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...

BACKGROUND The aim of the present study was to examine to what extent the verbal definitions of familiar objects produced by blind children reflect their peculiar perceptual experience and, in consequence, differ from those produced by sighted children. METHODS Ninety-six visually impaired children, aged between 6 and 14 years, and 32 age-matched sighted children had to define 10 words denoti...

toys and play for the handicapped child What to say and what to do when mostly your friends love reading? Are you the one that don't have such hobby? So, it's important for you to start having that hobby. You know, reading is not the force. We're sure that reading will lead you to join in better concept of life. Reading will be a positive activity to do every time. And do you know our friends b...

Children Belong in Homes In the Clinical Report “Out-of-Home Placement for Children and Adolescents With Disabilities,” Friedman and colleagues review options for placing children with disabilities in congregate care settings. However, the report omits discussion of the best interests of the child in selecting out-of-home options and fails to review and prioritize noninstitutional models of car...