Background POMONA II was a European Commission public health-funded project. The research questions in this article focus on age-specific differences relating to environmental and lifestyle factors, and the 17 medical conditions measured by the POMONA Checklist of Health Indicators (P15).Method The P15 was completed in a cross-sectional design for a stratified sample of 1,253 adults with ID across 14 European member states.Results Older people (55+) were more likely to live in larger residential homes. Rates of smoking and use of alcohol were lower than in the general population but were higher with older age. More than 60% of older adults had a sedentary lifestyle. Cataract, hearing disorder, diabetes, hypertension, osteoarthritis/arthrosis, and osteoporosis were positively associated with advancing age; allergies and epilepsy, negatively associated.Conclusions Some evidence of health disparities was found for older people with ID, particularly in terms of underdiagnosed or inadequately managed preventable health conditions.

Background Participatory action research (PAR) offers potential for people with an intellectual disability to have an active voice in service provision. However, ensuring their meaningful engagement is not without challenges. Guided by PAR, a recent project to develop a quality of life tool provided learning opportunities for the lead researchers. This paper addresses 3 issues raised by Ramcharan, Grant, and Flynn (2004) in relation to participation of people with intellectual disability in research.Method Informed by reflective practice, this paper draws on a combination of field notes and written reports to critically examine the 3 issues related to effective participation.Results Although the project achieved its goal of people with intellectual disability authoring a quality of life tool, there was variation in participants' contribution. With both data collection and analysis, prior experience and confidence influenced the participation of co-researchers. The financial and the practical support of the contracting organisation were crucial to enabling people to take part.Conclusions For researchers interested in PAR, planning well whilst maintaining flexibility would appear to be key to achieving maximum participation.

Background Often communication training has been directed at the communication practices of staff members working with people with multiple learning disabilities. To date, the thinking habits of staff members, which also influence interactions, have not been addressed. We identified the issues staff members perceived as important for their development as communication partners after participating in a communication training program.Method Six key staff members participated in semistructured interviews that explored the insights they had gained during participation in the Finnish communication training program OIVA.Results Participating staff members identified issues relating to the communication practices and thinking habits they had acquired during the training. Both communication practices and thinking habits were important for the staff members' development as communication partners.Conclusions The findings of this study suggest that it is important to give staff members the opportunity to learn new practices and to explore the thinking that underpins the actions they perform during communication training.

Background This study examined the narrative vocabulary of typically developing children for the purpose of guiding vocabulary selection for children with complex communication needs.Method Eight children in their first year of schooling (aged 5 years 0 months to 5 years 8 months) and 10 children in their second year of schooling (aged 6 years 0 months to 7 years 2 months) generated story retell, personal, and script narratives. These were analysed using the Child Language Analysis (MacWhinney, 2008) program.Results Several words occurred with high frequency across all tasks. Other words were more specific to particular tasks and topics. In the story-retelling task, the majority of the unique words used were from the original story. However, of the total words available in the original story, only a small proportion was used.Conclusions Some of the high frequency words overlapped with those included in existing wordlists. However, other words were unique to this study. The wordlists generated will provide a useful resource that can be used alongside existing wordlists to guide decision making around vocabulary selection for children with complex communication needs.

Background Parenting stress was investigated in mothers with a child with Angelman syndrome (AS) or Prader–Willi syndrome (PWS), which are genetically related.Method Mothers of 24 children with AS and 23 children with PWS (2–12 years) completed the Nijmegen Parenting Stress Index-Short, Developmental Behaviour Checklist, and Vineland Screener 0–12.Results Parenting stress was high for 58% of AS and 26% of PWS cases. For both syndromes, no relationship existed with the child's gender, age, or behavioural problems. In PWS there was no effect on level of functioning. Overall, more mothers with a child with AS perceived high parenting stress. When children showed low levels of behavioural problems this difference was contained. However, when children exhibited severe behavioural problems, parenting stress was the same for both syndromes.Conclusion In AS professional family support is essential, since parenting is stressful for many mothers. In PWS, this is especially the case when behavioural problems are present.

Positive Behavioural Support (PBS) is an approach for supporting people with challenging behaviour that emphasises improving their quality of life. Using alternatives to punishment and other restrictive practices, PBS aims to remove the barriers to participation that result from challenging behaviour. The foundations for the PBS approach can be found in nonlinear Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA), with an emphasis on teaching alternative behaviour. More recently, this approach has included the use of counter-intuitive, nonrestrictive strategies for rapid, safe situational management as an alternative to the physical management of challenging behaviour. PBS is used by many practitioners in countries around the world.

Background This study sought to elucidate the extent to which behaviour support plans for people with intellectual disability are inclusive of best practice criteria, with a comparison made prior to and following proclamation of the Disability Act (2006) in Victoria, Australia.Method This study used a data collection instrument developed by the researchers incorporating best practice criteria as identified in the review of literature and Victorian legislative requirements. The instrument was used to assess a sample of behaviour support plans.Results Best practice criteria are inadequately included in behaviour support plans with little difference between pre- and post-Act plans.Conclusion The results of this study indicate that disability support staff are ill equipped to undertake the complex assessments, planning, and implementation associated with behaviour support strategies, despite the legislative framework that guides and directs this intervention.

Background An important element in the experiences of people with autism is the key role played by therapeutic interventions. This paper examines the role of therapeutic intervention and the construction of individuals with autism in the therapeutic relationship.Method The contributions to four online asynchronous discussion lists were analysed using discourse analysis over a 3-month period.Findings Two key themes identified in the data are presented. These comprise issues concerning therapeutic intervention and issues related to the employment opportunities of adults with autism.Conclusions In this paper the notion that people with autism must change in order to accommodate the non-autistic world is discussed. The author seeks to present an alternative construction of autism as a difference rather than a deficit or deviance and to examine the negotiation of a place for a person with autism within a neurologically typical dominated society.

Background Mothers’ cognitive appraisal of the family impact of childhood disability and their positive affect as a psychological coping resource, both key elements of the process model of stress and coping, were tested as explanatory variables of family adjustment.Method In a sample of Canadian families, 195 mothers of children with intellectual and developmental disability completed telephone interviews.Results In regression modelling, 35% of the variance in family adjustment was explained by mothers’ positive cognitive appraisal of family impacts of childhood disability and by their positivity (ratio of positive to negative affect). After controlling for positivity, negative cognitive appraisal of family impacts of childhood disability was non-significant.Conclusions Family adjustment to childhood disability is associated with elements of strength in mothers’ psychological coping; namely, their ability to perceive positive family consequences of childhood disability and to maintain higher proportions of positive emotion in their daily activities. The findings of this study provide support for the broaden-and-build theory to explain the role of positivity in mothers’ coping and adjustment to childhood disability.