Bojan Dučić

Verbal fluency task performance in persons with moderate intellectual disability

Verbal fluency is an indicator of the executive functions and mental lexicon. The aim of this paper is to determine phonemic and semantic productivity in persons with moderate intellectual disability (ID). The sample consisted of 58 persons with moderate ID, aged 15-25. Phonemic fluency was assessed by the Controlled Oral Word Association Test, while the Category Naming Test (CNT) was used to assess semantic fluency. The performance in the semantic fluency task was significantly better than the results on the phonemic fluency task. IQ was a significant factor of both assessed aspects of verbal fluency, but participants’ age had a greater individual influence on semantic productivity and higher predictive value than IQ.

Construction and psychometric evaluation of a short form of the broad autism phenotype questionnaire

Broad Autism Phenotype (BAP) represents a group of personality traits expressed in limitations in social relations and pragmatic speech dimension, and rigid behavior. The Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ) measures personality traits which are crucial in defining the BAP. In the present research, three studies were conducted with the general aim to create a short form of the BAPQ. Study 1 was carried out to determine the factor structure of the BAPQ in a sample of 501 students and to select items for the short form. Obtained components: Aloofness, Rigidity, and Pragmatics, corresponding to the structure of the instrument proposed by authors, accounted for 26.61% of variance. Study 2 was conducted to examine factor structure of the BAPQ short form (BAPQ-SF), in a sample of 298 students. This solution explained 45.76% of the total variance. The aim of Study 3 was to determine psychometric characteristics of the BAPQ-SF in a sample of students (N = 294). Three-factor model of the BAPQ-SF was confirmed. Correlations of the BAPQ-SF with the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) and the Delta 10 suggest convergent and discriminant validity of the BAPQ-SF.

Participation of children and youth with neurodevelopmental disorders in after-school activities

Abstract Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the level of participation in social, leisure and recreational activities in a group with intellectual disability, a group with autistic spectrum disorders, and a typically developing group. Method: The sample included 157 children of both genders, between 7 and 16 years of age (M = 11.03, SD =2.59). The Activities Questionnaire, which consists of: social, leisure, recreational activities, and friendship, was used in the research. Results: Participants with intellectual disability participated in a significantly larger number of all assessed activities than their peers with autistic spectrum disorders. There were no statistically significant differences in the frequency of participation in observed activities among the three groups of participants. Participants with intellectual disability were more independent than participants with autistic spectrum disorders in social and leisure activities, and needed less parental support in leisure activities. Participants with intellectual disability and autistic spectrum disorders had friendly relationships mainly with peers with disabilities. The influence of gender was detected in certain activities in all three groups of participants. Conclusions: Participants with disability participate in social, leisure and recreational activities less than their typically developing peers. The activities in which they participate are mainly stereotypical, highly structured, and take place in the presence of parents. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION Forming a richer network of support services which would be oriented towards organizing social, leisure and recreational activities of persons with disabilities in the community. It is necessary to improve support programs which would focus on strengthening the competencies and resources of parents. The improvement of formal and informal support should provide a wider network, and better and more frequent social relationships between persons with and without disabilities.

Relation between working memory and self-control capacity in participants with mild intellectual disability

Working memory is activated in situations which require active control of directing attention, processing information and making it available for a short time. Its content is limited in capacity and changes with regard to the context of a performed activity. Self-control is the capacity of a voluntary conscious effort to persist in achieving a previously set goal. The aim of this research was to determine the relation of verbal and visuospatial aspects of working memory with self-control skills in persons with mild intellectual disability (ID). The sample included 40 participants 8-12 years of age (M=10.65, SD=1.19). Memorizing a Maze task, adapted for participants with ID, was used to determine the capacity of visuospatial aspect of working memory. Memorizing Animals task was used to assess verbal aspect of working memory, and Self-Control Rating Scale was used to determine the acquisition level of self-control skills. It was determined that verbal aspects of working memory were significantly related to the acquired level of self-control skills (p=0.002). There was no significant relation between the results of tasks assessing the capacity of visuospatial working memory and the success on the scale assessing self-control capacity (p=0.089). The relation between self-control and verbal aspect of working memory may be explained by close links between using speech and applying self-regulation strategies.