OBJECTIVES To assess the prevalence of abuse and neglect among a population of children identified as a function of an existing disability, relate specific types of disabilities to specific types of abuse, and to determine the effect of abuse and neglect on academic achievement and attendance rates for children with and without disabilities. METHOD An electronic merger of school records with ...

This article examines a source of the growth in the SSI children's program: a relatively minor and little-noticed change in the financial eligibility rules. The way parental earnings were counted as income, or "deemed" to children (to use SSA language) was changed. The new, more generous financial eligibility rules added a small but significant number of recipients to the rolls after 1992 and a...

Disability is a complex, influential, dynamic, multidimensional challenge, and it can substantially limit major life activities of human beings and their ability to integrate/reintegrate into society. According to the World Health Organization reports almost 15% of the world's population lives with certain types of disability, of whom 2-4% experience substantial difficulties in functioning. In ...

Conductive education, an educational approach devised by Andras Petö in Hungary after the second world war, has attracted considerable media attention. Eight Northern Ireland families who recently had treatment for their disabled child at the Petö Institute in Budapest were identified. Six families returned postal questionnaires designed to look at parental experience of conductive education. A...

Seventy children were observed during structured play with their primary professional caregivers and three peers in the child care center and with their primary caregiving parents at home at 15 and 23 months of age. The same structured play tasks were used in the two settings and the quality of the children's interactions with caregivers and parents was rated using the same 7-point scales. As e...

A review of the empirical research literature on Social Stories is presented, including a descriptive review and single-subject meta-analysis of appropriate studies. Examination of data suggests the effects of Social Stories are highly variable. Interpretations of extant studies are frequently confounded by inadequate participant description and the use of Social Stories in combination with oth...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of the school social environment experienced by children with physical disabilities and the social interactional characteristics of children with physical disabilities in the school environment. The goal was to understand the interactive processes that support or inhibit these children's social interactions. METHOD Nat...

PURPOSE The purpose of this project was to update the 1987 competencies for physical therapists who work in schools and their content to reflect present practice, legislation, and terminology. METHODS A review of the literature and competencies for professionals working in schools was completed. Four focus groups of school physical therapists were formed to ascertain their perspectives of the...

This discussion paper is drawn from a qualitative research project comparing the effect of special and ordinary schools on the lives of children, young people and their families. Special schools are recommended by health professionals who seldom know how ineffective these schools are. We question the beneficence and justice of health professionals' advice on education for children with disabili...