The aims of this study were to explore the mean and distribution of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and to examine the influence of gender, body weight and health behaviors on hypertension in adults with disabilities. We analyzed the 2010 annual community health examination chart of adults with disabilities in east Taiwan. The study samples…

Purpose: This study aimed (1) to compare the skeletal maturity and activity participation pattern between children with and without developmental coordination disorder (DCD); and (2) to determine whether activity participation pattern was associated with the skeletal development among children with DCD. Materials and methods: Thirty-three children…

Taiwan has provided free health checks for adults since 1995. However, very little previous research has explored the use of preventive health services by physically and mentally disabled adults. The present study aimed to understand this use of preventive health services and the factors that influence it. Research participants included disabled…

Attitudes toward individuals with disabilities are often negative and deleterious, resulting in decreased opportunity and chances at successful integration into the community for these individuals. The purpose of the current study was to investigate attitudes of a group of 129 individuals attending a state-wide conference aimed toward improving…

The literature is bereft of information about the age at which infants with Down syndrome (DS) acquire motor skills and the percentage of infants that do so by the age of 12 months. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the difference in age, in relation to typical infants, at which motor skills were acquired and the percentage of infants with DS…

Although a large body of literature exists supporting the relationship between positive parenting and child outcomes for typically developing children, there are reasons to analyze separately the relevant literature specific to children with developmental disabilities. However, that literature has not been synthesized in any systematic review.…

Because of their physical and general health problems, people with a combination of profound intellectual and severe or profound motor disabilities (PIMD) are at risk of pain-related medical conditions. They are fully dependent on support professionals for the detection and accurate interpretation of nonverbal pain behaviour. These professionals…

This paper aims to describe a general demographic picture of patients with rare diseases in Taiwan and particularly focuses on the prevalence of rare diseases over time, age and gender distributions. We analyzed data mainly from the national disability registry from 2002 to 2011 in Taiwan, Republic of China. The results showed that the number of…

In recent years attention has been paid to the participation levels of children and youth with Cerebral Palsy (CP), particularly the extent to which they have the opportunity to be involved in and enjoy leisure activities. The objective of this study is to describe the level of participation and enjoyment in leisure activities among adolescents…

Infants born preterm have increased risk for learning disabilities yet we lack assessments to successfully detect these disabilities in early life. We followed 23 full-term and 29 preterm infants from birth through 24 months to assess for differences in and stability of learning abilities across time. Measures included the Bayley-III cognitive…

The aim of the current study was to test the hypothesis that children with probable Developmental Coordination Disorder have an increased risk of reduced moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), using data from a large population based study. Prospectively collected data from 4331 children (boys = 2065, girls = 2266) who had completed motor…

The aim of this paper was to describe the development of the cognitive domain of the Preschool Developmental Assessment Scale (PDAS) for assessment of preschool children with developmental disabilities. The initial version of the cognitive domain consisted of 87 items. They were administered to 324 preschool children, including 240 children from…

We investigated relations between children's moral judgments and moral emotions following disability-based exclusion and inclusive education, age, and contact intensity. Nine- and 12-year-old Swiss children (N = 351) from inclusive and noninclusive classrooms provided moral judgments and moral emotion attributions following six vignettes about…

Background: Although there is no strict definition of frailty, it is generally accepted as a state of high vulnerability for adverse health outcomes at older age. Associations between frailty and mortality, dependence, and hospitalization have been shown. We measured the frailty level of older people with intellectual disabilities (ID).…

This study aimed to quantitatively characterize the main foot-ground contact parameters during static upright standing and to assess foot evolution with increasing age in young individuals affected by Down syndrome (DS). To this end, 99 children with DS of mean age 9.7 (1.7) were tested using a pressure sensitive mat, and the raw data were…