| 1. |
- Almberg, Maria, et al.
(författare)
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Experiences of facilitators or barriers in driving education from learner and novice drivers with ADHD or ASD and their driving instructors
- 2017
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Ingår i: Developmental Neurorehabilitation. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1751-8423 .- 1751-8431. ; 20:2, s. 59-67
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Little is known about whether individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) experience any specific facilitators or barriers to driving education.Objective: To explore the facilitators or barriers to driving education experienced by individuals with ASD or ADHD who obtained a learner’s permit, from the perspective of the learner drivers and their driving instructors.Methods: Data were collected from 33 participants with ASD or ADHD, and nine of their driving instructors.Results: Participants with ASD required twice as many driving lessons and more on-road tests than those with ADHD. Participants with ADHD repeated the written tests more than those with ASD. Driving license theory was more challenging for individuals with ADHD, whilst individuals with ASD found translating theory into practice and adjusting to “unfamiliar” driving situations to be the greatest challenges.Conclusion: Obtaining a driving license was associated with stressful training experience.
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| 2. |
- Black, Melissa H., et al.
(författare)
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Disembedding performance and eye gaze behavior of adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder
- 2019
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Ingår i: Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. - : Elsevier. - 1750-9467 .- 1878-0237. ; 66
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Atypical visual perception in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) may contribute to superiority in disembedding tasks. Gaze behavior has provided some insights in to mechanisms underlying this purported superiority in children, however evidence is limited and requires additional investigation.Method: The performance and gaze behavior of 27 adolescents with ASD and 27 matched typically developing (TD) peers were examined during the Figure Ground Subtest of the Test of Visual Perception Skills-third edition (TVPS-3).Results: Compared to their TD counterparts, adolescents with ASD were no different in accuracy, however, had a longer response time. Differences in gaze behavior were also observed, characterized by adolescents with ASD spending less time viewing the incorrect and target figures, and spending a greater proportion of time viewing irrelevant areas of the stimuli compared to TD adolescents.Conclusions: Results suggest that while altered visual perception was observed, this did not contribute to superiority in disembedding tasks in adolescents with ASD. Future research is required to elucidate conditions under which altered visual perception may contribute to behavioral superiority.
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| 3. |
- McAuliffe, Tomomi, et al.
(författare)
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A comparison of families of children with autism spectrum disorders in family daily routines, service usage, and stress levels by regionality
- 2017
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Ingår i: Developmental Neurorehabilitation. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1751-8423 .- 1751-8431. ; :8, s. 483-490
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: To explore whether family routines, service usage, and stress levels in families of children with autism spectrum disorder differ as a function of regionality.Methods: Secondary analysis of data was undertaken from 535 surveys. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to investigate differences between families living in densely populated (DP) areas and less densely populated (LDP) areas.Results: Families living in LDP areas were found to: (1) have reduced employment hours (a two-parent household: Exp (B) = 3.48, p < .001, a single-parent household: Exp (B) = 3.32, p = .011); (2) travel greater distance to access medical facilities (Exp (B) = 1.27, p = .006); and (3) report less severe stress levels (Exp (B) = 0.22, p = .014).Conclusions: There were no differences in family routines; however, flexible employment opportunities and travel distance to medical services need to be considered in families living in LDP areas.
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| 4. |
- Rogerson, Jessica, et al.
(författare)
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Parental experiences using the Therapy Outcomes by You (TOBY) application to deliver early intervention to their child with autism
- 2019
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Ingår i: Developmental Neurorehabilitation. - : TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC. - 1751-8423 .- 1751-8431. ; 22:4, s. 219-227
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: As computer-based interventions become commonplace for parents of children with neurodevelopmental disorders, this study sought to understand the experience of using a parent-delivered supplementary early intervention therapy for children with autism spectrum disorder grounded in a variety of behavioral, sensory, developmental, and relationship-based approaches and delivered via a tablet device. Methods: Parental experiences using the Therapy Outcomes by You (TOBY) application were collected through semi-structured interviews with 17 parents. Results: Parents reported TOBY facilitated parent-child engagement, provided ideas for therapeutic activities, created feelings of empowerment, and positively impacted their childs development. Barriers to use included preparation time, execution of the intervention, and individual strengths and weaknesses of their child. Conclusion: The overall parental experience of TOBY was positive when use of the application aligned with parental proficiency, opportunities for use, and importantly, the needs of the child.
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| 5. |
- Tang, Julia, et al.
(författare)
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Face Recognition and Visual Search Strategies in Autism Spectrum Disorders : Amending and Extending a Recent Review by Weigelt et al
- 2015
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science. - 1932-6203. ; 10:8, s. e0134439-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of this review was to build upon a recent review by Weigelt et al. which examined visual search strategies and face identification between individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and typically developing peers. Seven databases, CINAHL Plus, EMBASE, ERIC, Medline, Proquest, PsychInfo and PubMed were used to locate published scientific studies matching our inclusion criteria. A total of 28 articles not included in Weigelt et al. met criteria for inclusion into this systematic review. Of these 28 studies, 16 were available and met criteria at the time of the previous review, but were mistakenly excluded; and twelve were recently published. Weigelt et al. found quantitative, but not qualitative, differences in face identification in individuals with ASD. In contrast, the current systematic review found both qualitative and quantitative differences in face identification between individuals with and without ASD. There is a large inconsistency in findings across the eye tracking and neurobiological studies reviewed. Recommendations for future research in face recognition in ASD were discussed.
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| 6. |
- Vaz, Sharmila, et al.
(författare)
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Belongingness in Early Secondary School : Key Factors that Primary and Secondary Schools Need to Consider
- 2015
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 10:9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It is unknown if, and how, students redefine their sense of school belongingness after negotiating the transition to secondary school. The current study used longitudinal data from 266 students with, and without, disabilities who negotiated the transition from 52 primary schools to 152 secondary schools. The study presents the 13 most significant personal student and contextual factors associated with belongingness in the first year of secondary school. Student perception of school belongingness was found to be stable across the transition. No variability in school belongingness due to gender, disability or household-socio-economic status (SES) was noted. Primary school belongingness accounted for 22% of the variability in secondary school belongingness. Several personal student factors (competence, coping skills) and school factors (low-level classroom task-goal orientation), which influenced belongingness in primary school, continued to influence belongingness in secondary school. In secondary school, effort-goal orientation of the student and perception of their school's tolerance to disability were each associated with perception of school belongingness. Family factors did not influence belongingness in secondary school. Findings of the current study highlight the need for primary schools to foster belongingness among their students at an early age, and transfer students' belongingness profiles as part of the handover documentation. Most of the factors that influenced school belongingness before and after the transition to secondary are amenable to change.
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| 7. |
- Vaz, Sharmila, et al.
(författare)
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Is using the strengths and difficulties questionnaire in a community sample the optimal way to assess mental health functioning?
- 2016
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 11:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- An important characteristic of a screening tool is its discriminant ability or the measure's accuracy to distinguish between those with and without mental health problems. The current study examined the inter-rater agreement and screening concordance of the parent and teacher versions of SDQ at scale, subscale and item-levels, with the view of identifying the items that have the most informant discrepancies; and determining whether the concordance between parent and teacher reports on some items has the potential to influence decision making. Cross-sectional data from parent and teacher reports of the mental health functioning of a community sample of 299 students with and without disabilities from 75 different primary schools in Perth, Western Australia were analysed. The study found that: a) Intraclass correlations between parent and teacher ratings of children's mental health using the SDQ at person level was fair on individual child level; b) The SDQ only demonstrated clinical utility when there was agreement between teacher and parent reports using the possible or 90% dichotomisation system; and c) Three individual items had positive likelihood ratio scores indicating clinical utility. Of note was the finding that the negative likelihood ratio or likelihood of disregarding the absence of a condition when both parents and teachers rate the item as absent was not significant. Taken together, these findings suggest that the SDQ is not optimised for use in community samples and that further psychometric evaluation of the SDQ in this context is clearly warranted.
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| 8. |
- Vaz, Sharmila, et al.
(författare)
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School belongingness and mental health functioning across the primary-secondary transition in a mainstream sample: Multi-group cross-lagged analyses
- 2014
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 9:6(e99576), s. 1-10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The relationship between school belongingness and mental health functioning before and after the primary-secondary school transition has not been previously investigated in students with and without disabilities. This study used a prospective longitudinal design to test the bi-directional relationships between these constructs, by surveying 266 students with and without disabilities and their parents, 6-months before and after the transition to secondary school. Cross-lagged multi-group analyses found student perception of belongingness in the final year of primary school to contribute to change in their mental health functioning a year later. The beneficial longitudinal effects of school belongingness on subsequent mental health functioning were evident in all student subgroups; even after accounting for prior mental health scores and the cross-time stability in mental health functioning and school belongingness scores. Findings of the current study substantiate the role of school contextual influences on early adolescent mental health functioning. They highlight the importance for primary and secondary schools to assess students' school belongingness and mental health functioning and transfer these records as part of the transition process, so that appropriate scaffolds are in place to support those in need. Longer term longitudinal studies are needed to increase the understanding of the temporal sequencing between school belongingness and mental health functioning of all mainstream students.
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| 9. |
- Vaz, Sharmila, et al.
(författare)
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Should Schools Expect Poor Physical and Mental Health, Social Adjustment, and Participation Outcomes in Students with Disability?
- 2015
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science. - 1932-6203. ; 10:5, s. e0126630-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The literature on whether students with disabilities have worse physical and mental health, social adjustment, and participation outcomes when compared to their peers without disabilities is largely inconclusive. While the majority of case control studies showed significantly worse outcomes for students with disabilities; the proportion of variance accounted for is rarely reported. The current study used a population cross-sectional approach to determine the classification ability of commonly used screening and outcome measures in determining the disability status. Furthermore, the study aimed to identify the variables, if any, that best predicted the presence of disability. Results of univariate discriminant function analyses suggest that across the board, the sensitivity of the outcome/screening tools to correctly identify students with a disability was 31.9% higher than the related Positive Predictive Value (PPV). The lower PPV and Positive Likelihood Ratio (LR+) scores suggest that the included measures had limited discriminant ability (17.6% to 40.3%) in accurately identifying students at-risk for further assessment. Results of multivariate analyses suggested that poor health and hyperactivity increased the odds of having a disability about two to three times, while poor close perceived friendship and academic competences predicted disability with roughly the same magnitude. Overall, the findings of the current study highlight the need for researchers and clinicians to familiarize themselves with the psychometric properties of measures, and be cautious in matching the function of the measures with their research and clinical needs.
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| 10. |
- Vaz, Sharmila, et al.
(författare)
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The Impact of Personal Background and School Contextual Factors on Academic Competence and Mental Health Functioning across the Primary-Secondary School Transition
- 2014
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science. - 1932-6203. ; 9:3, s. 0089874-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Students negotiate the transition to secondary school in different ways. While some thrive on the opportunity, others are challenged. A prospective longitudinal design was used to determine the contribution of personal background and school contextual factors on academic competence (AC) and mental health functioning (MHF) of 266 students, 6-months before and after the transition to secondary school. Data from 197 typically developing students and 69 students with a disability were analysed using hierarchical linear regression modelling. Both in primary and secondary school, students with a disability and from socially disadvantaged backgrounds gained poorer scores for AC and MHF than their typically developing and more affluent counterparts. Students who attended independent and mid-range sized primary schools had the highest concurrent AC. Those from independent primary schools had the lowest MHF. The primary school organisational model significantly influenced post-transition AC scores; with students from Kindergarten - Year 7 schools reporting the lowest scores, while those from the Kindergarten - Year 12 structure without middle school having the highest scores. Attending a school which used the Kindergarten - Year 12 with middle school structure was associated with a reduction in AC scores across the transition. Personal background factors accounted for the majority of the variability in post-transition AC and MHF. The contribution of school contextual factors was relatively minor. There is a potential opportunity for schools to provide support to disadvantaged students before the transition to secondary school, as they continue to be at a disadvantage after the transition.
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