Purpose: The present article provides a narrative review of Australia's approach toward acquired brain injury (ABI) and proposes how Australia and the United States can collaborate to improve service delivery for persons with ABI and their families with epidemiology, healthcare, prevention, research, and training. Method: A narrative review of…

There is an increasing expectation that children, young people and their parents should participate in decisions that affect them. This includes decisions about their health and social care and collective or public decisions about the way in which such services are designed, delivered and evaluated. Indeed this has become a policy priority across…

Millions of youth who attend schools in the United States suffer from clinically significant anxiety. Left untreated, these students often experience significant disruptions in their academic, social, and family functioning. Fortunately, promising treatments exist for childhood anxiety that are amenable for delivery in school settings. However,…

Research studies report a negative relationship between employment and secondary conditions. Access to health promotion programs to manage secondary conditions, however, is limited for people with disabilities due to employment, financial, and insurance barriers. Vocational rehabilitation (VR) is one possible delivery point to overcome these…

The Affordable Care Act includes many new provisions for long-term services and supports (LTSS). Among these are several new options, improvements, and incentives within Medicaid to balance service systems and expand access to home and community-based services. This article discusses some of the major provisions, implementations, and implications…

The health care needs of children with spina bifida are complex. They need specialists, generalists, and an integrated system to deliver this complex care and to align and inform all the providers. Most research in spina bifida has been focused on narrow medical outcomes; it has been noncollaborative, based on small samples of convenience, with no…

Health care providers have adopted a family-centered care (FCC) approach. Parent satisfaction is an indicator of the effectiveness of FCC. The purpose of this project was to describe parent perceptions of the extent to which FCC behaviors occurred in an outpatient pediatric rehabilitation facility. The Measure of Processes of Care (MPOC)-20, a…

Community-based occupational therapy (OT) services are intended to promote social integration and minimize disability. The objective of this study was to describe community-based OT services for children in the province of Quebec, Canada. Specific aims included (a) to determine the proportion of Centres Locaux de Services Communautaires (CLSCs)…

Many types of technology support caregiving: (1) Assistive devices include medicine dispensers, feeding and bathing machines, clothing with polypropylene fibers that stimulate muscles, intelligent ambulatory walkers for those with both vision and mobility impairment, medication reminders, and safety alarms; (2) Telecare devices ranging from…

The article reviews emerging health care delivery options for handicapped children. Cost structures, quality of care, and future prospects are considered for Health Maintenance Organizations, Preferred Provider Organizations, Tax Supported Direct Service Programs, Hospital-Based Services, and Ambulatory Care Organizations. (Author/DB)

The document reports on a symposium, sponsored by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization), designed to develop strategies for improving educational, health, and social service to handicapped children and their families, particularly in developing nations. Section 1 is an overview of the background and organization…

The following papers were delivered at a symposium on improving the nutritional status of a child who is chronically ill or handicapped: (1) "Planning Comprehensive Health Services for the Chronically Ill/Handicapped Child; (2) "Future National Directions in Maternal and Child Health"; (3) "Nutrition Services in a State Crippled Children's…

This article provides comments on an article by Dunst and Bruder. Families, practitioners, researchers, and policy makers have been involved with federal and state-funded early intervention programs for children with disabilities and special health care needs for a very long time. The authors have provided valuable information to lay a stronger…

The report describes services, administration, and future directions of the Children's Special Health Care Services program, part of the Michigan Department of Public Health. Division programs are carried out at local, regional, and state levels and provide: preventive services (through generic and newborn screening services and neonatal intensive…

The report describes a regionalized system of community based child health centers developed in Iowa to provide coordinated secondary level health services for children with chronic illness and handicapping conditions. The system is based on two principles: (1) Communities will be given the responsibility for determining which health services are…