Although it is now widely accepted that developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD) persists into adolescence and adulthood, few studies have assessed the concept of Quality of Life (QOL) within the adult DCD population. This is despite a growing recognition that children and adolescents with DCD experience poorer QOL than their typically developed…

This study examines parents' perspectives of the participation patterns (frequency, involvement, and parental desire for change) in their adolescent children's everyday functioning with and without executive function deficit profiles. Parents of 81 adolescents (10-14) years) with executive function deficits (n = 41) and a matched group of parents…

The goal of this study is to propose the Siblings' Experience Quality Scale (SEQS), a measure for the assessment of cognitive, emotional and behavioral experience of adult individuals having a brother or sister with an intellectual/developmental disability, chronic physical illness or mental illness, on five dimensions: Closeness, Conflict,…

Several neurodevelopmental disorders are associated with preference for routine and challenging behavior following changes to routines. We examine individuals with Prader-Willi syndrome, who show elevated levels of this behavior, to better understand how previous experience of a routine can affect challenging behavior elicited by disruption to…

Background: There is a need for a more accurate characterisation of higher level restricted and repetitive behaviour (RRB) in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), including why it might be considered problematic and events associated with its occurrence. Method: We selected one form of higher level RRB--arranging and ordering--that was rated as severe…

Stereotypical behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement often does not result in harm but may be undesirable in some situations. In the current investigation, participants were 2 individuals who engaged in nonharmful stereotypical responses shown in an analogue functional analysis to be insensitive to social contingencies. After bringing…

Sensory processing (SP) difficulties have been reported in as many as 95% of children with autism, however, empirical research examining the existence of specific patterns of SP difficulties within this population is scarce. Furthermore, little attention has been given to examining the relationship between SP and either the core symptoms or…

This study examined the optimal timing (infancy, toddler-preschool, or both) for facilitating responsive parenting and the intervention effects on maternal behaviors and child social and communication skills for children who vary in biological risk. The intervention during infancy, Playing and Learning Strategies (PALS I), showed strong changes in…

Among major results were that nonhandicapped preschoolers tend to select nonhandicapped friends of their same sex and age, and the same nonhandicapped preschoolers tend to select handicapped children who are older than themselves, who are more advanced cognitively than other handicapped children, and who are of the same sex. (Author/CL)

Four developmentally delayed babies were given semicircular canal stimulation in an effort to facilitate their motor and reflex development. All of the children showed motor and/or reflex changes that were attributable to the vestibular stimulation. In addition, some evidence was obtained linking changes in stereotypic responding to the vestibular…

The study compared the attention-directing behaviors of 15 autistic children, 14 children with developmental language delay, and 13 young normal children. Although the autistic children's behavior was most unlike that of the other groups, autistic children did not produce more attention-directing behavior when a high degree of adult direction was…

The study investigated intrapersonal and interpersonal behaviors and events in self-injurious disabled persons (2-22 years old). The study involved four components: (1) a survey of 82 Ss using the self-injurious behavior (SIB) Perception Questionnaire, Antecedent/Consequent Card Sort, and the American Association on Mental Deficiency Adaptive…

In a study involving 101 severely developmentally disabled children (1-16 years old), stereotyped behaviors without objects was positively correlated with self-manipulation and chronological age and was negatively correlated with complex object manipulation, developmental age, developmental quotient, and teacher attention. Stereotyped behavior…

Analysis of free play interaction between 40 mothers and their mentally retarded, retarded cerebral palsied, and nonretarded infants revealed that mothers of both groups of developmentally disabled (DD) infants were more directive than mothers of nonretarded infants. DD infants were more compliant and demonstrated lower levels of behavior and less…

The relationship between abnormal stereotyped behaviors and abnormal focused affections was examined in 20 children (ages 7-13) with developmental disabilities. Results include all children with abnormal focused affections exhibited stereotypes; abnormal focused affects could be studied reliably in this population through several methodologies;…