Background: Many previous family quality of life studies have relied on parental information for understanding if and how having a sibling with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) influences the sibling's quality of life. In the current study, children had the opportunity to describe both positive and negative aspects of having…

This study examines the question of which school environment--special or mainstream school--is more favourable for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Sweden, when it comes to their well-being, and their social and academic inclusion. The aim is threefold: first to compare the well-being of adolescents who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, who are…

Communication is crucial for any human being and the children with disabilities are no exception. Due to the number and combination of their disabilities and/or conditions, children with multiple disabilities and visual impairment (MDVI) have especially limitations of the ability to communicate the meaningful and functional way with their…

The purpose of this study was to determine how a family communication partner (usually the mother IS primarily responsible for communication with a youth with a communication disability) could be trained to use an iPad and communication software for increasing appropriate communication and decreasing inappropriate behavior of youth with…

Background: Children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) demand intense family accommodations from birth and onwards. This study used an exploratory and qualitative study design to investigate stability and change in sustainability of daily routines and social networks of Swedish families of children with PIMD. Materials…

This article describes a three-year project undertaken at Pear Tree School for children and young people with severe and multiple and profound learning difficulties. Lesley Sullivan, the school's head teacher, believed that much of the value within the work of this outstanding school went unidentified by existing approaches to planning, monitoring…

The academic terms and the periods of the courses related to the language development and communication differs considerably in the programs of the countries which train teachers for the special education department. The aim of this study is to examine the contents and credits of the communication and the language development courses in Teacher…

The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of performance feedback (PF) provided to student teachers working with students with multiple disabilities and visual impairment (MDVI) on their teaching skills. The study group of the research was composed of 11 student teachers attending to the final year of the Teaching Students with Visual…

This study extended the research on a special text messaging system, which allows persons with multiple disabilities to (a) write and send messages to distant partners and (b) have messages from those partners read out to them. The study involved two women with multiple disabilities (including blindness or minimal residual vision). The system…

This paper focuses on a project in teacher education through art activities at the undergraduate level. The main theme is art activities by university students and multiple and severe handicapped students. This project has two significant points for the preparation of special education teachers. One point is the opportunity for field work. Even…

Despite the growing introduction of inclusive education, children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) are barely included. Because an underlying factor here may be the attitudes of those directly involved, the present study focuses on the attitude of parents and relating variables concerning experience with individuals with…

This study aimed to analyze how the Social Software tools could respond to the needs of parents and teachers of students with multiple disabilities in improving their practices, as well as provide information and resources related to the topic of multiple disabilities. The study was implemented in Portugal and involved 45 participants: 25 special…

Background: People who have profound intellectual and multiple disabilities face significant challenges to participating in their community and are reported to have few friends. In this paper, the issue of how this is addressed by parent-carers of young women with Rett syndrome is explored. Method: Transcripts of in-depth interviews with 6…

An increasing number of deaf children with additional disabilities receive a cochlear implant (CI). International studies on cochlear implantation in deaf children with additional disabilities show less and slower speech and language gains, but improvement in overall quality of life. In order to qualify the concept of quality of life this study…

Introduction: Multi-sensory storytelling (MSST) is a storytelling method designed for individuals with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD). It is essential that listeners be alert during MSST, so that they become familiar with their personalised stories. Repetition and the presentation of stimuli are likely to affect the…