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Children experience toxic stress if there is pronounced activation of their stress-response systems, in situations in which they do not have stable caregiving. Due to their exposure to multiple poverty-related risks, African American children may be more susceptible to exposure to toxic stress. Toxic stress affects young children’s brain and neurophysiologic functioning, which leads to a wide range of deleterious health, developmental, and mental health outcomes. Given the benefits of early care and education (ECE) for African American young children, ECE may represent a compensating experience for this group of children, and promote their positive development.

This chapter reviews the intervention research literature – particularly interventions deemed evidence-based – for students with intellectual disability across academic and life-skills instruction. Although the focus of this chapter is the spectrum of students covered under the term “intellectual disability,” the majority of research on evidence-based interventions for students with intellectual disability focus on students with more moderate and severe intellectual disability, rather than students with mild intellectual disability. The majority of the interventions determined to be evidence-based within the literature for students with intellectual disability – across both academic and life skills – tend to be those that fall within the purview of systematic instruction.

This chapter reviews qualitative research on parenting children with disabilities published over the last 50 years to explore whether shifts in academic discourse and changes in professional training have affected research on parenting and/or the experiences of parents who are the subject of such research.

An extensive literature search was conducted, and 78 peer-reviewed, qualitative studies on the experience of parenting a child with a disability were included in the sample. Themes were extracted from the reviewed literature and compared across decades.

The findings of the present review suggest that some aspects of the parenting experience have changed very little. In particular, parents continue to experience negative reactions such as stress and anomie, especially early in their children’s lives, and socially imposed barriers such as unhelpful professionals, and a lack of needed services continue to create problems and inspire an entrepreneurial response. In addition, stigmatizing encounters with others continue to be a common occurrence. In contrast to earlier decades, studies conducted in more recent years have begun to use the social model of disability as an analytic frame and also increasingly report that parents are questioning and challenging the concept of “normal” itself.

Additional improvements are needed in professional education and services to reduce the negative reactions experienced by parents of children with disabilities.

The findings of this meta-analysis can serve as a guide to future research on parenting children with disabilities.

Autistic Spectrum Disorder is a developmental disorder estimated to inflict 1 in every 150 children, regardless of socio-cultural aspects, with a four to one prevalence in males over females, (ADDM, 2007). It involves a complex sensory perceptual model, variant from that of the typical individual. It manifests itself in the form of repetitive behaviour, lack of social skills and communication delays and challenges. Being a life-long infliction, individuals with autism require a comprehensive range of specialized support services, including residential, from childhood to adulthood.

Housing services for special needs, in general, conventionally deal with issues of physical access. The provisions required for developmentally challenged individuals, such as those with autism are rarely considered.

This paper aims to provide a precedent to help guide the adaptation process in the case of group residential accommodation for autistic adults in mass housing projects. After a brief examination of the available literature in the field, a case study will be presented, illustrating design criteria developed for adapting housing for autistic use.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

Cornelia de Lange syndrome (CdLS) is a congenital disorder characterized by distinctive facial features, growth retardation, limb abnormalities, intellectual disability, and behavioral problems. Cornelia de Lange syndrome is associated with abnormalities on chromosomes 5, 10 and X. Heterozygous point mutations in three genes (NIPBL, SMC3 and SMC1A), are responsible for approximately 50-60% of CdLS cases. CdLS is characterized by autistic features, notably excessive repetitive behaviors and expressive language deficits. The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptomatology is comparatively high in CdLS. However, the profile and developmental trajectories of these ASD characteristics are potentially different to those observed in individuals with idiopathic ASD. A significantly higher prevalence of self-injury are evident in CdLS. Self-injury was associated with repetitive and impulsive behavior. This study describes the behavioral phenotype of four children with Cornelia de Lange syndrome and ASDs and rehabilitative intervention that must be implemented.

Mental health assessment in people with learning disability can be a challenging process for clinicians. The more severe the cognitive impairment and level of learning disability, the less likely it is that the clinician can reliably confirm the diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder. Coordinated, multi‐modal interdisciplinary team assessment is the way forward, as it draws together the bio‐psychosocial model of interviewing and mental health care planning. In this article we go through the psychiatric assessment structure and highlight the differences in assessing people with learning disability compared with their peers in the general population. We give special consideration to mental health assessments in emergency settings, and to people with challenging behaviour.

This article focuses on the consequences of having FraX‐E, the rare but well recognised variant of fragile X syndrome. The authors provide some background on the condition and report on recent research and evidence. Three case reports are outlined and the specific behavioural aspects of the syndrome are considered. The authors argue that it is important that the behavioural phenotype for FraX‐E is clearly identified and defined in order to give those with the condition relevant psychological and educational support in the future.

Behavior problems are common in toddlers and preschoolers. Richman, Stevenson, and Graham (1975) identified difficulties with eating, sleeping, toileting, temper, fears, peer relations, and activity as typical in this young population. While all young children should be expected to experience behavior problems as part of their normal development, an ongoing challenge in the field has been to determine when these “normal” developmental problems rise to the level of being considered “clinical” behavior problems (Keenan & Wakschlag, 2000). For example, when does a two-year-old child's tantrum behavior, a three-year-old's urinary accidents, and a four-year-old's defiance become clinically significant? To answer these questions, clinicians must examine the frequency, intensity, and durability of these difficulties, their potential to cause injury to the child or others, the extent to which they interfere with the child development, and the degree to which they disrupt the lives of their siblings, caregivers, peers, teachers, and others.