This booklet provides an overview of autism and discusses strategies for living and working with children with autism. The first section of the guide, "Understanding the Problem," addresses the characteristics of autism, including social symptoms, language difficulties, repetitive behaviors and obsessions, sensory symptoms, and unusual…

This book tells the stories of eight people with above average to highly gifted levels of intellect, who also have significant, previously unrecognized and undiagnosed, learning disabilities. Their discovery of their true abilities and gifts after years of humiliation within the educational system and the trials of daily life is detailed. The…

This booklet provides an overview of the characteristics and needs of young children with autism spectrum disorders or pervasive developmental disorders. It addresses: (1) different disabilities under the classification of autism spectrum disorders or pervasive developmental disorders; (2) characteristics of autism; (3) characteristics of children…

A slow-scan video system, using regular telephone lines that interconnect the local hospital, five remote communities, and two teaching hospitals in Toronto, was originally used to assist medical diagnosis in a remote area of Ontario. The system is now being used for additional purposes including continuing medical education and medical and…

Computer-delivered, case-based instruction can provide medical students with valuable clinical diagnostic experiences before encountering real patients. Diagnosis requires physicians to understand and use causal reasoning for prediction. Such reasoning may be scaffolded in the design of computerized learning environments. Scaffolding of causal…

A study at the University of Vermont investigated the effectiveness of using a continuous quality improvement (CQI) cycle for teaching internal medicine residents the importance and techniques of psychosocial evaluation in patient examinations. Social workers audited students' examination data and provided feedback. The method was found to improve…

Discusses four ways in which clinical diagnosis can be detrimental to minority clients: (1) cultural expressions of symptomatology; (2) unreliable research instruments; (3) clinician bias; and (4) institutional racism. Recommendations to avoid misdiagnosis begin with accurate assessment of a client's history and cultural background. (SLD)

This annotated bibliography lists 38 books, journal articles, handouts, and journals addressing issues concerning Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in adult and postsecondary students. Citations are grouped in these categories: general references, postsecondary students, assessment of adults with ADHD, legal issues, medications,…

We conducted a psychological autopsy study to further understand youth suicide in Utah. While traditional psychological autopsy studies primarily focus on the administration of psychometric measures to identify any underlying diagnosis of mental illness for the suicide decedent, we focused our interviews to identify which contacts in the…

Objective: This study describes and compares the severity of DSM-IV symptoms in preschool children with diagnosed pervasive developmental disorder (PDD), clinic controls, and two community-based samples. Method: Parents (/and teachers) completed the early child inventory-4 (ECI-4), a DSM-IV-referenced rating scale for four samples: PDD (n =…

Since the first publication on fetal alcohol syndrome appeared in the scientific literature over 30 years ago, there has been a great deal of research interest in the topic. This paper reviews findings within the past 10 years related to causes, frequency, and diagnosis of alcohol-related disabilities, before turning to the impact these…

For many of the children who are blind and who also display features of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) it is possible that their characteristics, while being representative of ASD, actually follow a different pathway to those children who have ASD and are sighted. It is proposed that these children should be viewed as having specific features…

Purpose: This article reviews the effectiveness of a new training program for improving nursing staffs' detection of depression within long-term care facilities. The course was designed to increase recognition of the Minimal Data Set (MDS) Mood Trigger items, to be brief, and to rely on images rather than didactics. Design and Methods: This study…

This manual provides basic information on the cognitive, academic, and behavioral issues which may follow brain injury and suggests practical techniques for remediation within the educational setting. The guide stresses that the success of educating children with brain injuries is largely dependent on family members and educators understanding…

Designed for teachers, this guide provides recommendations regarding identification, interventions, and follow-through procedures for working with students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a classroom setting. Chapter 1 discusses the identification of children with ADHD and includes information on the definition of ADHD,…