A case study of a 10-year-old boy with cerebral palsy and severe mental retardation investigated whether he would be able to: (1) benefit from a program of supports which includes neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) with intensity sufficient to achieve a tetanic muscle contraction, (2) participate in a weekly program, using NMES, in a…

The mental development of 332 preschool-age children with orthopedic disabilities was assessed at a children's hospital over a 10-year period, and comparisons were made for right-handed and left-handed. The left-handed children were slower than right-handed children in learning speech and language skills (Author/SEW)

A study compared intelligibility and speech rate differences following speaker implementation of 3 strategies (topic, alphabet, and combined topic and alphabet supplementation) and a habitual speech control condition for 5 speakers with severe dysarthria. Combined cues and alphabet cues yielded significantly higher intelligibility scores and…

Uses ethnographic methods in a self-contained classroom. Finds that the room as a text-rich environment; latitude given to students to govern their own literate behavior; regularly conducted storyreading sessions; and the constructive use of computers facilitated literacy learning, while restriction of instructional time; overreliance on…

We analyzed data from 87 mothers of children ages 15 to 44 months with cerebral palsy (CP) or no diagnosis, who completed the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, Parenting Stress Index, Support Functions Scale, and Inventory of Social Support. Principal components analysis of the 15 subscales from the 5 measures revealed few cross-measure loadings. Mothers…

This article presents a model to guide activity-focused physical therapy and occupational therapy interventions for children with neurological conditions. Activity-focused interventions involve structured practice and repetition of functional actions and are directed toward the learning of motor tasks that will increase independence and…

Case studies are an accepted method for reporting treatment outcomes. However, to be useful and authentic, a systematic and principled approach to collecting, analyzing, and reporting case data must be observed. This paper proposes a basic case study format for documenting augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) intervention to ensure…

The Sequenced Inventory of Communication Development (SICD), which was designed for remedial programming of children with language disorders, mental retardation, and specific language problems, was given to 13 cerebral palsied preschoolers along with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. Time and environmental constraints required considerabLe…

Reported are findings from five studies which explored the special problems and needs of the developmentally disabled offender in the Illinois criminal justice system. Introductory information includes a discussion of the problem, goals of the present study, and a review of programs for retarded offenders throughout the U.S. Presented are five…

Because the Matching Familiar Figures Test has a heavy visual perceptual loading, its usefulness for measuring cognitive style was examined with cerebral palsied students, frequently characterized by ocular anomalies and visual perceptual deficits. The students' cognitive styles were qualitatively similar to nonhandicapped. Extraocular movements…

This qualitative study investigated what disabled children thought most important in their lives and examined how well their priorities are represented in KIDSCREEN, a generic health-related quality of life (HRQoL) instrument. Participants were a subgroup of families who had previously taken part in a study of quality of life and participation in…

This study, involving a 10-year-old child with cerebral palsy and autism, found that the use of headphones resulted in an increase in on-task behavior whether stimuli were presented in an audiovisual mode, an audio-only mode, or a visual-only mode. Preference was for the auditory only or the mixed audiovisual stimuli. (DB)

Six individuals (ages 10 to 44) with communication disorders who used augmentative and alternative communication were provided instruction on the acquisition, generalization, and long-term maintenance of partner-focused questions. Instruction used least-to-most prompting hierarchy in real-world interactions and simulations. All subjects learned…

A survey investigated aging in 37 men and 28 women with mental retardation in three age groups: 40-49, 50-59, and 60+ living in group homes and apartments in Israel. Results indicate declines as early as age 40 in physical health. The most common ailment is diabetes, followed by weight problems. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Results of the Nowicki Locus of Control Scale indicated that the instrument did not differentiate between mildly handicapped Australian children with cerebral palsy (N=85) integrated into regular schools and their nondisabled peers (N=1391) nor was it a significant correlate of academic or social performance for the target group. (Author/CB)