The developmental period of a child has critical importance for learning and it is even more so in case of a disabled child. The earlier the disability is detected, the easier it is to effectively help the child both medically and educationally. The present paper is an attempt to define and describe developmental disability both as a concept and as a practical program of intervention. The main ...

All human beings are sexual from birth to death and all children and adolescents with or without disability or chronic illness must incorporate appropriate sexuality concepts into their processes of development from childhood to adolescence. This article considers sexuality issues and reproductive care of adolescents with developmental disabilities. Potential consequences of disability on sexua...

Research on families living with developmental disability generally and autism specifically is dominated by a deficit view that elicits an elaborate representation of problems and risks without the benefit of considering families' potential for adaptation and resilience. A central tenet of developmental psychopathology is that the study of adaptive and maladaptive development is mutually inform...

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 interne...

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have many health needs that place demands on the health service sector. This study used administrative data to compare health profiles in young adults 18-24 years of age with ASD to peers with and without other developmental disability. Young adults with ASD were more likely to have almost all the examined clinical health issues and health service...

When a child's development appears to lag, many service providers prefer to apply the less specific term "developmental delay," rather than a more specific disability diagnosis, since symptoms of specific disabilities may be unclear in young children. It is possible that a child with a developmental delay who receives services will not develop a disability; whereas if the same child did not rec...

Recently, exome sequencing has extended our knowledge of genetic causes of developmental delay through identification of de novo, germline mutations in the guanine nucleotide-binding protein, beta 1 (GNB1) in 13 patients with neurodevelopmental disability and a wide range of additional symptoms and signs including hypotonia in 11 and seizures in 10 of the patients. Limb/arm dystonia was found i...

BACKGROUND The epidemiology of intellectual disability co-occurring with schizophrenia and other psychiatric illness is poorly understood. The separation of mental health from intellectual disability services has led to a serious underestimation of the prevalence of dual diagnosis, with clinicians ill-equipped to treat affected individuals. AIMS To estimate the prevalence of dual diagnosis an...