Families with a child with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) have to manage the child's pervasive support needs. To ensure that families are able to manage these needs, they should be properly supported. However, knowledge about the specific support needs of these families is sparse and fragmented, nor is it known if and which…

Purpose: Smith-Magenis syndrome (SMS), a rare, genetically linked complex developmental disorder caused by a deletion or mutation within chromosome 17p11.2, is associated with delays in speech-language development, otopathology, and hearing loss, yet previous studies lack comprehensive descriptions of hearing and communication profiles. Here,…

All children, particularly those with special needs, have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This qualitative study explored the experiences of children with learning disabilities (LD) during the COVID-19 Pandemic. A criterion sample of twenty-three children ages 7 to 10 (M = 8.56, SD = 1.12) from Turkey was interviewed. Thematic…

Background: Individuals with intellectual disabilities are amongst the groups most vulnerable to sexual crimes. However, their limited cognitive abilities can make it challenging to obtain detailed statements from victims during investigative interviews. This study examined whether practising answering open-ended questions early in the interview…

The academic achievement of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students depends on the interaction of many factors, including student and family characteristics and experiences inside and outside school. Several questionnaires have previously been designed for evaluating the listening skills of deaf English-speaking children in school environments.…

Advocacy is often an expectation for parents of children with disabilities. However, little is known about the process and products (i.e., outcomes) of parent advocacy experiences. Without understanding parent perceptions of their advocacy experiences, it is difficult to measure the effectiveness of parent advocacy. To this end, the purpose of…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine confidence levels and identify predictors of increased confidence of school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) relative to different aspects of the augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) assessment process. Method: Surveys were completed by 272 school-based SLPs. Questions were…

Although school engagement is crucial to child development, research on children with intellectual disabilities in mainstream schools is scant. This sequential, explanatory mixed-methods study examined the ways in and extent to which children with intellectual disabilities participate in mainstream school activities, as well the personal and…

The purpose of this study was to explore multiple facets of the professional identities of Iranian in-service teachers in exceptional schools. The study adopted a qualitative design. The data were collected through in-depth interviews with 14 in-service teachers. The participants were selected through purposeful sampling. Each interview lasted up…

Physical activity has many benefits, but many individuals with developmental disabilities fail to exercise regularly. Procedures in which consequences were arranged for exercising, alone or as part of a treatment package, have consistently increased physical activity by members of this population. We review 19 studies that arranged such…

Social interactions and friendships are important for all individuals including those with complex support needs (CSN). The voices of adults including parents/guardians, primary caregivers, teachers, and related service providers who responded to a survey provided insight into supporting social interactions and friendships for children with CSN…

Service-learning (SL) has become a popular teaching strategy to work with individuals with disabilities in adapted physical education/ physical activity (APE/APA) courses. Despite the increasing popularity of the use of SL in APE/APA courses, little is known about kinesiology students' experiences in these contexts. This study examined kinesiology…

Background: As a group, autistic children with high support needs (with adaptive functioning in the range of an intellectual disability) are at risk of significant literacy difficulties. We investigated the parent-reported home literacy environment of this group of children. Method: Sixty-two parents of autistic children (4.5 to 18.25 years)…

Purpose: Most speech-language pathologists (SLPs) working with children with developmental language disorder (DLD) do not perform language sample analysis (LSA) on a regular basis, although they do regard LSA as highly informative for goal setting and evaluating grammatical therapy. The primary aim of this study was to identify facilitators,…

Identifying the determinants of positive coping is a critical step in empowering the parents of children with intellectual disability. In this context, this study aims to develop a scale to assess the determinants of positive coping. Accordingly, culturally relevant items were pooled, got validated by experts and refined. The scale was…