Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are more likely to engage in inappropriate play (e.g., stereotypy, repetitive behavior) with their preferred items given as reinforcers. Considering the stereotyped behavior is a core characteristic of ASD aimed to reduce, it is necessary to identify alternative reinforcers that does not encourage…

Background: Young children with limited working memory skills are a special interest group among all children that score below average on early numeracy tests. This study examines the effect of accelerating the early numeracy development of these children through remedial education, by comparing them with children with typically working memory…

Software technology is adopted by the current research to improve the Drag-and-Drop abilities of two people with multiple disabilities and minimal motor control. This goal was realized through a Dynamic Drag-and-Drop Assistive Program (DDnDAP) in which the complex dragging process is replaced by simply poking the mouse wheel and clicking. However,…

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a proposed occupational therapy home program (OTHP) for children with intellectual disabilities (ID). Children with ID were randomly and equally assigned to OTHP or to no OTHP groups. The primary outcome measures were Canadian Occupational Performance, Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor…

The study examined the effectiveness of Group Triple P, a Level 4 variant of the Triple P multilevel system of parenting support, with Chinese parents who had a preschool aged child with a developmental disability, using randomized controlled trial design. Participants (Intervention group: 42; Waitlist Control group: 39) completed measures on…

The latest research adopting software technology to improve pointing performance is through an Automatic Target Acquisition Program (ATAP), where the user can click on the mouse button when a dashed line is aimed at the desired target, instead of moving the cursor to the target. However, ATAP has one limitation--it cannot benefit from Mouseover…

The latest research adopted software technology to improve pointing performance is through an Automatic Pointing Assistive Program (APAP). However, APAP has some limitations. This study evaluated whether two children with developmental disabilities would be able to improve their pointing performance through an Extended Automatic Pointing Assistive…

This study evaluated whether two children with developmental disabilities would be able to improve their pointing performance through an Automatic Pointing Assistive Program (APAP) and a newly developed mouse driver (i.e. a new mouse driver replaces standard mouse driver, and is able to intercept mouse click action). Initially, both participants…

This quasi-experimental study compared the effect of standard occupational therapy (SOT) and virtual reality using Wii gaming technology (VRWii) on children with Down syndrome (DS). Children (n=105) were randomly assigned to intervention with either SOT or VRWii, while another 50 served as controls. All children were assessed with measures of…

This study reports on the validation of the language domain subtest of a developmental assessment scale for Cantonese Chinese preschool children. Three hundred and seventy eight multi-stage randomly selected children between 3;4 and 6;3 years of age were tested on the 104-item subtest. Fifty-four of these children, spreading across three age…

Sit-to-stand (STS) movement is widely performed in daily life and an important pre requisite for acquisition of functional abilities. However, STS is a biomechanical demanding task which requires high levels of neuromuscular coordination, muscle strength and postural control. As children with cerebral palsy (CP) exhibit a series of impairments in…

Early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) may result in improved cognitive, adaptive and social functioning and reductions in autism severity and behavioral problems in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). For a subset of children, normal functioning may be the result. However, due to the intensity (20-40 h per week for 3 years with…

Children diagnosed with cerebral palsy (CP) often show difficulties in arithmetic compared to their typically developing peers. The present study explores whether cognitive and motor variables are related to arithmetic performance of a large group of primary school children with CP. More specifically, the relative influence of non-verbal…

This study examined the associations between children's and adolescents' autistic-like social deficits and school and social adjustment as well as the moderating roles of age and gender in these associations. The sample consisted of 1321 students (48.7% boys) in Grade 1 to Grade 8 from northern Taiwan. Children's and adolescents' autistic-like…

Children with developmental disabilities are at substantially greater risk of developing emotional and behavioural problems compared to their typically developing peers. While the quality of parenting that children receive has a major effect on their development, empirically supported parenting programs reach relatively few parents. A recent trend…