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PubMedDate not supplied

Using an interdisciplinary approach to training to develop the quality of communication with adults with profound learning disabilities by care staff.

The study examines the effects of training on care staff's communication to service users with profound and severe learning disabilities. An interdisciplinary therapeutic training programme aimed to improve care staff's cognitions about disability, to alter their communicative practice and to provide them with practical solutions to the communication difficulties of the service users. Participants were each video recorded with a single service user before and during training. The recordings formed the basis of the communication workshops. Both baseline and final recordings were evaluated using criteria based on verbal and non-verbal interactions. The criteria assessed alterations in the care staff's language use, verbal responses, and interpretation and praise of service users' communication. The use of posture, position, eye contact and gaze monitoring during interactions was also evaluated. The pre- and post-training analysis demonstrated alterations and improvements in care staff's use of verbal communication as well as gaze monitoring and position during interactions. A follow-up study 6 months later showed many of the post-training positive changes had been maintained or had continued to develop. It is suggested that the success and implementation of the communication training in the workplace was due to the collaborative therapeutic nature of the training package. The interdisciplinary and integrated training programme had facilitated a willingness to change and led to the development of a positive view of each other's practice. The recommendations from each of the therapist's training programme formed an integral part of the care staff's new care plans for each service user. This contributed to the continuing development the care staff's therapeutic role.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Pattern of learning disabilities in children with extremely low birth weight and broadly average intelligence.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the prevalence and pattern of specific areas of learning disability (LD) in neurologically normal children with extremely low birth weight (ELBW) (< or = 800 g) who have broadly average intelligence compared with full-term children with normal birth weight of comparable sociodemographic background, and to explore concurrent cognitive correlates of the specific LDs. DESIGN: Longitudinal follow-up; geographically defined region. SETTING: Regional follow-up program. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised, Gray Oral Reading Test-Revised, Test of Written Language-Revised, Wide Range Achievement Test-Revised, Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred fourteen (87%) of 131 children with ELBW born between 1982 and 1987 were seen at ages 8 to 9 years. Of the 114 children, 74, who were neurologically normal, with a Verbal or Performance IQ greater than or equal to 85, formed the study group. A group of 30 full-term children with normal birth weight and similar sociodemographic status comprised a comparison group. The children were predominantly white and middle class. RESULTS: Significantly more children with ELBW (65%) met criteria for LD in 1 or more areas compared with 13% of the comparison children. In the ELBW group, the most frequently affected area was written output, then arithmetic, then reading. Visuospatial and visual-motor abilities in combination with verbal functioning primarily explained performance in arithmetic and reading among children with ELBW, unlike the control children, whose scores were associated only with verbal functioning. CONCLUSIONS: Complex LDs in multiple academic domains are common sequelae among broadly middle class, predominantly white, neurologically normal children with ELBW compared with control peers. The developmental etiology of LDs in children with ELBW and control peers differs.

Birth Weight↗
PubMed1991

The written composing ability of children with learning disabilities: a review of the literature from 1980 to 1990.

This article reviews the literature pertaining to the written composing ability of students with learning disabilities that was published primarily in the decade from 1980 to 1990. The papers included are either reports of research or discussions of instructional procedures that are based on research. The topics addressed include story composition, expository writing, training/intervention research, and rationales/procedures for instruction.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The consequences of negative scaffolding for students who learn slowly--a commentary on C. Addison Stone's "The metaphor of scaffolding: its utility for the field of learning disabilities".

In this commentary, we discuss the outcomes of effective scaffolding, the processes by which successful scaffolding works, and consider implications for children with learning disabilities or below-average academic progress. Scaffolding aims at transferring responsibility for task accomplishment from a competent person to a learner. In the context of children with educational problems, we explicate our view that current practices in many schools may result in a kind of reverse-scaffolding, preventing rather than encouraging transfer of responsibility for tasks.

Child↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Math learning disability and math LD subtypes: evidence from studies of Turner syndrome, fragile X syndrome, and neurofibromatosis type 1.

The present study examined whether indicators of math learning disability are observed in 5- and 6-year-olds with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) and in 5- to 6-year-old girls with Turner syndrome or fragile X syndrome. Data from 14 girls with Turner syndrome, 9 girls with fragile X syndrome, and 11 children with NF1 were compared to data from control participants matched on age, sex, IQ score, and grade level. The results indicate that girls with fragile X syndrome or Turner syndrome are significantly more likely to have specific math difficulties relative to their control group, with a larger effect size demonstrated by the group with Turner syndrome. Young children with NF1 had a heterogeneous profile not suggestive of specific math disability. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding math disability subtypes and the identification of math difficulty in the early school years.

Child↗
PubMed1989

Depression and learning disabilities in children: a test of an hypothesis.

Performance-Verbal IQ discrepancy scores are compared for 27 depressed and 15 nondepressed children all of whom experienced learning difficulties. Brumbach (1985) reported a significant association between depression and Performance IQ deficits for children with learning difficulties. In contrast to Brumbach's finding, no difference was observed in Performance IQ deficit between depressed and nondepressed children in the current study. Moreover, only 10% of depressed children showed such a deficit. This result differed significantly from Brumbach's findings (34%). Implications of these results are discussed within the context of nascent interest in the relationship between depression and learning disabilities.

Child↗
PubMed1992

Auditory temporal acuity in normally achieving and learning-disabled college students.

Recent research has suggested that deficits in several metalinguistic/phonological abilities, such as short-term verbal memory and phoneme segmentation, may be etiologic factors in specific reading disability, and it has been speculated that these weaknesses may result from a more fundamental deficit in the processing of temporal, auditory stimuli. This study examined the auditory temporal processing skills of reading-disabled, math-disabled, and normally achieving college students. The math-disabled group was included to control for the possibility that poor temporal processing is a "marker" variable for learning disability rather than being related specifically to reading disability. Subjects were assessed on a battery of psychophysical tasks that included five tests of temporal processing. The reading-disabled group performed significantly more poorly on the temporal tasks but performed as well as the other groups on the simple pitch and loudness discrimination tasks. In spite of the significant difference on the temporal tasks, the majority of reading-disabled subjects performed within the same range as the subjects in the other two groups, and there were also some normally reading subjects who performed poorly on the temporal processing tasks. These findings suggest that poor temporal processing is neither a necessary nor a sufficient cause of reading disability, but that there is a modest association between the two domains.

Achievement↗
PubMed2002

Dysmorphic features and learning disability in an adult male with pure partial trisomy 17q24-q25 due to a terminal duplication.

We describe an adult male with severe learning disability, epilepsy, and dysmorphic features. Cytogenetic studies demonstrated a terminal duplication of the long arm of chromosome 17, resulting in partial trisomy 17q24-q25. Our patient shows some of the characteristic features of the distal 17q phenotype, but in addition has more unusual features such as epilepsy, sensorineural hearing loss, and long fingers and overlapping toes. We suggest that these features occur with terminal duplications of 17q.

Abnormalities, Multiple↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Is attribution retraining necessary? Use of self-regulation procedures for enhancing the reading comprehension strategies of children with learning disabilities.

The present study investigates the need to include explicit attribution retraining in a program designed to teach reading comprehension strategies to children with learning disabilities (LD). The program had two versions: (a) self-regulation procedures and (b) self-regulation procedures plus explicit attributional retraining. Sixty children with LD were assigned to two training groups (with and without attributional retraining) and a control group. Twenty normally achieving students served as an additional control group. The effects were assessed via attribution measures and cognitive and metacognitive reading comprehension tests. Results indicated that children from both training groups improved on measures of cognitive strategies, but their gains were very low on metacognitive measures. In addition, regardless of training condition, students from both groups showed equally good attribution profiles.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Comparisons of achievement, effort, and self-perceptions among students with learning disabilities and their peers from different achievement groups.

This study compared the social-emotional implications of academic achievement for students with and without learning disabilities (LD) and identified predictors of effort investment. Students with LD showed lower levels of achievement, effort investment, academic self-efficacy, sense of coherence, positive mood, and hope, and higher levels of loneliness and negative mood. When compared to peers without LD (n = 447) at four different academic achievement levels, students with LD showed higher achievement than the low-average group, but their social-emotional profiles were similar to the low and low-average groups. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that achievement, academic self-efficacy, negative mood, and hope predicted effort investment for students with LD. These results demonstrated the importance of hope in understanding the functioning of students with LD.

Achievement↗
PubMed1991

Statement: occupational therapy provision for children with learning disabilities and/or mild to moderate perceptual and motor deficits.

This paper discusses three major issues in the provision of occupational therapy services to persons with learning disabilities and/or mild to moderate perceptual and motor deficits. The issues are (a) the historical influence of federal legislation on the scope and content of occupational therapy services to persons with these disabilities; (b) the provision of occupational therapy services for this population from infancy to adulthood; and (c) the context of service provision and efficacy of occupational therapy models.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Disturbed sleep and worries among learning disabled adolescents.

This study tested the clinical assumption that sleep problems reflect underlying emotional concerns. The hypothesis that worry-correlates of disturbed sleep for learning disabled adolescents would be related to their disability was borne out by findings of sleep problems associated with concerns about intellectual and academic adequacy. Other significant correlates suggested the effect of social anxiety which may be age-appropriate.

Achievement↗
PubMed2006

Neuropsychological functioning in girls with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder with and without learning disabilities.

The authors' goal was to assess neuropsychological performance in girls with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and evaluate the role of comorbid learning disabilities (LDs). Participants were 140 girls with ADHD and 122 girls without ADHD, ages 6-17 years. Neuropsychological performance was measured in a standardized manner, blind to clinical status. LD was defined by a combined regression-based and low-achievement classification. ADHD was associated with modest, but significant, neuropsychological impairment, as measured with an aggregate measure of performance and with the Stroop Color-Word Test, independent of age, social class, IQ, and psychiatric comorbidity. Neuropsychological deficits were most pronounced in girls with both ADHD and an LD and in those without medications. These results extend to females the previously documented association of LDs with neuropsychological functioning in males with ADHD.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Language problems in children with learning disabilities: do they interfere with maternal communication?

In this study, parent-child interaction in two carefully matched subgroups-school-age boys with learning disabilities (LD) who showed a discrepancy between their verbal IQ and performance IQ and had more extensive difficulties in higher-level language abilities (VIQ < PIQ, n = 8) and boys with LD who did not manifest a discrepancy between verbal IQ and performance IQ (VIQ = PIQ, n = 8), were investigated. The effects of the child's language problems on child task performance and on the quality of maternal communication were analyzed in a mother-child problem solving task. Children in the VIQ < PIQ group were found to be less successful on the task than children in the VIQ = PIQ group, and their mothers exhibited lower communication clarity in their instructions than the mothers of the children in the VIQ = PIQ group. An interesting interaction effect was found for communication deviances. For mothers in the VIQ < PIQ group the extent of deficient communication increased from the monologue to the dialogue situation, whereas communication deviances decreased for mothers in the VIQ = PIQ group. Three possible models are discussed in light of the differences between the subgroups.

Child↗
PubMed2000

Oral midazolam for adults with learning disabilities.

This paper demonstrates how oral midazolam can be employed as an alternative method of behaviour management to general anaesthesia for the dental treatment of people with learning disabilities. A range of treatments, from scaling to root canal therapy, can be carried out successfully using the sedation technique outlined. The advantages of sedation include reduced morbidity and mortality. Treatment outcomes are also likely to be improved as root canal therapy and periodontal care can be carried out over a number of visits rather than a single treatment session under general anaesthesia. Oral sedation with midazolam should improve the scope of dental treatment available to patients with disabilities.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1979

Effects of chromatic targets on a throwing task for subjects referred for learning disability.

The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of chromatic and achromatic targets on performing a throwing task for subjects referred for learning disability. 20 boys referred to the Perceptual Motor Development Center practiced under achromatic or chromatic target conditions. After 5 practice bouts, each subject immediately performed on the opposite condition. When subjects were aware of chromatic and achromatic target alternatives, chromatic targets facilitated performance.

Child↗
PubMed2002

Health risk escalators and the rehabilitation of offenders with learning disabilities.

This paper presents a study of risk management in a hospital within the UK. National Health Service which attempts to rehabilitate offenders with learning disabilities. Analysis is based on the metaphor of a 'risk escalator'. Health and social care systems can be characterised as risk escalators if they possess three attributes. Firstly, risk managers should agree the rough ordering of the severity of a set of related risks. Secondly, a repertoire of responses which provide different trade-offs between autonomy and safety, and which can be calibrated against risk severity, should be available. Thirdly, the potential for positive and/or negative feedback, which give risk escalators their dynamic character, should be identified. Risk escalators may be deliberately designed, or may, like the hospital regime discussed in this paper, coalesce from pre-existing sub-systems offering different autonomy/safety balances. They may carry service users upwards towards greater safety if needed, as in health screening systems, or downward towards greater autonomy if justified, for instance in rehabilitation systems. Their therapeutic status is contestable. Upward risk escalators can be accused of generating positive feedback, with iatrogenic effect. Downward risk escalators may be criticised for pushing service users too strongly towards less intense interventions, causing neglect. The present case study brings out emergent properties of a downward risk escalator, including: organisational disruption to system functioning; preferencing of safety over autonomy; active and reflexive system management by clients; multiple, organisational risk rationalities; and the reification of riskiness as a generic attribute of individuals.

Crime↗
PubMed2000

Attitude and knowledge of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and learning disability among high school teachers.

The aims of the study were to investigate teachers' knowledge and attitudes towards attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and learning disabilities (LD). Forty-six high school teachers were interviewed in this regard. The 46 teachers were divided into two groups: 25 teachers taught at an academic school (School 1); and 21 teachers taught at special education school (School 2) and dealt with ADHD/LD cases regularly. General knowledge about ADHD (71%) and about LD (74%) was relatively low among both groups. Thirteen percent of all teachers considered LD to be the result of parental attitudes, namely 'spoiling' the children. The score for attitude and understanding of ADHD children was relatively low (72.5%) for both groups, whereas Group B teachers scored higher regarding LD cases. Almost 40% considered that ADHD children should be rebuked and/or punished in a manner similar to non-ADHD kids. Regarding long-term outcome, 45.7% of the teachers expected ADHD children to experience multiple difficulties in family life during adulthood. In relation to LD cases, the overall scoring for positive attitude was 75%. However, this score was higher for Group B teachers. Three-quarters of the teachers favored increasing peer awareness and comprehension as to the problems LD kids encounter at school. Ninety-five percent believed LD patients should enjoy a more lenient school education. There was no correlation between teachers, knowledge of ADHD and LD and their attitude. The main sources for this knowledge were: specialized textbooks, continuous education, TV shows, journals and newspapers, and medical personnel.

Adult↗