Autism is a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental syndrome with a complex genetic etiology. It is still not clear whether autism comprises a vast collection of different disorders akin to intellectual disability or a few disorders sharing common aberrant pathways. Unifying principles among cases of autism are likely to be at the level of brain circuitry in addition to molecular pathways.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW This review aims to summarize data published in the scientific literature and available on official websites on the epidemiology, policies and services for children and adults with intellectual disability in South Africa. RECENT FINDINGS There is a paucity of published literature on intellectual disability in South Africa. The lack of evidence-based publications within the p...

Previous studies have postulated that X-linked and autosomal genes underlying human intellectual disability may have also mediated the evolution of human cognition. We have conducted the first comprehensive assessment of the extent and patterns of positive Darwinian selection on intellectual disability genes in humans. We report three main findings. First, as noted in some previous reports, int...

The risk of autism spectrum disorder varies by maternal race-ethnicity, immigration status, and birth region. In this retrospective cohort study, Western Australian state registries and a study population of 134 204 mothers enabled us to examine the odds of autism spectrum disorder with intellectual disability in children born from 1994 to 2005 by the aforementioned characteristics. We adjusted...

BACKGROUND The Manchester Attachment Scale-Third party observational measure (MAST) was developed to assess secure attachment style for adults with intellectual disabilities. The psychometric properties of the MAST were examined. MATERIALS AND METHODS Professional carers (N = 40) completed the MAST and measures related to the construct of attachment theory [Edward Zigler-Yale Personality Ques...

background:although intellectual disability (id) is a common disability in iran, there is no investigation on the spatial distribution pattern of these patients in national level and the spatial maps for recognition the areas with higher prevalence of ids and local neighborhoods of these regions or effect of socio-demographic factor on this scattering is not still available. this proposition mo...

Purpose: The project focussed on two local services in Wales that have recently moved to (what they call) an integrated health and social care intellectual disabilities service. Research questions: What are the advantages and disadvantages of service integration as viewed by parents with respect to care provision for young people with intellectual disabilities? Method: We conducted a parental s...

BACKGROUND Five factors are proposed as important in influencing the provision of psychological therapy to people with intellectual disabilities (IDs): the perceived effectiveness of psychological therapy, individual clinician competence, service resources (number of trained clinicians), the level of the client's disability and the diagnostic overshadowing bias. METHOD A prospective questionn...

The concept of quality of life currently impacts program development, service delivery, management strategies, and outcome evaluation in the area of intellectual disabilities. Maryland uses peer interviewers to assess consumer-perceived quality of life among adult recipients of MR/DD services and supports. In this article we describe the survey instrument and procedures and discuss assessment i...