Self-help Research Articles

The Use of the Parents’ Evaluation of Developmental Status and Developmental Milestones in Screening Children for Developmental Delay in India

Background/Objectives: The Parents’ Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS) and Developmental Milestones (PEDS:DM) are cost-effective, self-report tools that can be conveniently utilized in low- and middle-income countries to screen for developmental delays in children. This study assessed the diagnostic accuracy of PEDS and PEDS:DM in distinguishing children with typical development (TD) from those with developmental disabilities (DD). It also examined the relationship between parents’ general concerns and specific developmental concerns about their children. Method: The study included 407 children with TD and 59 children with DD, recruited from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds in Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, and the National Capital Region of India. Parents of children aged 4 to 8 years completed the PEDS and PEDS:DM online. Results: The PEDS demonstrated high sensitivity (91%) but low specificity (47%), whereas the PEDS:DM showed poor sensitivity (17%) and specificity (6%). Parents of TD children who expressed general developmental concerns were likely to report specific concerns related to behavior, self-help skills, health, and cognitive development. Parents of DD children with general concerns reported specific issues with fine motor skills, behavior, school performance, cognitive development, and health. Conclusions: These findings suggest that while PEDS and PEDS:DM can support early detection of developmental delays, their interpretation should be approached with caution. The study provides preliminary insights into the applicability of these screening tools for children aged 4–8 years in India.

A Development and Prototyping of a Two-Wheeled Self- Balancing Robot

Mobile robotics is a branch of robotics and within the branch the category of selfbalancingrobots is of particular interest as these robots show the promise of navigating difficultterrain in a manner like humans and can be used to platform for investigating autonomouscontrol systems. This paper aims to summarize the development of a two-wheeled self-balancingrobot as a case study to demonstrate the application of computer control systems in physicalsystems. A complementary filter is used with a triple-axis gyroscope and accelerometer toaccurately gauge the rotation of the two-wheeled robot and provide the data to a Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) program which controls the power to the motors accordingly to controlits tilt and achieve self-balancing. In short, the robot manages to achieve self-balancing within asmall tilt angle range, however, design flaws such as the sensor falling off at larger tilt anglescause instability at larger tilt angles. In future work, more complex control algorithms can beemployed, and the effect of different robot builds can be thoroughly explored

Video Modelling Module in Improving Self-Help Skills of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

This study aims to validate a video modelling module for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Malaysia to improve their self-help skills. The module was developed using video modelling techniques to teach these skills successfully. Focus group discussion (FGD) was conducted to gather expert opinions on the module's content and structures. The results were analyzed through content analysis, revealing that the module achieved its objectives with minimal improvements needed before validation. The module can be widely used to improve self-help skills among children with ASD in Malaysia. The study's findings will be used to enhance the module further.

Effective Strategies for Working with Children with Autism in Mainstream Classrooms

In this study the education is identified as one of the key performance areas in the occupational therapy practice framework. The occupation of education includes academic (math, reading , writing), non-academic (recess, lunch, self-help skills), extracurricular (sports, band, cheerleading, clubs), and prevocational and vocational activities. The objective of this study is to assess out the effectiveness of classroom strategies for children with autism in mainstream classroom. The methodology adopted under this study is 20 children with autism and 24 teachers were included in the control group(N=10,12) and experimental group(N=10,12). Canadian Occupational Performance Scale, Teachers Attitude Towards Inclusion Scale, and Behaviour Rating Scale were used before and after the use of classroom strategies. The results of this study are experimental group, COPM, there was a significant difference in the pretest and post-test of the performance (p=0.005) and satisfaction (p=0.013) component of COPM. When goals addressed in the control and experiment groups were compared between groups, it showed significant difference in the post tests of both the groups in performance (u=0.005) and satisfaction (u=0.005) component of COPM. The pre-test and post-test of the POS (attitude towards student with disability in inclusive setting) and total component showed significant difference (p= 0.003 and 0.004) whereas there is no significant difference in the control group. The classroom strategies have a positive effect on the occupational performance for children with autism in mainstream classroom. It is effective in bringing positive attitude among teachers towards inclusion. It also improves the classroom behaviours of the children.

Reflection and reflexivity in influencing the developmental trajectories of ideal multilingual selves: a longitudinal qualitative inquiry

ABSTRACT This study conducted a longitudinal inquiry into how reflection and reflexivity influenced the development of ideal multilingual selves (IMS). The Dominant Language Constellations (DLC) was adopted to understand the operationalisation and development of IMS and how students’ reflection and reflexivity at different cognitive levels influenced the maintenance or development of their IMS. Five rounds of interviews and two rounds of written journals were collected from nine Chinese learners of German over 28 months. Findings suggested that most participants reflected on their multilingual experiences at lower cognitive levels, which could hardly maintain the vision of being multilingual longitudinally. In comparison, learners who continued to strengthen their IMS tended to demonstrate higher levels of reflection on multilingual experiences. They were also likely to activate more languages, including their first languages (L1s), in their DLCs during the reflective and reflexive process and identify the meaning of being multilingual for constructing their future selves. This research emphasised the significance of different levels of reflections and reflexivity in influencing the development of IMS and underscored the role of a holistic view of language in evoking higher-level reflective and reflexive thinking during LOTE learning.

Electrophysiological signature of interoceptive attention: a spectral and source localization analysis.

The ability to attend to and consciously process interoceptive signals is deemed critical for the development of minimal self, adaptive self-regulation and affective experience, and optimal expression of both instrumental and executive cognitive functions. Yet, notwithstanding the richness of theoretical proposals concerning inferential accounts of interoception, empirical evidence is still scarce. Building on such premises, this study was designed to investigate the electrophysiological signature of cognitive processes leading to aware coding of interoceptive signals via EEG source localization. Thirty-six healthy participants completed an interoceptive accuracy task, i.e., the Heartbeat Counting Task (HCT), while we collected task-related and resting state electrophysiological activity. eLORETA modelling and statistical nonparametric mapping were used to estimate intracortical current density and link such estimates to participants' performance at the task. Source analysis highlighted higher current density estimates for alpha frequencies during HCT with respect to rest, with the primary cortical generator in the right parahippocampal gyrus. Also, a set of medial cortical structures-primarily represented by the cingulate gyrus-showed significant relation between task-related changes in current density estimates for beta oscillations and HCT scores. Findings suggest the informativity of EEG task-related measures of neural activation when used to assess interoceptive skills, as well as of the potential of metrics and analysis based on source localization in the quest to improve our understanding of interoceptive accuracy and neurofunctional correlates of related active inferences.

Phenome-wide profiling identifies genotype-phenotype associations in Phelan-McDermid syndrome using family-sourced data from an international registry

BackgroundPhelan-McDermid syndrome (PMS) is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder caused by 22q13 deletions that include the SHANK3 gene or pathogenic sequence variants in SHANK3. It is characterized by global developmental delay, intellectual disability, speech impairment, autism spectrum disorder, and hypotonia; other variable features include epilepsy, brain and renal malformations, and mild dysmorphic features. Here, we conducted genotype-phenotype correlation analyses using the PMS International Registry, a family-driven registry that compiles clinical data in the form of family-reported outcomes and family-sourced genetic test results.MethodsData from the registry were harmonized and integrated into the i2b2/tranSMART clinical and genomics data warehouse. We gathered information from 401 individuals with 22q13 deletions including SHANK3 (n = 350, ranging in size from 10 kb to 9.1 Mb) or pathogenic or likely pathogenic SHANK3 sequence variants (n = 51), and used regression models with deletion size as a potential predictor of clinical outcomes for 328 phenotypes.ResultsOur results showed that increased deletion size was significantly associated with delay in gross and fine motor acquisitions, a spectrum of conditions related to poor muscle tone, renal malformations, mild dysmorphic features (e.g., large fleshy hands, sacral dimple, dysplastic toenails, supernumerary teeth), lymphedema, congenital heart defects, and more frequent neuroimaging abnormalities and infections. These findings indicate that genes upstream of SHANK3 also contribute to some of the manifestations of PMS in individuals with larger deletions. We also showed that self-help skills, verbal ability and a range of psychiatric diagnoses (e.g., autism, ADHD, anxiety disorder) were more common among individuals with smaller deletions and SHANK3 variants.LimitationsSome participants were tested with targeted 22q microarrays rather than genome-wide arrays, and karyotypes were unavailable in many cases, thus precluding the analysis of the effect of other copy number variants or chromosomal rearrangements on the phenotype.ConclusionsThis is the largest reported case series of individuals with PMS. Overall, we demonstrate the feasibility of using data from a family-sourced registry to conduct genotype-phenotype analyses in rare genetic disorders. We replicate and strengthen previous findings, and reveal novel associations between larger 22q13 deletions and congenital heart defects, neuroimaging abnormalities and recurrent infections.

Influence of parental involvement on the self-help skills of kindergarten learners

Influence of parental involvement on the self-help skills of kindergarten learners

Impact of Parental Involvement on Self-Help Skills of Kindergarten Learners

Impact of Parental Involvement on Self-Help Skills of Kindergarten Learners

Influence of The Home Routines to The Self-Help Skills of The Kindergarten Learners

The research aimed to determine the relationship between the influence of home routines on the self-help skills of Albuera North Central Elementary School, Division of Leyte's kindergarten learners during the school year 2022-2023. A descriptive-correlational research design was used. The parent-respondents who answered the adapted questionnaire were selected through simple random sampling to gather data about the frequency level of kindergarten learners' performance in home routines and the level of development of self-help skills. The gathered data were treated statistically using frequency count, simple percentage, weighted mean, and Pearson’s r. Results revealed that most of the learners are 5 years old, whose parents are high school level, with 3 to 4 siblings, and have a monthly income of Php 10,000 and below. Moreover, the learners often perform the home routines before going to school and always perform the routinary tasks after school. Furthermore, the learners have developed self-help skills. It was also found that there was no significant relationship between the influence of home routines and the self-help skills of kindergarten learners. Hence, the home routines cannot influence the self-help skills of the learners. It is recommended that the Enhancement Plan be implemented to help the parents deal with their learners' self-help skills development.

Kierkegaard’s Lesson on Religious Conformism vs. the Current Mainstream Environmentalism

This paper aims to show how Kierkegaard’s attack upon Christendom still works today to contrast current forms of conformism disguised under the appearance of new secular religions. I will start with considering Kierkegaard’s concept of conformism as a form of despair. As such, conformism is incompatible with Christianity, as well as with the development of a true Self. Secondly, I will focus on the current religious scene in Western Europe. While Christianity has become a minority in society, new secular religions have arisen and, along with them, new compelling narratives. Mainstream environmentalism appears to be one of these. Finally, I will try to show how Kierkegaard’s arguments against Christendom can be also applied to environmental propaganda.

Evaluating the effectiveness of a Portage program on reducing parenting stress and enhancing child development in autism spectrum disorders

BackgroundAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) manifests in early childhood and significantly impairs social and communicative functions. Parents of children with ASD typically experience higher levels of stress compared to parents of children with other disabilities or health issues. This study investigates how a home-based early intervention known as the Portage program influences parenting stress and improves family awareness by using the Parental Stress Scale (PSS), and Family Awareness Scale. We enrolled 41 children diagnosed with ASD and their parents in this study. The median age of the children was 4 years, with a predominance of males (80%). We measured changes in parenting stress and family awareness as primary outcomes, with the children’s behavior as a secondary outcome.ResultsPost-intervention assessments showed statistically significant improvements in parenting stress and family awareness (P < 0.001). Additionally, notable improvements were observed in the children’s social, language, self-help, cognitive, and motor skills, as well as general developmental age and ratio.ConclusionsA 3-month engagement with the Portage program markedly reduced stress among parents and increased family awareness regarding ASD. Significant advancements were also noted in multiple developmental domains of the children involved.

Equity as a Leadership Competency: A Model for Action

In Ontario, Canada, principals’ work is guided by competencies outlined in the Ontario Leadership Framework which reflect the leadership skills and behaviours needed to successfully lead schools, improve student achievement and well-being. The problem is that this document largely ignores equity and anti-oppressive leadership behaviours. The Toronto District School Board (TDSB), created an addendum to this document, introducing the notion of equity as a leadership competency. Other documents of this nature have emerged in multiple systems in Ontario in response to the increasing need to provide guidance to principals about how to engage equity work. The challenge is the gap between the competencies on the page and the actions taken in schools. There is little guidance around how to make these competencies actionable. This paper engages a discourse analysis of the TDSB’s equity as a leadership competency document resulting in the creation of a model for equitable action. A focus on action-oriented language used in each competency revealed three overarching themes: development of self, building, connecting, and creating, and accountability. The model is intended to be used as a decision-making tool to help leaders ask the right questions and guide their thinking towards equitable action and the disruption of the status quo. Critical Race Theory and notions of critical hope inform this work to ensure that the model is well positioned to guide leaders towards actionable and transformative change.

A Case Report on Infant Aural Rehabilitation Using Korean Auditory, Language, and Cognitive Rehabilitation for Infants

The purpose of this paper is to report the effectiveness and significance of aural rehabilitation using the Korean Auditory, language, and cognitive Rehabilitation for Infants (KARI) program. The KARI program was administered to an infant diagnosed with hearing loss at 9 months of age. A total of 45 KARI sessions were conducted for 13 months. Four developmental areas, auditory, language and social communication, overall and vocal and articulatory were evaluated at 10, 15, and 18 months of age for initial, progress, and final tests. After aural rehabilitation with KARI, in the area of auditory development, the infant showed normal range. In the area of language and social communication, the infant exhibited normal receptive language and non-verbal communication skills but showed significant delays in speech due to the diagnosed submucous cleft palate. In the area of overall developmental screening, Korean Developmental Screening Test for Infants &amp; Children scores were at peer level in cognition and social skills. However, gross motor, fine motor, language, and self-help skills were in the range of needing further testing. In the areas of vocalization and articulation, vocalization showed normal range, but articulation development showed delayed development. Although development of expressive language and articulation was delayed due to submucous cleft palate, the overall results showed good progression with KARI in other areas. Therefore, it is hoped that the KARI would be used to promote aural rehabilitation for the infants with hearing impaired.

Trajectories of positive affect in autistic individuals during the transition to adulthood.

Recent research has revealed informative patterns about health, mental health, self-help skills, autism symptoms, and social skills during the transition to adulthood for autistic individuals. This study expands on these findings by examining how positive affect (e.g. excited) changes from age 15 to 30 years using a group of individuals first referred for autism at an early age. We also examined the agreement between caregiver-report and self-report on positive affect. We found different patterns of stability and change in positive affect across the transition to adulthood that related to differences in autism severity, cognitive abilities, self-help skills, as well as social and work participation in adulthood. The agreement between caregiver-report and self-report was strong in adolescence but became much weaker after the individuals were 23 years. These results have implications for how we measure happiness, positive emotions, or other internal experiences of autistic individuals.

Moral Identity Development Among Emerging Adults in Media: A Longitudinal Analysis

ABSTRACT This longitudinal study examines changes in the moral identity of 48 emerging-adult U.S. college graduates in media-related fields from their first year after college to three years later as they progressed into early work life. Results from four moral psychology survey instruments reflect significant shifts in moral reasoning, relativistic thinking and idealism, coupled with stability in personality traits and character strengths. A fifth instrument found largely positive assessments of workplace ethical climate. The findings suggest that emerging adulthood is an important time for the development of a robust professional moral self that is characterized by growing maturity in moral judgment that intersects with a foundation of character developed through a variety of influences before, during and after college. Findings have significant implications for young practitioners entering the workplace, media managers working with them, and media pedagogy.

'Who will I become?': possible selves and depression symptoms in adolescents.

Adolescence is an important period for the development of the possible self. It is also a time when depression is prevalent. The cognitive theory of depression proposes that a negative view of the future is a key feature of depression. Targeting these negative thoughts about the future during cognitive behavioural therapy may be helpful in depression. However, little is known about how adolescents envisage their future (i.e. possible) self, or if the content is associated with affect. The aim of this quantitative study is to describe how adolescents describe their 'possible self' and examine the relationship between the valence of the possible self and depression in adolescents. Adolescents (n = 584) aged 13-18 years were recruited via opportunity sampling via their schools and completed measures of depression symptoms (the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire) and the 'possible self' (a variant of the 'I Will Be' task). Possible selves were coded for content and valence. Despite depression severity, the most common possible selves generated by adolescents were positive and described interpersonal roles. The valence of the possible self was associated with depression severity but only accounted for 3.4% of the variance in severity. The results support the cognitive model of depression. However, adolescents with elevated symptoms of depression were able to generate positive, possible selves and therefore may remain somewhat 'hopeful' about their future despite clinically significant depression symptoms. Future-oriented treatment approaches such as cognitive behavioural therapy that focus on changing unhelpful negative future thinking may not be appropriate for this population.

Malleability of the sense of bodily self in early childhood: 5- and 6-year-old children show the enfacement illusion

The mechanisms underlying the developing sense of bodily self are debated. Whereas some scholars stress the role of sensory factors, others propose the importance of contextual factors. By manipulating multisensory stimulation and social familiarity with the other person, we explored two factors that are proposed to relate to young children’s developing sense of bodily self. Including an adult sample allowed us to investigate age-related differences of the malleability of the bodily self. To this end, the study implemented an enfacement illusion with children (N = 64) and adults (N = 33). Participants were exposed to one trial with synchronous interpersonal multisensory stimulation and one trial with asynchronous interpersonal multisensory stimulation—either with a stranger or with the mother as the other person. A self-recognition task using morph videos of self and other and an enfacement questionnaire were implemented as dependent measures. Results revealed evidence for the presence of the enfacement effect in children in both measures. The identity of the other person had a significant effect on the self-recognition task. Contrary to our hypothesis, the effect was significantly smaller in the caregiver condition. No significant differences between children and adults emerged. Our results demonstrate the role of both multisensory stimulation and contextual—here social familiarity—factors for the construction and development of a bodily self. The study provides developmental science with a novel approach to the bodily self by showing the validity of the self-recognition task in a child sample. Overall, the study supports proposals that the sense of bodily self is malleable early in development.

유아의 사회정서적 유능감과 자조기술, 유아-교사의 상호작용과의 관계 및 영향

Objectives The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship and influence of children's social-emotional competence, self-help skills, and child-teacher interaction. Methods The subjects of the study were 140 3-year-old children attending a kindergarten in Gyeonggi-do. Data were collected through questionnaires, and correlation analysis and stepwise multiple regression analysis were performed to analyze the collected data. Results First, it appears that there is a positive correlation between children's social-emotional competence, self-help skills, and child-teacher interaction, and the higher the child's social-emotional competence, the higher the self-help skills and child-teacher interaction. Second, children's social-emotional competence was found to have a significant impact on self-help skills, and among the sub-factors of children's social-emotional competence, emotional recognition and understanding, emotional expression, emotional regulation, social understanding, interpersonal skills, and social problem solving. It was found to have a positive effect on. And among the sub-factors of children's social-emotional competence, emotional recognition and understanding, emotional expression, emotional regulation, social understanding, interpersonal skills, and social problem solving were found to have a positive effect on the child-teacher interaction. Conclusions Through this study, we were able to confirm the importance of developing children's self-help skills and social-emotional competence to increase child-teacher interaction, and suggested that teachers' efforts are needed to help children's social-emotional competence.

Design and Development of Self Powered Cycle

Design and Development of Self Powered Cycle