There is little research into emergency presentations in child and adolescent mental health. The purpose of this study was to obtain an overview of number and types of presentations to a inner London child and adolescent mental health emergency service and to determine immediate and longer-term service demands. All available data on 107…

Despite the importance of early intervention for most disorders to minimize potential deleterious lifetime effects for the individuals concerned, there is currently no universally accepted protocol for the early screening, identification, and assessment of specific learning disabilities, and no consistent age at which initial diagnosis occurs. In…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare judgments of stuttering made by students and clinicians with previously available judgments made by highly experienced judges in stuttering. Method: On two occasions, 41 university students and 31 speech-language pathologists judged the presence or absence of stuttering in each of 216 audiovisually…

Evaluation is a process that helps parents and schools determine whether a child has a disability. Under IDEA a "child with a disability" is one who qualifies for special education and related services. A child cannot receive special education without an evaluation. Evaluation is completed in all areas of suspected disability. The…

The aim of this study was to acquire in-depth understanding of parental experiences and encounters with the school system relative to having a child with dyslexia or experiencing difficulties with reading and writing (dyslectic difficulties). Mothers of seven children who attended lower or upper secondary school were interviewed. The interviews…

The new Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) offers local education agencies the choice of using a student's response to intervention (RTI) as a major component to determine eligibility for special education under the category of specific learning disabilities (SLD). Using a RTI model, it is not expected that different…

Background: Few studies have investigated functional and behavioural variables of Cornelia de Lange Syndrome (CdLS) in a large sample of individuals. The aim of this study is to provide greater insight into the clinical, behavioural and cognitive characteristics that are associated with CdLS. Methods: In total, 56 individuals with CdLS…

Background: Identifying many of the diagnostic criteria for anxiety and depression in individuals with intellectual disability (ID) can be challenging because they may be unable to recognize and communicate their emotional experiences accurately. The purpose of this study is to identify behavioural equivalents of anxiety in children with fragile X…

As part of the Combating Autism Act of 2006, the members of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) are required to develop an annual "Summary of Advances" to describe each year's top advances in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) research. These advances represent significant progress in the early diagnosis of ASD, understanding the…

Autism presents parents and families with many challenges under normal circumstances. Autism in a military family magnifies many of those challenges and adds a few more that are unique to the demands of military life and service, further complicating an already complex neurobiological disorder. Military sources indicate that more than 13,000…

This paper is part of a wider project that examines the discourses of motherhood and motherwork that enable and constrain individual women. It examines the influence of schools on mothers in making decisions to seek diagnosis and treatment for their children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Here it is found that the business…

Public schools must make available special education and related services to all IDEA-eligible (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) students with disabilities beginning at age three and through age 18. Services to students, ages 19, 20, and 21, are permissive. That means the decision to serve 19, 20 and 21-year-old students is determined…

When developmental concerns arise in children, a clinical assessment focuses on the child's developmental profile to achieve three goals (1) determine diagnosis, (2) develop interventions, and (3) evaluate progress. Parents often have needs during this time that are not addressed by professionals because of the exclusive focus on the child during…

Identifying health problems in people with severe and profound disabilities and genetic syndromes can be problematic, and unidentified or unmanaged health problems may adversely impact an individual's quality of life. The authors studied carer-reported contemporary health problems in three genetic syndromes (Angelman, Cornelia de Lange, and Cri du…

This article draws on data collected in group interviews with six young, urban Aboriginal mothers whose lives have included substance use and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome/ Fetal Alcohol Effects (hereafter FAS/FAE) to highlight the multiple and often contradictory ways in which disability as a constituent of social relations is defined in public policy…