Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research ReviewsThis is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader, such as GoogleReader, or to display this data on your own website or blog. Subscribe to this data using MyMedWorm.Subscribe to this data using GoogleReader.Subscribe to this data using Bloglines.Subscribe to this data using MyYahoo.

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Introduction: Family adaptation to intellectual and developmental disabilitiesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
No Abstract.
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - November 3, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Donald B. Bailey Jr. Source Type: journals

Recognizing the role of parents in developmental outcomes: A systems approach to evaluating the child with developmental disabilitiesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
When developmental concerns arise in children, a clinical assessment focuses on the child's developmental profile to achieve three goals (1) determine diagnosis, (2) develop interventions, and (3) evaluate progress. Parents often have needs during this time that are not addressed by professionals because of the exclusive focus on the child during the evaluation. In this article, we suggest that clinicians take a "systems" approach to the assessment process by recognizing how the well being of family members can impact a child with a developmental disability. We review systems theory and its conceptualization of individual ...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - November 2, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Lara S. Head, Leonard Abbeduto Source Type: journals

Sociocultural studies of families of children with intellectual disabilitiesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article reviews recent sociocultural studies of families of children with intellectual disabilities to introduce the range of research conducted from this perspective and to highlight the methodological, conceptual, and theoretical contributions of this approach to the study of mental retardation. Sociocultural studies examine families within their cultural, historical, and sociopolitical contexts. This type of research is comparative across different cultural groups, but is not limited to such comparisons. Sociocultural studies use varied theories and methods, but they share a focus on families' coproduction of meani...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - November 2, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Debra Skinner, Thomas S. Weisner Source Type: journals

Siblings of individuals with autism spectrum disorders across the life courseEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In this article, we review the literature on siblings of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) from a lifespan developmental perspective, from infancy through adulthood, focusing on the sibling relationship and sibling well-being. We situate this review within the larger body of research on siblings of individuals with developmental disabilities (DD) across the lifespan. We then consider the genetic aspects of ASDs and their implications for siblings. We conclude that there is an evidence of atypical social and communication development in some siblings of children with an ASD during infancy. During childhood an...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - November 2, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Gael I. Orsmond, Marsha Mailick Seltzer Source Type: journals

Maternal depression and developmental disability: Research critiqueEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Maternal depression in families having a child with a disability has been the subject of considerable research over the past 25 years. This review was designed to describe the literature on maternal depression, critique its research methodology, identify consensus findings across studies, and make recommendations for future research. A particular emphasis is on the distinction between exhibiting depressive symptoms and meeting clinical criteria for a depressive disorder, how or whether research studies made this distinction, and implications for our understanding of maternal adaptation to disability in a family member. Of ...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - November 2, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Donald B. Bailey Jr., Robert N. Golden, Jane Roberts, Amy Ford Source Type: journals

The role of maternal responsivity in the development of children with intellectual disabilitiesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In this study, we selectively review the theoretical and conceptual evidence for the effects of responsivity on development, discuss factors known to influence responsivity including the nature of a child's disability, and review intervention approaches intended to enhance maternal responsivity. We conclude with a set of recommendations for future research. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. MRDD Research Reviews 2007;13:330-338.
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - November 2, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Steven F. Warren, Nancy C. Brady Source Type: journals

Expressed emotion in families of children and adults with intellectual disabilitiesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Expressed emotion (EE) is a measure of the affective relationship between two people characterized by criticism, hostility, and emotionally over-involved attitudes. Outside of the field of intellectual disabilities, there has been considerable interest in EE as an environmental marker that explains variance in the severity and/or course of a number of psychiatric disorders. Researchers have also studied EE in parents and found strong associations with children's behavior problems. In this review, we focus on the data from 11 published studies of EE in families of children and adults with intellectual disabilities. We concl...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - November 2, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Richard P. Hastings, Tracey Lloyd Source Type: journals

Conceptualization and measurement of family outcomes associated with families of individuals with intellectual disabilitiesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The purpose of this review is to (a) document the current status of conceptualizing and measuring family outcomes related to having a member with an intellectual disability and (b) determine the extent to which family research focuses on internal family characteristics as contrasted to external family support. The reviewers collected 28 articles using the terms well-being, adaptation, family functioning, or family quality of life in the title. Results of our analyses are presented as a comparison between well-being, adaptation, and family functioning articles in one group and family quality of life articles in a second gro...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - November 2, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Ann P. Turnbull, Jean Ann Summers, Suk-Hyang Lee, Kathleen Kyzar Source Type: journals

Primary and secondary effects of parenting and stress management interventions for parents of children with developmental disabilities: A meta-analysisEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
A meta-analysis of the group intervention research for parents of children with developmental disabilities was conducted in order to characterize the efficacy of treatments in reducing depressive symptoms and other forms of psychological distress associated with stress in parents of children with developmental disabilities. An extensive search led to the identification of 17 studies which were divided into three categories for comparative purposes: parenting education studies usually based on behavioral parent training, coping skills education studies based primarily on cognitive behavioral training, and studies that combi...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - November 2, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: George H.S. Singer, Brandy L. Ethridge, Sandra I. Aldana Source Type: journals

Meta-analysis of family-centered helpgiving practices researchEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
A meta-analysis of 47 studies investigating the relationship between family-centered helpgiving practices and parent, family, and child behavior and functioning is reported. The studies included more than 11,000 participants from seven different countries. Data analysis was guided by a practice-based theory of family-centered helpgiving that hypothesized direct effects of relational and participatory helpgiving practices on self-efficacy beliefs and parent, family, and child outcomes. Results showed that the largest majority of outcomes were related to helpgiving practices with the strongest influences on outcomes most pro...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - November 2, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Carl J. Dunst, Carol M. Trivette, Deborah W. Hamby Source Type: journals

Genetic mechanisms involved in the phenotype of Down syndromeEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Down syndrome (DS) is the most common genetic cause of significant intellectual disability in the human population, occurring in roughly 1 in 700 live births. The ultimate cause of DS is trisomy of all or part of the set of genes located on chromosome 21. How this trisomy leads to the phenotype of DS is unclear. The completion of the DNA sequencing and annotation of the long arm of chromosome 21 was a critical step towards understanding the genetics of the phenotype. However, annotation of the chromosome continues and the functions of many genes on chromosome 21 remain uncertain. Recent findings about the structure of the ...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - October 1, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: David Patterson Source Type: journals

Using mouse models to explore genotype-phenotype relationship in Down syndromeEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Down Syndrome (DS) caused by trisomy 21 is characterized by a variety of phenotypes and involves multiple organs. Sequencing of human chromosome 21 (HSA21) and subsequently of its orthologues on mouse chromosome 16 have created an unprecedented opportunity to explore the complex relationship between various DS phenotypes and the extra copy of [sim]300 genes on HSA21. Advances in genetics together with the ability to generate genetically well-defined mouse models have been instrumental in understanding the relationships between genotype and phenotype in DS. Indeed, elucidation of these relationships will play an important r...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - October 1, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Ahmad Salehi, Mehrdad Faizi, Pavel V. Belichenko, William C. Mobley Source Type: journals

A year of unprecedented progress in Down syndrome basic researchEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
We describe the animal model systems that were critical to this progress, review these independent breakthrough studies, and discuss the implications for therapeutic approaches suggested by each. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. MRDD Research Reviews 2007;13:215-220.
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - October 1, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Roger H. Reeves, Craig C. Garner Source Type: journals

Epidemiology of Down syndromeEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Down syndrome (DS) is the most commonly identified genetic form of mental retardation and the leading cause of specific birth defects and medical conditions. Traditional epidemiological studies to determine the prevalence, cause, and clinical significance of the syndrome have been conducted over the last 100 years. DS has been estimated to occur in [sim]1 in 732 infants in the United States, although there is some evidence that variability in prevalence of estimates exist among racial/ethnic groups. Progress has been made in characterizing the specific types of chromosome errors that lead to DS and in identifying associate...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - October 1, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Stephanie L. Sherman, Emily G. Allen, Lora H. Bean, Sallie B. Freeman Source Type: journals

Down syndrome: Cognitive phenotypeEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Down syndrome is the most prevalent cause of intellectual impairment associated with a genetic anomaly, in this case, trisomy of chromosome 21. It affects both physical and cognitive development and produces a characteristic phenotype, although affected individuals vary considerably with respect to severity of specific impairments. Studies focusing on the cognitive characteristics of Down syndrome were reviewed, and while performance in most areas could be predicted based upon overall intellectual disability, relative weaknesses were consistently found to be associated with expressive language, syntactic/morphosyntactic pr...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - October 1, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Wayne Silverman Source Type: journals

Alzheimer's disease in Down syndrome: Neurobiology and riskEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Down syndrome (DS) is characterized by increased mortality rates, both during early and later stages of life, and age-specific mortality risk remains higher in adults with DS compared with the overall population of people with mental retardation and with typically developing populations. Causes of increased mortality rates early in life are primarily due to the increased incidence of congenital heart disease and leukemia, while causes of higher mortality rates later in life may be due to a number of factors, two of which are an increased risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and an apparent tendency toward premature aging. In ...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - October 1, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Warren B. Zigman, Ira T. Lott Source Type: journals

Language development in Down syndrome: From the prelinguistic period to the acquisition of literacyEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Down syndrome (DS) is associated with abnormalities in multiple organ systems and a characteristic phenotype that includes numerous behavioral features. Language, however, is among the most impaired domains of functioning in DS and, perhaps, also the greatest barrier to independent meaningful inclusion in the community. In this article, we review what is known about the extent, nature, and correlates of the language and related problems of individuals with Down syndrome. In doing so, we focus largely on the syndrome-specific features of the language phenotype, although we also consider within-syndrome variation. The review...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - October 1, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Leonard Abbeduto, Steven F. Warren, Frances A. Conners Source Type: journals

Education and children with Down syndrome: Neuroscience, development, and interventionEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article briefly reviews the literature on brain-behavior connections in Down syndrome and identifies aspects of the Down syndrome behavioral phenotype that are potentially relevant to educators. Potential challenges to etiologically informed educational planning are discussed. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. MRDD Research Reviews 2007;13:262-271.
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - October 1, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Deborah J. Fidler, Lynn Nadel Source Type: journals

Psychiatric and behavioral disorders in persons with Down syndromeEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Similar to the state of the broader intellectual disabilities field, many gaps exist in the research and treatment of mental health concerns in people with Down syndrome. This review summarizes key findings on the type and prevalence of behavior and emotional problems in children, adolescents, and adults with Down syndrome. Such findings include relatively low rates of severe problems in children, and well-documented risks of depression and Alzheimer's disease in older adults. The review also considers emerging data on autism, and the paucity of studies on adolescents. Three next steps for research are highlighted, includi...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - October 1, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Elisabeth M. Dykens Source Type: journals

Families of persons with Down syndrome: New perspectives, findings, and research and service needsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
To understand the families of offspring with Down syndrome, this article begins by describing the change in orientation - from "negative" to "stress-and-coping" perspectives - in studies of families of offspring with disabilities. In reviewing the existing studies, mothers, fathers, and siblings cope slightly better than family members of persons with other disabilities, a phenomenon called the "Down syndrome advantage." Beyond this more general finding, however, much remains unknown. Most studies examine only parental or sibling levels of stress or coping, leaving unknown the marital, occupational, health, educational, an...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - October 1, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Robert M. Hodapp Source Type: journals

Toward a research agenda for Down syndromeEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
No abstract.
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - October 1, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Ira T. Lott, David Patterson, Marsha Mailick Seltzer Source Type: journals

Introduction to the special issue on Down syndromeEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
No abstract.
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - September 1, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Marsha Mailick Seltzer, David Patterson, Ira T. Lott Source Type: journals

Federal family and disability policy: Special relevance for developmental disabilitiesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The article reviews the federal statutes and relevant decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court that constitute the core concepts of disability policy and their application to persons with disabilities (especially developmental disabilities) and their families. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. MRDD Research Reviews 2007;13:114-120.
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - June 11, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: H. Rutherford Turnbull III, Matthew J. Stowe, John Agosta, Ann P. Turnbull, M. Suzanne Schrandt, John F. Muller Source Type: journals

The next exclusion debate: Assessing technology, ethics, and intellectual disability after the human genome projectEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article examines the ethical and social implications of the Human Genome Project for individuals with intellectual disabilities and their families. It details the critique of prenatal testing articulated by many disability rights activists as well as scholarly and professional responses to that critique. A review of the pertinent research literature includes perspectives of genetic professionals, ethicists, disability studies scholars, parents of children with disabilities, and disabled individuals themselves. Finally, the article explores how future research endeavors, policies, and practices may more effectively int...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - June 11, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Kelly M. Munger, Carol J. Gill, Kelly E. Ormond, Kristi L. Kirschner Source Type: journals

Issues related to the diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disordersEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This paper explores issues and implications for diagnosis and treatment, stemming from the growing number of children identified with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Recent developments and innovations in special education and Medicaid programs are emphasized. Eligibility determination policies, innovations in diagnostic practices, the cost and financing of assessment, variability among programs in diagnostic criteria, and racial/ethnic disparities in the timing of diagnosis all influence the capacity of service systems to provide diagnoses in a timely, coordinated, accurate, economical, and equitable manner. There are s...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - June 11, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Paul T. Shattuck, Scott D. Grosse Source Type: journals

Aging family caregivers: Policies and practicesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This review examines later life family support for adults with developmental disabilities from a life course perspective that takes into account social trends and changes in service patterns and in attitudes of families. Key issues addressed include: (1) trends affecting family caregiving, (2) health and social outcomes of life-long caregiving, (3) support needs of families, (4) family support policies and practices, and (5) recommendations for a research and policy agenda. Research examining outcomes of life-long caregiving has shown that most families adapt well to having a family member with disabilities. However, some ...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - June 11, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Tamar Heller, Joe Caldwell, Alan Factor Source Type: journals

The implications of no child left behind for students with developmental disabilitiesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In a review of current research and the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation, this paper focuses on two specific issues: (a) how students with developmental disabilities show adequate yearly progress, including a description of the assessments in which this population may participate, and (b) the policy issues surrounding NCLB including technical requirements of alternate assessments, alignment of content standards, assessments, and instruction, the requirement of all teachers to be highly qualified, and the relationship between NCLB and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA, 2004). Areas for...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - June 11, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Shawnee Y. Wakeman, Diane M. Browder, Irene Meier, Ann McColl Source Type: journals

Residential supports for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilitiesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article reviews the current and changing status of residential supports for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD). It examines four major trends in those supports: (1) Decreasing use of larger institutions and increasing use of community housing; (2) Decreasing size among community settings; (3) Increasing numbers of people living in homes that they themselves own or rent; and (4) Decreasing out-of-home placements of children and youth. Within each trend the article provides a statistical description of the trend, its foundation in public policy, reviews the evidence of the trend's benefit t...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - June 11, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: K. Charlie Lakin, Roger J. Stancliffe Source Type: journals

Translating policy principles into practice to improve health care access for adults with intellectual disabilities: A research review of the past decadeEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article extracts principles from two Surgeon General reports, Closing the Gap: A National Blueprint to Improve the Health of Persons with Mental Retardation (2002) and Call to Action to Improve the Health and Wellness of Persons with Disabilities (2005), and combines them with the Objectives from Chapter 6 of Healthy People 2010 to create a policy framework. This framework is used to review literature from the past decade on access to health care and health promotion for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Review of the literature indicates an emerging evidence base for health promotion pro...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - June 11, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Gloria L. Krahn, Charles E. Drum Source Type: journals

Washington rises: Public financial support for intellectual disability in the United States, 1955-2004Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Public financial support for intellectual disability in the United States grew from 2.3 billion in 1955 to 82.6 billion in 2004, and the federal government emerged during this period as the principal provider of such support. Notwithstanding this unprecedented growth in financial support, many inequities persist today in the distribution of financial resources and services across states, communities, families and to individual disabled consumers. Moreover, tens of thousands of persons with intellectual disabilities continue to live in institutions and nursing homes, waiting lists and aging caregivers are growing rapidly, a...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - June 11, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: David Braddock Source Type: journals

The direct support workforce in community supports to individuals with developmental disabilities: Issues, implications, and promising pacticesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article reviews the literature regarding the complexity of the direct support workforce crisis, the effects of this crisis on various stakeholder groups, promising practices designed to address the challenges, and the related practice and policy implications. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. MRDD Research Reviews 2007;13:178-187.
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - June 11, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Amy Hewitt, Sheryl Larson Source Type: journals

Emerging policy challenges in intellectual disabilitiesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The forces shaping intellectual disability policy-making are diverse; while many of the policy issues reviewed in this issue are specific to intellectual disabilities, there are others that transcend disability-specific concerns. Our review is organized around six emerging demographic and socio-cultural trends that may directly and profoundly impact the intellectual disability field: aging, changing labor markets, immigration, families, federalism, and culture. Each of these trends is discussed in terms of their relevance and potential impact on disability policy. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. MRDD Research Reviews 2007;13:188-194.
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - June 11, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Glenn T. Fujiura, Susan L. Parish Source Type: journals

ErratumEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
No abstract.
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - June 11, 2007 Category: Disability Source Type: journals

Poverty and people with intellectual disabilitiesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Epidemiological studies have consistently reported a significant association between poverty and the prevalence of intellectual disabilities. The available evidence suggests that this association reflects two distinct processes. First, poverty causes intellectual disabilities, an effect mediated through the association between poverty and exposure to a range of environmental and psychosocial hazards. Second, families supporting a child with intellectual disabilities and adults with intellectual disabilities are at increased risk of experiencing poverty due to the financial and social impact of caring and the exclusion of p...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - June 1, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Eric Emerson Source Type: journals

Introduction to communication and language development and interventionEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
No abstract.
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - March 1, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Steven F. Warren, Leonard Abbeduto Source Type: journals

Language and communicative development in Williams syndromeEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Williams syndrome, a genetic disorder caused by a microdeletion of [sim]25 genes on chromosome 7q11.23, is associated with mild to moderate intellectual disability or learning difficulties. Most individuals with Williams syndrome evidence a cognitive profile including relative strengths in verbal short-term memory and language, and considerable weakness in visuospatial construction. The syndrome has often been argued to provide strong evidence for the independence of language from other aspects of cognition. We provide a brief history of early research on the language abilities of individuals with Williams syndrome and the...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - February 26, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Carolyn B. Mervis, Angela M. Becerra Source Type: journals

Early communication development and intervention for children with autismEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder defined by impairments in social and communication development, accompanied by stereotyped patterns of behavior and interest. The focus of this paper is on the early development of communication in autism, and early intervention for impairments in communication associated with this disorder. An overview of components of communication is provided. Communication characteristics that are diagnostic of autism are summarized, with consideration of the overlap between social and communication impairment, particularly for children with autism functioning at the prelinguistic level. Early co...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - February 26, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Rebecca Landa Source Type: journals

Language and communication development in down syndromeEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article describes research findings in the language and communication development of individuals with Down syndrome, first briefly describing the physical and cognitive phenotype of Down syndrome, and two communication related domains - hearing and oral motor skills. Next, we describe language development in Down syndrome, focusing on communication behaviors in the prelinguistic period, then the development of language in children and adolescents, and finally language development in adults and the aging period. We describe language development in individuals with Down syndrome across four domains: phonology, semantics...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - February 26, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Joanne E. Roberts, Johanna Price, Cheryl Malkin Source Type: journals

Language development and fragile X syndrome: Profiles, syndrome-specificity, and within-syndrome differencesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the leading inherited cause of mental retardation. In this article, we review what is known about the language and related problems of individuals with FXS. In doing so, we focus on the syndrome-specific features of the language phenotype and on the organismic (i.e., genetic and individual neurocognitive and behavioral) and environmental factors associated with within-syndrome variation in the phenotype. We also briefly review those aspects of the behavioral phenotype of FXS that are relevant for understanding syndrome-specific features of, and within-syndrome variability in, language. The revie...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - February 26, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Leonard Abbeduto, Nancy Brady, Sara T. Kover Source Type: journals

Language phenotypes and intervention planning: Bridging research and practiceEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This paper focuses on the communication and language phenotypes associated with three genetic disorders: Down syndrome, Williams syndrome, and fragile X syndrome. It is argued that there is empirical evidence that these disorders predispose children to specific profiles of strength and weakness in some areas of speech, language, and communication, and that intervention planning for children with each syndrome may take an approach informed by these profiles. Issues related to within-group variability, shared outcomes among syndromes, and the need for empirical validation for syndrome-specific recommendations are discussed. ...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - February 26, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Deborah J. Fidler, Amy Philofsky, Susan L. Hepburn Source Type: journals

The state of research and practice in augmentative and alternative communication for children with developmental/intellectual disabilitiesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article reviews some of the most significant aspects of this growth as it relates to children with developmental disabilities. Major issues within the field, the evidence base available to practitioners and researchers, and promising areas of future growth are identified. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. MRDD Research Reviews 2007;13:58-69.
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - February 26, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Krista M. Wilkinson, Shannon Hennig Source Type: journals

Differential treatment intensity research: A missing link to creating optimally effective communication interventionsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Research over the past 50 years has yielded several promising approaches and many specific intervention techniques designed to enhance the communication and language development of young children with intellectual and developmental delays and disabilities. Yet virtually no systematic research has been conducted on the effects of different treatment intensities. We review how intervention intensity has been defined in the literature and propose a set of terms borrowed from medicine that are intended to capture the dynamic aspects of this concept as an aid to further investigation. On the basis of this approach, we propose f...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - February 26, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Steven F. Warren, Marc E. Fey, Paul J. Yoder Source Type: journals

Word-attack skills in individuals with mental retardationEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article assesses the state of the literature on word-attack skills and phonological awareness (PA) in individuals with mental retardation, in light of progress towards the development of effective teaching procedures. The literature contains promising findings. Studies have shown PA to be correlated with word-attack skills in individuals with mental retardation, as has been shown conclusively in typically developing children. This suggests that instruction in PA would facilitate the acquisition of word-attack skills in individuals with mental retardation, as it does with typically developing children. As of yet, howev...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - February 26, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Kathryn J. Saunders Source Type: journals

The study of autism as a distributed disorderEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Past autism research has often been dedicated to tracing the causes of the disorder to a localized neurological abnormality, a single functional network, or a single cognitive-behavioral domain. In this review, I argue that autism is a "distributed disorder" on various levels of study (genetic, neuroanatomical, neurofunctional, behavioral). "Localizing" models are therefore not promising. The large array of potential genetic risk factors suggests that multiple (or all) emerging functional brain networks are affected during early development. This is supported by widespread growth abnormalities throughout the brain. Interac...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - February 26, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Ralph-Axel Müller Source Type: journals

Genes, language development, and language disordersEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Genetic factors are important contributors to language and learning disorders, and discovery of the underlying genes can help delineate the basic neurological pathways that are involved. This information, in turn, can help define disorders and their perceptual and processing deficits. Initial molecular genetic studies of dyslexia, for example, appear to converge on defects in neuronal and axonal migration. Further study of individuals with abnormalities of these genes may lead to the recognition of characteristic cognitive deficits attributable to the neurological dysfunction. Such abnormalities may affect other disorders ...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - February 26, 2007 Category: Disability Authors: Shelley D. Smith Source Type: journals

Current status of newborn screening: Decision-making about the conditions to include in screening programsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Newborn screening is considered a highly successful public health program that has resulted in the reduction of mortality, mental retardation, and other serious disabilities in thousands of children since the introduction of screening for phenylketonuria (PKU) in the 1960s. Programs are based in state public health departments such that each state independently reaches decisions as to which conditions should be mandated for inclusion in programs, leading to considerable variability among the states as to what is being screened. New technologies and knowledge of the genetics of many conditions have greatly expanded the numb...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - December 20, 2006 Category: Disability Authors: Michael S. Watson Source Type: journals

National evaluation of US newborn screening system componentsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Newborn screening has existed as a state-based public health service since the early 1960s. Every state and most territorial jurisdictions have comprehensive newborn screening programs in place, but in the United States a national newborn screening policy does not exist. This results in different administrative infrastructures, screening requirements, laboratory and follow-up services, medical management approaches, and related activities across the country. Federal initiatives and support have contributed to limited evaluations of various aspects of individual newborn screening programs at the national level, but funding ...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - December 20, 2006 Category: Disability Authors: Bradford L. Therrell, W. Harry Hannon Source Type: journals

The clinical aspects of newborn screening: Importance of newborn screening follow-upEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The aim of newborn screening is to identify presymptomatic healthy infants that will develop significant metabolic or endocrine derangements if left undiagnosed and untreated. The goal of ultimately reducing or eliminating irreversible sequelae is reached by maximizing test sensitivity of the primary newborn screening that measures specific analytes by a number of methodologies. Differentiation of true from false negatives is accomplished by the test specificity. This review discusses disorders for which, in general, there are available therapies and that are detected by routine and expanded newborn screening. Recommendati...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - December 20, 2006 Category: Disability Authors: Philip M. James, Harvey L. Levy Source Type: journals

Making the case for objective performance metrics in newborn screening by tandem mass spectrometryEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The expansion of newborn screening programs to include multiplex testing by tandem mass spectrometry requires understanding and close monitoring of performance metrics. This is not done consistently because of lack of defined targets, and interlaboratory comparison is almost nonexistent. Between July 2004 and April 2006 (N = 176,185 cases), the overall performance metrics of the Minnesota program, limited to MS/MS testing, were as follows: detection rate 1:1,816, positive predictive value 37% (54% in 2006 till date), and false positive rate 0.09%. The repeat rate and the proportion of cases with abnormal findings actually ...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - December 20, 2006 Category: Disability Authors: Piero Rinaldo, Saba Zafari, Silvia Tortorelli, Dietrich Matern Source Type: journals

Universal newborn screening and adverse medical outcomes: A historical noteEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Universal newborn screening programs for metabolic disorders are typically described as a triumph of medicine and public policy in the US over the last 50 years. Advances in science and technology, including the Human Genome Project, offer the opportunity to expand universal newborn screening programs to include many additional metabolic and genetic conditions. Although the benefits of such screening programs appear to outweigh their costs, some critics have claimed that historical examples of inadvertent harm ensuing from false-positive screening results and subsequent inappropriate medical treatment should make us wary o...
Source: Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews - December 20, 2006 Category: Disability Authors: Jeffrey P. Brosco, Michael I. Seider, Angela C. Dunn Source Type: journals