Traumatic experiences and life events in people with \ud intellectual disability

Purpose of review \ud The aim of this article is to present and critically evaluate recent research on life events and traumatic experiences as predictors of psychopathology in people with intellectual \ud disability. \ud \ud Recent findings \ud The area has not developed significantly in the last years. Although life events have been associated with a range of mental health problems, only few studies have tried to clarify their role in psychopathology. It is often the case that differences between life events and traumatic experiences have been overlooked, mainly because establishing a clear cut-off point between the two types of events is not always possible. In addition, traumatic experiences per se, and as potential predictors of psychopathology, have been scarcely investigated in people with intellectual disability. \ud \ud Summary \ud The role of recent life events and traumatic experiences across the life-span of people with intellectual disability deserves more research. An outstanding question is whether these events are risk factors or triggering factors, as well as how to differentiate between traumatic and life events. Identifying possible protective factors for mental health seems to be a very promising line for future research with important clinical implications. \u

A Universalist strategy for the design of Assistive Technology

Assistive Technologies are specialized products aiming to partly compensate for the loss of autonomy experienced by disabled people. Because they address special needs in a highly-segmented market, they are often considered as niche products. To improve their design and make them tend to Universality, we propose the EMFASIS framework (Extended Modularity, Functional Accessibility, and Social Integration Strategy). We first elaborate on how this strategy conciliates niche and Universalist views, which may appear conflicting at first sight. We then present three examples illustrating its application for designing Assistive Technologies: the design of an overbed table, an upper-limb powered orthose and a powered wheelchair. We conclude on the expected outcomes of our strategy for the social integration and participation of disabled people

Family Quality of Life in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)

In latest years the concept of quality of life (QoL) has been acknowledged as an important outcome in psychiatric pathology fields. Most researchers consider that social indicators and the perception of personal wellbeing also, should be considered when measuring the quality of life. Our purpose was to investigate the QoLof the families of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and to determine whether in this population, the potential mediators (irrational cognitions, negative automatic thoughts, coping strategies) relate significantly with the emotional distress reported. We also aimed to assess the parents’ irrational cognitions and negative automatic thoughts as mediators in the relationship between the overall assessment of family QoLand their emotional distress. We found significant correlations between the emotional distress reported by the parents and their automatic negative thoughts, irrational cognitions, and different coping strategies. The relationship between the overall assessment of family QoLand the parents’ emotional distress was partially explained by their negative automatic thoughts and irrational cognitions. In this view, the specialised services should include also interventions for the parents of children with developmental disorders (ASD, ADHD) in order to improve their overall assessment of familyQoL

Working Effectively With Employees who Have Sustained a Brain Injury

This brochure on individuals who have sustained a brain injury and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is one of a series on human resources practices and workplace accommodations for persons with disabilities edited by Susanne M. Bruyère, Ph.D., CRC, SPHR, Director, Program on Employment and Disability, School of Industrial and Labor Relations – Extension Division, Cornell University. It was updated in June, 2000 by Stephanie Hanson, Ph.D., College of Health Professions, University of Florida. The original as written by Thomas P. Golden, M.S., Program on Employment and Disability, Cornell Universit

ANXIETY DISORDERS AND THE FREQUENCY OF NEGATIVE THOUGHTS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY IN CHILDREN WITH AND WITHOUT SPECIAL LEARNING DISABILITIES

Special Learning Disabilities (SLD) are often accompanied by negative thoughts of self-assessment, deficits in social interactions and psycho-emotional problems as well, which hinder the development and the smooth integration of children diagnosed with SLD into their environment. This research attempts to investigate the association of negative self-assessment thoughts and anxiety disorders with Special Learning Disabilities in a sample of sixty Greek-speaking children in 4th, 5th and 6th grades with and without SLD, including their parents. The tools used for this purpose are the Children’s Automatic Thoughts Scale (CATS), and the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS-CH) self-report questionnaire, which assess anxiety disorders. Parents were asked to answer the corresponding Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale-Parents Edition (SCAS-P) symptom-monitoring questionnaire. According to the results compared to their normal development peers, children with SLD had a higher incidence of negative thoughts, which is more likely to lead to symptoms of anxiety disorders; their parents in fact were able to perceive the severity or frequency of these symptoms in their children. In addition, the frequency of negative thoughts and symptoms related to anxiety disorders seemed to be influenced by the student’s condition (with or without SLD), but not by gender and age.   Article visualizations