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Four studies describe the pointing performance of individuals with fine motor skills impairments. First, we describe the pointing performance of two individuals with Parkinsons disease via a sub-movement analysis and compare them with similar results found in the literature from young children and older able-bodied adults. The analysis suggests the need of an individual assessment of pointing difficulties and the personalization of the methods of assistance and motivates sub-sequent studies. Two experiments followed where we tested PointAssist, software that assists in pointing tasks by detecting difficulty through a sub-movement analysis and triggering help, with adjustments proposed to personalize the assistance provided. A within-subjects study with sixteen individuals with fine motor skills impairments resulted in statistically significant effects on accuracy using Friedman's test with (χχ/sup>(1) = 6.4, p = .011) in favor of personalized PointAssist. A five week longitudinal study with three participants with Cerebral Palsy and other fine motor skills impairments shows the long term effects of PointAssist. The longitudinal study logged real-world use of pointing devices validating the results for real-world interactions. PointAssist had statistically significant effect of reduced sub-movement length and speed with p < .00001 and p < .0002 respectively for one of the participants. These results suggest better motor control near a target and statistically significant results on the sub-movement duration confirmed this. Finally, we designed, developed and tested a new assistive technology for individuals with severe motor skills impairments that we call the Reverse Funnel. Three participants, two with Cerebral Palsy and one with an undisclosed disability, participated and positive early results are presented as well as future developments of the newly developed strategy.

Behavioral characterization of animal models for Alzheimer's Disease is critical for the development of potential therapeutics and treatments against the disease. While there are several known animal models of AD, three current models--APPsw, P301L, and APPsw+P301L--have not been well characterized, if at all. This study, therefore, aimed to perform a full behavioral characterization of these three models in order to better understand the impairments associated with each one. Between 5 and 8.5 months of age, animals were behaviorally tested in a variety of sensorimotor, anxiety, and cognitive tasks. The number of tau+ neurons in the forebrains of P301L mice was then compared to their behavioral performance. Results of this study indicate that retinal degeneration (rd) seriously impairs the performance of mice in behavioral tasks. Animals that carry the homozygous allele of this mutation must, therefore, be eliminated from any such study requiring visual acuity. After this elimination, my findings indicate that APP mice are impaired in several cognitive tasks (including platform recognition, Morris maze, Y-maze, and radial-arm water maze) at a young early age (5 to 8.5 months of age). These mice have fairly normal sensorimotor function, showing significant impairment only in balance beam performance starting at 5 months. Although P301L mutant Tau mice, as a group, did not have significant impairments in any sensorimotor or cognitive task, correlation analysis revealed that higher numbers of tau+ neurons in cortex and hippocampus were associated with poorer cognitive performance. Finally, discriminant function analysis (DFA) appears able to accurately discriminate between the three transgenic groups of mice using only an 8-measure data set. In conclusion, this study provides the first comprehensive, multiple task behavioral assessment of the APPsw and P301L animal models of AD, indicating that APPsw mice are cognitively impaired at an early age while P301L mice are largely unimpaired through 8.5 months. Nonetheless, correlational analysis implicates the formation of neurofibrillary tangles in the onset of cognitive impairments. Finally, my findings recommend the continued use of DFA to determine if groups of animals, based on different transgenicity or therapeutic treatment, could be discriminated between from their behavior alone.

<p>In this study have I examined how treatment of girls with neuropsychological impairments is functioning? I have looked at the theories and methods of treatment on the base of the care program and how it is put into practice. In addition I have interviewed four girls who have undergone the treatment program.</p><p>To gain perspective on institutional care as a social phenomenon, I have tried to give a brief historical retrospect in which particular care for women are described. I am also affecting certain gender aspects of institutional care. I have also tried to make a brief account of current research on the treatment.</p><p>The study is a qualitative study in which I am apart from literature studies used participant observation in depth interviews as a method.</p><p>My results indicate that a well structured treatment with CBT approach can work well to achieve lasting behavioural changes in students.</p>

The purposes of this qualitative inquiry were as follows: (a) to understand how mothers of children with fragile X syndrome (FXS) used augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems in the home, (b) to capture their views regarding AAC use, and (c) to examine the support they received in the process. Data was collected using participant observations, semi-structured interviews and review of archival educational records and were analyzed using grounded theory methods. Results revealed that for children with FXS, the interplay of children’s complex developmental challenges, mothers’ internal struggles, and the absence of external supports leads to limited and variable use of AAC in the home.

This study contributes to an understanding of how coherence can be assigned or constructed by participants in authentic multiparty conversational interaction. Coherence is analysed as a type of organisation relevant for the making of meaning in situated interaction, but also in retrospect from a third party's (or analyst's) perspective; it is both constructed and reconstructed. Important questions are: what makes multiparty talk hold together, what do a number of participants in conversation (have to) do in order to sustain coherence, and in what senses can multiparty conversations be argued to be coherent? A notion of episode is (re)introduced as a unit of natural social interaction, manifest at a structurally intermediate, or a global. level of conversation. The use of episode implies that coherence, a pragmatic phenomenon, steadily encompasses text, i.e. talk, context(s) and actions, and sense-making practices invoking contexts during the progression of interaction. This reflects the reciprocal relations between länguage, social interaction, and cognition. Also, a coding method of coherence has been developed, Topical Episode Analysis (abbreviated as TEA). The thesis explores the concept of episode and its place among units of interaction, and describes the episode structure and coherence-making in some specific activity types. The empirical material used, 24 multiparty conversations making up a total of 1500 episodes, consists of dinner conversations among peers, multi-generational family gatherings (involving aphasics), radio talk shows, and conversations recorded at a centre aimed for elderly people (with symptoms of dementia). In all conversations, conversing is a main activity. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses have been carried out. Results include the following points: (i) coherence in multiparty conversation can be regarded as a co-construction; (ii) coherence is accomplished through the invoking of contexts (cotext, situation, and background knowledge), implying that coherence is an attribute of activities in context and not only 'text'; (iii) coherence-making is the unmarked case in authentic conversation and incoherence or non-coherence appear to be theoretical constructs; (iv) coherence patterns are activityspecific; (v) coherence is multilayered, consisting of one local and several global levels; (vi) coherence is constructed through a division of communicative labour, suggesting that also people with communicative impairments contribute to coherence-making.

Background – People with functional impairments have unmet needs and they are not given the support and service they are entitled to. According to international studies, early measures and treatment may slow down the outbreak of mental illness and relieve its course. Aims - To elucidate and compare both somatic poor health and social needs of people with either physical or mental functional impairments in a rural district, and to explore and compare how different personnel in the primary health care service and psychiatric services are able to detect early signs of psychosis. Moreover, to find out how early signs of psychosis are detected in primary health services, and to explore the patients’ pathways to the GPs. Methods – In studies I and II, people with severe functional impairments were offered a screening health examination followed by an interview. Three vignettes were presented to personnel in the primary health care service and the psychiatric services in study III. The participants were asked to detect any signs and symptoms of psychosis in the vignettes. In studies IV and V, notes in primary health care records were studied during a period of two years and six months, respectively, before a diagnosis of psychosis was made by the general psychiatric services. Results – People with severe functional impairments had poorer health and more problems with their ADL (Activities of Daily Life), economy/work and Quality of Life than people in general. Among the groups studied, people with mental impairments had the poorest living conditions. There were no differences between the participants in study III regarding sex, age and occupation; and the participants detected the signs and symptoms in the vignettes to a high degree (75% of all signs and symptoms). In all, 152 patients (22 with schizophrenia/ schizoaffective disorders, 41 with schizophrenia preceded by other psychotic disorders and 89 with persisting psychiatric disorders) with the diagnosis of psychosis made by the general psychiatric services were included in study IV and V. There were notes in 77% of the primary health records during the two-year study period, and 70% of these notes were about psychiatric signs and symptoms, which means that the GPs detected signs and symptoms of psychosis in 2/3 of the cases. The analysis of the patients’ visiting patterns to GPs showed that many patients did not visit their “own” primary health care centre or their “own” GP. Furthermore, many patients had no contact with the primary health care service at all, and the subgroup with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorders visited the primary health care service less frequently than the other groups. Main conclusion – People with severe functional impairments must be granted regular contacts with a GP, whose role must be: to identify and motivate the patients; to detect when there are needs for care and social needs; to function as a representative for the patients; to inform the patients about their rights and to guide them to other social or health authorities. The GPs detected early signs and symptoms of an emerging psychosis to a high degree, which would make early intervention possible. The more visits to the GPs, the more symptoms were detected, and out of all signs and symptoms with psychiatric content noted, the GPs would have suspected an emerging psychosis in almost every second patient who visited them. To detect early signs and symptoms of psychosis is difficult, and whenever in doubt, primary health care personnel must be able to consult psychiatric professionals. Otherwise we may miss the opportunity to intervene in an early phase of the illness. Additional training could also mean better understanding and earlier detection of people at risk of an emerging psychosis.

In this study have I examined how treatment of girls with neuropsychological impairments is functioning? I have looked at the theories and methods of treatment on the base of the care program and how it is put into practice. In addition I have interviewed four girls who have undergone the treatment program. To gain perspective on institutional care as a social phenomenon, I have tried to give a brief historical retrospect in which particular care for women are described. I am also affecting certain gender aspects of institutional care. I have also tried to make a brief account of current research on the treatment. The study is a qualitative study in which I am apart from literature studies used participant observation in depth interviews as a method. My results indicate that a well structured treatment with CBT approach can work well to achieve lasting behavioural changes in students.

This research project is focused on understanding the current needs of blind users in the context of browsing on the internet. The research methods used have an inclusive design approach. The outcome was intended for both for the blind and normally sighted.  At the broadest level, this project is about reducing cognitive effort in human to computer interaction. At the next level it is about browsing the internet. Everyone using a computer and surfing the web at some point goes through the mental task of comparing between alternative choices. Examining today’s obstacles for the blind, what aspects of the experience could we improve? Could we design a better cognitive browsing experience for all users focusing on nonvisual aspects of the user experience? What would it look like, how would it behave and what characteristics would it carry?  The Semantic Scroller is a concept that could be implemented today but actually presupposes the use of some new HTML specifications specifically the adoption of “open” semantic tags. Unlike existing semantic tags like &lt;nav&gt; and &lt;article&gt; which are too context specific, an open framework would enable coders include contextual semantic descriptions where ever necessary.

Auf der Grundlage der Basisuntersuchung einer epidemiologischen prospektiven Verlaufsstudie (1995–1999) an 3021 Personen im Alter zwischen 14 und 24 Jahren werden epidemiologische Befunde zur Häufigkeit von somatoformen Beschwerden und somatoformen Syndromen/Störungen bei Jugendlichen und jungen Erwachsenen berichtet. Die Jugendlichen und jungen Erwachsenen wurden mit Hilfe des M-CIDI, einem standardisierten Interview zur Erfassung psychischer Symptome, Syndrome und Störungen nach dem DSM-IV, befragt. Die Ergebnisse der ersten Untersuchung zeigen, daß 50% der Jugendlichen einmal in ihrem bisherigen Leben unter einem somatoformen Symptom litten. Junge Frauen berichten häufiger von somatoformen Beschwerden als junge Männer (61 vs. 40%). Die im DSM-IV operationalisierten Kriterien einer somatoformen Störung werden nur von wenigen Jugendlichen und jungen Erwachsenen (2,7%) erfüllt. Die Prävalenz erhöht sich jedoch, wenn man nicht ausschließlich voll ausgeprägte somatoforme Störungen, sondern zusätzlich unterschwellige Syndrome in die Betrachtung einschließt: Hier berichten etwa 11% der Jugendlichen von somatoformen Syndromen. Somatoforme Störungen/Syndrome zeigen sich häufig im Verbund mit anderen psychischen Störungen, wobei die Komorbidität mit dem Alter zunimmt. Wie unsere Analysen ergaben, berichten Jugendliche und junge Erwachsene mit somatoformen Störungen, aber auch solche mit unterschwelligen Syndromen, vermehrt Beeinträchtigungen in verschiedenen sozialen Rollenbereichen und der Arbeitsproduktivität. / As part of a longitudinal study, prevalence findings of somatoform symptoms, syndromes and disorders are presented for a random sample of 3021 respondents aged 14 to 24 years. The response rate was 71%. Assessment was made using the computer- assisted Munich-Composite International Interview (M-CIDI). Findings of the first part of the study revealed that 50% (men: 40%; women: 61%) of the sample once had a somatoform symptom in their life. Threshold somatoform disorders were rare with 2.7%. However, when including subthreshold somatoform syndromes (11%), the lifetime prevalence of any somatoform disorder/syndrome was 13%. Somatoform disorders and syndromes are often comorbid with other mental disorders, and comorbidity rises with age. Further, they are associated with disabilities and impairments in social and work domains.