Donna Couzens

Opportunities for communication in classrooms serving children with developmental disabilities.

Documented the number and types of opportunities for communication provided by teachers in seven classrooms for children with developmental disabilities and by teachers of nonhandicapped preschoolers in a day care center. In the special education settings, less than 14% of the more than 6,000 observation intervals contained an opportunity for communication. Most opportunities involved naming an object or event followed in frequency by opportunities to request, answer, and imitate. Similar results were obtained in the day care center. In the special education classrooms, a strong positive correlation was found between a childs existing communication skills and the number of opportunities received. Results suggest that these teachers did incorporate opportunities for communication into classroom activities.

Increasing opportunities for requesting in classrooms serving children with developmental disabilities

Evaluated an intervention package for increasing requesting opportunities in special education classrooms. Five teachers, serving 26 children with moderate to severe disabilities, received in-service training, consultation, and feedback on the use of three strategies designed to create opportunities for requesting (i.e., missing item, interrupted chain, delayed assistance). Observations were conducted in a multiple-baseline across classrooms design to record the number and types of opportunities provided by each teacher. During baseline, few opportunities for requesting were observed. The number of opportunities for requesting and the number of correct student responses increased during intervention. Opportunities continued to be provided during generalization and follow-up sessions. The study demonstrated an effective strategy for helping teachers incorporate opportunities for functional communication into the natural environment.

Cognitive Development and Down Syndrome: Age-Related Change on the Stanford-Binet Test (Fourth Edition)

Growth models for subtests of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, 4th edition ( R. L. Thorndike, E. P. Hagen, & J. M. Sattler, 1986a , 1986b ) were developed for individuals with Down syndrome. Models were based on the assessments of 208 individuals who participated in longitudinal and cross-sectional research between 1987 and 2004. Variation in performance among individuals was large and significant across all subtests except Memory for Sentences. Scores on the Memory for Sentences subtest remained low between ages 4 to 30 years. Greatest variation was found on the Pattern Analysis subtest, where scores continued to rise into adulthood. Turning points for scores on the Vocabulary and Comprehension subtests appeared premature relative to normative patterns of development. The authors discuss development at the subdomain level and analyze both individual and group trajectories.

The Stanford Binet Fourth Edition and Its Use with Individuals with Down Syndrome: Cautions for Clinicians.

Stanford Binet: Fourth Edition (SB:IV) assessments have been collected longitudinally for 195 individuals with Down syndrome. This article discusses individual assessments which were selected for their ability to highlight major concerns that practitioners need to consider when interpreting intelligence test scores with this population. In this study, Intelligence Quotient (IQ) changed substantially for many individuals, demonstrating changes in classification from a mild level of intellectual impairment on initial assessment to a severe level on later assessment. Subtests used in calculating composite scores were found to have a dramatic effect on IQ. There was up to 9 IQ points difference depending on whether only the “core” subtests or all subtests used by the assessor were included in the calculations. Thirty‐seven percent of the assessments were at “floor level” (i.e., IQ of 36), despite obvious divergent abilities illustrated by age equivalent scores. Mean Age Equivalent (MAE) scores were also problematic as they failed to adequately represent either the range, or divergence, of abilities of the individuals whose data are presented. Directions for future research are discussed.

Providing Opportunities for Choice-Making and Turn-Taking to Adults with Multiple Disabilities

Training direct-care staff to provide opportunities for choice-making and turn-taking may represent one way to increase participation by persons with multiple disabilities. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of an inservice and intervention package for teaching direct-care staff to incorporate opportunities for choice-making and turn-taking into snack and leisure activities for five young adults with multiple disabilities. A multiple baseline design demonstrated that after the training package was implemented, the number of opportunities provided by staff increased. Generalization probes suggested staff could apply these choice-making and turn-taking strategies with unfamiliar clients and across a range of community activities. Choice-makin and turn-taking responses among the young adults also tended to improve as the number of staff provided opportunities increased. Results suggest direct-care staff can be taught to provide opportunities for choice-making and turn-taking with minimal training. However, some individuals with multiple disabilities may require more intensive intervention to benefit fully from such opportunities.

Support for Students with Hidden Disabilities in Universities: A Case Study

More students with disabilities are accessing the tertiary sector with many disabilities not easily observed (or hidden), because there are no physical indicators. These “hidden” disabilities affect a variety of cognitive processes and may be developmental or acquired. To ensure students with hidden disabilities can enrol, engage in and benefit from tertiary education, universities generally provide a range of supports. Typically these supports and any reasonable adjustments are negotiated with students taking into account a number of factors including, where available, any supporting documentation that they might be able to provide. This case study reports efforts within one large Australian university to support higher education students with hidden disabilities on campus. Perceptions on the use of and barriers to support available were collected from seven undergraduate students who self-identified as having hidden disabilities and from eight support staff. Results indicated that students found their informal networks to be their most effective supports, closely followed by clear, caring and flexible lecturers and tutors. There were mixed positive and negative perceptions reported on the universal and disability-specific supports available. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Reliability of Structured Interviews for the Assessment of Challenging Behaviour

While structured behavioural interviews are often used in the assessment of problem behaviours among persons with developmental disabilities, there are no data on the reliability of this assessment methodology. In the present study, the reliability of a 15 item interview protocol was determined by comparing the answers provided by different staff concerning the aggressive behaviours displayed by 18 persons with severe disabilities. Agreement was generally low with an overall mean of 43% across clients and questions. The results suggest that information obtained from structured behavioural interviews should be verified by direct observation.

Analysis of IEP goals and classroom activities for children with multiple disabilities

Analysis of IEPs and classroom activities may provide useful information concerning the nature of special education services. In this study, 40 IEPs from two schools serving children with multiple disabilities were examined and compared to observed classroom activities. Similar types of goals (for example language, self‐care, motor) were found at both schools. Most goals were relevant and measurable, but relevant activities occurred less than 16 per cent of the time in the two classrooms observed. The results suggest IEPs may not always reflect actual classroom practice and indicate the need for applied research to improve implementation of IEP related activities.

Individual and Environmental Characteristics Associated with Cognitive Development in Down Syndrome: A Longitudinal Study

BACKGROUND Associations among cognitive development and intrapersonal and environmental characteristics were investigated for 89 longitudinal study participants with Down syndrome to understand developmental patterns associated with cognitive strengths and weaknesses. MATERIALS AND METHODS Subtest scores of the Stanford-Binet IV collected between ages 4-30 years were analysed in multilevel models of age-related change. Predictor variables were systematically entered into the models to identify associations with development for each subtest. RESULTS Temperament, maternal education, medical conditions and school experiences were associated with cognitive differences. Additional associations with rate of development were detected for negative mood, persistence, maternal education level and elementary school experience for several subtests. CONCLUSIONS Early cognitive advantage and consistent opportunities to learn academic content appear to facilitate cognitive development, although this latter was confounded with ability and maternal education in this study. Data presented endorse research into interventions that enhance verbal and problem solving environments through-out early and middle childhood and target reductions in negative affect in relation to supporting cognitive development for individuals with Down syndrome.

Discrimination of picture requests for missing items among young children with developmental disabilities

Two experiments were conducted to assess discrimination of picture requests for missing items among young children with developmental disabilities. In Experiment 1, three children were first taught to request one object when it was missing from a set of two related leisure items. In Experiment 2, two children were taught to request one object belonging to a set of three leisure items. In both studies the requesting response consisted of pointing to a photograph of the missing item. After acquisition of the initial request, discrimination of picture requests was assessed when the second item (Experiment 1) and second or third item (Experiment 2) was missing. Requests for the untrained items emerged in the presence of natural maintaining contingencies and in the absence of instructional prompts for all but the third child in Experiment 1. This child required continued intervention on the initial request. The results suggest that for some children a sequence of intervention and the programming of natural maintaining contingencies may prove effective in promoting the discrimination of picture requests for missing items among young children with developmental disabilities.