Defining, diagnosing, classifying, and planning supports for people with intellectual disability: an emerging consensus

Significant international work in the field of intellectual disability (ID) over the last decade has resulted in an emerging consensus regarding the definition of ID, the criteria used to diagnose a person with ID, the classification of individuals who have been diagnosed with ID, and the planning of individualized supports for people with ID. This article describes that emerging consensusDurante la última década, un importante trabajo internacional en el ámbito de la discapacidad intelectual (DI) ha dado lugar a un consenso emergente con respecto a la definición de DI, los criterios utilizados para diagnosticar a una persona con DI, la clasificación de las personas que han sido diagnosticadas con DI y la planificación de apoyos individualizados para personas con DI. Este artículo describe ese consenso emergente

Exploring the Weight and Health Status of Adults with Down Syndrome

Background: People with developmental disabilities experience worse health than typically developing peers. This health differential is often described in terms of health disparities, which refers to differences caused or exacerbated by social or access issues. Objective: the goal of this study was to compare the weight status and health conditions of adults with Down syndrome to comparison groups of adults with developmental disabilities and adults with no disability. Methods: Information about health risks and health conditions was collected for 291 adults with Down syndrome living in Ohio through an online survey. We compared this data on adults with Down syndrome to state-level data from adults without disabilities (2012 BRFSS) and Ohio data on a random sample of adults with developmental disabilities other than Down syndrome (2012-2013 National Core Indicators). Results: Adults with Down syndrome were 3 times more likely to be overweight or obese than adults without disabilities. Surprisingly, despite having a body mass index in the overweight or obese range, 70% of adults with Down syndrome reported having eating habits that were good to excellent and less than 6% of the Down syndrome sample reported having co-occurring diabetes or hypertension. Discussion: Despite high rates of overweight and obesity, few adults with Down syndrome reported having the chronic health conditions associated with excess weight. Further research is needed to understand the health risks of overweight in adults with Down syndrome and the availability of health promotion programs for this population

Are Type, Frequency, and Daily Time Equally Valid Estimators of Support Needs in Children With Intellectual Disability? A Multitrait?Multimethod Analysis of the Supports Intensity Scale for Children (SIS-C)

ABSTRACT: Support needs represent the intensity of support required by a person with a disability in order to take part in the activities related to normative human functioning. The Supports Intensity Scale for Children (SIS-C) is possibly the most promising tool for assessing and designing individualized support programs in children with intellectual disability. The SIS-C measures support needs across 61 activities, each one assessed along three methods: type of support, frequency, and daily time during which support is to be given. We investigated the impact of method effects in the SIS-C through a bifactor approach to the analysis of multitrait?multimethod matrices. The results suggest that neither intensity nor frequency scales produced method effects that significantly distorted the measurement of support needs. However, the daily support time method had substantial undesirable effects on five of the seven subscales of support needs. Considerations about support needs assessment and future modifications of the scale are discussed.The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Work on this research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of the Economy and Competitiveness (R&D Projects, PSI2012- 36278), and the Autonomous Community of Castile and Leon (R&D Projects, SA120U13)

'I'm sure we made it a better study…': Experiences of adults with intellectual disabilities and parent carers of patient and public involvement in a health research study.

Patient and public involvement is considered integral to health research in the United Kingdom; however, studies documenting the involvement of adults with intellectual disabilities and parent carers in health research studies are scarce. Through group interviews, this study explored the perspectives and experiences of a group of adults with intellectual disabilities and a group of parent carers about their collaborative/participatory involvement in a 3-year study which explored the effectiveness of annual health checks for adults with intellectual disabilities. Thematic analysis identified five key themes consistent across both groups; authenticity of participation, working together, generating new outcome measures, dissemination of findings and involvement in future research. Although reported anecdotally rather than originating from the analysis, increased self-confidence is also discussed. The groups' unique perspectives led to insights not previously considered by the research team which led to important recommendations to inform healthcare practice

Rendement créateur d'enfants d'intelligence moyenne et d'enfants d'intelligence inférieure à la moyenne

Having to solve an open ended problem, children of low I.Q. (70) showed the same level of creativity as children of mean intelligence. But in a more demanding situation the low I.Q. children's output decreased, their solutions loosing in pertinence and flexibility, while the mean intelligence children's output remained equal.Face à un problème souffrant un nombre presque illimité de solutions, des enfants de 70 de Q.I. se sont montrés aussi créateurs que des enfants d'intelligence moyenne. Mais dans une situation plus exigeante, leur rendement a diminué, leurs solutions ont perdu de leur pertinence et de leur flexibilité, alors que le rendement des enfants d'intelligence moyenne n'a pas changé.Dufresne-Tassé C., Doré R., Arpin J. Rendement créateur d'enfants d'intelligence moyenne et d'enfants d'intelligence inférieure à la moyenne. In: Enfance, tome 29, n°3, 1976. pp. 225-234

Psicothema

Resumen tomado de la publicaciónLa visión contemporánea de las discapacidades intelectuales y del desarrollo: implicaciones para psicólogos. Antecedentes: el campo de la discapacidad intelectual y del desarrollo (DID) experimenta en la actualidad una significativa transformación que implica un enfoque integrado, especialmente en lo que se refiere a aspectos compartidos como el enfoque en los derechos humanos y legales, la elegibilidad para recibir servicios y apoyos, y el énfasis en los apoyos individualizados proporcionados en entornos comunitarios inclusivos. Esta transformación se acompaña de una creciente necesidad de precisión en cuanto las definiciones operativas de los constructos relacionados con la DID y la terminología utilizada para describir cada uno de ellos. Método: se ha revisado la literatura especializada y se han actualizado los trabajos previos de los autores sobre el tema. Resultados: este artículo proporciona a los psicólogos la definición actual de la discapacidad intelectual, las definiciones operativas de los constructos de discapacidad intelectual y discapacidades del desarrollo, así como de la terminología asociada, y los parámetros de un enfoque integrado de la discapacidad. Conclusiones: se discuten las implicaciones para los psicólogos involucrados en el diagnóstico, la clasificación y la planificación de apoyos a personas con discapacidad intelectual o del desarrollo.Universidad de Oviedo. Biblioteca de Psicología; Plaza Feijoo, s/n.; 33003 Oviedo; Tel. +34985104146; Fax +34985104126; [email protected]