An Integrated Approach to the delivery of Child Mental Health Services

While these documents contain very welcome recommendations for the well being of children, they touch upon the issues of child mental health only indirectly. Further, they do not set up any priorities; nor do they offer any data, which would help to set up the priorities. One would have imagined that the mental health professionals would themselves have taken up the issue of priorities. What one sees is that while the professionals have fought valiant battles to safeguard the mental health of adult population, they have done very little for the mental health of children. In this context it is of interest that intense lobbying has been carried out for the care of children with developmental disabilities, so much so that mental handicap has become synonymous with mental health of children in the minds of the NGOs advocating the cause of the former, the authorities to whom representations are made and the population at large. One has no quarrel with the concern for mental handicap, but the effort seems to be unbalanced. One can only assume that if the mental health professionals had themselves taken part in this lobbying process, mental health issues could have been projected with as much enthusiasm as that of mental handicap. One must remember that in the West, a strong lobby for the cause of the mentally handicapped children arose as a part of an overall push for extensive and broad based mental health and counselling services for the children

Application for YES/NO Communication for People with Mental Handicap

Tato bakalářská práce vznikla na základě výzkumu v oblasti počítačové terapie. Tato terapie je odpověď na neuspokojivou situaci ve využívání informačních a komunikačních technologií v běžném životě a vzdělávání osob s mentálním postižením. Aplikace pro YES/NO alternativní komunikaci osob s mentálním postižením, která je předmětem této práce, je vyvíjena v souladu s požadavky této počítačové terapie. Na začátku práce bude nejdříve popsán problém mentální retardace. Následně bude provedena analýza možnosti využití mobilních zařízení pro edukaci osob se speciálními vzdělávacími potřebami a analýza již exitujících aplikací. V další části bude popsán návrh a implementace aplikace. V závěru práce budou výstupy verifikovány prostřednictvím případové studie přímo v prostředí, kde lidé s mentálním postižením žijí.This bachelor thesis is based on a research in field of computer therapy. This therapy is the answer to the unsatisfactory situation in the use of information and communication technologies in the education of persons with a mental handicap. The application of YES/NO communication for people with mental handicap, which is the subject of this work, is developed in accordance with the requirements of computer therapy. The problem of mental retardation will be described at the beginning of this work. Subsequently, the analysis of the possibilities of using mobile devices for the education of persons with special educational needs and analysis already exist applications will be performed. The following section describes the design and implementation of the application. At the end, the outputs will be verified through a case study in the environment, where people with a mental handicap lives.

Towards an understanding of profound mental handicap

A brief introduction to profound mental handicap (PMH) is given. Problems in identifying the population to be studied are described, and detailed criteria, based upon behavioural characteristics, are proposed. A comprehensive survey of research literature relevant to people with profound mental handicap is presented, and inadequacies discussed. Frameworks within which to place the behaviour of the profoundly mentally handicapped are also discussed, and a modified developmental framework is suggested. An argument is made for the usefulness of conducting research which is informed by mother-infant studies and which examines the naturally occurring behaviour of the profoundly mentally handicapped, paying particular attention to communicative and emotional characteristics.The behaviour of a representative sample of 66 people with profound handicap, living at home or in one of three institutions, is investigated using micro-analysis of filmed sessions between carer and subject, and information gathered from two oral questionnaires administered to carers. A reliable profile of the behavioural characteristics of this sample of people with profound handicap is therefore obtained.Important findings include: a high level of awareness and engagement to the carer indicating a general responsiveness amongst people with profound handicap to aspects of the environment, and the ability to communicate with other people; evidence of a wide variety of social and emotional behaviours, in particular a discriminating sense of humour; evidence of spontaneous learning; and the presence of a 'responsiveness' factor underlying the behaviour of people with profound handicap, and dividing the subjects into distinct subgroups.The implications of these findings for the day-to-day care of people with profound handicap, and for an improved understanding of the nature of profound mental handicap are discussed

Towards a social theory of mental handicap

Traditionally, medicine and psychology have characterised mental handicap as an objectively diagnosable condition of the individual, in no way affected by society. Sociologists have reacted against this dominant paradigm by developing labelling theory accounts of how individuals and state agencies can create and maintain the category of handicap by stigniatization and differential denial of social resources, and there have been attempts to see the category as a functional one for industrial societies. However, these ahistorical accounts do not add up to an adequate sociology of retardation. Tracing the history of the condition, as the core of this thesis does, we find that it was not identified as a distinct 'social problem' in the West until the development of industrial capitalism. The key event appears to be the introduction of compulsory education, which presented to a state committed to universal education a group of children. The reactions to this discovery, however, must be construed as part of a whole culture and ideology, and the thesis traces the parallel development of scientific conceptualistions, popular attitudes and treatment provisions in the light of economic relations. (The historical analysis necessarily confounds industrialisation with the growth of capitalism, but limited cross-cultural material suggests the latter as the crucial variable.) The main aim of the thesis is to illustrate the importance of history for sociological theory. The thesis also considers the necessary role of microsociology and psychology in building a social theory of mental handicap which accounts for the experience of individuals aswell as the structures of society, and Chapter 7 describes three studies illustrative of what could be done. However, microsociology cannot provide a sociological understanding without a historically informed macro-sociology within which to locate it

Language Fluency Project: An Investigation Into the Training and Development of Socialised Language With Adolescents With a Mental Handicap

Since the publication of the Warnock Report (1978) on children's special educational needs, special schooling has taken a new direction. Some authorities have even gone as far as to abolish their special schools, while others have implemented greater integration between special and ordinary schools. In almost all instances a greater challenge has been given to children hitherto labelled as handicapped, either physically or mentally, or both. They are now expected to cope in a greater variety of educational settings. Such demands highlight the need for more action research in the social and communication skills of persons of all ages with a mental handicap. The Language Fluency Project, hereafter referred to as LFP, was set up to investigate the development and training of socialised language in adolescents with a mental handicap, their linguistic behaviour in a conversation situation, and the development of verbal and social facility

Análisis Coste-beneflcio del Programa de Detección Precoz de Enfermedades Metabólicas en la Comunidad Autónoma Vasca

ResumenSe estudia la rentabilidad social del Programa de Detección Precoz y Tratamiento de dos enfermedades metabólicas, la fenilcetonuria y el hipotiroidismo congènito, en la Comunidad Autónoma Vasca, en vigor desde noviembre de 1982.La técnica utilizada es el análisis coste-beneficio. Los costes sociales de detección y tratamiento se comparan con los beneficios sociales de la prevención del retardo mental (1984 y 1985). Los Índices beneficio-coste (BC) y el valor actual neto (VAN) muestran que el programa es rentable excepto cuando los valores futuros de costes y beneficios son descontados a tasas elevadas. Los resultados del estudio son consistentes con los obtenidos por otras evaluaciones económicas de este tipo de programas.En términos de coste-efectividad, el coste de prevenir un caso de subnormalidad se estimó en 3.300.000 ptas., lo que podría interpretarse como un limite inferior a la valoración social de la prevención de la deficiencia mental.SummaryThe efficiency of an early screening and treatment Programme for two Metabolic disorders, phenylketonuria and congenita! hypothyroidism running since November 1982 in the Basque Country, is analysed.The cost-benelit analysis technique is used. The social costs of screening and treatment are compared with the social benefits for the prevention of mental handicap (1984-1985). Benefit-cost ratios and the net present value shows the social efficiency of the programme except when high discount rates have been used for discounting future costs and benefits. That conclusion is consistent with the results of other cost-benefit studies.In terms of cost-effectiveness the cost per child with mental handicap prevented was estimated on 3.300.000 ptas. That could be seen as the lowest social value for the prevention of a child with mental handicap

International Year of Disabled Persons: The Institution in England and Wales

A notable characteristic of American federalism is that domestic policy has been substantially determined by the courts. The judiciary has introduced its own social morality to ensure reasonable access to services for minority groups. The concept of judicial policy making has found no greater expression than in the field of mental retardation where the service provided has been largely mandated by judges

Application for Sign Language Education for People with Mental Handicap

Tato bakalářská práce popisuje vývoj aplikace pro výuku znaku do řeči pro osoby s mentálním postižením. Práce popisuje základní principy teorie počítačové terapie, ze které vychází, a cílovou skupinu uživatelů. Aplikace je vyvíjena pro operační systém Android a iOS, které jsou v práci stručně představeny. Následuje analýza již existujících aplikací podobného zaměření, návrh nové aplikace a implementace tohoto návrhu. V závěru práce bude popsána odezva uživatelů s mentálním postižením a jejich lektorů a navrhne se plán na možné rozšíření aplikace do budoucna.The thesis describes creation and development of an application for sign language education for people with mental handicap. The thesis describes basic principles of the theory of computer therapy, which is the basis for the application, as well as a target group of users. The application is developed for the operation systems Android and iOS, which are briefly introduced in this work. Then there is an analysis of some already existing applications of this kind, a design of a new application, and implementation of the design. At the end, there is a feedback by three application users with mental handicap and their lectors, and there is also a plan for the further extension of the application proposed.