Analysis of the responses of 42 hearing mothers of elementary school age, multihandicapped, deaf children to a questionnaire regarding their attitudes toward sign language found that positive attitudes were associated with high socioeconomic status, more realistic perceptions of the child's condition, a stronger sense of coherence, and families…

This article presents information on the complications of both Type I and Type II diabetes and the implications for the rehabilitation of persons with diabetes and visual impairment. Topics covered include retinopathy, cataracts, glaucoma, peripheral neuropathy, carpal tunnel syndrome, diabetic hand syndrome, neuropathy of the autonomic nervous…

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…

This article presents a model for efficient assessment of young children with visual impairments or multiple handicaps. The approach has team members simultaneously observe various aspects of a child's functioning to gain an understanding of the child as a whole. (Author/DB)

This study evaluated vision and hearing impairment in 45,500 adults (age 35 and older) with an intellectual disability. Visual impairment or blindness were found in 25 percent of the total sample, impaired hearing or deafness in 22 percent. Breakdown by age group indicates increasing frequency of impairment with advancing age. Implications for…

Presents evidence to show variability across states in the use of the severe-emotional-disturbance designation for students and the frequency of comorbid and trimorbid cases being classified as learning disabled. Findings are presented from ongoing projects to illustrate differential profiles for comorbid children. (Author/CR)

This study examined the effectiveness of activities associated with transdisciplinary teaming and integrated therapy on targeted motor responses of three elementary age students with multiple disabilities during the general education classroom routine. All three students immediately increased and maintained their target motor responses under the…

A study investigated the incidence of autism in 20 patients with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC). The prevalence of autistic disorder was conservatively estimated at 20%. Data suggest a possible association between both hypsarrythmia and TSC-related cardiac abnormalities with autism in this subgroup of individuals with TSC. (Author/CR)

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…

A review of 10 studies that utilize the behavior chain interruption strategy (BCIS) to teach communication skills to individuals with severe disabilities found that BCIS has been successfully applied to individuals across a wide range of ages and levels of disability, including learners with multiple disabilities. Generalization concerns are…

Discussion of the affective development of gifted students who are underachieving considers external stresses including a feeling of invisibility and mixed messages from the environment, internal stresses such as self-image, unrealistic self-expectations, and the possible co-existence of a learning disability. (DB)

The fourth in seven sets of guidelines based on the consensus of experts in the treatment of psychiatric and behavioral problems in mental retardation (MR) focuses on medication treatment. Guidelines cover strategies of medication management, when to include a medication in the initial treatment plan, and reasons for long-term medication…

The fifth in seven sets of guidelines based on the consensus of experts in the treatment of psychiatric and behavioral problems in mental retardation (MR) focuses on selection of medications. Guidelines cover selection of medications for psychiatric disorders, selection of medications for target symptoms, and preferred medications within different…

Evaluation of 357 students with either learning disability (LD), serious emotional disturbance (SED), or both (SED/LD), ages 6 to 18, found that children with LD differed from those with SED mainly in terms of severity of problem, not type of problem. Results suggest that students with both LD and SED are under-identified and underserved. (DB)

This study performed a factor analysis of the Developmental Behavior Checklist (DBC) with 531 children and adolescents with mental retardation. The DBC is intended to assess psychopathology in youth with mental retardation. Findings indicated substantial overlap with the factor analyses of the scale's developers and high levels of internal…