Performance of Dyslexic Children on Cerebellar and Cognitive Tests

In a previous study (A. J. Fawcett, R. I. Nicolson, & P. Dean, 1996), the authors had found strong behavioral evidence for cerebellar deficit in a panel of children with dyslexia. In the present study, the generality of those results was assessed. A battery of clinical tests for cerebellar dysfunction was administered, together with selected cognitive tests, to a further 59 dyslexic and 67 control children. The dyslexic children showed highly significant impairments on the cerebellar tests, with deficits on postural stability and muscle tone comparable in magnitude with their reading and spelling deficits. Furthermore, over 95% of the dyslexic children showed clear evidence of deficit on muscle tone or stability. The findings provide further evidence of the generality of cerebellar impairment in dyslexia. The implications of the cerebellar tests for screening in dyslexia are discussed.     

The nature of caregiving in children of a parent with multiple sclerosis from multiple sources and the associations between caregiving activities and youth adjustment overtime

This study explored youth caregiving for a parent with multiple sclerosis (MS) from multiple perspectives, and examined associations between caregiving and child negative (behavioural emotional difficulties, somatisation) and positive (life satisfaction, positive affect, prosocial behaviour) adjustment outcomes overtime. A total of 88 families participated; 85 parents with MS, 55 partners and 130 children completed questionnaires at Time 1. Child caregiving was assessed by the Youth Activities of Caregiving Scale (YACS). Child and parent questionnaire data were collected at Time 1 and child data were collected 12 months later (Time 2). Factor analysis of the child and parent YACS data replicated the four factors (instrumental, social-emotional, personal-intimate, domestic-household care), all of which were psychometrically sound. The YACS factors were related to parental illness and caregiving context variables that reflected increased caregiving demands. The Time 1 instrumental and social-emotional care domains were associated with poorer Time 2 adjustment, whereas personal-intimate was related to better adjustment and domestic-household care was unrelated to adjustment. Children and their parents exhibited highest agreement on personal-intimate, instrumental and total caregiving, and least on domestic-household and social-emotional care. Findings delineate the key dimensions of young caregiving in MS and the differential links between caregiving activities and youth adjustment.     

The relationship between the severity and duration of physical disability and body esteem

The current study investigated the association between the severity and duration of physical disability and body esteem. A total of 748 participants (367 males, 381 females) who had a physical disability and 448 participants (171 males, 277 females) who were able-bodied participated in the study. The results demonstrated that people with more severe physical disability experienced lower levels of body esteem than people with milder physical disabilities and able-bodied people. The duration of physical disability was not related to levels of body esteem. Except for the face, people with physical disabilities devalued all aspects of their body more than able-bodied people. For males with physical disability, the unique predictors of high body esteem were decreased need for assistance, higher self-esteem, lower depression and higher sexual esteem; for females with physical disability, the unique predictors were higher self-esteem and higher sexual esteem. Overall, the study suggested that people with physical disability, particularly those with severe disabilities, may be particularly vulnerable to problems associated with their body esteem.     

Linguistic Profile of Individuals with Down Syndrome: Comparing the Linguistic Performance of Three Developmental Disorders

An increasing number of studies, addressing the linguistic abilities of individuals with Down syndrome (DS) suggest that they exhibit strengths and weaknesses within the linguistic domain. This article critically reviews the literature on the linguistic profile of individuals with DS, with particular emphasis on the expression and reception of vocabulary and grammar, including nonverbal linguistic expression during infant development. In doing so, attention is given to recent comparative studies of the linguistic abilities of individuals with DS, Specific Language Impairment (SLI), and Williams syndrome (WS). The possibility that deficits in one cognitive system may have consequences in another cognitive system, and that these consequences may define the nature of the impairment in each clinical syndrome is further discussed with suggestions for future research.     

Visual orientation in hospitalized boys with early onset conduct disorder and borderline intellectual functioning

The aim of the present study is to investigate visual orientation in hospitalized boys with severe early onset conduct disorder and borderline intellectual functioning. It is tested whether boys with the dual diagnosis have a stronger action-oriented response style to visual-cued go signals than the norm. To this end, boys with the dual diagnosis were compared with a peer control group on Posner's (1980) Posner, M. I. 1980. Orienting of attention. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 32: 3–25. [Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] visual-spatial detection test. Here, on each trial, a visual cue points either in the direction of the location of a subsequent go signal (valid cue), or points in the opposite direction away from the location of the subsequent go signal (invalid cue). Findings indicated superior orientation (a strong action-oriented response style) of children with the dual diagnosis in valid-cued trials as well as in invalid-cued trials in both the left and the right visual hemifield. Findings were controlled for attention scores on the Child Behavior Checklist -Teacher Form and IQ scores.     

Memory coding in individuals with Down syndrome

Previous research has identified a deficit in phonological short-term memory in individuals with Down syndrome.

The present work aimed to analyze how a group of 30 individuals with Down syndrome performed in a picture span task compared with 30 typically developing children of the same mental age. The task involved four conditions (i.e., dissimilar, phonologically similar, visually similar, and long-name items) chosen to analyze the strategy used by individuals with Down syndrome to code visually presented nameable items.

Individuals with Down syndrome performed less well than typically developing children. Both groups showed the visual similarity effect.

Taken together, our results confirm that individuals with Down syndrome have a verbal working memory deficit, even when nameable items are presented visually. Mental age appears to be an important determinant of memory coding stage in individuals with Down syndrome.     

Influence of assessment setting on the results of functional analyses of problem behavior

Analogue functional analyses are widely used to identify the operant function of problem behavior in individuals with developmental disabilities. Because problem behavior often occurs across multiple settings (e.g., homes, schools, outpatient clinics), it is important to determine whether the results of functional analyses vary across settings. This brief review covers 3 recent studies that examined the influence of different settings on the results of functional analyses and identifies directions for future research.     

DISCERNING THE VOICE OF ZYGON: IDENTITY AND ISSUES

The challenge to the journal Zygon as suggested here is to respond to three different reference groups: public intellectuals, academia, and religious communities. An extended discussion follows of what I term the situation of irony in which religion‐and‐science finds itself. I argue that this situation of irony actually constitutes the domain in which our greatest contributions can be offered.     

ON THE ROAD WITH RELIGION‐AND‐SCIENCE AND THE ROMANCE OF THE PAST

This essay responds to the question “Where Are We Going?Zygon and the Future of Religion‐and‐Science” and was first presented on 9 May 2009 at a symposium honoring Philip Hefner's editorship of Zygon. It offers four suggestions for the future of religion‐and‐science: Ask big questions; encourage cultural literacy in the public sphere; bring a critical voice to other academic disciplines; and include the history of philosophy.     

Disability and participation: It's about us but still without us!

Participation is often espoused as a strategy to promote inclusion, social justice and equality. Exactly how to facilitate participation in practice is often not explicated, nor are the challenges or issues highlighted. By drawing on interview data, the first aim of this paper is to identify the key barriers to participation in an organizational planning activity as experienced by 12 disabled and non‐disabled staff and board members in a small community‐based disability advocacy organization. The second aim is to draw upon Jim Ife's principles of participation to further analyse the factors that hinder and enable participation in organizations. Reported barriers to participation were categorized at individual, interpersonal and organizational levels of analysis, and included a lack of skills and competence, interpersonal conflicts, poor resourcing and ad hoc processes. The importance of understanding the dynamic interplay of individual and structural factors, valuing different forms of participation and having participatory structures and processes embedded in organizational settings are all highlighted. This study illustrates that, even in an organization that is specifically attuned to meeting the needs of disabled people, there is still considerable exclusion and institutional discrimination. Strategies to promote participation within an organizational context may include providing sufficient time for reflection and support, and opportunities for board members to learn how to take part in constructive planning activities and to develop their strengths. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.