Relations among instruments used in community mental-health services for people with developmental disabilities were explored with 284 individuals. Correlation coefficients were evaluated for statistical significance and effect size for subtests of the Reiss Screen for Maladaptive Behavior, the Aberrant Behavior Checklist, and the Adaptive…

Visual perception may be a developmental prerequisite to some types of social understanding. The ability to perceive social information given visual motion appears to develop early. However, children with autism have profound deficits in social cognitive function and may fail to see social motion in the same way that typically developing children…

We compared the economic well-being and maternal employment of parents whose children did or did not have developmental disabilities. This prospective study is a secondary analysis of data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, collected when respondents were aged 18, 36, and 53, on average. Although the two groups were similar at age 18, income…

Numerous instructional techniques have been used to teach sight word reading skills to individuals with developmental disabilities. The results of research incorporating paired associate instruction, in which familiar pictures are paired with unknown print stimuli, suggest that pictures ''block'' (i.e., interfere with) learners' ability to…

In order to better understand the neuropsychological underpinnings of the relative strength in word identification in individuals with Down syndrome, the performance of children and adolescents with Down syndrome (N=29) was compared to the performance of a nonverbal-IQ matched group of children and adolescents with developmental disabilities of…

A longitudinal study was conducted on 34 children with autism to evaluate the usefulness of the Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication Handicapped Children (TEACCH) program for Chinese pre-school children in Hong Kong. Eighteen children received full-time center-based TEACCH program training. The control group included 16…

Assessed the extent to which the presence of a young developmentally disabled or nondisabled male child affected adaptation and family roles for mothers and fathers, using a multimethod approach. Proposes the concept of harmonic responsiveness to explain how proffered support must be tuned to the perceived needs and expectations of spouse. (RH)

Professional review teams in nine Third World countries assessed a sample of children referred as probable cases (or as controls) from a door to door household survey of 1000+ children aged 3 to 9 years. Examines the criteria used by the teams in determining whether or not the children should be classified as severely mentally handicapped. (RWB)

The quality of life construct has gained prominent attention in human services over the last 20 years. We investigated whether quality of life differences exist between adults with developmental disabilities and the general population. Differences were found in scales measuring well-being and decision-making as well as other more specific…

The study was conducted with mothers of adult children with developmental disabilities and had two aims: (1) to examine the mental health, resources and stress among mothers who keep their adult child at home vs. those who choose placement in a community arrangement; and (2) to assess the associations of mothers resources and stress with mental…

Meta-analysis was used to synthesize findings from comparative studies of depression in mothers of children with and without developmental disabilities. Effect sizes were determined for 18 studies conducted between 1984 and 2003. A weighted effect size of 0.39 indicated an elevated level of depression in mothers of children with developmental…

Results of longitudinal studies suggest that the stability of preferences varies across individuals, although it is unclear what variables account for these differences. We extended this work by conducting periodic assessments of preference for leisure activities over 3 to 6 months with 10 adults with developmental disabilities. Although previous…

This poster reports on a study attempting to distinguish between the influences of domain-specific and domain-general developmental mechanisms in subjects with Williams Syndrome (a genetic defect resulting in mental retardation). Subjects included 10 monolingual French-speaking subjects (ages 9-21) with Williams syndrome and 10 monolingual…

The joint attentional processes of 15 preschool children with autism and 15 preschool children with developmental language disorder were compared during play sessions with unfamiliar adults. It was found that the children with autism monitored the channel of communication with their adult play partners 37% less often than children in the…

Compared preschoolers with autism spectrum disorders with a matched control group to investigate whether weak central coherence could account for deficits in two behaviors purported to tap capabilities fundamental to a theory of mind: joint attention and pretend play. Found that pretend play did not differentiate the two groups. Weak central…