The assessment of mental health in children with intellectual disability

Aim: Individuals with intellectual disability (ID) have higher rates of mental health problems than the general population. Assessment tends to rely heavily on self-report, but persons with ID often have difficulties in identifying and describing their own thoughts and feelings. Measures that are psychometrically sound with typically developing populations may not be as robust in samples with ID. The aim of the current study was to examine a range of self-report measures for assessing the mental health of children with ID, and to consider the appropriateness of minor modifications to those instruments. Method: The participants were 58 children with ID (mean 11.7 years) attending Year 6 in mainstream primary schools. At the first time point they completed four established measures of depression, anxiety and mood. Minor modifications were made to wording and format at re-administration six months later. Results: Internal consistency varied considerably across measures. Modifications resulted in small or no improvements, but the results were relatively consistent over time and across similar measures. Some gender differences were evident. Conclusions: The findings confirm the difficulties that children with ID may have when responding to self-report measures of mental health, and suggest that care should be taken in choice of instruments. While modifications can produce small improvements, it is clear that more robust measures of mental health are needed for persons with ID.

The developmental consequences of rare chromosome disorders : two case reports

Aim: As molecular and cytogenetic testing becomes increasingly sophisticated, more individuals are being diagnosed with rare chromosome disorders. Yet despite a burgeoning knowledge about biomedical aspects, little is known about implications for psychosocial development. The scant literature gives a general impression of deficits and adverse developmental outcomes. Method: Developmental data were obtained from two 16 year olds diagnosed with a rare chromosome disorder – a girl with 8p23.1 and a boy with 16q11.2q12.1. Measures of intellectual ability, academic achievement, and other aspects of functioning were administered at multiple time points from early childhood to adolescence. Results: Both adolescents experienced initial delays in motor and language development. Although the girl’s intelligence is assessed as being in the average range, she experiences difficulties with motor planning, spelling and writing. The boy has been diagnosed with a mild intellectual disability and demonstrates mild autistic features. Conclusions: The two case descriptions are in marked contrast to the published literature about these two chromosome anomalies. Both adolescents are developing much more positively than would be expected on the basis of the grim predictions of their paediatricians and the negative reports in the literature. It is concluded that, for most rare chromosome disorders, the range of possible developmental outcomes is currently unknown.

Child characteristics associated with delay of gratification in children with Down syndrome

Aim: Children with Down syndrome have been identified as having difficulty delaying gratification when compared to mental age matched children who are developing typically. This study investigated the association between individual characteristics hypopthesized to be associated with ability to delay as well as the strategies children used in a waiting task. Method: Thirty-two children with Down syndrome and 50 typically developing children matched for mental age completed the tasks. Observations of their behaviour while waiting were video-recorded for later analysis. In addition, parents completed questionnaires with respect to their child’s personality and behaviour. Results: Children with Down syndrome were significantly less able to delay gratification than the comparison group. Different patterns of association were found for the two groups between the observational and questionnaire measures and delay time. Conclusions: Children with Down syndrome have greater difficulty delaying gratification than would be predicted on the basis of their mental age. The contributions to delay appear to differ from those for typically developing children and these differences need to be considered when planning interventions for developing this skill

Strategy use of children with Down syndrome in a delay of gratification situation

Background: The capacity to delay gratification has been shown to be a very important developmental task for children who are developing typically. There is evidence that children with Down syndrome have more difficulty with a delay of gratification task than typically developing children of the same mental age. This study focused on the strategies children with Down syndrome use while in a delay of gratification situation to ascertain if these contribute to the differences in delay times from those of typically developing children. Method: Thirty-two children with Down syndrome (15 females) and 50 typically developing children participated in the study. Children with Down syndrome had a mental age, as measured by the Stanford-Binet IV, between 36 and 66 months (M = 45.66). The typically developing children had a mean chronological age of 45.76 months. Children participated in a delay of gratification task where they were offered two or one small treats and asked which they preferred. They were then told that they could have the two treats if they waited for the researcher to return (an undisclosed time of 15 min). If they did not want to wait any longer they could call the researcher back but then they could have only one treat. Twenty-two of the children with Down syndrome and 43 of the typically developing children demonstrated understanding of the task and their data are included here. Sessions were videotaped for later analysis. Results: There were significant differences in the mean waiting times of the two groups. The mean of the waiting times for children with Down syndrome was 181.32 s (SD = 347.62) and was 440.21 s (SD = 377.59) for the typically developing children. Eighteen percent of the group with Down syndrome waited for the researcher to return in comparison to 35% of the typically developing group. Sixty-four percent of children with Down syndrome called the researcher back and the remainder (18%) violated. In the typically developing group 37% called the researcher back and 28% violated. The mean waiting time for the group of children with Down syndrome who called the researcher back was 24 s. Examination of strategy use in this group was therefore very limited. There appeared to be quite similar strategy use across the groups who waited the full 15 min. Conclusions: These results confirm the difficulty children with Down syndrome have in delaying gratification. Teaching strategies for waiting, using information drawn from the behaviours of children who are developing typically may be a useful undertaking. Examination of other contributors to delay ability (e.g., language skills) is also likely to be helpful in understanding the difficulties demonstrated in delaying gratification.

Parenting satisfaction and self-efficacy : a longitudinal study of mothers of children with Down Syndrome

Continuities and changes in parenting sense of competence were examined for mothers of children with Down syndrome from early childhood to adolescence. The sample comprised 25 mothers whose child with Down syndrome was aged 4-6 years in the first phase of the study, and 11-15 years at the second time point. Maternal satisfaction with parenting increased over time, but there were no changes in parenting self-efficacy. Scores on these measures were no different from those reported in a normative sample of mothers of typically developing children, suggesting that the challenges of parenting a child with Down syndrome do not impact significantly on parenting sense of competence during the early childhood and adolescent periods. There were some significant relationships of maternal sense of competence with child characteristics and self-reported parenting style, mostly in the expected direction.

Contributors to life satisfaction in parents of an adult child with Down syndrome

Aim: This study investigated: (1) concurrent relationships between measures of family life and parental satisfaction with life in parents of an adult with Down syndrome and (2) influence of early family functioning on current parental satisfaction. Method: Sixty-two families were interviewed using a semi-structured interview, and responded to a series of questionnaires related to family functioning when their child with Down syndrome was between 7 and 15 years. Fifteen years later parents were asked to provide data on their current situation, including mental health, and satisfaction and difficulties with respect to care-giving in relation to their adult child. Results: Over half the families provided data to the second phase of the study. Life circumstances were appreciably worse for a small group of families than had been the case 15 years previously; however, these changes were generally unrelated to their parenting role. Overall, parents reported experiencing satisfaction from their care-giving role and did not report high levels of difficulties emanating from this role. Conclusions: Most parents demonstrated good levels of personal functioning, although there was a small group for whom this was not the case. Earlier functioning did not make a strong contribution to current levels of life satisfaction.

Assessing intellectual functioning in young adolescents : how do the WISC-IV and SB5 compare?

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) and the Stanford-Binet – Fifth Edition (SB5) are two of the most commonly used intelligence tests for children and adolescents. No comparative studies of the WISC-IV and SB5 have yet been published. In the current study the WISC-IV and SB5 were administered in counterbalanced order to 30 typically-developing 12- to 14-year-old adolescents. There was a significant difference between Full Scale IQs on the two measures, with scores being higher on the WISC-IV. A significant difference was also found between Verbal IQs and there were large score differences for some participants. The paper concludes that the WISC-IV and SB5 cannot be presumed to be interchangeable measures of intelligence.

APS grant enhances educational psychology’s impact in Bangladesh

The APS Grant for Intercultural and/or International Projects of up to $10,000 supports innovative projects that have an intercultural and/or international focus, particularly in countries where psychology is an emerging discipline. Associate Professors Linda Gilmore MAPS and Marilyn Campbell MAPS from Queensland University of Technology were awarded the APS Grant in 2010-11. Their project aimed to promote and advance the profession of psychology in Bangladesh by supporting the newly introduced specialisation of educational psychology. With a population of 159 million in a country only twice the size of Tasmania, Bangladesh is one of the poorest and most densely populated countries in the world. Yet at the time this project commenced, there was only one school psychologist in the entire country. Linda Gilmore shared her experiences and insights about the project with InPsych.

Supporting siblings of children with a rare chromosome disorder

Siblings play an important role in children’s learning and development. Interactions with brothers and sisters provide opportunities to learn about sharing and emotional reciprocity, to develop social skills, to express thoughts and feelings, and to practise resolving conflict. But for children whose brother or sister has a disability, such as a rare chromosome disorder, some of these sibling experiences may be different. Many parents worry about how their non-disabled child will be affected by the experience of living with a brother or sister with a disability, and a great deal of research has explored both the possible negative consequences and also the potential benefits for siblings. In this article, we summarise the research findings and provide suggestions for ways that parents can support the positive development and well-being of all their children.

Coteaching social education : an oasis in changing times

With the introduction and continued steady roll-out of the Australian Curriculum, teaching Social Education in 21st Century Australia has become increasingly challenging. This article explores how two teacher-educators tackled the challenge when developing a new Social Education course at a Queensland university using the strategy of coteaching. During the case study, data were collated from cogenerative dialogues, pre-service teacher questionnaires, and reflective journals. The data were subsequently explored using concepts from cultural sociology such as capital (Bourdieu, 1977) and agency and structure (Sewell, 1992). This paper examines how coteaching afforded the teacher-educators a vehicle to develop innovative curriculum and model ways to create a productive learning environment that reflected the philosophy of Social Education. It therefore speaks to higher-education institutions and schools about ways for navigating the present educational milieu through the adoption of collaborative strategies based on ethical relations that promote shared decision-making and reflexive practices.

β-glucan triggers spondylarthritis and Crohn's disease-like ileitis in SKG mice

Objective The spondylarthritides (SpA), including ankylosing spondylitis (AS), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), reactive arthritis, and arthritis associated with inflammatory bowel disease, cause chronic inflammation of the large peripheral and axial joints, eyes, skin, ileum, and colon. Genetic studies reveal common candidate genes for AS, PsA, and Crohn's disease, including IL23R, IL12B, STAT3, and CARD9, all of which are associated with interleukin-23 (IL-23) signaling downstream of the dectin 1 β-glucan receptor. In autoimmune-prone SKG mice with mutated ZAP-70, which attenuates T cell receptor signaling and increases the autoreactivity of T cells in the peripheral repertoire, IL-17–dependent inflammatory arthritis developed after dectin 1–mediated fungal infection. This study was undertaken to determine whether SKG mice injected with 1,3-β-glucan (curdlan) develop evidence of SpA, and the relationship of innate and adaptive autoimmunity to this process. Methods SKG mice and control BALB/c mice were injected once with curdlan or mannan. Arthritis was scored weekly, and organs were assessed for pathologic features. Anti–IL-23 monoclonal antibodies were injected into curdlan-treated SKG mice. CD4+ T cells were transferred from curdlan-treated mice to SCID mice, and sera were analyzed for autoantibodies. Results After systemic injection of curdlan, SKG mice developed enthesitis, wrist, ankle, and sacroiliac joint arthritis, dactylitis, plantar fasciitis, vertebral inflammation, ileitis resembling Crohn's disease, and unilateral uveitis. Mannan triggered spondylitis and arthritis. Arthritis and spondylitis were T cell– and IL-23–dependent and were transferable to SCID recipients with CD4+ T cells. SpA was associated with collagen- and proteoglycan-specific autoantibodies. Conclusion Our findings indicate that the SKG ZAP-70W163C mutation predisposes BALB/c mice to SpA, resulting from innate and adaptive autoimmunity, after systemic β-glucan or mannan exposure.

Resiliency profiles of children with intellectual disability and their typically developing peers

Intellectual disability (ID) is associated with a range of risk factors that make children more vulnerable to adverse developmental outcomes including mental health problems. Nevertheless, some children with ID do much better than others, presumably because of the presence of protective factors that increase their resilience. The current study compared resiliency profiles of children with ID (n = 115, mean age 11.9 years) and their typically developing peers (n = 106, mean age 11.8 years) using the Resiliency Scales for Children and Adolescents (Prince-Embury, 2007) and the Healthy Kids Resilience Assessment (Constantine, Bernard & Diaz, 1999). In many respects children with ID and their typically developing peers reported similar levels of the protective factors that are associated with resilience. However, the children with ID reported higher levels of emotional sensitivity and lower tolerance, as well as fewer future goals. Compared with typically developing children, those with ID reported more support at school and less support within their communities. These findings have important implications for interventions that aim to promote positive developmental outcomes and to prevent the adverse sequelae that have been associated with low intelligence.