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PubMedDate not supplied

Classroom-based assessment: validation for the school AMPS.

The role of the occupational therapist working in the school system is to facilitate a student's task performance or ability to do purposeful and meaningful activities so that the student benefits from the educational experience. To fulfill this role, occupational therapists need assessments that address functional performance issues in the classroom and provide information for effective programming and consultation. The School Version of the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (School AMPS) is an observational evaluation of functional skills in the classroom. Common classroom activities are observed to assess a child's school motor and school process skills. This study examined the validity of the School AMPS by comparing it to the Peabody Developmental Motor Scale-Fine Motor (PDMS-FM), a common assessment used in local area school districts in Edmonton, Alberta. Results show a higher correlation of the PDMS-FM with the motor scale of the School AMPS than with the process scale of the School AMPS, which was expected. The School AMPS appears to be a promising instrument for measuring the constructs of school motor and school process skills within a naturalistic setting.

Child↗
PubMed1989

Youngsters with moderate or severe mental retardation and severe spoken language impairments. I: Extant communicative patterns.

This study characterizes the communicative patterns of youngsters with moderate or severe mental retardation and severe spoken language impairments who are not independent speakers with conversational partners at home and at school. Nine subjects were observed during six 1-hr mealtime sampling periods in both settings for a total of 12 hr. Live continuous observations were made, employing a coding scheme designed to record occurrences of the subjects' communicative behaviors. Findings are discussed with respect to the modes and functions of the youngsters' communications with home and school conversational partners.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Communicative ability in an audiological perspective. Theory and application to post-secondary school students.

The underlying assumption in the present study is that the individual's speech and hearing communicative ability is composed of three components, each corresponding to different functional systems of the brain: afferent functions (A) represent the auditory activity and sound perception largely corresponding to activity in the ascending auditory pathways. The central functions (C) include cortical auditory and language abilities controlled in parts of the left temporal lobe and subcortical centres. The efferent functions (E) consist of speech motor processes and articulation. A test battery of 20 tests measuring several aspects of afferent, central and efferent functions was applied to 11 hearing-impaired post-secondary school students and several control groups. All data were normalized with the normal materials as references. Individual communicative profiles were obtained from these primary data, which consisted of audiometric tests (tone and speech audiometry, impedance tests, brainstem response audiometry and phase audiometry), sound environmental tests with hearing aids (directional speech-in-noise, word localization, sound environment identification test), and language tests (reading tests, prosody, auditory memory and recall, phonology and articulation). Since the central functions cannot truly and directly be determined in hearing-imparied subjects, they were assessed under optimal listening conditions. Furthermore, central functions were estimated according to three different models: distributive, parallel model (model 1), multiplicative, serial model (model 2) and compensatory model (model 3). On the basis of these models, a three-component description of the communicative ability consisting of A,C and E functions was obtained. It was found that C and E functions were largely independent of the adult afferent functions, but C functions were negatively correctly to hearing in childhood. A preliminary comparison between the tests and a comparison between the models was performed by predicting benefit of hearing aid. Model 3 gave the best prediction. Beyond the three-component A,C, and E characterization of the students, a total communicative ability score could be calculated giving values from 37% to 79% of the normal mean. On the basis of the conceptual and statistical analyses, the test battery could be reduced to include tone 0-12 years, tone adults, word localization test (afferent); word chain, lecture test (central), articulatory test (efferent) and audiovisual test. The simple algorithm of adding the normalized loss of afferent (peripheral) function to the normalized results of the acoustic central tests seems to be promising for isolation for the central auditory capacity even in cases with peripheral impairment. It is concluded that a wider perspective is desirable in the diagnostic evaluation of the hearing-impaired individual in order to understand his communicative abilities and form a cornerstone in the planning of rehabilitation in conjunction with social and psychological factors.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

The beginnings and 50-year history of the Charles University Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Králové.

The Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Králové has some unique features that make it stand out from other similar faculties in this country: The school developed from regional traditions at the appropriate historic times, when due to closure of the universities during World War II. there was a serious death of physicians. The school was supported by the local governing organs, as well as by the generous financial assistance of citizens who identified with the idea of creating a university in Hradec Králové. An entirely new organizational form was utilized in the creation of the medical school: it was founded as a branch of the Faculty of Medicine at the Charles University in Prague. It was the first time that this form of organization in the history of our universities was used to prevent any legal delays during the postwar times when parliamentary legislation was not yet functional. It constitutes a synthesis of existing medical schools in Prague and Brno (Brünn): the first teachers were primarily equally recruited from both these universities. It had been connected almost from its beginning with the coexisting military medical school; at one time it represented this military medical training institution by itself. The school underwent so many transformations accompanied by the departure of a number of important professors that it was surprising that it was able to maintain its professional integrity. The answer to the question of why the first medical school in the postwar period was founded in Hradec Králové is not too difficult. The town was a metropolis of eastern Bohemia with an important cultural and political tradition; this eventually culminated in a targeted readiness of such institution.

Czech Republic↗
PubMed2004

Developmental function of very-low-birth-weight infants and full-term infants in early childhood.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Despite general recognition that surviving very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants are at risk for neurodevelopmental impairments and educational achievement difficulties, there has been relatively little study on their functional status in areas such as locomotion, communication, cognition, self-care, and interpersonal relationships. This study assessed the functional status of VLBW infants and full-term infants in early childhood, and sought to identify risk factors for functional morbidity. METHODS: A total of 238 VLBW infants and 91 full-term infants were included in this prospective follow-up study. The functional status of the infants was assessed using the Chinese Child Development Inventory (CCDI) and neurodevelopment was evaluated using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, second version (BSID-II) at 3 years of corrected age. Perinatal and sociodemographic data were collected through review of medical records. RESULTS: The VLBW infants had lower scores on all the CCDI measures compared with the full-term infants. Functional limitation (defined as more than 2 standard deviations below the means of the full-term infants) occurred more frequently in the VLBW infants than in the full-term infants: gross motor, 23% vs 3%; fine motor, 12% vs 1%; expressive language, 21% vs 2%; comprehension-conceptual, 23% vs 4%; situation comprehension, 17% vs 4%; self-help, 17% vs 1%; and personal-social, 19% vs 3% (all p < 0.01). Significant risk factors associated with functional morbidity included gestational age < 30 weeks, grade III-IV intraventricular hemorrhage, chronic lung disease, stage III-IV retinopathy of prematurity, male gender, and maternal education below high school. CONCLUSION: VLBW infants have a higher risk of functional morbidity than their full-term counterparts in early childhood. Infants with functional limitations on CCDI screening might require comprehensive developmental assessment and continued follow-up.

Developmental Disabilities↗
PubMed1991

[The effect of training with computer equipment on the visual analyzer of 1st-grade pupils].

Examination are carried out on 64 school children Ist class from school "104", town of Sofia where computer training on mathematics and mother tongue is introduced in the frames of pedagogic experiment. The studies are performed parallelly at traditional and computer lessons, realized in two variants (with one and two school hours daily). In order to establish the functional status of the visual analyzer during computer training the following methods are used: studying the distance of the nearest point for clear vision (punctum proximum), stability of clear vision, threshold of the electric eye sensitivity, critical frequency of fusing of the light flickerings. A full preliminary ophthalmological examination is made by "Vision test", as well as chronometric control of each student to establish the real time of work with computers. Taken into consideration are also the data for illumination of the working places in the computer studies and class rooms where the traditional school hours are held. The analysis of the data received shows that the computer training (1 and 2 computer lessons daily) with schoolchildren, Ist class, has no unfavourable effect on the functional status of the visual analyzer in the limits of study hours up to 25 minutes.

Accommodation, Ocular↗
PubMed1992

The Garden Cafe. An experiment in vocational education in the Philippines.

The author visited Bohol, a picturesque island in the Philippines 350 miles south of Manila, in 1986 and 1990 to observe and record the emerging deaf culture. Before the Peace Corps started a school program on the island some eight years ago, deaf children grew up functionally illiterate. Those who have not been found and are not enrolled in the fledgling school program still do, as they are completely isolated from the deaf community. This article describes heroic efforts to teach vocational skills to the deaf in Bohol. The project not only succeeded but led to the island's best restaurant, The Garden Cafe.

Child↗
PubMed1996

Early prevention of alcohol and other drug use among adolescents.

Among a variety of methods to prevent drug use among adolescents, school-community based prevention and intervention programs are prevalent. The impact of such programs will be compromised, however, if drug use among adolescents is impacted by forces apart from the impact of school-community prevention and intervention, such as the function of the family. On the other hand, prevention and intervention programs can have a powerful impact if teenage drug use is responded to through early intervention. The purpose of this study was to review a sample of students referred for drug assessments to determine how early intervention should occur and how involved high school and middle school students are with alcohol and other drugs.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Diet, breakfast, and academic performance in children.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether nutrient intake and academic and psychosocial functioning improve after the start of a universal-free school breakfast program (USBP). METHODS: Information was gathered from 97 inner city students prior to the start of a USBP and again after the program had been in place for 6 months. Students who had total energy intakes of <50% of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) and/or 2 or more micronutrients of <50% of RDA were considered to be at nutritional risk. RESULTS: Prior to the USBP, 33% of all study children were classified as being at nutritional risk. Children who were at nutritional risk had significantly poorer attendance, punctuality, and grades at school, more behavior problems, and were less likely to eat breakfast at school than children who were not at nutritional risk. Six months after the start of the free school breakfast programs, students who decreased their nutritional risk showed significantly greater: improvements in attendance and school breakfast participation, decreases in hunger, and improvements in math grades and behavior than children who did not decrease their nutritional risk. CONCLUSION: Participation in a school breakfast program enhanced daily nutrient intake and improvements in nutrient intake were associated with significant improvements in student academic performance and psychosocial functioning and decreases in hunger.

Absenteeism↗
PubMed2006

Emotional, developmental, and behavioral health of American children and their families: a report from the 2003 National Survey of Children's Health.

BACKGROUND: Recent children's health surveys have documented a high prevalence of emotional, developmental, and behavioral problems among children. Data from the 2003 National Survey of Children's Health provide new insights into these problems and their association with family function and community participation. These issues have become a current focus of the World Health Organization. METHODS: Answers to questions of interest from the 2003 National Survey of Children's Health were reported using estimates and SEs of rates. Statistical comparisons of rates with chi2 tests at the 0.05 level were made when relevant. RESULTS: The most commonly diagnosed problems among children 6-17 years of age were learning disabilities (11.5%), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (8.8%), and behavioral problems (6.3%); among preschoolers, speech problems (5.8%) and developmental delay (3.2%) were most common. One in 200 children was diagnosed with autism. In contrast, rates of parental concerns about emotional, developmental, or behavioral problems were much higher; for example, 41% of parents had concerns about learning difficulties and 36% about depression or anxiety. Children with developmental problems had lower self-esteem, more depression and anxiety, more problems with learning, missed more school, and were less involved in sports and other community activities. Their families experienced more difficulty in the areas of childcare, employment, parent-child relationships, and caregiver burden. CONCLUSIONS: The most recent National Survey of Children's Health mirrored results of previous surveys regarding rates of diagnosed emotional, developmental, and behavioral problems, including an escalating diagnosis of autism among children. Reported rates of parental concerns about these problems were much higher, suggesting possible underdiagnosis of children's problems. Children with chronic problems had diminished family functioning, more school absences, and less participation in community activities compared with other children. Their parents experienced more difficulty with childcare, employment, and parenting skills. A change in treatment emphasis is needed, away from an exclusive focus on a child's developmental and behavioral problems to one that addresses the impacts of these problems on the family and community participation. A new approach to the way these issues are addressed and managed has the potential to enhance the quality of life for a child, as well as the parents, and to produce more meaningful and tangible solutions to these complex and increasingly evident problems.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

FASD: what types of intervention and rehabilitation are useful?

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) occurs worldwide when children are prenatally exposed to alcohol. This paper discusses recent findings regarding the neuropsychological and behavioral effects of prenatal alcohol exposure and how it impacts the developmental and functional abilities of children with FASD. Specifically, recent research focus has concentrated on studies to elucidate a neurobehavioral phenotype for the alcohol-exposed population. As a result, the FASD field has learned what types of neurobehavioral issues occur most frequently with these children. This paper discusses how that information can be used to inform school assessment, intervention planning, and support. Strategies for functional assessment, individualized planning, structured teaching, and developments in cognitive-behavioral methods are described.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy↗
PubMed1994

Air pollution and childhood respiratory health: exposure to sulfate and ozone in 10 Canadian rural communities.

This study was designed to examine differences in the respiratory health status of preadolescent school children, aged 7-11 years, who resided in 10 rural Canadian communities areas of moderate and low exposure to regional sulfate and ozone pollution. Five of the communities were located in central Saskatchewan, a low-exposure region, and five were located in southwestern Ontario, an area with moderately elevated exposures resulting from long-range atmospheric transport of polluted air masses. In this cross-sectional study, the child's respiratory symptoms and illness history were evaluated using a parent-completed questionnaire, administered in September 1985. Respiratory function was assessed once for each child in the schools between October 1985 and March 1986, by the measurement of pulmonary function for forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1.0), peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR), mean forced expiratory flow rate during the middle half of the FVC curve (FEF25-75), and maximal expiratory flow at 50% of the expired vital capacity (V50max). The 1986 annual mean of the 1-hr daily maxima of ozone was higher in Ontario (46.3 ppb) than in Saskatchewan (34.1 ppb), with 90th percentile concentrations of 80 ppb in Ontario and 47 ppb in Saskatchewan. Summertime 1-hr daily maxima means were 69.0 ppb in Ontario and 36.1 ppb in Saskatchewan. Annual mean and 90th percentile concentrations of inhalable sulfates were three times higher in Ontario than in Saskatchewan; there were no significant differences in levels of inhalable particles (PM10) or particulate nitrates. Levels of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) were low in both regions. After controlling for the effects of age, sex, parental smoking, parental education, and gas cooking, no significant regional differences were observed in rates of chronic cough or phlegm, persistent wheeze, current asthma, bronchitis in the past year, or any chest illness that kept the child at home for 3 or more consecutive days during the previous year. Children living in southwestern Ontario had statistically significant (P < 0.01) mean decrements of 1.7% in FVC and 1.3% in FEV1.0 compared with Saskatchewan children, after adjusting for age, sex, weight, standing height, parental smoking, and gas cooking. There were no statistically significant regional differences in the pulmonary flow parameters (P > 0.05).

Air Pollutants↗
PubMed2006

Developmental coordination disorder and aerobic fitness: is it all in their heads or is measurement still the problem?

Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is characterized by motor inproficiency, resulting in significant impairments in social and/or academic functioning. About 5-9% of all school-age children are affected. Previous research has shown that children with DCD have lower aerobic fitness levels than children without the disorder, although the reasons for this have not been tested in the literature. A potential explanation may lie in perceived adequacy regarding performance in physical activity. Although negative perceptions of adequacy in children with DCD likely reflect an accurate appraisal of actual physical abilities, aerobic fitness tests typically require minimal coordination skills. Children who perceive themselves to be less adequate are unlikely to persist at a task and may give up sooner on these tests of endurance. Using a large community based sample of children ages 9 through 14 (n=586), we examine whether differences in aerobic fitness (assessed by performance on a 20-m shuttle run test) between children who meet the criteria for DCD (n=44) and those who do not (n=542) is due to differences in perceived adequacy toward physical activity. Our results show that one-third of the effect of DCD on VO(2) can be attributed to differences in perceived adequacy. These results suggest that at least part of the reason children perform less well on tests of aerobic endurance is because they do not believe themselves to be as adequate as other children at physically active pursuits. The implications of this for further research are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Thymic nurse cells: a school for alloreactive and autoreactive cortical thymocytes?

The possibilities for functional analysis of thymic nurse cells (TNC) have so far been hampered by the low yield of these cells by means of gradient centrifugation and their fragility preventing purification by a fluorescence-activated cell sorter. Furthermore, they are extremely unstable in cell culture. Here we present functional data obtained by the analysis of single TNC in an avian system: the chicken with its extramaternal embryonic development prompted us to use the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) pock formation assay to investigate the possible graft-vs.-host reactivity (GVHR) of TNC lymphocytes (TNC-L). The CAM assay proved to be an optimal and unique "cell culture" system for the investigation of the functional characteristics of TNC. Our data show that TNC-L, unexpectedly, are able to exert a GVHR on allogeneic CAM with the very high efficiency of 1/13 as compared to thymocytes of the same donors showing a GVHR efficiency of 1/350. TNC-L are even able to induce GVH-like reactions in syngeneic combinations, while thymocytes and peripheral blood lymphocytes from the same donors always remain negative.

Allantois↗
PubMed2002

Current status of iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) and strategy for its control in India.

Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD) reflects the broad manifestations of iodine deficiency including the implications on reproductive functions and lowering of IQ levels in school aged children. Today, IDD is a public health problem in 130 countries and affects 13% of world's population. In India, no state is free from iodine deficiency and 200 million people are 'at risk' of IDD. Daily consumption of salt fortified with iodine is a proven effective strategy and is the measure stressed by the Government of India. The paper describes the major five phases of the IDD Control Programme in India. The paper describes the major five phases of the IDD Control Programme in India since 1962 and synthesizes the spectrum of activities that significantly attributed to the Universal salt Iodisation (USI) efforts launched in 1992. The sustainability of the USI programme is critical since IDD prevalence will rise if programme of salt iodisation weakens. A two pronged strategy needs to be institutionalized for ensuring continued demand for iodised salt, linked to ongoing health, nutrition and education programmes as well as for ensuring supply of quality iodised salt.

Deficiency Diseases↗
PubMed2006

Do predictors of gambling involvement differ across male and female adolescents?

We examined gender-specific factors, which might be related to adolescent gambling behavior, using a comprehensive set of predictors from neighborhood, school, family, peer, and intrapersonal domains. Discriminate function analyses revealed a unique pattern of results for each gender. The noteworthy predictors for males were similar to what is found to be predictors of other risk behaviors, suggesting that there may be a similar etiology to gambling participation as found with other risk behaviors. Compared to males, the model for females suggests that parents and peers may have a greater influence on engagement in gambling behavior. Participation in unstructured activities, and risk attitudes/perceptions were the only consistent noteworthy predictors across both males and females. Implications are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Psychosocial functioning of young adults after surgical correction for congenital heart disease in childhood: a follow-up study.

To investigate the long-term psychosocial outcome of congenital heart disease, the emotional, intellectual and social functioning of 288 (young) adult patients was assessed with standardized assessment procedures 9-23 years (mean follow-up interval: 16 years) after surgical correction for congenital heart disease in childhood, and compared with that of reference groups. With respect to emotional functioning, the patients reported significantly fewer feelings of hostility, fewer neurotic complaints and a better self-esteem than reference subjects. Overall, the results concerning social functioning showed favourable outcomes on daily activities (school, employment) and leisure-time activities for (young) adults with congenital heart disease. No significant differences were found between scores of different cardiac diagnostic groups on hostility, neuroticism, self-esteem and leisure-time activities. The possibility whether the 'denial'-mechanism might have contributed to the positive outcomes is discussed.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2005

Breakfast habits, nutritional status, body weight, and academic performance in children and adolescents.

Breakfast has been labeled the most important meal of the day, but are there data to support this claim? We summarized the results of 47 studies examining the association of breakfast consumption with nutritional adequacy (nine studies), body weight (16 studies), and academic performance (22 studies) in children and adolescents. Breakfast skipping is highly prevalent in the United States and Europe (10% to 30%), depending on age group, population, and definition. Although the quality of breakfast was variable within and between studies, children who reported eating breakfast on a consistent basis tended to have superior nutritional profiles than their breakfast-skipping peers. Breakfast eaters generally consumed more daily calories yet were less likely to be overweight, although not all studies associated breakfast skipping with overweight. Evidence suggests that breakfast consumption may improve cognitive function related to memory, test grades, and school attendance. Breakfast as part of a healthful diet and lifestyle can positively impact children's health and well-being. Parents should be encouraged to provide breakfast for their children or explore the availability of a school breakfast program. We advocate consumption of a healthful breakfast on a daily basis consisting of a variety of foods, especially high-fiber and nutrient-rich whole grains, fruits, and dairy products.

Achievement↗