors ‘Stimulating the child''s Development’ and ‘Adapting the child''s Environment’ were also convincing as regards content. A first indication was found that parents of children with ASD indeed use more specifically relevant parenting behaviours. It is self-evident that more research is needed to gain further insight into the nature of these behaviours. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Purpose: This study's objectives were to describe expressive vocabulary acquisition in children with intellectual disabilities (ID) and to examine specific pre- and early linguistic behaviors used to request and comment, chronological age, cognitive skills, and vocabulary comprehension as predictors of expressive vocabulary. Method: This study included 36 children with ID, age 3;00 (years;months) to 6;05, with an average initial expressive vocabulary of 67 words. Expressive vocabulary acquisition was longitudinally followed over a 2-year period based on 4-monthly administrations of the Dutch version of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory/Words and Gestures (I. Zink & M. Lejaegere, 2002). Specific pre- and early linguistic behaviors used to request and comment as well as cognitive skills and vocabulary comprehension were measured at baseline. Results: Individual growth modeling indicated that vocabulary comprehension was the only unique predictor of initial expressive vocabulary. Subsequent vocabulary growth was uniquely predicted by proportion of bimodal gesture + vocalization comments, chronological age, and cognitive skills. Conclusions: The results of this study underscore the great heterogeneity in expressive vocabulary skills in children with ID. The importance of prelinguistic communication, chronological age, cognitive skills, and vocabulary comprehension for explaining differences in expressive vocabulary skills is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The present study focused on the objective components of quality of life (QOL) of people with profound multiple disabilities (PMD). More specific, we aimed at evaluating different dimensions of QOL of people with PMD and investigating the association between their QOL and several personal (age, gender, intellectual capabilities, motor limitations, sensory limitations, physical and mental health status) as well as setting characteristics (location of the setting, type of setting, size of the setting, group size, group composition, staffing level and staff turnover). As a measure of the QOL of people with PMD we used the QOL-PMD, a questionnaire that we specifically developed for this purpose. To measure the personal and setting characteristics we also used a self-developed questionnaire. Forty-nine people with PMD were selected. For each of these people three informants were chosen who each filled out the QOL-PMD. To account for the clustered nature of the data, data were analysed by means of mixed models. Characteristics regarding the medical condition of the person with PMD turned out to be most strongly associated with the QOL-PMD scores. Other personal characteristics such as age, gender, motor limitations and sensory limitations did not have a significant effect on the QOL-PMD scores. With regard to the setting characteristics, location of the setting and staffing level turned out to have a significant effect on the QOL-PMD scores. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Because of a shortage of valid instruments to measure the QOL of people with profound multiple disabilities (PMD), the QOL-PMD was developed. In the present study, possibilities for item reduction as well as the psychometric properties of the questionnaire were examined. One hundred and forty-seven informants of people with PMD participated in the study. Fifty items were removed from the questionnaire on the basis of preset criteria. Internal consistency was good for the total questionnaire as well as for the subscales. Evidence of the construct validity of the questionnaire was found. Correspondence between the groups of informants was moderate. The results of this preliminary analysis of the psychometric properties of the QOL-PMD are encouraging, but further validation of the measure is warranted. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The main goal of this study was to investigate whether staff members vary in their frequency reports on challenging behaviour concerning the same client. Because staff''s approaches of challenging behaviour are affected by a range of staff characteristics, we hypothesised that these staff characteristics could explain this variability between staff members. We used questionnaires to investigate the influence of staff''s age, gender, experience in working with people with intellectual disabilities, working hours, professional qualifications, sort of education, and their emotional reactions and beliefs regarding the challenging behaviour. This study involved 152 staff members and 51 clients with severe or profound intellectual disabilities who displayed self-injurious behaviour, stereotyped behaviour, and/or aggressive/destructive behaviour. A part of the variability between staff''s reports on the frequency of challenging behaviour was indeed explained by differences between the staff members. Working hours, internal attribution, gender, and experience in working with people with severe or profound intellectual disabilities turned out to be influencing variables. Summarising, staff members differ in their reports on the frequency of challenging behaviour. To get an accurate picture of a client''s challenging behaviour, perceptions of several staff members are needed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copyright of Psychologie & Gezondheid is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Parent-reported problem behaviors of 94 children with visual and auditory disabilities, attending elementary regular schools, were compared with problems reported in a general population sample of nondisabled children. Both samples were matched by means of a pairwise matching procedure, taking into account age and sex. Problem behavior was measured by Achenbach’s (1991) CBCL (Achenbach, T. M. (1991).Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist/4-18 and 1991 Profile, University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry, Burlington, VT). No significant main effects of type, degree, and nature of disability were found on the CBCL Total Problems scale, nor on the syndrome scales. In general, children with sensory disabilities attending elementary regular schools did not show more problems in comparison to nondisabled children. Merely on the Social Problems scale there was a significant difference between both samples, the children with sensory disabilities getting higher scores than their nondisabled peers. Further, children with sensory disabilities ran considerable risks of developing deviant scores on the Social Problems and the Thought Problems syndromes, the odds being respectively 3.2 and 5.2 times higher than in the general population sample. To optimize the benefits from placement in integrated classrooms for children with sensory disabilities, school counselors and teachers should not only focus on the academic achievements of these children, but also on their social skills and peer sociometric status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this exploratory study, the neuropsychologicaland learning profile of nine primary school age children with velo-cardio-facialsyndrome (VCFS) was studied by systematic neuropsychological testing. In fiveout of nine children, the following profile was found: a VIQ-PIQ discrepancy(in favor of the VIQ), significantly better scores (.05 level) for reading(decoding) and spelling compared to arithmetic, deficient tactile-perceptualskills (difficulties mainly on the left side of the body), weak but not deficientvisual-perceptual abilities, deficient visual-spatial skills, extremely poorpsychomotor skills (gross motor skills more deficient than fine motor skills),problems with processing of new and complex material, poor visual attention,good auditory memory and relatively good language skills. These findings correspondto the pattern of neuropsychological assets and deficits that has been describedfor the syndrome of nonverbal learning disabilities (NLD) (Rourke, 1987, 1988,1989, 1995). The psychosocial profile of all nine children with VCFS alsocorrespond to that of children with NLD. Further studies on the relationshipbetween cognitive function, behavior, psychiatric disorder and abnormalitiesin brain anatomy in young people with VCFS will be needed. In clinical practice,it is worthwhile exploring in greater depth the neuropsychological functionsof children with VCFS to rule out NLD, since they may benefit from specificremediation following the learning principles of the NLD-treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]