Jan de Moor

Cyberbullying among students with intellectual and developmental disability in special education settings

Objective: To explore the types, prevalence and associated variables of cyberbullying among students with intellectual and developmental disability attending special education settings. Methods: Students (n = 114) with intellectual and developmental disability who were between 12–19 years of age completed a questionnaire containing questions related to bullying and victimization via the internet and cellphones. Other questions concerned sociodemographic characteristics (IQ, age, gender, diagnosis), self-esteem and depressive feelings. Results: Between 4–9% of students reported bullying or victimization of bullying at least once a week. Significant associations were found between cyberbullying and IQ, frequency of computer usage and self-esteem and depressive feelings. No associations were found between cyberbullying and age and gender. Conclusions: Cyberbullying is prevalent among students with intellectual and developmental disability in special education settings. Programmes should be developed to deal with this issue in which students, teachers and parents work together.

Arithmetic difficulties in children with cerebral palsy are related to executive function and working memory

BACKGROUND Although it is believed that children with cerebral palsy are at high risk for learning difficulties and arithmetic difficulties in particular, few studies have investigated this issue. METHODS Arithmetic ability was longitudinally assessed in children with cerebral palsy in special (n = 41) and mainstream education (n = 16) and controls in mainstream education (n = 16). Second grade executive function and working memory scores were used to predict third grade arithmetic accuracy and response time. RESULTS Children with cerebral palsy in special education were less accurate and slower than their peers on all arithmetic tests, even after controlling for IQ, whereas children with cerebral palsy in mainstream education performed as well as controls. Although the performance gap became smaller over time, it did not disappear. Children with cerebral palsy in special education showed evidence of executive function and working memory deficits in shifting, updating, visuospatial sketchpad and phonological loop (for digits, not words) whereas children with cerebral palsy in mainstream education only had a deficit in visuospatial sketchpad. Hierarchical regression revealed that, after controlling for intelligence, components of executive function and working memory explained large proportions of unique variance in arithmetic accuracy and response time and these variables were sufficient to explain group differences in simple, but not complex, arithmetic. CONCLUSIONS Children with cerebral palsy are at risk for specific executive function and working memory deficits that, when present, increase the risk for arithmetic difficulties in these children.

The Effect of Cerebral Palsy on Arithmetic Accuracy is Mediated by Working Memory, Intelligence, Early Numeracy, and Instruction Time

The development of addition and subtraction accuracy was assessed in first graders with cerebral palsy (CP) in both mainstream (16) and special education (41) and a control group of first graders in mainstream education (16). The control group out-performed the CP groups in addition and subtraction accuracy and this difference could not be fully explained by differences in intelligence. Both CP groups showed evidence of working memory deficits. The three groups exhibited different developmental patterns in the area of early numeracy skills. Children with CP in special education were found to receive less arithmetic instruction and instruction time was positively related to arithmetic accuracy. Structural equation modeling revealed that the effect of CP on arithmetic accuracy is mediated by intelligence, working memory, early numeracy, and instruction time.

Access to and use of Internet by adolescents who have a physical disability: A comparative study

The purpose of this study was to examine access to and use of Internet by 97 physically disabled adolescents. Four main objectives were to: (1) explore frequency and nature of Internet use and the role of care givers, (2) compare these results with non-disabled adolescents, (3) explore associations between access to and use of Internet and adolescents variables, and (4) examine differences between care givers in the guidance of adolescents concerning their Internet use. Outcomes on a questionnaire were compared to those from a control group consisting of 1566 non-disabled adolescents. No differences in access to Internet between physically disabled and non-disabled adolescents were found. In addition, the most common online activities were similar for both groups. Physically disabled adolescents were more often warned by their parents about the risks of Internet and more often had rules at home than their non-disabled peers. Among the group of physically disabled adolescents, gender and environmental setting were found to be related to online activities. In addition, age was found to be related to the amount of rules at home. No associations were found between IQ and the access to and use of Internet. Finally, parents of physically disabled more often warn adolescents and more often check their use of Internet than care staff.

Importance of speech production for phonological awareness and word decoding: the case of children with cerebral palsy.

The goal of this longitudinal study was to investigate the precursors of early reading development in 52 children with cerebral palsy at kindergarten level in comparison to 65 children without disabilities. Word Decoding was measured to investigate early reading skills, while Phonological Awareness, Phonological Short-term Memory (STM), Speech Perception, Speech Production and Nonverbal Reasoning were considered reading precursors. Children with cerebral palsy lag behind on all reading precursors at the beginning of the second year of kindergarten. For the children without disabilities, early reading skills in Grade 1 were best predicted by Phonological Awareness and Phonological STM while Speech Production was the most important predictor of early reading success for the children with cerebral palsy, followed by Phonological Awareness and Speech Perception. Furthermore, for children with cerebral palsy, Speech Production appears to dominate reading development, as Speech Production measured at the beginning of the second year of kindergarten was strongly predictive of all other reading precursors measured at the end of the second year of kindergarten. The results of this study reveal that children with cerebral palsy with additional speech impairments are at risk for limited literacy development. Clinical implications are discussed.

Functional assessment and treatment of sleeping problems with developmentally disabled children: six case studies

Sleeping problems are common among developmentally disabled children of young age and they may have adverse effects on the well-being of both child and parents. In the present study, results from functional assessment with four children suggested that sleeping problems were reinforced by parental attention whilst an undiagnosed seizure disorder was associated with nighttime crying with one child. Conditioned anxiety resulted in problems in settling to sleep with a sixth child. Behavioral (i.e., extinction, desensitization) and pharmacological (i.e., anticonvulsant) treatment resulted in a substantial reduction in sleeping problems with all children. Follow-up data indicate that effects were maintained.

Tangibles for toddlers learning language

Here we present LinguaBytes, a modular, tangible play-and-learning system developed to stimulate the language and communication skills of toddlers (with a developmental age between 1 and 4 years) with multiple disabilities. The typical characteristics of these children and their common learning environment call for intelligent systems that are quickly and easily adaptable, or, even better, adjust themselves proactively. Over the last two and a half years we have designed and tested such a system within LinguaBytes. In this paper we will outline starting points, indicate the opportunities of Tangible Interaction and finally give an overview of the current LinguaBytes prototype.

Designing for diversity: developing complex adaptive tangible products

Interactive products can help very young multi-handicapped children (1-4 years) develop their language and communication skills, under the condition that they are optimally tuned to the individual child. This has great consequences for design, since this kind of interactive products need to be adaptive to the childs development, possibilities, interests and needs. There are currently hardly any guidelines for designing adaptive interactive tangible products for such a heterogeneous user group. Through LinguaBytes, a three-year research project aimed at the development of an adaptive interactive toy for stimulating language and communication skills of multi-handicapped toddlers, we want to establish a theoretical framework, including guidelines and tools, for designing complex interactive products.

Sleep problems in children and young adults with developmental disabilities: home-based functional assessment and treatment

Sleep problems such as settling problems, frequent night waking, and early waking are prevalent as well as persistent with children and young adults with developmental disabilities who live at home. In this study, results of pretreatment functional assessment suggested that parental attention may have shaped and maintained the sleep problems with four participants. Effectiveness of extinction of parental attention, that is planned ignoring, was assessed on number of minutes of nighttime disruptive behaviors. Treatment resulted in a normalized sleep pattern in all cases and effects were maintained across time.

The development of LinguaBytes: an interactive tangible play and learning system to stimulate the language development of toddlers with multiple disabilities

Young children with multiple disabilities (e.g., both cognitive and motor disabilities) are confronted with severe limitations in language development from birth and later on. Stimulating the adult-child communication can decrease these limitations. Within LinguaBytes, a three-year research program, we try to stimulate language development by developing an interactive and adaptive play and learning environment, incorporating tangible objects and multimedia content, based on interactive storytelling and anchored instruction. The development of a product for such a heterogeneous user group presents substantial challenges. We use a Research-through-Design method, that is, an iterative process of developing subsequent experiential prototypes and then testing them in real-life settings, for example, a center for rehabilitation medicine. This article gives an outline of the development of the LinguaBytes play and learning environment from the earliest studies up to the current prototype, CLICK-IT.