Parental perceptions of the importance of friendship development in comparison to other outcome priorities are examined in this research. Parents of children with high functioning autism between the age of 5-10?years (N?=?74) were asked to rate and rank the importance of the following six outcome priorities: friendship, social skills, physical and…

Adopting a bimodal bilingual language acquisition model, this qualitative case study is the first in Germany to investigate the spoken and sign language development of hearing children of deaf adults (codas). The spoken language competence of six codas within the age range of 3;10 to 6;4 is assessed by a series of standardised tests (SETK 3-5,…

This study investigates the psycho-social characteristics of typically developing children who have siblings with autism and their sibling relationship. Children's adjustment at school, their self-esteem and social relations, as well as their friends' attitudes towards their autistic siblings were examined. Participants were 22 siblings…

The cognitive growth of children with developmental disorders, like autism, can be seriously impaired due to the disorder. If so, in the Netherlands, these children can attend special schools where they are treated to ameliorate disorder symptoms and to stimulate cognitive growth. The aim of this paper was to identify teaching strategies that…

The legacy of defectology, Vygotsky's theoretical work on children with disabilities, still offers a useful approach in disability research. Vygotsky understood disability as an incongruence between the individual's psychological structure and the structure of cultural forms. The incongruence describes a dialectical relation between the person…

This paper examines research findings concerning the loci of the pervasive academic underachievement among deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children and issues associated with interventions and instructional methods that could help to reduce or eliminate it. Investigators have hypothesised that at least 50% of the variability in DHH students'…

Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children typically lag behind hearing age-mates in academic achievement. This paper describes recent findings indicating language and cognitive differences between DHH and hearing students that appear to explain some of their classroom challenges. There is currently only limited evidence with regard to the…

Virtual reality (VR) technology enables evaluation and practice of specific skills in a motivating, user-friendly and safe way. The implementation of virtual game environments within clinical settings has increased substantially in recent years. However, the psychometric properties and feasibility of many applications have not been fully…

The research examined the effect of an intervention program employing 3D immersive virtual reality (IVR), which focused on the perception of sequential time, on the mediation level and behavioural aspects of children with intellectual disability (ID). The intervention is based on the mediated learning experience (MLE) theory, which refers the…

The study examines whether fathers' "marital satisfaction"--that is, relationships within the parents' marriage--is correlated with their involvement with their child with disabilities. Data were collected from 243 Polish fathers who were married and who had at least one child with disabilities. The issue was assessed by two measures, "the Marital…

The main purpose of this research is to compare the differences between how mothers and fathers cope with autistic children based on a multivariate model that describes the relationships between parental psychological resources, parental stress appraisal and parental adjustment. 176 parents who lived in Israel (88 mothers and 88 fathers) of…

The importance of storytelling in social, cultural and educational contexts is well established and documented. The extension of storytelling to people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) has in recent years been undertaken with an emphasis on the value of sensory experience and the context storytelling provides for social…

The objective of this qualitative study was to explore peer interaction in the context of school activities in mainstream classes that included pupils with Down syndrome together with their peers without disabilities in order to identify enabling conditions. Six children with Down syndrome, each of whom was the only one with Down syndrome in a…

Children and adolescents with aggressive and delinquent behaviours are often educated in special needs classes with others who exhibit the same kind of challenging behaviour. Beside the opportunities provided by this approach there are also risks, as several studies point to the problem of negative peer influence among this student population.…

The concept of children and young people as researchers has started to gather momentum in response to changing perspectives on their status in society, recognition of their role as consumers and increased attention to children and young people's rights. There are early signs of a growing body of research studies undertaken by children and young…