This study aimed to assess the mental health needs and risk behaviors of adolescents attending an afterschool life-skills skateboarding program, to evaluate the perceived benefits of the program, and to identify potential modifications required to meet the identified needs. Program participants were from three gang- and poverty-affected urban…

The goal of this research is to analyze the instrumental behavior of the caregiver at the Emmi Pikler nursery school in Budapest while dressing children from two to three years old to go outdoors to play in the garden. In order to study this routine in its usual context, the observational methodology has been chosen, adopting an "ad hoc"…

Background: This study addresses the question to what extent visual impairment leads to additional disability in adults with intellectual disabilities (ID). Method: In a multi-centre cross-sectional study of 269 adults with mild to profound ID, social and behavioural functioning was assessed with observant-based questionnaires, prior to expert…

No differential effects were revealed between minimal and relatively lengthy intervals in simulated and in vivo training of two students (8 and 13 years old) with severe handicaps. Performance in community fast food restaurants was measured. (CL)

Purpose: To identify the most common beliefs concerning the negative consequences of falling and determine whether these motivate avoidance of activity. Design and Methods: A questionnaire assessing feared consequences of falling was completed by 224 community-living people aged older than 75. Beliefs about the consequences of falling were related…

Principal components analysis was employed on the Adaptive Behavior Scales with scores of 122 older (mean age 63.5) individuals with severe intellectual impairment living in England. The study found the structure of adaptive skills and interpersonal maladaptive behaviors similar to that found for younger retarded adults. Two factors, personal…

Individuals who are beyond the age of 85 have to confront the decrements of aging that are commonly recognized. This study examined the daily routine of the oldest old through interviews. Subjects were asked about the logistics of their daily lives, what they liked best to do, what they didn't like to do, what made a day good for them, and what…

The way in which some elderly widowers living alone experientially organize time can be viewed as on a continuum structured around the notion of a "day" as a central organizing focus. Related to this is the role of a "daily highlight" in organizing daily activities. Certain factors may help structure this experiential continuum. (Author/ABB)

Purpose: This is the second article reporting a project that (a) characterized the longitudinal functional patterns of residents in an affordable, assisted living housing (ALH) milieu for low-income people and (b) compared the ALH residents' functional patterns with those for similarly low-income, community-dwelling people. Design and Methods:…

Studied interactions between 40 elderly nursing home residents and their social partners. Results showed discrepant social contingencies for different resident behaviors, i.e., dependent self-care behaviors received continuous supportive responses, where independent self-care behaviors, obstructively engaged and nonengaged behaviors received no…

Adaptive behavior in mentally retarded males with fragile X syndrome was longitudinally examined in 17 subjects, ages 1 to 17. Findings included relative strength in daily living skills and weakness in socialization only for older subjects, and significant declines in adaptive behavior scores from first to second testing for the older subjects.…

Models of well being and human functioning have traditionally been based on empirical studies done with children and young adults. As part of an ongoing research program to develop and test a model of effective functioning and positive health in older adults, 31 elderly individuals (7 males, 24 females), with a mean age of 73.58 years, completed…

This study examined the effectiveness of an instructional system (a modified version of the School Survival Skills Curriculum) in developing and improving the school survival skills of students with behavioral disorders. Using a pretest-posttest group design, subjects demonstrated improvement in overall use of school survival skills but no…

Scores from the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale were compared to age and performance IQ for 72 children and adolescents with autism and 37 nonautistic controls with mental retardation. The relationship between the two groups' adaptive behavior profiles was stable from preschool age through adolescence. Increasing IQ was associated with lower…

Analysis of Anglo or Hispanic ninth-graders' (n=244) reports on coping strategies showed that females engaged in social relationships and creating change, either in actual or cognitive terms, more frequently than males. Boys tended to rely on stress reduction activities or diversions. Ethnicity tactics were also noted. (RJM)