Evaluation of a treatment program for individuals with an intellectual disability who have high risk behaviours

In the past two decades numerous programs have emerged to treat individuals with developmental disabilities who have sexual offending behaviours. There has, however been very few studies that systematically examine the effectiveness of long term treatment with this population. The present research examines the therapeutic outcomes of a multi-modal behaviour approach with six individuals with intellectual disabilities previously charged with sexual assault. The participants also exhibited severe behavioural challenges that included verbal aggression, physical aggression, destruction and self-injury. These six participants (5 males, 1 female) were admitted to a Long Term Residential Treatment Program (LTRTP), due to the severity of their behaviours and due to their lack of treatment success in other programs. Individualized treatment plans focused on the reduction of maladaptive behaviours and the enhancing of skills such as positive coping strategies, socio-sexual knowledge, life skills, recreation and leisure skills. The treatment program also included psychiatric, psychological, medical, behavioural and educational interventions. The participants remained in the Long Term Residential Treatment Program (LTRTP) program from 181 to 932 days (average of 1.5 years). Pre and post treatment evaluations were conducted using the following tools: frequency of target behaviours, Psychopathology Inventory for Mentally Retarded Adults (PIMRA), Emotional Problems Scale (EPS), Socio-Sexual Knowledge and Attitudes Assessment Tool (SSKAAT-R) and Quality of Life Questionnaire (QOL-Q). Recidivism rates and the need for re-hospitalization were also noted for each participant. By offering high levels of individualized interventions, all six participants showed a 37 % rate of reduction in maladaptive behaviours with zero to low rates of inappropriate sexualbehaviour, there were no psychiatric hospitalizations, and there was no recidivism for 5 of 6 participants. In addition, medication was reduced. Mental health scores on the PIMRA were reduced across all participants by 25 % and scores on the Quality of Life Questionnaire increased for all participants by an average of 72 %. These findings add to and build upon the existing literature on long term treatment benefits for individuals with a intellectual disability who sexually offend. By utilizing an individualized and multimodal treatment approach to reduce severe behavioural challenges, not only can the maladaptive behaviours be reduced, but adaptive behaviours can be increased, mental health concerns can be managed, and overall quality of life can be improved.

An international investigation on the validity of the CSAPPA scale in screening for developmental coordination disorder /

The main objective of the present investigation was to continue the research initiated by Hay and colleagues (2004) in examining the efficacy of the Children's Self-Perceptions of Adequacy in and Predilection for Physical Activity (CSAPPA) scale as a proxy for the short form of the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOTMP-SF) in screening for Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) in children. To better appreciate DCD knowledge outside Canada, the measurements of this investigation were expanded in Greece. A translated Greek CSAPP A scale and the BOTMP-SF were administered for the first time in Greek children. A second objective was to investigate the relationship between DCD and various risk factors of coronary artery disease (CAD) in Canadian and Greek children. A sample of 591 (Ms=322; Fs=269) Canadian and 392 (Ms=211; Fs=181) Greek children, aged 9 to 13 years, consented to the BOTMP-SF, CSAPP A Scale, participation in physical activity questionnaire, Leger 20-meter Multistage Shuttle Run test, and body fat using bioelectric impedance. Prevalence of DCD in Canada and Greece was 8% and 19%, respectively. Significant agreement (p

Closing the summer learning gap for vulnerable junior kindergarten students

Under current academic calendars across North America, summer vacation creates a significant gap in the learning cycle. I t has been argued that this gap actually decreases student achievement levels over the course of the summer. In a synthesis of 39 studies Cooper, Nye, Charlton, Lindsay, & Greathouse (1996) indicated that summer learning loss equaled at least one month of instruction as measured by grade level equivalents on standardized test scores whereby children's test scores were at least one month lower when they returned to school in the fall than scores were when students left in the summer. Specifically, Cooper et aI., (1996) found that the summer learning loss phenomena may be particularly troublesome for less advantaged children including those with speech and language delays, children at-risk for reading disabilities, children from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and children learning English as a second language. In general, research illustrated clearly that the summer learning gap can be particularly problematic for vulnerable children and furthermore, that literacy skills may be the area of achievement that is most affected. A foundational pillar to this research project is including primary caregivers as authentic partners in a summer literacy program designed to support their children's literacy needs. This pillar led the research team to use the Learning Begins at Home: A Research-Based Family Literacy Program Curriculum designed by Antoinette Doyle, Kathleen Hipfner-Boucher, and Janette Pelletier from the Ontario Institute for the Studies of Education. The LBH program is designed to be flexibly adapted to suit the needs of each individual participating family. As indicated by Timmons (2008) literacy interventions are most powerful when they include authentic family involvement. Based on this research, a requirement for participating in the summer literacy program was involvement of a child and one of their primary caregivers. The participating caregiver was integrally involved in the program, participating in workshop activities prior to and following hands-on literacy work with their child. By including primary caregivers as authentic partners, the research team encouraged a paradigmatic shift in the family whereby literacy activities become routine within their household. 5 Participants in this study were 14 children from junior kindergarten classrooms within the Niagara Catholic District School Board. As children were referred to the program, they were assessed by a trained emergent literacy specialist (from Speech Services Niagara) to identify whether they met the eligibility requirements for participation in the summer program. To be eligible to participate, children demonstrated significant literacy needs (i.e. below 25%ile on the Test of Preschool Early Literacy described below). Children with low incidence disabilities (i.e. profound sensory impairments, severe intellectual impairments, developmental disabilities, etc) were excluded as participants. The research team used a standard pre- and posttest design whereby all participating children were assessed with the Test of Preschool Early Literacy (Lonigan et aI., 2007), and a standard measure of letter names and sounds. Pretests were administered two weeks prior to the commencement of the program and the first set of posttests was administered immediately following the program. A second set of posttests was administered in December 2009 to measure the sustainability of the program. As a result of the program, all children scored statistically significantly higher on their literacy scores at the post-program assessment point immediately following the program and also at the Dec-post-program assessment point. These results in general indicated that the summer family literacy program made an immediate impact on the emergent literacy skills of participating children. All participating children demonstrated significant increases in print and phonological awareness as well as their letter sound understanding.

Youth with intellectual disabilities and the right to make choices : investigating the family context to inform a training program

People with intellectual disabilities (ID) are more likely to be victims of abuse and human rights violations than people without ID. The 3Rs: Rights, Respect, and Responsibility project has developed and is testing a human rights training program for adults with ID. The current project was conducted to make recommendations to adapt the 3Rs rights training program to be used with youth with ID and their families. An interpretive phenomenological framework was employed to investigate youth with ID, parents', and siblings' perceptions of the i r experiences with choice making, an enactment of rights, in the family context. Thematic analysis of interviews revealed that, consistent with previous research, family members consider family values, conventions, and family members' well being when making decisions. A training program should promote a consideration of expanded opportunities for youth with ID to make choices and should be flexible to address individual families' cultures, needs, and desires.

Psychotropic medication use by adults with intellectual disabilities living in community settings

This study examined the variables related to psychotropic medication use among 73 adults with intellectual disabilities living in community residential settings in Ontario, Canada over a one-year period based on staff reports. Despite only 16% percent having a documented psychiatric diagnosis, 84% of these individuals were receiving psychotropic medications, and 74% were receiving two or more psychotropic medications (polypharmacy). Anti-psychotics, anti-anxiety medications, and anti-convulsant medications were the most frequently reported drug classes. While problem behaviour was reported for 60% of the participants, only 33% had a formal behaviour plan. There was a significant relationship between the reported number of problem behaviours and the reported number of prescribed psychotropic medications. Reported medication reviews did not adhere to the Canadian 'Consensus Guidelines for the Primary Care of Adults with Developmental Disabilities' (Sullivan et aI., 2006). Results, based on staff reports, suggested incongruence with recommended best practices, and raised concern about over-reliance on psychotropic medication with these individuals. Keywords: intellectual disabilities, psychotropic medication, problem behaviour

Investigation of language and motor skills in Serbian speaking children with specific language impairment and in typically developing children

Specific language impairment (SLI) is usually defined as a developmental language disorder which does not result from a hearing loss, autism, neurological and emotional difficulties, severe social deprivation, low non-verbal abilities. Children affected with SLI typically have difficulties with the acquisition of different aspects of language and by definition, their impairment is specific to language and no other skills are affected. However, there has been a growing body of literature to suggest that children with SLI also have non-linguistic deficits, including impaired motor abilities. The aim of the current study is to investigate language and motor abilities of a group of thirty children with SLI (aged between 4 and 7) in comparison to a group of 30 typically developing children matched for chronological age. The results showed that the group of children with SLI had significantly more difficulties on the language and motor assessments compared to the control group. The SLI group also showed delayed onset in the development of all motor skills under investigation in comparison to the typically developing group. More interestingly, the two groups differed with respect to which language abilities were correlated with motor abilities, however Imitation of Complex Movements was the unique skill which reliably predicted expressive vocabulary in both typically developing children and in children with SLI.

Complex rearrangements in patients with duplications of MECP2 can occur by fork stalling and template switching

Duplication at the Xq28 band including the MECP2 gene is one of the most common genomic rearrangements identified in neurodevelopmentally delayed males. Such duplications are non-recurrent and can be generated by a non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) mechanism. We investigated the potential mechanisms for MECP2 duplication and examined whether genomic architectural features may play a role in their origin using a custom designed 4-Mb tiling-path oligonucleotide array CGH assay. Each of the 30 patients analyzed showed a unique duplication varying in size from similar to 250 kb to similar to 2.6 Mb. Interestingly, in 77% of these non-recurrent duplications, the distal breakpoints grouped within a 215 kb genomic interval, located 47 kb telomeric to the MECP2 gene. The genomic architecture of this region contains both direct and inverted low-copy repeat (LCR) sequences; this same region undergoes polymorphic structural variation in the general population. Array CGH revealed complex rearrangements in eight patients; in six patients the duplication contained an embedded triplicated segment, and in the other two, stretches of non-duplicated sequences occurred within the duplicated region. Breakpoint junction sequencing was achieved in four duplications and identified an inversion in one patient, demonstrating further complexity. We propose that the presence of LCRs in the vicinity of the MECP2 gene may generate an unstable DNA structure that can induce DNA strand lesions, such as a collapsed fork, and facilitate a Fork Stalling and Template Switching event producing the complex rearrangements involving MECP2.

Salivary alpha amylase and cortisol levels in children with global developmental delay and their relation with the expectation of dental care and behavior during the intervention

The purpose of this study was to analyze the alpha-amylase (sAA) and cortisol levels in children with Global developmental delay (GDD) before and after dental treatment and its association with the children's behavior during treatment. The morning salivary cortisol levels and activity of sAA of 33 children with GDD were evaluated before and after dental treatment and were compared to 19 healthy children. The behavior of children with GDD during dental care was assessed by the Frankl scale. Children with GDD showed lower levels of sAA activity than healthy children, but this result was not significant. The salivary cortisol levels were similar between GOD and healthy children. GDD children showed increased levels of sAA (but not cortisol) prior to the dental treatment as compared to the post-treatment phase. GOD children who showed less favorable behavior during dental care had higher levels of sAA and salivary cortisol than GOD children with more favorable behavior, but only the sAA results were significant. In conclusion, GOD children show hyperactivity of the SNS-axis in anticipation of dental treatment which indicates the need for strategies to reduce their anxiety levels before and during dental care. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Emergence and stability of interlimb coordination patterns in children with developmental coordination disorder

The purpose of this study was to investigate the emergence and stability of coordination patterns in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) when performing a rhythmic interlimb coordination task on rigid (floor) and elastic (mini-trampoline) surfaces. Twelve typically developing (TD) children and 12 children with DCD were required to clap while jumping under different conditions: in a chosen pattern Free; when the feet touched the surface - Clapping-surface; when the body reached the maximum jumping height, Clapping-jump; and when the feet touched the surface and the body reached the maximum jumping height - Clapping-both. The results showed that the coordination pattern of children with DCD was more variable in the Free, Clapping-surface, and Clapping-jumping conditions and more variable on the mini-trampoline than on the floor under the Free condition when compared with the TD children. Clapping-jumping was more difficult to perform than Clapping-surface for both groups. These findings suggest that the children with DCD were less capable of rhythmically coordinating the jumping-clapping task because they used a type of exploratory strategy regarding the physical properties of the surfaces, whereas the TD children used a type of adaptive strategy displaying behavior that was more consistent across the tasks/environmental demands. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

People with disabilities : working for you in the insurance industry.

Cover title.

Choice protocol : a document to help plan and carry out meetings between persons with disabilities and those who are responsible for assisting them in making choices about their future services.

"Funded through a grant from the Illinois Planning Council on Development Disabilities.

Dixon Developmental Center : a program and administrative review.

Cover title.

Domestic abuse and neglect of adults with disabilities : study and demonstration act PA 84-881 : a report to the General Assembly and the Governor.

"April 1, 1986."

Improving transportation opportunities for people with disabilities in Illinois /

"September 2001"