Co-designing with young adults with intellectual disability to develop social life skills

Participation in social media has become mainstream and accessible, especially among young people. Social media offer opportunities for social connectedness as well as content sharing and skills development. Developing social skills is an essential goal for young adults with Intellectual Disability (ID) as they are interested in greater social participation. This PhD research grounds itself in social participation, and in exploring how existing competencies with technology and interests mediated through technology can be leveraged to support social skills development and participation. Through this approach, we aim to understand how technologies are appropriated, abandoned, and how they might be reconfigured and redesigned while focusing on supporting social participation for young adults with ID. This PhD research will employ a Participatory Action Research Approach that involves qualitative methods and co-design workshops. As outcomes, the PhD would contribute an empirical understanding of social media use; a social skills training framework that leverages social media, and design guidelines and prototypes for social media platforms to better support social participation through social skills development of young adults with ID

Inhibitory control and adaptive behaviour in children with mild intellectual disability

BackgroundInhibitory control, as one of the basic mechanisms of executive functions, is extremely important for adaptive behaviour. The relation between inhibitory control and adaptive behaviour is the most obvious in cases of behavioural disorders and psychopathology. Considering the lack of studies on this relation in children with disabilities, the aim of our research is to determine the relation between inhibitory control and adaptive behaviour in children with mild intellectual disability. MethodThe sample consists of 53 children with mild intellectual disability. Selection criteria were: IQ between 50 and 70, age between 10 and 14, absence of bilingualism, and with no medical history of neurological impairment, genetic and/or emotional problems. Modified Day-Night version of the Stroop task, and Go-no-Go Tapping task were used for the assessment of inhibitory control. Data on adaptive behaviour were obtained by applying the first part of AAMR (American Association on Mental Retardation) Adaptive Behaviour Scale-School, Second Edition (ABS-S:2). ResultsSignificant relationships were determined between some aspects of inhibitory control and the most of assessed domains of adaptive behaviour. Inhibitory control measures, as a unitary inhibition model, significantly predict results on Independent Functioning, Economic Activity, Speech and Language Development, and Number and Times domains of the ABS-S:2. Inhibitory control, assessed by second part of the Stroop task, proved to be a significant factor in practical (Independent Functioning) and conceptual (Economic Activity, Speech and Language Development, and Numbers and Time) adaptive skills. The first part of the Stroop task, as a measure of selective attention, proved to be a significant factor in language and numerical demands, along with second one. Inhibitory control through motor responses proved to be a significant factor in independent functioning, economic activities, language and self-direction skills. ConclusionWe can conclude that inhibitory control represents a significant developmental factor of different adaptive behaviour domains in children with mild intellectual disability