Mexican Americans face a significant health disparity related to the development of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) when compared to other ethnic groups. Recent work has documented the utility of utilizing blood-based biomarkers in the detection of amnestic MCI among this population. Efforts to enhance the utility of biomarkers in detecting disease through the inclusion of select neuropsychological measures, an approach termed Molecular Neuropsychology, has shown promise. The present study sought to utilize the molecular neuropsychology approach and examine biobanked serum samples as well as neuropsychological assessments from the Health and Aging Brain among Latino Elders (HABLE) study. Random Forest analyses were conducted to determine the proteomic profile of MCI. Then separate linear regression analyses were conducted to determine the variance accounted for by the biomarkers within the select neuropsychological measures. Trail Making Test Part B was identified as having the least amount of variance and was combined with top five biomarkers within the MCI proteomic profile to create a biomarker-cognitive profile for detecting disease presence. This same method was applied to the amnestic and non-amnestic forms of MCI. The overall biomarker-cognitive profile was shown to be 90% accurate in the detection of MCI, with no significant increase when demographic variables were included into the model. Among amnestic MCI cases, the detection accuracy of the biomarker-cognitive profile was 92% and increased to 94% upon inclusion of demographic variables.

My diploma thesis is focused on inclusive education of pupil with hearing impairment in the Czech Republic from the parents' point of view. The theoretical part specializes in the individual chapters on hearing impairment generally, on the possibilities of rehabilitation and use of compensating aids or on logopedic (speech therapy) intervention. Further, the thesis describes education of pupils with hearing impairment in the Czech Republic at schools for pupils with hearing impairment but also at schools with the main education stream. It introduces the possibilities of education and support from the child's birth to the university study. It also introduces foreign models of education of pupils with hearing impairment in 4 chosen countries. The goal of empiric part was to chart the current situation in inclusive education of pupils with hearing impairment from the parents' point of view; to describe pros and cons of inclusion, cooperation with teachers, adaptation and education with intact classmates and also to find out how the inclusion is perceived by teachers and if their opinions are in accordance with parents' opinions. The method of semi-structured interviews with parents of pupils with hearing impairment and with teachers who already have experience with education of these pupils was used...

This diploma thesis deals with the education and communication of students with hearing impairment with a focus on the analysis of the level of understanding of information in sign language for students of special secondary schools for the hearing impaired. The theoretical part presents important concepts in this area, such as the definition of communication and communication options for the hearing impaired, as well as educational opportunities for the hearing impaired from a preschool level to a university and last but not least sign languages, their research in the world and Czech sign language as a native language of people with hearing impairment in the Czech Republic. The empirical part describes the research, which was conducted on 65 probands - high school students of the special school for students with a hearing impairment. The research is focused on the differences in the level of understanding of groups of students according to their identification data and also examined whether comprehension is affected by the complexity of the information transmitted (i.e. whether information at the level of ordinary conversation is better understood than a professional information). The research survey was of a qualitative nature and the main research method was a non-standardized questionnaire...

Univerzita Karlova v Praze, Pedagogická fakulta, Katedra speciální pedagogiky, DIPLOMOVÁ PRÁCE Comparing the level of olfactory perception among persons with congenital or acquired severe visual impairment Autor: Tereza Kopsová, Vedoucí práce: Mgr. Pavlína Šumníková, Ph.D., Praha 2010 ANNOTATION: The work deals with identifying the level of olfactory perception among people with severe visual impairment. The aim is to compare the function of olfactory discrimination and olfactory threshold sensitivity among persons with congenital or acquired visual handicap. The theoretical section presents the basic anatomical and physiological characteristics of the olfactory system, the list of disorders of smell and olfactory testing methods in clinical practice, and a brief account of visual impairments. The empirical investigation is carried out using standardized tests, olfactory discrimination function is measured by a test of the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT), olfactory perception threshold using the Smell Threshold Test (STT). The thesis describes in detail both the methods and characteristics of groups of test subjects. In the analytical part it focuses on the comparison of test results among persons with congenital or acquired severe visual impairment.

Diploma thesis Assessment of language skills of specific language impaired children deals with children with specific language impairment in preschool and early school age (6-8 years). The thesis is to map the resources that are dealing with this issue and define the concept of specific language impairment in our country and foreign environment, because it is a very problematic term The theoretical part describes the status of speech therapy and special education diagnosis of children with specific language impairment in Czech Republic and foreign countries. It maps out how this developmental disorder speech therapists and special educators diagnose, what tools to use and what diagnostic criteria used in their practices. The aim of our research activities in the framework of this thesis is to determine whether and what value could have a Battery of tests of phonological skills (Seidlová Málková, Caravolas 2013) for the diagnostic process of specific language impairment. And also try to detect whether the battery includes tests to detect potential child with specific language impairment and thus contribute to the differential diagnosis. Keywords: Specific language impairment, language assessment, diagnostic markers, Battery of tests of phonological skills

La médecine de l’Antiquité voit l’individu malade et ne reconnaît pas le handicap. Les classifications C.I.H. et C.I.F. de l’O.M.S. ont modifié notre manière de voir le handicap. La loi du 11 février 2005 utilise les termes de limitation d’activité et de restriction de participation issus de la C.I.F. La grille G-MAP évalue les limitations d’activité et la restriction de participation par la mesure de l’interaction entre les dimensions individuelles et environnementales (facilitatrices / obstacles) et rend compte ainsi de la situation de handicap. Le type de travail, de formation, le fait de côtoyer au quotidien les personnes handicapées, sont les facteurs principaux modifiant les attitudes des professionnels ou des étudiants. L’évolution et la modification de l’organisation du travail limitent parfois négativement la participation des travailleurs handicapés à la vie de l’entreprise. Une ergonomie logicielle adaptée semble être une voie prometteuse pour faciliter l’insertion. L’accompagnement des professionnels d’un ESAT portant sur la compréhension des troubles cognitifs et comportementaux facilite la vie relationnelle au sein de l’entreprise adaptée. La vision socialisée et politique du handicap impulsée par la loi du 11 février 2005 a considérablement amélioré l’image de celui-ci dans l’ensemble de la population. Nous sommes peut-être, en 2012, dans la phase du balancier de l’histoire qui pointe surtout vers l’aspect social du handicap. Ce changement mérite d’être accompagné, mais il ne doit pas se faire au détriment de la prise en compte des problèmes de santé sous-jacents et plus particulièrement de ce qui concerne le handicap cognitif ou psychique. / The traditional medical model views patients as ‘illnesses’ and does not recognize disability. The WHO’s classifications of handicap (ICH) and function (ICF) have changed our understanding of disability. The Disability Discrimination law of 11th February 2005 introduced the concepts of activity and participation. G-MAP is an assessment tool that looks at the limitations of activity and participation by measuring the interaction between individual and environmental dimensions (facilitators/obstacles) that contribute to the handicap. The main factors that help modify the attitudes of professionals and students, are the nature of their work, training and being around people with disabilities in their daily lives. The evolution and development of an organisation sometimes negatively impacts on the participation of employees with a disability. Adapted software ergonomics seems to be a promising way forward, appearing to change the attitudes towards disabled employees. The use of specific work supporting activities for the professionals of an establishment that employs disabled people (ESAT) to develop an understanding of cognitive and behavioural disorders facilitates good employee relationships within the company. The socialised and political vision of disability engendered by the law of February 2005 has considerably improved the image of disabled people in the general population. This change has to be facilitated, but it should not be detrimental to the awareness of underlying health problems. In 2012 we are the point where the pendulum is starting to swing towards the social aspect of disability.

TITLE: Czech language at primary schools for children with hearing impairment SUMMARY: The topic of graduation thesis is education of students with hearing impairment, focusing on education in the Czech language. The thesis focuses on the recent history of education of students with hearing impairment, but also on the current situation in special education surdopedics and the current legal standards that define it. Sufficient space is devoted to the central theme of the thesis- the Czech language and its teaching. This thesis presents and comments the data that was obtained through quantitative research, which was implemented in four Czech primary schools for children with hearing impairment. In the investigation, we used methods of questioning (questionnaire for students and questionnaire for Czech language and literature teacher) and methods of observation (structured observation during the hours of Czech language and literature) on the 2nd stage of these schools. The aim of this thesis was the most complex mapping of Czech language and literature- in terms of modes of communication, staffing of teaching, used textbooks and teaching aids, and in terms of views of our respondents in the Czech language and literature as well as their opinion of the Czech language as such. KEYWORDS: Czech language, education...

Newborn hearing screening in the Czech Republic Abstract The aim of this diploma thesis is to summarize the important and actual information about a newborn hearing screening and its related topics. The theoretical part of this thesis contains the contemporary knowledge of the issue, the definition of terms for a comprehensive setting of issue in the context, illustrates the current state of knowledge of the issue in the Czech Republic in the comparison to some European and world countries and reveals some more directly and inextricably related topics. The practical part is based on the knowledge of the theoretical part. The practical part focuses on identification of the level of awareness of newborn hearing screening among pregnant women, which was investigated by a questionnaire. This part also analyzes, evaluates and discusses the results and suggestions for practice. The task of the practical part was not only to identify the research data, but also to provide information to expectant mothers about the possibilities and significance of the newborn hearing screening by appropriate form, as this topic is very current for the general public. Key words: early care early diagnosis hearing impairment newborn hearing screening otoacoustic emissions rehabilitation of hearing impairment

The thesis deals with education of pupils with hearing impairment in elementary schools, specifically in the South Bohemian region. It focuses in particular on their inclusive education. In its chapters, the thesis describes individual structures of the hearing analyzer, characterizes the degrees of hearing impairment and classifies persons with hearing impairment into specific categories. The main part of the thesis is a chapter focusing on education of hearing impaired pupils. It deals not only with education in the system of special schools, but concentrates primarily on their study within mainstream education. For this system of education, it is important to identify correctly a support measure, the levels of which are key to ensuring appropriate support for individual pupils. The aim of the work was to map the course of inclusive education of pupils with hearing impairment at elementary schools in the South Bohemian region. The objective was to assess the negatives and positives of inclusion and the impact of hearing impairment on the communication and social abilities of these pupils. During data collection, the methods of interview, observation and questionnaire survey were used, and participants of the research included parents and teaching staff educating pupils with hearing impairment....

During the last decades, the research field of Computer-Supported Collaborative Work has made impressive progress in proposing theories, techniques, and tools to support collaborative work in different settings. Nevertheless, despite the advances in the field and its branches, individuals with impairments still face inclusion challenges when performing computer-supported collaborative activities. In order to take part in such type of activities, individuals are expected to have skills and knowledge that may be affected by impairments. In the beginning of this PhD research, we studied means to include an individual with blindness in diagram-based activities conducted as part of software engineering lectures taught by the thesis author. As part of that, we noticed that researchers and practitioners generally did not follow any collaboration-oriented method to address accessibility issues when designing or redesigning collaboration supportive systems, also known as groupware. In this context, we decided to focus our attention on this gap. As a result, we developed Collab4All, a method to support the identification of potential challenges as well as alternative solutions that may arise when designing or redesigning accessible and inclusive groupware. As a proof of concept, we applied Collab4All to the aforementioned scenario of including individuals with blindness in diagram-related learning activities. Based on our findings, we documented some suggestions to researchers and developers working in this application scenario. The present document contains detailed information about this research process. We consider that the method proposed in this thesis, its application results and the groupware we developed, named Model2gether, are the field of computer-supported collaborative work involving people with impairments. / Nas últimas décadas, a área de Trabalho Colaborativo Apoiado por Computador avançou na proposição de teorias, técnicas e ferramentas para apoiar o trabalho colaborativo em diferentes contextos. No entanto, apesar dos avanços na área e suas subáreas, pessoas com deficiência ainda enfrentam desafios para serem incluídas em atividades colaborativas apoiadas por computador. Para participar desse tipo de atividade, espera-se que os envolvidos possuam certas habilidades e conhecimentos que podem ser afetados por deficiências. No início desta pesquisa de doutorado, estudamos meios para incluir um indivíduo cego em atividades colaborativas de modelagem realizadas como parte de um curso de Engenharia de Software ministrado pelo autor da tese. Como parte desse estudo, percebemos que pesquisadores e profissionais em geral não seguem métodos orientados à colaboração para abordar problemas de acessibilidade ao projetar sistemas de apoio ao trabalho colaborativo, também conhecidos como groupware. Nesse contexto, decidimos focar a pesquisa de doutorado no preenchimento dessa lacuna. Como resultado, desenvolvemos o Collab4All, um método para apoiar a identificação de possíveis desafios, bem como alternativas de solução, que podem surgir ao projetar groupware para incluir pessoas com deficiência. Como prova de conceito, com o objetivo de verificar se o prático, aplicamos o método ao cenário mencionado de inclusão de indivíduos cegos em atividades colaborativas de modelagem. Com base em nossas descobertas, documentamos algumas sugestões para pesquisadores e desenvolvedores que trabalham neste cenário de aplicação. O presente documento contém informações detalhadas sobre este processo de pesquisa. Consideramos que o método proposto nesta tese, os resultados de sua aplicação e a ferramenta nela documentada, conhecida como Model2gether, são contribuições relevantes para a área de trabalho colaborativo apoiado por computador quando usado em cenários que envolvem pessoas com deficiências.