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Assessment Schedule (assessment + schedule)
Selected AbstractsHandicaps and the development of skills between childhood and early adolescence in young people with severe intellectual disabilitiesJOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY RESEARCH, Issue 12 2005O. Chadwick Abstract Background While a number of studies have examined the development of skills in children with intellectual disabilities (ID), most have been cross-sectional, most have been concerned with particular syndromes such as Down's syndrome or autism and few have attempted to identify factors associated with improvements in skills. Methods From a sample of 111 children with severe ID who had been identified from the registers of six special schools at 4,11 years of age, 82 were traced and reassessed 5 years later at the age of 11,17 years. On both occasions, information on the children's handicaps and skills was collected by interviewing their main carers using a shortened version of the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales and the Disability Assessment Schedule. Results and conclusions There were small but statistically significant improvements in Vineland age-equivalent communication and daily living skills scores, but not in Vineland Socialization scores, over the 5-year period of follow-up. This pattern of improvement was observed in most aetiological subgroups. Improvement in skills was greatest in younger children, and was associated with reductions in behaviour problems and in levels of parental stress. In spite of the improvements in age-equivalent scores, Vineland standard scores showed significant declines over the same period of time, indicating that the improvements observed were smaller than would be expected in a general population sample of children of the same age. The dangers of using standard scores or quotients to quantify the level of functioning of children with severe ID are highlighted. [source] The reliability and validity of general psychotic rating scales with people with mild and moderate intellectual disabilities: an empirical investigationJOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY RESEARCH, Issue 7 2005C. Hatton Abstract Background Whilst assessment tools have been developed to diagnose schizophrenia in people with mild intellectual disabilities (IDs), little attention has been paid to developing reliable and valid dimensional measures of psychotic experiences with this population. This study investigates the reliability and validity of two such measures developed for the general adult psychiatric population, the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the Psychotic Symptom Rating Scales (PSYRATS), with a population of adults with mild IDs. Method Sixty-two adults with mild IDs were interviewed using the PANSS and PSYRATS, and independently interviewed using the Psychiatric Assessment Schedule , Adults with Developmental Disability (PAS-ADD) to obtain psychiatric diagnoses to the criteria of the International Classification of Diseases , Tenth Revision (ICD-10). On the basis of ICD-10 diagnosis, participants were divided into three groups: psychosis (n = 11); other mental health problem (n = 14); no mental health problem (n = 37). PANSS and PSYRATS subscale scores were compared across these three groups and were correlated with PAS-ADD symptom scores across a number of PAS-ADD symptom domains. Results All PANSS and PSYRATS subscales showed adequate internal reliability, largely good test-retest reliability, and logical inter-correlations between subscales. The PANSS positive symptoms and the PSYRATS auditory hallucinations subscales differentiated between the psychosis group and the other groups; the PANSS general symptoms subscale differentiated between the psychosis and no mental health problem groups; and the PANSS negative symptoms and the PSYRATS delusions subscales did not differentiate between the three groups. Conclusions The PANSS and PSYRATS are promising measures for use with people with mild IDs and psychotic experiences, although further investigation of items relating to negative symptoms and delusions is warranted. [source] Factors affecting the risk of behaviour problems in children with severe intellectual disabilityJOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY RESEARCH, Issue 2 2000O. Chadwick In order to examine the importance of a range of potential risk factors for behaviour problems in children with severe intellectual disability, a sample was identified by the administration of a screening version of the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales (VABS) to the parents of children aged 4,11years attending six special needs schools in three adjacent inner London boroughs. Parents whose children had a VABS standard score of 50 were interviewed using the Disability Assessment Schedule and both parents and teachers completed the Aberrant Behaviour Checklist. Most behaviour problems were more common in ambulant children, but problems less dependent on the ability to walk, such as sleeping difficulties, screaming and self-injury, were equally common in ambulant and non-ambulant children. Among ambulant children, there were few significant associations between the severity of the child's behaviour problems and the age or sex of the child, the presence or absence of epilepsy, and various indices of socio-economic disadvantage. Sleeping difficulties, overactivity, self-injury, destructive behaviour and autistic features, such as social withdrawal and stereotypies, were strongly associated with skills deficits, but aggression, temper tantrums and general disruptive behaviour were not. Limitations in daily living skills were better predictors of behaviour problems than were poor communication skills. [source] Can personality traits help us explain disability in chronic schizophrenia?PSYCHIATRY AND CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES, Issue 5 2006ANDRÉS HERRÁN md Abstract, Psychotic features have been considered the main determinant of psychosocial function in schizophrenia. However, other variables are likely to affect dysfunction in these patients. The authors' hypothesis is that personality traits in outpatients with chronic schizophrenia differ from traits found in the healthy population and may be associated with disability in this disorder. A total of 62 patients with schizophrenia were evaluated with the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ). Psychotic features were measured with the help of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Disability was assessed with the Disability Assessment Schedule (DAS). A total of 43 healthy subjects were used as controls for personality measurements. Normative data for the study population was also used to evaluate results in patients. Patients with schizophrenia had higher levels of neuroticism (median in percentile 65) and lower levels of extraversion (median in percentile 25) than the healthy population. Results of the TPQ showed higher harm avoidance and lower reward dependence levels compared to the healthy population. After multiple regression tests, negative symptoms were the strongest predictor of disability in patients with schizophrenia. Neuroticism contributed independently to the DAS overall behavior and global judgement subscales scores (more negative symptoms and higher neuroticism resulted in worse functioning), but not to the social role subscale. Outpatients with chronic schizophrenia showed high levels of neuroticism, harm avoidance, and introversion. Neuroticism significantly contributes to the long-term deficits found in patients with schizophrenia. [source] | ||||||||||