Discusses the potential uses of literature with people with severe and profound learning disabilities and describes a series of multisensory interactive drama games re-telling the story of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. (Author/DB)

This paper explores the perceptions of a small group of teachers of pupils with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) in north-eastern England. The focus of the paper is their views of their pupils who have PMLD. A total of 14 teachers were interviewed, both individually and in small groups over a four-year period. This paper stems…

Keith Park, advisory teacher for Sense (the National Deafblind Rubella Association) in Greenwich and Lewisham, London, has written about his approach to interactive storytelling for BJSE before. This article describes a series of poetry workshops based on chapters 37 to 45 of the Book of Genesis (the story of Joseph and his family) using the text…

Available from: Elizabeth K. Chapman, School of Education, The University of Birmingham, P. O. Box 363, Birmingham, 15, England. To examine the contemporary validity of the statement in the Vernon Report (EC 072 439) regarding the incidence of blind children (5 to 15 years old) with additional handicaps, a questionnaire survey of children in…

Briefly described are four studies currently being undertaken in Australia to determine the effectiveness of vaccination in the prevention of rubella and to examine the relationship between rubella and diabetes. (CL)

This article describes the major components of rehabilitation services in Japan for people who are visually impaired from diabetes. These components include diabetes education and medical care, social welfare and rehabilitation services, nutrition and exercise, medication, monitoring of blood glucose, glycemic control, and the prevention of…

In this German study, 317 parents of children with hearing impairments and additional disabilities completed both the Parenting Stress Index and an additional questionnaire on demographics and related information. Analysis showed consistently high stress scores in the Child Domain, whereas the Parent Domain showed only a slight tendency toward…

Background: The aim of this study was to analyse the impact of medical conditions of children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities on the professional support they receive in centres for special education. Method: The medical files, the daily records and daily communication records between parents and professionals were reviewed…

Examination of the prevalence of epilepsy and health service utilization in 1,595 people with intellectual disabilities in Wales found 16.1% had epilepsy. Standardized activity ratios were 3.07, 2.03, and 3.09 for inpatients, outpatients, and accident and emergency, respectively. Patients with intellectual disability and co-existing epilepsy used…

This article describes an Irish video program that prepares mainstream students to meet incoming peers with severe, profound, and multiple disabilities, finding that students reacted positively to the video and found it helped relieve their anxieties at the prospect of contact. Implications for further development of structured contact sessions in…

This paper provides a brief summary of a workshop held at the Wolfson Centre, London, England, on assessment of children with multiple disabilities. In addition, the paper offers guidelines for good assessment practice, emphasizing the need for assessment to be an ongoing, multidisciplinary process. (JDD)

The purpose of the research project involving 392 Ss (3 1/2 to 13 1/2 years old) was to identify children with psychotic behavior in the institutions for the mentally retarded in Denmark and to analyze psychotic behavior. (Author/SBH)

This article discusses mainstreaming of a student (age five) with physical, intellectual, visual, and suspected auditory impairments in her neighborhood school in Auckland, New Zealand. Comments of the people involved in the program, including the principal, teachers, teacher's aide, family members, and fellow pupils are reported; and the success…

Twelve middle-aged Dutch adults with Down's syndrome and hearing loss received tympanic ventilation tubes or hearing aids and habituation training. Staff members reported subtle positive reactions to treatment in five subjects, but no statistically significant changes were found in social involvement and nonverbal reactions, verbal reactions,…

A survey of 390 residential deaf, and hard-of-hearing students, ages 3 to 24 years, in the United Kingdom, found that children without additional disabilities did not show stereotyped behaviors, though about 35% of children with additional disabilities (especially vision, learning, and/or autism) did show such behaviors. (DB)