Precollegiate education has paid little attention to the bioethical underpinning of recent innovations. Without a deliberate commitment to bioethical education, confusion and divisiveness regarding genetic testing are likely to challenge harmony in families and further polarize the already fragmented society. This article presents the following…

Rett syndrome (RTT) occurs primarily in females and is characterized by deficits in cognition, communication, hand use and ambulation. This quasi-experimental study explored the use of a coaching program to increase communicative interactions between girls with RTT and their communication partners. Communication coaching strategies were provided…

The purpose of this research was to compare selected speech and paralinguistic skills of speakers with Williams syndrome (WS) and typically developing peers and to demonstrate the feasibility of providing preexisting databases to students to facilitate graduate research. In a series of three studies, conversational samples of 12 adolescents with…

This report is the 33rd edition of the annual National Child Count of Children and Youth Who Are Deaf-Blind, the first and longest running registry and knowledge base of children who are deaf-blind in the world. Begun in 1986 on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education, it represents a collaborative effort between the National Center on…

Purpose: Impaired pragmatic language (i.e., language use for social interaction) is a hallmark feature of both autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and fragile X syndrome (FXS), the most common known monogenic disorder associated with ASD. However, few cross-population comparisons of ASD and FXS have been conducted, and it is unclear whether pragmatic…

Impairment in exploratory motor (EM) behavior is part of the Down syndrome behavioral phenotype. Exploratory motor behavior may be a pivotal skill for early intervention with infants with Down syndrome. Exploratory motor impairments are often attributed to general delays in motor development in infants with Down syndrome. A behavior analytic…

The present study aimed to gain more insight in the social behavioral phenotype, and related autistic symptomatology, of children with an extra X chromosome in comparison to children with ASD. Participants included 60 children with an extra X chromosome (34 boys with Klinefelter syndrome and 26 girls with Trisomy X), 58 children with ASD and 106…

The challenges of social inclusion and access to the curriculum facing students with visual impairment in schools are well documented. The refreshed UK Vision Strategy (2013) seeks to improve education for students with vision impairment. In order to do this, it is important to understand how students with visual impairment experience education.…

Rett syndrome (RTT) is associated with a range of serious neurodevelopmental consequences including severe communicative impairments. Currently, no evidence-based communication interventions exist for the population (Sigafoos et al., 2009). The purpose of the current study was to examine the effectiveness of functional assessment (FA) and…

In recent decades, Science & Technology Studies (STS) have revealed the dynamic interaction between science and technology and society. Technology development is not an autonomous process and its artifacts are not socially inert. Society and technology shape each other. Technologies often have "soft impacts" in terms of unpredicted…

Chromosomal 16p11.2 deletion syndrome frequently presents with intellectual disabilities, speech delays, and autism. Here we investigated the Dolmetsch line of 16p11.2 heterozygous (+/-) mice on a range of cognitive tasks with different neuroanatomical substrates. Robust novel object recognition deficits were replicated in two cohorts of 16p11.2…

The ability to navigate new environments has a significant impact on the daily life and independence of people with learning difficulties. The aims of this study were to investigate the development of route learning in Down syndrome (N = 50), Williams syndrome (N = 19), and typically developing children between 5 and 11 years old (N = 108); to…

Introduction: The aim of the present study was to determine whether individuals with Prader--Willi syndrome (PWS) have impaired global executive functioning and whether this deficit is linked with intellectual disability. Another objective focussed on the variability in performance of intellectual quotient (IQ) and executive functions (EF)…

Holistic processing of upright, but not inverted, faces is a marker of perceptual expertise for faces. This pattern is shown by typically developing individuals beginning at age 7 months. Williams syndrome (WS) is a rare neurogenetic developmental disorder characterized by extreme interest in faces from a very young age. Research on the effects of…

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) and Williams syndrome (WS) are both genetic disorders which present with similar cognitive-behavioral problems, but distinct social phenotypes. Despite these social differences both syndromes display poor social relations which may result from abnormal social processing. This study aimed to manipulate the location of…