Background: Staff may encourage individuals with intellectual disabilities to use manual signs by modelling its use, but implementing key word signing during daily activities can be demanding. Method: Staff's use of manual signs was observed in four special schools and four day centres for adults with intellectual disabilities during communicative…

Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) 1915(c) waivers are one of the largest providers of long-term services and supports for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). HCBS waivers also play a prominent role in providing day habilitation services for people with IDD. The purpose of this study was to examine how…

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of an immersive learning (IL) course in which university students planned, developed, and implemented a 2-week day camp for children with disabilities. To assess perceptions and associated dispositional constructs, university students completed reflection activities before, during, and post camp…

Studies have found that youth are experiencing higher anxiety levels than prior to COVID-19, and youth with type 1 diabetes are at higher risk. Medical specialty camps are a type of camp that provide opportunities for youth with chronic illnesses to share common goals, increase socialization, improve camper well-being, and increase knowledge of…

We explored the impact of a daytrip for children aged 10-13 (n = 40) to assess perception of nature. Those who perceived risk in nature were 11.25 times more likely to indicate disinterest in spending time outdoors. Those interested in spending time outdoors were 6.9 times more likely to think people should care more about the environment.…

Purpose: The numbers of early childhood education programs are dramatically increasing throughout Turkey, and the regulations to ensure quality are frequently changing. A very limited number of studies have examined the quality of Turkish ECE programs on children's development. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the effects of…

Background: Trauma-informed care (TIC) is a systems-level philosophy of service delivery which integrates choice, collaboration, empowerment, safety and trust to create an organizational culture sensitive to trauma. This study explores staff understandings and perceptions within an innovative trauma-informed day program for individuals with…

Background: STEM participation is often associated with the disenfranchisement of historically marginalized individuals. Disrupting these standing injustices to establish "rightful presence" with equitable opportunity, access, and cultural standing to shape and pursue STEM endeavors in ways that are inclusive of individuals' identities…

The 'Structured Days Hypothesis' suggests that children's obesogenic behaviors (e.g., activity, diet, sleep, and screen time) are less favorable during times when there is less-structure to a child's day (e.g., summer). To compare obesogenic behaviors of children with developmental disabilities (DD) during summer on days with differing amounts of…

Regular physical activity significantly improves health outcomes, yet rates of childhood physical activity remain alarmingly low. Physical literacy has been identified as the foundation for quality physical education, suggesting that sport, education, and public health interventions should seek to increase physical literacy to promote physical…

Summer camps are an $18 billion industry while providing over 14,000 individual programs in the United States in 2015. Camp counselors, like other outdoor workers, are at risk of occupational solar exposure. Occupational solar exposure increases an individual's lifetime accumulation of solar radiation, leading to skin damage and higher rates of…

With handwriting being limitedly taught in schools; high intensity, summer handwriting camps may resolve the numerous handwriting rehabilitation referrals of school-aged children. To improve handwriting, a 5-day (3-hr/daily session) summer camp was created for children (ages 5-9 years old). Thirty children (ages 5-9) were given manuscript…

Objectives: To evaluate the effects of a program for training direct-care staff to implement an iPad®-based communication intervention with adults with developmental disability and severe communication impairment. Methods: Participants were 11 adults with developmental disability and 19 direct-care staff drawn from two day program settings.…

Treatment integrity is an important concern in treatment centers but is often overlooked. Performance feedback is a well-established approach to improving treatment integrity, but is underused and undervalued. One way to increase its value to treatment centers may be to expose unrealized benefits on the observer who collects the performance…

The aim was to describe the occupational transition process to upper secondary school, further education and/or work, and to discover what support influences the process from the perspectives of young adults with Asperger syndrome or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. This qualitative study was performed in Sweden and comprised interviews…