Background: The present authors aimed (a) to objectively quantify spontaneous physical activity (PA) in adult patients with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) and (b) to evaluate the transferability of a home-based exercise training programme in these patients. Method: Physical activity was compared between 10 adult women with PWS (PWS group) and 20…

Adults with intellectual disability (ID) have significantly lower levels of fitness compared to the general population. The study examined the effects of a multicomponent familiarization intervention, consisting of a visual activity schedule and a video-enhanced system of least-to-most prompting, both displayed via an iPad, on the acquisition of…

Many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have deficits in conversation skills that can interfere with the development of personal and professional relationships. Further research is needed on efficient interventions for targeting conversation skills in adults with ASD and for evaluating the social validity of the outcomes. In this…

Purpose: To compare the effect of 12-weeks of cycling training and competition versus recreational cycling on successful aging across physical, psychological, cognitive, and social functioning domains in mid-aged adults. Methods: Recreational cyclists were randomly assigned to an intervention (n = 13, M age = 47.18 years) and comparison (n = 13, M…

Research shows the number of paraprofessionals who provide support to students with exceptionalities is increasing (Data Accountability Center [DAC], 2010) and that special educators are becoming increasingly responsible for managing, training, and supervising paraprofessionals who support students with exceptionalities (Carlson, Brauen, Klein,…

The specific neuropsychological and sensory profile found in persons with autism spectrum disorders complicate dental procedures and as a result of this, most are treated under general anesthesia or unnecessary sedation. The main goal of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a short treatment and education of autistic and related…

Many studies have been conducted evaluating the use of feedback in staff training in organizational settings. Central to this literature has been the use of a variety of forms of feedback, including videotaped feedback. A distinction is outlined between video modeling and a variety of possible video feedback procedures. Previous studies have…

The inability to navigate independently and interact with the wider world is one of the most significant handicaps that can be caused by blindness, second only to the inability to communicate through reading and writing. Many difficulties are encountered when visually impaired people (VIP) need to visit new and unknown places. Current speech or…

Each night, around 20,000 people--both adults and children--make the streets of Dhaka (the capital city of Bangladesh) their home. Living amongst the noise, rubbish, and traffic, thousands of families walk down the streets of Dhaka, looking for a safe place to rest for just a few hours each night. Trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty, the…

An assertiveness training program specifically developed for mentally retarded adults was used to train 128 participants from four rehabilitation centers. Results demonstrated improvement in assertive behaviors and some relationship between internal locus of control and increased assertiveness skills. (Author/CL)

The effects of training using tactile (physical guidance), visual (modeling), auditory (verbal instructions) prompting, and a combination of all three methods were compared by teaching 32 mildly to severely retarded vocational rehabilitation clients (18-50 years old) the construction of four assembly tasks. (Author)

Results indicate that the instructions (and related information concerning alpha) rather than the biofeedback are critical in alpha biofeedback training and that this training does not appear to have utility for controlling arousal under stress. (Author)

Programmed identity-matching training was given to five participants with severe mental retardation and histories of failures in assessments and training attempts. When an intermediate goal of establishing one-trial discrimination learning was eliminated, four participants completed the program and passed tests for generalized identity matching…

The effectiveness of a training program in conversational skills was evaluated with seven community-dwelling mildly and moderately mentally retarded adults. Training sessions consisted of instructions, modeling, and behavioral rehearsal. Substantial improvements in targeted behaviors in generalization settings was found after treatment and…