In recent years, there has been a considerable rise in prevalence rates for autism/autism spectrum disorders (ASD) around the globe. Understanding the patterns of prevalence is essential for policy development at national and local levels that effectively plans for medical, psychological, behavior analytical, and educational interventions. This…

Smith-Magenis syndrome (SMS) is a genetic syndrome most often caused by a deletion on chromosome 17 or more rarely by a mutation in the retinoic acid-induced 1 gene. The aim of this study was to investigate the Developmental Behavior Checklist (DBC) profile of persons with SMS and the associations between behavioural and emotional problems, age,…

Background: Mental health services for patients intellectual disabilities (ID) and additional mental illnesses are only sparsely studied. Objective: The objective was to describe a representative sample of patients with ID in a specialized psychiatric department. Methods: Data were collected from case files in a 7-year period. Of 143 invited…

From a purely educationist perspective, gaining a deeper understanding of several aspects related to the prevalence of autism/ASD in a given population is of great value in planning and improving educational and psychological intervention for treatment, training, and teaching of children with this disorder. In this article, I present and discuss…

Studies in Britain and the US indicate that 10-15% of people with mental retardation show challenging behaviour, like attacking others (aggression), self-injurious behaviour, destruction, and other difficult, disruptive or socially unacceptable acts. Most researchers indicate that challenging behaviour is more common among adolescents and young…