The present study aimed at comparing fat and lean masses between children and adolescents with and without Down syndrome (DS) and evaluating the presence of sexual dimorphism. Total and regional fat and lean masses were assessed by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and the percentage of body fat (%BF) by air-displacement plethysmography (ADP)…

A range of neurobehavioral impairments, including impaired visual perception and visual-motor integration, are found in very preterm born children, but reported findings show great variability. We aimed to aggregate the existing literature using meta-analysis, in order to provide robust estimates of the effect of very preterm birth on visual…

Although developmental delays are not uncommon in children, the incidence is seldom assessed, and the reported prevalence varies widely. In Taiwan, the government mandates the reporting of suspected cases. Using the national registry data, we conducted a study to estimate the incidence and prevalence of developmental delays in young children in…

Conduct problems in childhood are associated with the way in which children engage in daily activities. Research, to date, on conduct problems in relation to time use has primarily focused on school aged children and their participation in discrete activities such as watching TV and sport. The purpose of the present study is to determine if…

The DSM-V-committee has recently published proposed diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorders. We examine these criteria in some detail. We believe that the DSM-committee has overlooked a number of important issues, including social imagination, diagnosis in infancy and adulthood, and the possibility that girls and women with autism may…

The purpose of this study was to compare pulmonary function in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) with children who are typically developing (TD), and also analyze possible gender differences in pulmonary function between these groups. The Movement ABC test was used to identify the movement coordination ability of children.…

Nationwide data were collected concerning inpatient care use and medical expenditure of people with disabilities (N = 937,944) among national health insurance beneficiaries in Taiwan. Data included gender, age, hospitalization frequency and expenditure, healthcare setting and service department, discharge diagnose disease according to the ICD-9-CM…

Daily living skills are important to ageing adults with intellectual disabilities (ID). The purpose of this study was to investigate the level of these skills in older adults with ID and to investigate the influence of gender, age, level of ID and mobility on these skills. Daily living skills were measured with the Barthel Index (for Activities of…

In 2001 the International Classification of Functioning (ICF) defined participation as "someone's involvement in life situations". Participation in leisure activities contributes to the development of children and their quality of life. Children with physical disabilities are known to be at risk for participation in fewer activities. The group of…

The purpose of this study was to test the reliability (i.e. internal consistency and test-retest reliability) and construct validity (i.e. content validity, factor validity, measurement invariance, and latent mean invariance) of the Nutrition and Activity Knowledge Scale (NAKS) in a sample of French adolescents with mild to moderate Intellectual…

The parental report instrument is the most efficient developmental detection method and has shown high validity with professional assessment instruments. The reliability and validity of the Taiwan Birth Cohort Study (TBCS) 6-, 18- and 36-month scales have already been established. In this study, the reliability and validity of the 60-month scale…

The present study examined the effects of age, gender, and causality on the perceptions of persons with mental retardation. Participants rated individuals with mental retardation using a semantic differential scale with three factors: activity, evaluation, and potency. Target individuals in each scenario varied on the variables of age (8, 20, 45),…

We explored functional variables for aggressive behavior in 87 individuals with moderate to borderline intellectual disability who lived in a residential facility. For this purpose we used the "Questions About Behavioral Function" scale (QABF; Matson, J., & Vollmer, T. (1995). "Questions About Behavioral Function (QABF)". Baton Rouge, LA:…

The Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC) is one of the most accepted tools, both in clinical practice and in research, for the diagnosis of Developmental Coordination Disorders (DCDs) in children. The present study aimed to: (1) establish the construct validity of M-ABC in Israel by comparing the motor performance of typically…

Whereas some scales exist for assessing aggression in typically developing children, they do not give a detailed analysis, and none is available for populations with developmental disabilities (DD). Parents of 365 children with DD completed the Children's Scale of Hostility and Aggression: Reactive/Proactive (C-SHARP), which surveys the severity…