In this paper, the author addresses the problem of socialisation of children with a history of disabilities and mental retardation by means of visual arts. It is important to look at the very sphere of life of these categories of children. As a rule, these children, for the most part, live in dysfunctional families, which makes it almost impossible to provide them with a form of socialization. This article focuses on the extent to (...) which and how a programme of socialisation of these children can be achieved through the medium of visual arts. At the moment there are works of modern pedagogues who have devoted their scientific researches to this problem, but there are few teachers-artists who deal with this problem. In this article the author devotes his creative attention to this issue and reflects on what means of fine arts and visual literacy can develop and guide in the right direction the socialization of children and young people with disabilities by means of fine arts. A number of scientific works devoted to this problem are seriously reviewed. The author is actively trying to draw the attention of the teaching community to the problem of prevailing social conditions, to reach an educational and cognitive level and, as a consequence, to a better product of the set task of socialization of children with special needs and disabilities in the learning process by means of subject disciplines: drawing, painting, composition, printmaking, etc. (shrink)

Sosyal politikalar dezavantajlı gruplara fayda sağlamak amacıyla oluşturulmaktadır. Ancak bazı durumlarda bu politikalara duyulan güven düzeyinin düşük olması bir takım olumsuz sonuçlar doğurabilmektedir. Zihinsel engelli çocuğa sahip ebeveynlerin yaşadıkları ölüm kaygısı bu olumsuz sonuca bir örnek teşkil etmektedir. Bu noktadan hareketle çalışmada zihinsel engelli çocuğu olan annelerin sosyal politikalara duydukları güvenin çocuklarından önce ölme kaygısına etkileri araştırılmıştır. Araştırmada yalnızca zihinsel engelli çocuğu anneler ile görüşülmesinin temel sebebi, Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu (2011) verilerine göre zihinsel engelli çocuğun bakımını yüksek bir oranla (%81) (...) annelerin üstlenmesidir. Ayrıca ülkemizde engel türlerinin oranları incelendiğinde, yine Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu (TÜİK, 2011) verilerine göre en büyük grubu %29,2 ile zihinsel engelliler teşkil etmektedir.Çalışmada Kasım 2017 - Ocak 2018 tarihleri arasında, İstanbul ilinde ikamet eden beş anne ile yapılan ve yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme formu ile elde edilen verilerden ulaşılan bulgular sunulmuştur. Görüşmeler esnasında ses kaydı alınmış, sonra yazıya geçirilmiş ve ardından sorular temelinde oluşturulan başlıklar altında veriler değerlendirilmiştir. Sosyal politikalara güven eksikliğinin zihinsel engelli çocuğu olan annelerin ölüm kaygılarının nedenleri arasında olduğu; çocuklarından önce ölme korkusu nedeniyle de “Çocuğumu benden sonraya bırakma Allah’ım” diye dua ettikleri tespit edilmiştir. Kaygı veren bu durumun temel sebepleri üzerinde durulmuş, sosyal politikalar ile ilişkisi incelenerek sorunun çözümü ve giderilmesi için çeşitli öneriler getirilmiştir. (shrink)

This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between posttraumatic growth, resilience, positive coping style, and self-efficacy among the primary caregivers of children with developmental disorders in Chongqing, China. A total of 198 primary caregivers aged from 22 to 66 years old, including 155 females and 43 males, were enrolled. The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale-10, Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire, and General Self-Efficacy Scale were used for data collection. The results found that PTG could be positively predicted (...) by resilience. Positive coping style and self-efficacy mediated the relationship between resilience and PTG. The different levels of PTG were determined by the resident location, monthly income and education of the primary caregivers. The results suggest that it is critical to improve the mental health of the primary caregivers of children with developmental disabilities. Our results also provide a scientific basis for future research. (shrink)

The aim of this study was to characterize the knowledge about the joy in children with mild intellectual disability. The premises relating to mental functioning of these children suggest that this knowledge is poorer and less complex than the knowledge of their peers in the intellectual norm. The study used the authoring tool to measure children’s knowledge of emotions including the joy. This tool takes into account the cognitive representation of the basic emotions available in (...) three codes: image, verbal, semantic and interconnection between the codes - perception, symbolization and conceptualization which perform the functions of perception, expression and understanding. The study included children with the intellectual norm and children with mild intellectual disability. The obtained results mainly indicate the differences in how the happiness is understood by particular groups, to the detriment of children with disability. The character of the results is largely determined by the level of organization of knowledge about the joy and accompanying mental operations. The results will be discussed, among others, in the context of the adjustment of the programs of lasting increase of happiness for people with intellectual disability. (shrink)

Loss is an inevitable part of life and grief is a natural part of the healing process. In this sense, the grieving process is universal. People commonly associate certain losses with strong feelings of grief. Although the concept of grief is a direct reminder of death, grief and loss can happen in different ways – death, divorce, deployment or other situations of abandonment. Different effects can influence how people understand and approach the grief process such as importance and place (...) of the loss in life, cultural background, belief systems, etc. Having mentally retarded child is also a shocking and unexpected situation for parents who are dreaming about a healthy baby. Parents can experience grief at this process. In 1969, psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross introduced what became known as the “five stages of grief.” These stages of grief were based on her studies of the feelings of patients facing terminal illness, but many people have generalized them to other types of negative life changes and losses, such as the death of a loved one, losses of dreams or unexpected disability situations. In this article, grief reactions of mothers who learns that she has a mentally retarded child during birth was investigated. It was determined that the five stages of grief proposed by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance) are experienced by mothers. Also it was observed that, mothers need grief counseling in this process. (shrink)

Children and individuals with developmental disabilities compared to typical participants are disadvantaged not only by virtue of being vulnerable to risks inherent in research participation but also by the higher likelihood of exclusion from research altogether. Current regulatory and ethical guidelines although necessary for their protection do not sufficiently ensure fair distributive justice. Yet, in view of disproportionately higher burdens of co-occurring physical and mental disorders in individuals with DD, they are better positioned to benefit (...) from research by equitable participation. Greater elucidation of this ethical dilemma is called for by researchers, institutional review boards, and funding agencies to urgently redress the imbalance. This article discusses many of the regulatory principles to ensure better research participation of children and individuals with DD: human rights, validity, distributive justice, beneficence/nonmaleficence, and autonomy. (shrink)

In this paper, I offer a solution to the Capacity/Equality Puzzle. The puzzle holds that an account of the franchise may adequately capture at most two of the following: (1) a political equality-based account of the franchise, (2) a capacity-based account of disenfranchising children, and (3) universal adult enfranchisement. To resolve the puzzle, I provide a complex liberal egalitarian justification of a moral requirement to disenfranchise children. I show that disenfranchising children is permitted by both the proper (...) political liberal and the proper political egalitarian understandings of the relationship between cognitive capacity and the franchise. Further, I argue, disenfranchising children is required by a minimalistic, procedural principle of collective competence in political decision-making. At the same time, I show that political equality requires the enfranchisement of all adults, regardless of cognitive capacities, and that the collective competence principle does not ground adult disenfranchisement. This justifies the progressive legal trend that holds the capacity-based disenfranchisement of adults to be incompatible with liberal democratic principles. (shrink)

This article presents a novel set of ten play scenarios for robot-assisted play for children with special needs. This set of scenarios is one of the key outcomes of the IROMEC project that investigated how robotic toys can become social mediators, encouraging children with special needs to discover a range of play styles, from solitary to collaborative play. The target user groups in the project were children with Mild Mental Retardation,1 children (...) class='Hi'>with Severe Motor Impairment and children with Autism. The play scenarios were developed against specific educational and therapeutic objectives that were discussed with panels of experts in various countries, during several user panel meetings for each of the above mentioned target user groups. These objectives were classified with reference to the ICF-CY, the International Classification of Functioning – version for Children and Youth. The article presents a detailed description of the play scenarios, each with its relevant educational and therapeutic objectives in five key developmental areas. While the play scenarios described in this paper originally were developed for and tested with the above user groups and with the IROMEC robot, the play scenarios can potentially be applied to other user groups and to a wide range of other applications involving human-robot interaction using different robotic toys. Keywords: human-robot interaction; assistive technology; play scenarios; autism; mild mental retardation; sever motor impairment; assisted play. (shrink)

End-of-life care is the only major reference to systematically explore the unique medical, social, legal, political, and ethical issues to consider while providing care to adults and children with intellectual and developmental disabilities who are facing terminal illness or life-limiting conditions.

Equal moral status for all human beings does not commit us to the malignant exclusionary practices we find in racism and pernicious nationalism. Racism (like the other harmful “ism”) involves a group that is constituted by appropriating to one’s own “primal group” a set “desirable” intrinsic properties (or traits) and expelling from the primal group those with the undesirable properties through subjugation, exploitation, sterilization, or extermination. The moral harm in racism is practiced by a ‘constituted’ group that must always (...) police its borders with violence and justifications for its privilege. The Nazi’s Project T4, which exterminated mentally disabled children born of German parents, and the subsequent exterminations of racialized groups, in particular the Jews, were regarded as the one process of cleansing Germany and its conquered territories of defective and inferior beings. Rather than being instances of “preferring one’s own,” the racist project was that of constituting the group by appropriating for itself all the desirable traits and expelling all undesirable ones, thus linking ablism and racism. (shrink)

The lay public inherits much of its information about disability and mental illness through the media, which often relies on information from popular scientific works. Autism, as it was defined during the dominance of psychogenic paradigms of mental illness, generated certain tropes surrounding it, many of which have been popularized through media representations. Often inaccurate, these tropes have persisted into contemporary times despite a paradigmatic shift from psychogenic to biological explanations and treatments for mental illness. The current (...) article examines images and articles of children with autism from the 1960s and the early 2000s in major news media and scientific literature to highlight the persistence of themes of fragmentation and the imprisonment of children with autism. While these themes have persisted in psychological and media literature, narratives of people with autism and their families often present a different perspective. This results in two divergent ‘realities’ of autism being disseminated into the general public. (shrink)

This paper discusses the issues of deciding to have a child with mental retardation, and of terminating a pregnancy when the future child is known to have the same disability. I discuss these problems by criticizing a utilitarian argument, namely, that one should act in a way that results in less suffering and less limited opportunity in the world. My argument is that future parents ought to assume a strong responsibility towards the well-being of their prospective children (...) when they decide to reproduce. The moral point in cases in which our acts affect the well-being of future children should be expressed strictly in terms of parents' culpability. Future children thus do not have current moral standing but presently living persons have current obligations to consider the presumable effects of their actions on future people. I will also argue that there are morally significant differences between 'selective contraception' and selective abortion. (shrink)

The human sensory system is continuously engaged in experiencing and interpreting every interaction with other living beings, objects, and the environment. The purpose of this article is to describe the impact limited opportunities for rich sensory experiences have on students with severe disabilities in two middle school classrooms situated in a public separate school in the southeastern USA. The study employed a postcritical ethnographic approach and grounded theory thematic analysis of fieldnotes gathered over a two-year period. Three (...) major themes supported by the data are presented and discussed in depth. They are: students are afforded limited sensory rich experiences, everyday routines make students passive recipients to school, and instructional approaches result in little interaction with extended periods of waiting. The implications of the findings for improved sensory experiences and possible future directions are described. (shrink)

I am in the process of trying to organize an ethics committee at a large community mental health center in Central Massachusetts and am seeking advice from anyone with experience in this or a similar milieu. The agency is a large (almost 700 employees), nonprofit, community-based program that operates under the auspices of a broad, academically affiliated, behavioral health system. An independent board of trustees, responsible to the parent organization governs the agency. The agency primarily provides outpatient care (...) and treatment to adults and children with mental health, substance abuse, developmental disabilities, and homelessness issues. It does not provide any psychiatric emergency or acute in-patient mental health services but does operate an inpatient detoxification unit for substance abuse treatment and DUI program. Additionally, the agency has a vast network of residential programs and transitional facilities for individuals with a history of chronic mental illness and substance abuse problems. Outpatient medical care is also provided to homeless clients who reside in area shelters (including a shelter for men and women) and a large number of clients who have HIV/AIDS and/or who have been dually diagnosed (substance abuse and mental illness), and are part of a scattered-site supportive housing program. (shrink)

The efficacy of traditional training programs (e.g., neurodevelopmental therapy) in promoting independent mobility and early child development across all three International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health levels lacks rigorous research support. Therefore, early power mobility training needs to be considered as a feasible intervention for very young children who are unlikely to achieve independent mobility. This perspective article has three aims: (1) to provide empirical evidence of differences in early independent mobility, motivation, daily life activities, and social participation (...) between young children with typical development and motor disabilities; (2) to discuss the contemporary concepts of and approaches to early power mobility training for young children with motor disabilities and the current need for changes to such training; and (3) to provide recommendations for early power mobility training in pediatric rehabilitation. Independent mobility is critical for social participation; therefore, power mobility can be accessible and implemented as early as possible, specifically for infants who are at risk for mobility or developmental delay. To maximize the positive effects of independent mobility on children’s social participation, early power mobility training must consider their levels of functioning, the amount of exploration and contextual factors, including individual and environmental factors. (shrink)

Down syndrome (DS) impacts several brain regions including the hippocampus and surrounding structures that have responsibility for important aspects of navigation and wayfinding. Hence it is reasonable to expect that DS may result in a reduced ability to engage in these skills. Two experiments are reported that evaluated route-learning of youth with DS, youth with intellectual disability (ID) and not DS, and typically developing (TD) children matched on mental age (MA). In both experiments, participants learned routes (...) with eight choice point presented via computer. Several objects were placed along the route that could be used as landmarks. Participants navigated the route once with turn indicators pointing the way and then retraced the route without them. In Experiment 1 we found that the TD children and ID participants performed very similarly. They learned the route in the same number of attempts, committed the same number of errors while learning the route, and recalled approximately the same number of landmarks. The participants with DS performed significantly worse on both measures of navigation (attempts and errors) and also recalled significantly fewer landmarks. In Experiment 2, we attempted to reduce TD and ID vs DS differences by focusing participants’ attention on the landmarks. Half of the participants in each group were instructed to identify the landmarks as they passed them the first time. The participants with DS again committed more errors than the participants in the ID and TD groups in the navigation task. In addition, they recalled fewer landmarks. While landmark identification improved landmark memory for both groups, it did not have a significant impact on navigation. Participants with DS still performed more poorly than did the TD and ID participants. Of additional interest, we observed that the performance of persons with DS correlated with different ability measures than did the performance of the other groups. The results the two experiments point to a problem in navigation for persons with DS that exceeds expectations based solely on intellectual level. (shrink)

Sense of coherence and coping with stress in fathers of children with developmental disabilities** The aim of the study is to analyse the sense of coherence and strategies of coping with stress in fathers of disabled children. The research involved 128 fathers of children with Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy and children with normal development. Two questionnaires were used: The Sense of Coherence Questionnaire measuring SOC level and Ways of Coping (...) Questionnaire measuring strategies of coping with stress. The research revealed that there is a relationship between the type of child's developmental disability and SOC in fathers. The fathers with a low level of SOC more frequently used strategies of avoidance while the fathers with a high level of SOC more frequently used confrontation, positive reappraisal and planful problem solving. The results of the research indicate that looking after a disabled child may lower SOC and in turn may cause difficulties in coping with stress. (shrink)

The COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated profound global transformations, and in the Philippines, Emergency Remote Learning (ERT) emerged as a vital response to address the educational needs of students during this crisis. While existing research has extensively examined the challenges faced by parents during ERT, limited attention was devoted to understanding the unique experiences of parents of children with intellectual disabilities (ID) and hearing impairments (HI). Using a qualitative descriptive case study within interpretative paradigm, this study aims to (...) fill this gap by exploring the challenges encountered and coping strategies employed by 15 parents in the Philippines who have children with ID and HI. Findings illuminate the multifaceted challenges faced by parents, encompassing their roles as caregivers and facilitators of their children’s education. Moreover, it reveals the support mechanisms available to these parents, while also highlighting the pressing need for additional assistance to better meet the complex needs of these children. The research also identifies the most effective strategies employed by parents to navigate the challenges of remote learning. The results serve as a critical resource for parents, educators, and policymakers, providing a roadmap for enhancing the support system for families with children who have ID and HI, particularly during times of crisis. (shrink)

It is widely accepted among medical ethicists that competence is a necessary condition for informed consent. In this view, if a patient is incompetent to make a particular treatment decision, the decision must be based on an advance directive or made by a substitute decision-maker on behalf of the patient. We call this the competence model. According to a recent report of the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights, article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of (...) Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) presents a wholesale rejection of the competence model. The High Commissioner here adopts the interpretation of article 12 proposed by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. On this interpretation, CRPD article 12 renders it impermissible to deny persons with mental disabilities the right to make treatment decisions on the basis of impaired decision-making capacity and demands the replacement of all regimes of substitute decision-making by supported decision-making. In this paper, we explicate six adverse consequences of CRPD article 12 for persons with mental disabilities and propose an alternative way forward. The proposed model combines the strengths of the competence model and supported decision-making. (shrink)

Does life have meaning? What is flourishing? How do we attain the good life? Philosophers, and many others of us, have explored these questions for centuries. As Eva Feder Kittay points out, however, there is a flaw in the essential premise of these questions: they seem oblivious to the very nature of the ways in which humans live, omitting a world of co-dependency, and of the fact that we live in and through our bodies, whether they are fully abled or (...) disabled. Our dependent, vulnerable, messy, changeable, and embodied experience colors everything about our lives both on the surface and when it comes to deeper concepts, but we tend to leave aside the body for the mind when it comes to philosophical matters. Disability offers a powerful challenge to long-held philosophical views about the nature of the good life, what provides meaning in our lives, and the centrality of reason, as well as questions of justice, dignity, and personhood. These concepts need not be distant and idealized; the answers are right before us, in the way humans interact with one another, care for one another, and need one another--whether they possess full mental capacities or have cognitive limitations. We need to revise our concepts of things like dignity and personhood in light of this important correction, Kittay argues. This is the first of two books in which Kittay will grapple with just how we need to revisit core philosophical ideas in light of disabled people's experience and way of being in the world. Kittay, an award-winning philosopher who is also the mother to a multiply-disabled daughter, interweaves the personal voice with the philosophical as a critical method of philosophical investigation. Here, she addresses why cognitive disability can reorient us to what truly matters, and questions the centrality of normalcy as part of a good life. With profound sensitivity and insight, Kittay examines other difficult topics: How can we look at the ethical questions regarding prenatal testing in light of a new appreciation of the personhood of disabled people? What do new possibilities in genetic testing imply for understanding disability, the family, and bioethics? How can we reconsider the importance of care, and how does it work best? In the process of pursuing these questions, Kittay articulates an ethic of care, which is the ethical theory most useful for claiming full rights for disabled people and providing the opportunities for everyone to live joyful and fulfilling lives. She applies the lessons of care to the controversial alteration of severely cognitively disabled children known as the Ashley Treatment, whereby a child's growth is halted with extensive estrogen treatment and related bodily interventions are justified. This book both imparts lessons that advocate on behalf of those with significant disabilities, and constructs a moral theory grounded on our ability to give, receive, and share care and love. Above all, it aims to adjust social attitudes and misconceptions about life with disability. (shrink)

The perceived meaning of life significantly affects the quality of human life. It is of particular significance in borderline situations. One of such situations is the birth of an intellectually disabled child. The article presents the results of the study concerning the perceived meaning of life in the case of parents who bring up a child with limited intellectual abilities. The study included 87 mothers and 65 fathers bringing up an intellectually disabled child. In the studied cases, parents perceived (...) their life as highly meaningful. The results indicated that the perceived meaning of life in the case of parents of intellectually disabled children was related with: suffering experienced by the parents as a result of a limited intellectual ability of their daughter/son, the manner of performing their parental role and the sense of parental identity. (shrink)

A crucial question in relation to support designed to enable the legal capacity of people with mental disabilities concerns when support constitutes undue influence. This article addresses this question in order to facilitate the development of law and policy in England and Wales, by providing a normative analysis of the different approaches to undue influence across decisions about property, contracts, health, finances, and accommodation. These are all potential contexts for supporting legal capacity, and, in doing so, the (...) article compares approaches to undue influence that are rarely considered together. -/- Drawing on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, third sector and public body documents, and law in England and Wales, the analysis identifies six models that conceptualise undue influence in terms of: modes of influence; an overborne will; an inference from the situation; an overborne will understood as a mental incapacity; an overborne will in connection with vulnerability; and impaired discursive control. This final approach is a novel proposal for understanding undue influence. The analysis highlights key policy-relevant issues that distinguish the models, and generates a deliberative framework for navigating them, with the ‘overborne will’, ‘inference-based’, and ‘discursive control’ models identified as potentially fitting for the support context. (shrink)

Down syndrome (DS) is the most common developmental disorder characterized by mild to moderate intellectual disability. Several studies have reported poor language and prosodic skills and contradictory results regarding individuals’ with DS socio-cognitive skills, whereas most of them have focused on children with DS. The present study attempts to explore adults’ with DS language, socio-cognitive and prosodic abilities via the use of story-retellings. Twenty adults with DS and two groups of TD children, one matched (...) to their expressive vocabulary (TD-EVT) and the other matched to their non-verbal mental age (TD-RCPM), took part in the present study. Participants listened to a story while viewing a wordless picture PowerPoint presentation on a computer screen, and then, they were instructed to retell the story while viewing the pictures for a second time. Each participant listened to two stories, one with “lively” and one with “flat” prosody. Results revealed that adults’ with DS performance was comparable with the one presented by the TD-RCPM group, whereas the TD-EVT group performed significantly better in almost all variables. Individuals’ with DS re-narrations, however, contained significantly less complement clauses and internal state terms (related or not related to Theory of Mind–ToM) compared to the re-narrations of both control groups. In contrast, the group with DS performed similarly to both control groups in comprehension questions related to main characters’ internal state terms and significantly better compared to the TD-RCPM group in questions related to ToM. In terms of prosody, all three groups performed significantly better on story structure and comprehension questions when prosody was “lively” compared “flat” prosody. DS group’s re-narrations did not contain enough internal state terms, not due to their inability in recognizing them, but due to their poor morphosyntactic abilities, which did not allow them to find the proper means to express the main characters’ internal states. Prosody facilitated participants with DS in the comprehension and re-narration. This suggests that intervention programs based on prosody could support the language skills of adults with DS. (shrink)

BackgroundDecisions about withdrawal of life support for infants have given rise to legal battles between physicians and parents creating intense media attention. It is unclear how we should evaluate when life is no longer worth living for an infant. Public attitudes towards treatment withdrawal and the role of parents in situations of disagreement have not previously been assessed.MethodsAn online survey was conducted with a sample of the UK public to assess public views about the benefit of life in hypothetical (...) cases similar to real cases heard by the UK courts (eg, Charlie Gard, Alfie Evans). We then evaluated these public views in comparison with existing ethical frameworks for decision-making.ResultsOne hundred and thirty participants completed the survey. The majority (94%) agreed that an infant’s life may have no benefit when well-being falls below a critical level. Decisions to withdraw treatment were positively associated with the importance of use of medical resources, the infant’s ability to have emotional relationships, and mental abilities. Up to 50% of participants in each case believed it was permissible to either continueorwithdraw treatment.ConclusionDespite the controversy, our findings indicate that in the most severe cases, most people agree that life is not worth living for a profoundly disabled infant. Our survey found wide acceptance of at least the permissibility of withdrawal of treatment across a range of cases, though also a reluctance to overrule parents’ decisions. These findings may be useful when constructing guidelines for clinical practice. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction Investing in Science: Child Health and U.S. Medicine in the Twentieth Century The Impact of Specific Medical Interventions The Changing Definition of ID The “Flynn Effect” and the Impact of Improved Public Health Conclusion References.

This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction Investing in Science: Child Health and U.S. Medicine in the Twentieth Century The Impact of Specific Medical Interventions The Changing Definition of ID The “Flynn Effect” and the Impact of Improved Public Health Conclusion References.

Stigma against mental disability within the medical field continues to impose significant barriers on physicians and trainees. Here, we examine several implications of this stigma and propose steps toward greater inclusion of persons with mental disabilities in the physician workforce.

Training on working memory (WM) improves attention and working memory in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and memory impairments. However, for children with intellectual disabilities (ID), the results have been less encouraging. In this preliminary study it was hypothesized that children with ID would benefit from an extended amount of training and that the level of difficulty during training would affect the outcome. We included 21 children with mild or moderate intellectual (...) disabilities aged 8–13 years. They went through between 37 and 50 training sessions with an adaptive computerized program on WM and non-verbal reasoning (NVR). The children were divided into two subgroups with different difficulty levels during training. The transfer to untrained cognitive tests was compared to the results of 22 children with intellectual disabilities training only 25 sessions, and to a control group. We found that the training group with the extended training program improved significantly on a block design task measuring NVR and on a WM task compared to the control group. There was also a significantly larger improvement on block design relative to the training group with the shorter training time. The children that received easier training tasks also improved significantly more on a verbal WM task compared to children with more demanding tasks. In conclusion, these preliminary data suggest that children with ID might benefit from cognitive training with longer training periods and less demanding tasks, compared to children without disabilities. (shrink)

The sexual assault of persons with mental disabilities occurs at alarmingly high rates worldwide. These assaults are a form of gender-based violence intersecting with discrimination based on disability. Our research on the treatment of such cases in the Canadian criminal justice system demonstrates the systemic barriers these victims face at the level of both substantive legal doctrine and trial procedure. Relying on feminist legal theory and disability theory, we argue in this paper that abuses of trust (...) and power underlie most sexual assaults of women with mental disabilities. We argue that existing Criminal Code provisions in Canada are inadequate to address this type of exploitation because courts have consistently failed to recognize that such abuses of power and trust are fundamentally inconsistent with any notion of voluntary consent. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: Adults with MMR Psychopathy and Disability MMR, Moral Responsibility, and Moral Community The First Puzzle: Criminal and Moral Responsibility The Second Puzzle: Degrees of Accountability Conclusion Acknowledgments References.

The partnership of educators and parents of children with developmental disabilities is important for early intervention, as an integrated and interdisciplinary system of professional services intended for children of an early age with developmental disabilities and children who may be late in starting school due to inadequacy: nutrition, chronic diseases, biological and environmental factors. The aim of the research is to examine the assessments of educators and parents about the involvement of families of (...) children with developmental disabilities in kindergarten activities. It started from the general assumption that there is a difference in the assessments of educators and parents about family involvement in kindergarten activities. The research conducted in October 2022 included 167 educators and 167 parents in the area of Kikinda and Sombor (Serbia), who assessed family participation in kindergarten activities (PP) for 167 children aged five to seven. The quality of cooperation was examined with the Subtest Parents’ involvement in kindergarten activities. This subtest forms part of the Parental Involvement Questionnaire (Fantuzzo et al, 2000) adapted for this research (a = 0,921). The research results show that there is a significant difference in the assessments of educators and parents in the area of family involvement in kindergarten activities. It was concluded that there is a need for planning guidelines and implementation of procedures that would enable parents to participate in kindergarten activities. The application of the new Program Basis in the context of cooperation between preschool institutions and parents would contribute to the improvement of project planning of learning and teaching in pedagogical practice. This would help parents better understand project-based learning and the importance of participating in kindergarten activities. (shrink)

This study investigated the effects of music therapy and pictorial illustration on the attention span of children with mild intellectual difficulties. A pre-test, post-test and control group quasi-experimental research design was used with a sample of children diagnosed with mild intellectual disability from three special schools in Ibadan, Nigeria. Fifty children were randomly selected and assigned to one of three groups: music therapy, pictorial illustration, or control. Twenty-four sessions of music therapy and pictorial illustration (...) classes were held with the experimental group only. The Moss Attention Rating Scale was used before and after the intervention to collect data on participants’ attention span. Analysis of Covariance indicated that there was a significant statistical difference between pre-test and post-test results of the two groups. The estimated marginal means of post-attention span by treatment indicated that pictorial illustration had the highest post-attention span score, followed by music therapy, while post-attention span score for the control group was the least. Based on the findings, it is recommended that teachers, caregivers, and parents of children with mild intellectual disability adopt pictorial illustration and music therapy as teaching strategies to enhance their attention span. (shrink)

MyJay is an open-source robot designed to facilitate play between children with and without physical disabilities. The robot acts as a proxy for children with upper limb challenges, allowing them to participate in physical games with their peers. Our design was inspired by the FIRST Robotics Competition, which involves teleoperating robots to manipulate objects. Taking a user-centred perspective, we consulted therapists and conducted remote interviews with children with disabilities and their (...) guardians at various stages of the design process. We then conducted an in-person feasibility study with 18 typically developing children in a school setting. The study involved children teleoperating the robot to pick up and throw balls into a designated goal, and the interaction was evaluated using the user experience questionnaire and the Robotic Social Attributes Scale. The results of the study show great potential for MyJay to act as a play mediator in various scenarios, and the response from the children was positive. The ultimate aim of our research agenda is to pave the way towards creating more inclusive play environments through robot-mediated interactions, breaking barriers posed by physical limitations. (shrink)

A twenty‐person working group convened to discuss the ethical and policy considerations of the controversial intervention called “growth attenuation,” and if possible to develop practical guidance for health professionals. A consensus proved elusive, but most of the members did reach a compromise.

For years, the sexual and reproductive health of women with intellectual and developmental disability or disabilities has been insufficiently addressed by institutions and family members due to a lack of information, training, and, sometimes, religious issues. In this context, contraceptive digital pills can enhance the sexual and reproductive control of this population group. Digital pills could help to improve adherence to treatments aimed to prevent unwanted pregnancies, as well as allowing women and their caregivers to exert better drug (...) intake control. However, there are some ethical risks to consider that may outweigh these benefits. This study sets out to explore the ethical considerations that should be taken into account in the case of a potential roll‐out of contraceptive digital pills as a way of improving the sexual and reproductive health of these women. (shrink)

In this paper I present a critical analysis of the English law relating to the safeguarding of vulnerable adults, in particular how the law impacts on the sexual lives of adult women with mental disabilities. I consider the discourses of vulnerability that surround the different legal regimes and whether the emerging theoretical vulnerability literature can assist in developing more nuanced legal responses. I argue that the inherent jurisdiction and Care Act 2014 provide an opportunity to move away (...) from the focus on inherent features of vulnerability such as mental disability towards a more nuanced, situational and embodied account of what it means to safeguard ‘vulnerable adults’. This has the potential to be developed in England through the new legal framework of the Care Act and can be achieved through targeting interventions against the situational causes of vulnerability, for example the perpetrators of sexual violence. (shrink)