Comprehension is the ultimate aim of reading and listening. How do children develop the ability to comprehend written and spoken language, and what can be done to help those who are having difficulties? This book presents cutting-edge research on comprehension problems experienced by children without any formal diagnosis as well as those with…

Maternal depression in families having a child with a disability has been the subject of considerable research over the past 25 years. This review was designed to describe the literature on maternal depression, critique its research methodology, identify consensus findings across studies, and make recommendations for future research. A particular…

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Parents Plus programme with families of pre-school children with developmental disabilities and significant behavioural problems in the Irish health service. The Parents Plus programme is a group-based parent training package involving video modelling, which was designed to be…

Background: Care staff play a key role in identifying individuals with intellectual disabilities and additional mental health problems. Yet, few receive training in mental health, and evidence about the effectiveness of training is scant. Materials and Methods: A pre-post study is reported, using a mental health screen and a self-report…

Background: Recent research in the USA and UK indicates that person-centred planning (PCP) can lead to improvements in lifestyle-related outcomes for people with intellectual disabilities (ID). It is clear, however, that the introduction of PCP does not have an equal impact for all participants. The aim of the present paper was to identify factors…

This volume summarizes current policies and programmatic practices that are influencing the quality of life of persons with mental retardation and developmental disabilities. Part 1, "Service Delivery Application," contains: "Using Person-Centered Planning To Address Personal Quality of Life" (John Butterworth and others); "The Aftermath of…

This report traces the recent recognition given to the needs and feelings of siblings of individuals with mental retardation. The development of social support groups for siblings from 1960 to the present is described, including the establishment of the landmark Brother-Sister Group, the founding of the Association for the Help of Retarded…

This guide for managers of programs for people with developmental disabilities outlines key principles and issues in the decision-making process, and offers tips for building coalitions and negotiating the interests of consumers, families, board members, employees, and community leaders. Ten to 25 guidelines are offered for each of six…

A variety of informal language development assessment tools is presented for use with children with developmental disabilities. This book is written as a manual for clinicians and researchers for evaluating children who cannot meet the cognitive, perceptual, or motor requirements of standardized tests and to help evaluate aspects of language not…

This study examined the actual content of meetings concerning the development of Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) for preschool children with developmental delays or visual impairments. Meetings concerning a total of 23 children in each of three programs were examined. In this study, researchers recorded and transcribed preschool…

This paper presents two versions of a "story" about a man with severe mental retardation, one from an interdisciplinary team meeting reviewing progress and service needs, and the other prepared by a group of people who know and care about the man and his family and who sought a better response to his situation. The stories differ in the…

This feature issue focuses on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), with articles discussing provisions of the ADA and its impact on people with developmental disabilities. Articles have the following titles and authors: "The ADA: What Does It Mean for People with Developmental Disabilities?" (Deborah L. McFadden and Edward P.…

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…

Literature indicating high rates of abuse in this population is reviewed, as is literature indicating high rates of developmental disabilities in child victims of abuse. Problems in data collecting practices are noted. Reasons for these children's greater risk for abuse are identified, including child attributes, stress, parent vulnerabilities,…

In Japan, the educational and treatment facilities for handicapped children in the community have poor interagency communication and lack consistent policies concerning developmentally handicapped children. A community care network is being established for these children in Koganei City, supported by a research institute and a local government.…