Daily Living Skills

Although children and adolescents with developmental disabilities are said to have higher risks of abuse than those without, trauma and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are little examined in those diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASDs). Our study aims to assess trauma types, prevalence, risk factors and symptoms; and PTSD in individuals with diagnosis of ASD. Participants were 69 children and adolescents (53 males, 16 females) who were consecutively followed-up at our clinic and met DSM-IV criteria for ASD. Assessment was done using semi-structured interview forms. 18 had trauma history and 12 were diagnosed with PTSD. Witnessing or being a victim of accidents/disasters/violence was the most common type of trauma. Interestingly, the rate of sexual and/or physical abuse was less than in the general population. Trauma history and PTSD rates were higher in girls than boys. Deterioration in social and communicative abilities, increase in stereotypes, aggression, distract...

Abstract  Diagnosis of dementia in adults with intellectual disabilities requires documentation of clinically significant declines in memory and other cognitive skills, as well as changes in everyday and emotional functioning. To improve diagnostic accuracy in adults with Down syndrome, the authors examined conditions often associated with dementia, as well as tests useful for documentation of decline. Specific aims were to identify psychiatric disorders or medical conditions that increased the odds of a dementia diagnosis; to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of widely used dementia scales; and to determine which tests, used singly or in combination, most accurately supported the presence of dementia. Participants were 78 adults with Down syndrome. Two methods based on a large test battery and one method based on clinical judgment were used to diagnose dementia. It was found that combinations of tests lead to increased levels of diagnostic sensitivity compared with single tests. When taken in combination with other investigations, our results suggest that assessment for psychiatric disorders, delayed memory decline, adaptive behavior decline, and the presence of seizures would be useful for the diagnosis of dementia and that dementia scales would provide additional useful information. The authors conclude that combinations of tests and scales will be most useful for diagnosing dementia in adults with intellectual disabilities. The authors suggest that further research is needed to promote rapid progress, with studies that focus on common diagnostic methodology, identification of screening instruments, and amounts of decline indicative of dementia.

The pattern of acquisition of social, communication, and daily living skills was examined for autistic children, compared to retarded and normal controls, by quantifying intradomain scatter on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales. Autistic children were matched to normal children and mentally retarded children on Vineland raw scores; group differences in scatter were examined for each domain of adaptive behavior. Autistic children had significantly more scatter on Communication and Socialization than both control groups. Item analyses showed that the autistic children had particular weaknesses on items reflecting attention to and pragmatic use of language, as well as play and reciprocal social interaction; the autistic children had particular strengths on items reflecting written language and rote language skills, and rule-governed social behavior. The number of items showing consistent group differences, however, was small, suggesting that although autistic development appears seq...

Whether life skills are developed through sport greatly depends on how coaches create suitable environments that promote the development of youth (Gould & Carson, 2008). The purpose of this study was to examine, using Gould and Carson’s (2008) model of coaching life skills, the philosophies and strategies used by model high school coaches to coach life skills and how to transfer these life skills to other areas of life. Interviews were conducted with both coaches and their student-athletes. Results indicated that coaches understood their student-athletes preexisting make up and had philosophies based on promoting the development of student-athletes. Results also demonstrated that coaches had strategies designed to coach life skills and educate student-athletes about the transferability of the skills they learned in sport. Although variations were reported, coaches and student-athletes generally believed that student-athletes can transfer the skills learned in sport to other areas of...

Sit-to-stand (STS) movement is widely performed in daily life and an important pre requisite for acquisition of functional abilities. However, STS is a biomechanical demanding task which requires high levels of neuromuscular coordination, muscle strength and postural control. As children with cerebral palsy (CP) exhibit a series of impairments in body structures and functions, STS movement performance could be impaired