Social Community Development Research Articles

Assessing Spoken Language Outcomes in Children with ASD: a Systematic Review

Comprehensive early intervention programs based on the principles of applied behaviour analysis can promote social communication development in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, it is not clear to what extent these positive results represent progress towards helping children achieve the ultimate goal of spontaneous, flexible, directed and effective spoken language for a range of purposes across all life contexts. The aim of this systematic review was to document the intervention targets and assessment tools used to measure spoken language outcomes for children with ASD receiving comprehensive intervention programs. A total of 23 studies met the inclusion criteria. Although social communication functioning was the most frequently targeted aspect of development, assessment of these skills relied predominantly on the use of standardised assessments. No studies included sampling and analysis of the children’s spoken language in daily activities. The lack of comprehensive measures with high ecological validity limits our ability to draw conclusions regarding spoken language outcomes from the studies to date.

Prevalence of hearing impairment in school children (aged 8-14 years) in the villages of Vadamavanthal, Tamil Nadu, India

Background: Children with hearing loss, congenital or acquired, have minimum or no schooling. There are lots of school dropouts in children who have hearing impairment due to trouble keeping up with their peers. This not only affects the economic development but also the social development in communities and countries. The importance of hard of hearing is often largely underestimated since it is an invisible disability. It is mostly asymptomatic, and thus easily overlooked .Not many parents understand about it, till the child’s teacher mentions it to them. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of hearing impairment in school children aged 8years to 14 years in the schools in Vadamavanthal area during the months of January 2013 to July 2013. The students were interviewed through pre-tested questionnaire and aural examination was done by a qualified otolaryngologist. Results: This study was conducted among 700 school children of age 8 to 14 years. 216 (30.9%) school children were suffering from hearing impairment. It was more prevalent in the age group of 8 years followed by the age group of 14 years. Conclusions: Simple measures like regular screening for ear diseases and hearing assessment done at the school level can help identify hearing impairment. Hearing impairment leads to poor academic achievement and affect the child’s vocational choices in future.

Introduction: Neurodevelopmental Disorders

In this issue, I’m glad to introduce neurodevelopmental disorders. The neurodevelopmental disorders are ‘a group of conditions with onset in the developmental period’, which are firstly introduced in American Psychiatric Association’s fifth edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5, APA, 2013) [1]. The disorders typically occur in early development and are characterized by developmental deficits that produce impairments of personal, social, academic, or occupational functioning. The deficits of disorders are widely ranged from very specific limitations of learning or communicative skills to global impairments of social interactions or intellectual function. Under the category of the neurodevelopmental disorders, as you know, six diagnostic entities are there. Intellectual disability (intellectual developmental disorder, formerly mental retardation) is characterized by deficits in general mental abilities, such as reasoning, problem solving, planning, abstract thinking, judgement, academic learning, and learning from experience, and also in adaptive functioning in comparison to an individual’s age-, gender-, and socioculturally matched peers. Recently the term ‘mental retardation’ is replaced with the term ‘intellectual disability’ by forensic, educational, and other professionals and public and advocacy groups. The communication disorders include language disorder, speech sound disorder, social (pragmatic) communication disorder, and childhood-onset fluency disorder (stuttering). The first three disorder are characterized by deficits in the development and use of language, speech, and social communication, respectively. Speech is the expressive production of sounds and includes an individual’s articulation, fluency, voice, and resonance quality. Language includes the form, function, and use of a conventional system of symbols (i.e., spoken words, sign language, written words, pictures) in a rule-governed manner for communication. Communication includes any verbal or nonverbal behavior that influences the behavior, ideas, or attitudes of another individual. The core features of language disorder are persistent difficulties in the acquisition and use of language across modalities (i.e., spoken, written, sign language, or other) due to deficits in comprehension or production. Speech sound disorder is characterized by persistent difficulty with speech sound production. Childhood-onset fluency disorder (stuttering) is characterized by disturbances of normal fluency and time patterning of speech, including sound and syllable repetitions, sound prolongation of consonants as well as vowels, broken words, audible or silent blocking, circumlocutions, words produced with an excess of physical tension. Social (pragmatic) communication disorder is a new category in DSM-5, which is characterized by a primary difficulty with language pragmatics, or the social use of language and communication, as manifested by deficits in understanding and following social rules of verbal and nonverbal communication, changing language to match context or the needs of listener and following rules for conversation and storytelling. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a new category in DSM-5, which replaces pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs) in DSMIV. DSM-5 introduced the concept of spectrum derived from dimensionality. On the understanding that previously separate three disorders listed under the PDD rubric in DSM-IV are better con

ПРЕЗЕНТАЦІЯ ЯК ЗАСІБ ЛІНГВОПСИХОЛОГІЧНОГО ВПЛИВУ НА МАСОВУ АУДИТОРІЮ

During the rapid development of social communication, the skill to influence the minds and opinions of a wide range of recipients assumes ever greater importance. Language suggestion is the phenomenon of a coercive power of the word. In the practice of the verbal interaction it is characterized by the use of specific language markers that are intended to influence a person’s preferences. The article deals with the presentation as a means of suggestion in the historical aspect. The carried out research enabled the author to offer his own definition of the term “presentation”, to ground the combination of influence techniques on the consciousness and the subconscious during the presentation. The knowledge of the linguistic suggestion mechanisms can help to avoid psychotechnical effect of manipulation.

Network technologies for information warfare and manipulation of public opinion

This paper explores the impact of new information technologies on the development of social communication and social systems. The properties and features of the modern information environment are analyzed. The factors and technologies of information warfare and confrontation are investigated. The role of information communication technologies in the operation of social-network movements is demonstrated. The means and methods of the mass media, social networks, and destructive network technologies that are applied to manipulate group behavior and to transform public opinion are exposed. The potential of sociodynamics as a new instrument of targeted impact on social systems is explored. Possible risks and threats that face the development of telecommunication systems and networks are assessed. Conclusions and relevant activities are formulated to prevent the rise of information confrontations and to mitigate hidden impacts and threats to the country's social-economic, scientific, and technological development.

Recent Technologies to Improving Social and Communication Skills in Children with ASD: Systematization of Approaches and Methods

<p>In the article recent technologies of formation and development of social and communication skills in children with autism spectrum disorders are analyzed. A systematic review summarizes the most effective and verified interventions of support to socialization of children with ASD: applied behavior analysis (ABA); cognitive-behavioral training (CBT); social stories method; social skills training (SST). We pay special attention to virtual technologies and video simulations so these methods allow to form social skills in children with ASD more efficiently and psychologically safe. Problems and prospects of using virtual technologies for children with ASD needs are discussed.<strong> </strong>The specificity of Russian practical experience and researches in development of heuristic technologies of development of social communication of persons with ASD is described: animal-assisted therapy, somatosensory correction, author art therapy and folk forms of intervention. On the basis of analytical work it is concluded that the gap between theory and practice needs to be neutralized, when scientifically unfounded practical developments are introduced in helping autistic people and researches of scientists are not always verified in an empirical manner.</p>

Effect of “EYE to ‘I’®” – An Early Intervention Model on Social Language Development for Children with Neuro- Developmental Difficulties

Recent research on services available for early intervention in New Delhi, India highlights that, there exists a lacuna between the services available and needs of a child with neurodevelopment disorder. The dual needs of a special child, which define his age and his syndrome, are not appropriately focused by the services available in India. The focus of the services available is on making the child adaptive to environment and scholastic skills. It is strongly felt that the focus should be on skill development of the child, to make him socially interactive, expressive and developing his theory of mind. The paper presents an Early Intervention Model, Eye To ‘I’®, which includes an integration of language therapy in play -based interaction with special education, speech therapy and occupational therapy. The study highlights the significance & suggested effectiveness of this comprehensive, play-based model for Social Communication and language development in children diagnosed with neurodevelopment disorders, mainly autism.

Infants Time Their Smiles to Make Their Moms Smile.

One of the earliest forms of interaction between mothers and infants is smiling games. While the temporal dynamics of these games have been extensively studied, they are still not well understood. Why do mothers and infants time their smiles the way they do? To answer this question we applied methods from control theory, an approach frequently used in robotics, to analyze and synthesize goal-oriented behavior. The results of our analysis show that by the time infants reach 4 months of age both mothers and infants time their smiles in a purposeful, goal-oriented manner. In our study, mothers consistently attempted to maximize the time spent in mutual smiling, while infants tried to maximize mother-only smile time. To validate this finding, we ported the smile timing strategy used by infants to a sophisticated child-like robot that automatically perceived and produced smiles while interacting with adults. As predicted, this strategy proved successful at maximizing adult-only smile time. The results indicate that by 4 months of age infants interact with their mothers in a goal-oriented manner, utilizing a sophisticated understanding of timing in social interactions. Our work suggests that control theory is a promising technique for both analyzing complex interactive behavior and providing new insights into the development of social communication.

Cerebellar Development and Autism Spectrum Disorder in Tuberous Sclerosis Complex.

Approximately 50% of patients with the genetic disease tuberous sclerosis complex present with autism spectrum disorder. Although a number of studies have investigated the link between autism and tuberous sclerosis complex, the etiology of autism spectrum disorder in these patients remains unclear. Abnormal cerebellar function during critical phases of development could disrupt functional processes in the brain, leading to development of autistic features. Accordingly, the authors review the potential role of cerebellar dysfunction in the pathogenesis of autism spectrum disorder in tuberous sclerosis complex. The authors also introduce conditional knockout mouse models of Tsc1 and Tsc2 that link cerebellar circuitry to the development of autistic-like features. Taken together, these preclinical and clinical investigations indicate the cerebellum has a profound regulatory role during development of social communication and repetitive behaviors.

Atypical object exploration in infants at-risk for autism during the first year of lifer.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder usually diagnosed by the end of the second year of life. Early signs of ASD within the first year of life are still unclear. The main purpose of the present study was to compare object exploration skills between infants at-risk for ASD and typically developing (TD) infants to determine early markers for autism within the first year of life. Sixteen at-risk infants and 16 TD infants were longitudinally followed from 6 to 15 months of age during an object exploration task involving three objects with distinct size, shape, and texture, i.e., a long rattle, a rigid circular ball, and a soft circular koosh ball. All sessions were videotaped for coding of manual exploration (grasping and dropping), oral exploration (mouthing), and visual exploration (looking). We also obtained follow-up outcomes using various developmental questionnaires at 18 months and email follow-up on developmental delays/ASD diagnosis after the infants’ second birthdays. Our results showed object-based differences in exploration patterns that extended across both groups. We also noticed context-dependent group differences for various exploratory behaviors across objects and ages. Specifically, at 6 months, at-risk infants showed less grasping of the rigid ball as well as less mouthing and greater looking at the rattle compared to TD infants. At 9 and 12 months, at-risk infants demonstrated significantly lower levels of purposeful dropping of all objects and greater looking at the rattle. Lastly, at 15 months, at-risk infants showed persistent mouthing of the rigid ball and rattle compared to TD infants. In addition, 10 out of 16 at-risk infants developed various motor, social, and language delays or ASD diagnosis at follow-up. Taken together, early context-dependent delays/abnormalities in object exploration could be markers for future developmental delays in infants at-risk for autism. Moreover, promoting early object experiences through socially embedded, free and structured play could have significant implications for multisystem development including perceptuo-motor, social communication, and cognitive development in at-risk infants.

Autism as a disorder of biological and behavioral rhythms: toward new therapeutic perspectives.

There is a growing interest in the role of biological and behavioral rhythms in typical and atypical development. Recent studies in cognitive and developmental psychology have highlighted the importance of rhythmicity and synchrony of motor, emotional, and interpersonal rhythms in early development of social communication. The synchronization of rhythms allows tuning and adaptation to the external environment. The role of melatonin in the ontogenetic establishment of circadian rhythms and the synchronization of the circadian clocks network suggests that this hormone might be also involved in the synchrony of motor, emotional, and interpersonal rhythms. Autism provides a challenging model of physiological and behavioral rhythm disturbances and their possible effects on the development of social communication impairments and repetitive behaviors and interests. This article situates autism as a disorder of biological and behavioral rhythms and reviews the recent literature on the role of rhythmicity and synchrony of rhythms in child development. Finally, the hypothesis is developed that an integrated approach focusing on biological, motor, emotional, and interpersonal rhythms may open interesting therapeutic perspectives for children with autism. More specifically, promising avenues are discussed for potential therapeutic benefits in autism spectrum disorder of melatonin combined with developmental behavioral interventions that emphasize synchrony, such as the Early Start Denver Model.

Gestão estratégica de recursos humanos: quais práticas influenciam a avaliação dessa função pelos membros organizacionais?

This paper provides an analysis of the influence of human resource practices on the evaluation that employees make related to Competence of Human Resource Management in their organizations. This purpose was brought to an end with the completion of a survey of 347 employees in eight service organizations in Brazil. We tested nine hypotheses about the relationship between HR practices and assessing the Competence of HR Management of these organizations. Through the application of a Multiple Regression Analysis it was found that the consideration of compensation variables (Compensation and Benefits) does not markedly modify the model´s explanatory power about the change in the attitude of employees concerning the Competence of HR Management, which gives much importance on the variables called Working Conditions. Among Working Conditions the variable Communication is the one, which has more influence on the judgment of Competence of HR Management. This finding places at the forefront the development of social communication for recognizing the strategic role of Human Resource Management.

Legislative: Transitioning the Older Adolescent Living with Autism Spectrum Disorder to Adult Primary Medical Home: A Call for Nursing Action

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental, chronic illness characterized by abnormal or impaired development in social interaction and communication, and a restricted repertoire of activity and interests (American Psychiatric Association. 20001. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (20141 has estimated that 1 in 68 United States (U.S.) children have been diagnosed with ASD by the age of three; schoolaged boys comprise 1 in 42 of the children diagnosed with ASD. ASD is the fastest growing developmental disability (Autism Speaks. 2011: Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. 20141. Children and adolescents living with ASD may need care from both primary healthcare providers and medical specialists, as well as behavioral health, social, educational, and vocational services.Furthermore, children living with ASD are more frequently diagnosed with other developmental, psychiatric, neurologic, or medical co-occurring chronic illnesses than are children without an ASD diagnosis (Levy et al.. 20101. Analyzing Medicaid insurance claims of ASD children in eight states in the US through ICD-9-CM codes for ASD, Peacock, Amendah, Ouyang, and G rosse (20121 reported that 53% of the ASD children were commonly diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, seizures, or intellectual disabilities and that the financial cost of managing these illnesses in ASD children was six times greater than for children with nonASD diagnosis. Peacock et al. (20121 also noted significant differences in the cost of outpatient services, medication, and inpatient services between children with ASD and children with non-ASD diagnoses.Due to the needs and complexities of children and adolescents living with ASD, care coordination by a primary care provider within a medical home model is strongly encouraged. Previous researchers have documented the benefits of access to a medical home for children and adolescents, especially if a special health need is present (Strickland et al.. 20041. Healthy People 2020 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 20121 (MICH-30 and MICH-31) established a goal to increase access to medical homes for children with special healthcare needs (CSHCN) to ensure that every child's preventative and special healthcare needs are met without any gaps in care. A medical home, or patient-centered healthcare home, provides coordination of care with a primary healthcare provider who is able to offer a seamless transfer of pediatric-specific primary care into adulthood. Yet children and adolescents with ASD more often lack a medical home compared to children with other special needs, especially during their transition into adult, primary healthcare (Golnik. Ireland. & Borowskv, 20091.Resources for transitioning older adolescents and young adults living with ASD into any adult social or health services decrease dramatically after age 22 (Gerhardt. 20091. During this transitional period, gaps in healthcare services are likely to occur when an adult primary medical home is unavailable. Transitional medical homes are needed. Unfortunately, nursing does not have a significant presence in transitional medical homes. Reasons for the lack of nursing presence during this transition include the lack of knowledge about both ASD and the concept of transition from adolescent to adult healthcare services (Osterkamp. Costanzo. Ehrhardt. & Grom lev. 20131. We recommend the following approaches to promote effective transition from adolescent to adult services for people living with ASD: (a) development of an advanced practice nursing role to facilitate healthcare transitions, (b) education of all adult primary healthcare providers regarding ASD, and (c) legislative advocacy to educate elected officials about healthcare issues of people living with ASD and the need to support the continuation of the Combating Autism Reauthorization Act of 2011 so as to strategically plan the needs of people living with ASD. …

Measuring the effects of interventions in BRAC, and how this has driven ‘development’

BRAC started out as a limited relief operation in 1972 in a remote region in Bangladesh and has become probably the largest nongovernmental development organisation in the world. Organising the poor using communities’ own human and material resources, BRAC has developed a holistic development approach geared towards inclusion, using tools like microfinance, education, healthcare, legal services, community empowerment, social enterprises and BRAC University. Its work now touches the lives of an estimated 135 million people in 12 countries in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. BRAC established a Research and Evaluation Division (RED) in 1975 that, over time, has grown and developed as a multidisciplinary independent research unit. The division has been playing an important role in designing BRAC’s development interventions, monitoring progress, documenting achievements and undertaking impact assessment studies. It provides an analytical basis for BRAC’s programmatic decisions, fine-tuning it for better performance and making development efforts evidence-based, effective and community-sensitive. This article uses specific examples to demonstrate how a close link between evaluation and research, and project planning and implementation can drive a dynamic process of ‘development’, both in the sense of economic and social development of communities and in the sense of institutional change and innovation within BRAC itself. For example, research on the distribution of benefits in microfinance demonstrated that it rarely reached the ‘ultra-poor’, that is, those spending >80 per cent of income on food and still not reaching 80 per cent of calorie requirements. The ultra-poor tend to have limited social assets; this is a reason why they may not be included as members of self-selected microfinance groups, and there is a considerable literature on this. In 2002, this led directly to the introduction of a package of specific measures, centred on ‘asset-transfer’, which has enabled hundreds of thousands to ‘graduate’ from ultra-poverty and has been replicated in at least 11 countries. Results have been verified extensively through rigorous evaluation and are contributing to a continuing global policy dialogue on the effectiveness of different approaches to ‘social safety nets’. This article also explores how organisational structures in BRAC aid or impede the reporting on results and the documentation of effects. It also examines the relationship between programme Management Information System and rigorous evaluation and the institutional factors encouraging or retarding BRAC’s focus on results measurement and the development of a positive institutional culture. Specifically, BRAC RED focuses on the method that is best suited for each context and frequently conducts research using mixed methodology, with a good blend of qualitative and quantitative research. This has been understood from the beginning, but has also been borne out by experience throughout BRAC’s development.

Evidence-based, parent-mediated interventions for young children with autism spectrum disorder: The case of restricted and repetitive behaviors.

Restricted and repetitive behaviors represent a core symptom of autism spectrum disorders. While there has been an increase in research into this domain in recent years, compared to social-communication impairments experienced by children with autism spectrum disorders, much less is known about their development, etiology, and management. Parent-mediated interventions have become increasingly popular in the field, with a surge of studies reporting significant findings in social communication and cognitive development in early childhood. Restricted and repetitive behaviors are often not specifically targeted or measured as an outcome within these interventions. This article reviews how 29 parent-mediated interventions approached the management, treatment, and measurement of restricted and repetitive behaviors. Recommendations for research and practice are presented.

Взаимодействие и коммуникации специалиста социальной работы с институтом семьи

The author of the article focuses attention on the important functions of social
 work: development of social communication, prevention of interpersonal
 tensions, conflicts and strengthening of family ties In recent decades, the
 dramatic changes in socio-political and economic conditions of life of Russia’s
 society, the a turn to market relations have produced a negative impact
 on the development of the modern family. Along with the deepening of the
 spiritual world of the modern individual, one can observe degradation of the
 demographic situation, new challenges in educational process and a higher
 than ever before percentage of children with deviant behavior. That entails
 the necessity to prepare specialists with a well-developed communicative
 competence which lets them interact with risk-group families. The article
 provides a definition of the essence and contents of underprivileged family
 and risk-group family in modern conditions of society: a category of families
 which, owing to certain circumstances, is subject to negative external
 influence from society and its criminal elements. The author underlines the
 important role of the social worker in rendering assistance to such family.

Improvements in Social and Adaptive Functioning Following Short-Duration PRT Program: A Clinical Replication

Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) is an empirically validated behavioral treatment for individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The purpose of the current study was to assess the efficacy of PRT for ten cognitively-able preschool-aged children with ASD in the context of a short-duration (4-month) treatment model. Most research on PRT used individual behavioral goals as outcome measures, but the current study utilized standardized assessments of broader-based social communication and adaptive skills. The children made substantial gains; however, magnitude and consistency of response across measures were variable. The results provide additional support for the efficacy of PRT as well as evidence for improvements in higher-order social communication and adaptive skill development within the context of a short-duration PRT model.

Urban regeneration

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to review sustainable planning literature and investigate a major development in an Australian regional city, looking for broad sustainable insights to improve urban growth management.Design/methodology/approach– First, the authors sketched the backdrop to Ipswich and looked for the drivers propelling its rapid growth. They then generated a sustainability framework from the urban regeneration literature. In the empirical phase, they analysed a major development – theIconproject. They evaluated three of five regeneration domains using secondary sources, site observations and interviews with stakeholders and experts.Findings– First, each city’s situation is unique, so the authors proffer no simplistic development formula. Internally, cities, including Ipswich, are spatially fragmented. Second, urban regeneration extends temporally and spatially beyond the project site boundaries or deadlines. Diminished property-driven regeneration neglects the social dimensions to sustainable housing or relegates it to an afterthought, but community participation is insufficient. Government needs to seed or drive (directly or via incentives) substantive social transformation. Projects supported with credible community social development are less risky, but, in competing for investment funds, local government can rush approve unsuitable projects.Research limitations/implications– The analysis focused on the planning and urban design aspects of the project. Only limited demographic, economic and social analyses were conducted, and the study would also benefit from interviews with a broader sample of experts.Practical implications– Sustainable urban regeneration needs to consider not only the unique mix of regional growth drivers and constraints, but also specific local precinct characteristics. Intelligently configured community consultation should inform but not dilute design leadership.Originality/value– This work investigates appropriate urban responses to growth pressure for sustainable outcomes in fast-growing regional cities.

Using Play to Build the Social Competence of Young Children with Language Delays: Practical Guidelines for Teachers

Social competence and social communication development can be concurrently supported through intentional thought and planning on the part of the early childhood special educator. In this article, we present suggestions for how teachers can effectively plan for and implement interventions to support these two areas, all within the context of play. The levels of play, awareness, exploration, and problem solving can be utilized by teachers to provide experiences for children, specifically those with language delays, to enhance and refine their social competence skills, while also furthering their language development. It is important for teachers to provide, to the extent possible, an environment that is arranged to allow for multiple opportunities to practice these skills, while also keeping in mind the child’s preferences and interests. Implementation of the suggested strategies can support children with language delays, as well as their peers, in becoming more successful with using their social communication skills to appropriately navigate social situations within the context of play.

The role of supported joint engagement and parent utterances in language and social communication development in children with autism spectrum disorder.

This study examined associations between three parent–child engagement states and social communication, expressive language, and receptive language at 8 month follow-up, in 63 preschool-age children with autism spectrum disorder. We extend the literature on supported joint engagement by dividing this state into higher order (HSJE) and lower order types, with HSJE involving greater reciprocity in toy play. We also examined parents’ follow-in utterances that co-occurred with each state. We found that only HSJE predicts later social communication and expressive language, while object engagement predicts receptive language. HSJE combined with follow-in utterances (HSJE+FI) predicts all three outcomes when controlling for HSJE+FI in other engagement states. When controlling for total HSJE, HSJE+FI is predictive of receptive language.