This paper provides an overview of the evolution of occupational therapy in public school systems. The focus of this history is the passage and implementation of the laws mandating service provision to children with disabilities and a cursory examination of the social, political, and economic currents that have influenced that service provision. An effort was made to cull the most salient issue...

The 21st century is witnessing a sea change in our thinking about 'disability'. Nowhere are these developments more apparent than in the field of childhood disability, where traditional biomedical concepts are being incorporated into--but expanded considerably by--new ways of formulating ideas about children, child development, social-ecological forces in the lives of children with chronic cond...

BACKGROUND Although the need for early identification and interventions of disabilities is evident, the current state of routine screening practice in Kenya needs intensive training of screeners before more rigorous techniques are introduced. OBJECTIVE To compare the precision and practical utility of the 'ten questions' and EARC screens among the 2- 9 year olds in a community setting. METH...

BACKGROUND Rehabilitation personnel need to be sensitive to the cultural aspects that constitute the environment of a disabled child's family life. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to gain insight on how families experience parenting of disabled children and how the families experience the support provided by the rehabilitation system in Malawi. METHOD An anthropological field study com...

PURPOSE This study investigated the feasibility of integrating three diverse methods for studying disabled youth's experiences of activity settings: standardized questionnaires, qualitative methods and physiological measures. The article describes a case study of data collection in a real-life setting to outline the opportunities, challenges and lessons learned for future research. METHODS Th...

In December 1991, almost 439,000 blind and disabled children were receiving Supplemental Security Income (%I) payments. These children made up nearly 9 percent of the more than 5 million SSI recipients in December. By comparison, in December 1980, payments were made to almost 229,000 blind and disabled children (about 6 percent of the 4 million SSI recipients in that month) shown in table 1. To...

A national survey of over a thousand parents has explored the needs and c i rcumstances of families caring for a severely disabled child. The re s e a rc h , c a rried out by Bryony Bere s f o rd at the Social Policy Research Unit, University of York, sought parents’ views of their and their child’s needs as well as their experiences as service users. Parents also re p o rted the care demands a...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to measure the effect of hippotherapy on functional outcomes using the Goal Attainment Scale (GAS) for children with physical disabilities. METHODS Participants included 4 children aged 5 to 9 years with physical impairments and/or documented motor delays. Individual measurable objectives were developed using the GAS for each child. Data were collected on...

BACKGROUND Although not widely recognized as such, asthma is the single most prevalent cause of childhood disability and has contributed to a substantial rise in the overall prevalence of disability among children during the past 25 years. OBJECTIVE To provide a national profile of the prevalence, impact, and trends in childhood disability due to asthma. (Disability is a long-term reduction i...