The Assessment of Risk and Manageability in Intellectually Disabled IndividuaLs who Offend (ARMIDILO) was developed to address the need for assessment tests specifically designed for intellectually disabled (ID) individuals who offend. This is the first study focusing on the application of the ARMIDILO by using comparative current risk assessment tests to evaluate the ARMIDILO as an effective risk assessment tool. In this research 16 ID people who have recorded sexual and or violent behaviour offences were evaluated using the Violent Offender Risk Assessment Scale (VORAS), Static-99 and ARMIDILO risk assessment tests. The ARMIDILO, VORAS and Static-99 assessments were completed using individual history files kept within the Regional Forensic Psychiatric Service. The VORAS and Static-99 were adapted to incorporate reported, but not charged or otherwise litigated offences and convictions. The adapted tests were then compared against the ARMIDILO as a risk assessment tool. Analysis of the ARMIDILO showed strong validity in assessing ID people who offend. The main strength of the ARMIDILO is in identifying the risk needs of the ID person who offends and may be an effective management test when used in assessing individual needs and program implementation. Risk assessment through the ARMIDILO showed similar results to Static-99 but compared only moderately with the VORAS in measuring the risk of re-offending. Future research with a larger population may further validate the reliability of the ARMIDILO as an assessment tool. Adaptation of the current score sheet for use by non-clinical and correctional staff may prove cost effective.

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This study explores the learning, and specifically literacy learning, of intellectually disabled adolescent students. Factors that have influenced this learning throughout the adolescent's education are identified. Nineteen case studies of the literacy development of adolescent students with mild and moderate intellectual disabilities were developed through observations in their classrooms, and of related activities. The results of the study show that there were three main influences on literacy development for these students. These were the unique nature of the learner, home and family factors and the impact of school on the literacy learning of these students from their early learning and through their years of formal education. This research adds to the current research on the learning of adolescent students with intellectual disabilities by looking specifically at literacy development and using qualitative approaches to search within and beyond the classroom for issues which affect their learning.Practitioners in education and in the care of disabled children can use the study's findings to build a framework of knowledge to develop appropriate educational placements, programs and support for learning by drawing on significant aspects of the child's personal, social and educational development. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This work explores human consciousness, using a framework of the Structure of Feelings and Experience developed from the work of Raymond Williams and Bernard Smith. It then examines aspects of the consciousness of the Mentally Ill, the Intellectually Disabled, Addicted and Indigenous people, with three aims: 1/. To identify a model of consciousness which reflects the major indicators arising from the structure of feelings and experience, and those arising from consideration of the four subject groups, representing the plurality of human consciousness. 2/. To explore some of the lessons for mainstream citizens, arising from alternative aspects of consciousness, both positive and negative, which these groups exhibit. 3/. To suggest ways the model of consciousness can be used to empower those with mental illness, or intellectual disability, by acknowledging and strengthening their opportunities to take responsibility for their lives. By engaging them more in active roles in the planning and delivery of their health, rehabilitation and community services. And to illustrate some examples of practical applications of person-valuing and spirit-engaging healing and empowering processes, used in groups in Australia and overseas, which point to ways of improving health and rehabilitation policy and practice in Australia / Master of Arts (Hons)

Little research has been conducted focusing on parent training strategies aimed at teaching parents with an intellectual disability to implement strategies to decrease their child's problem behaviour and increase appropriate behaviours. This study aimed to do two things. First, to examine the effectiveness of an enhanced assessment-based BPT intervention that was implemented by parents with an intellectual disability with children with problem behaviour. Second, the current study also aimed to test the effectiveness of the parent training package used to teach parents to implement the intervention strategies. Importantly, in an attempt to identify the training condition, or combination of conditions, most needed to achieve behaviour change, individual conditions of a multi-condition parent training package were additively introduced during parent training based on the degree of intrusiveness in the target routine combined with the amount of structure required by the teaching strategy. Five parents were taught to implement a functional assessment driven intervention plan aimed at increasing their child's appropriate behaviour and decreasing their problem behaviour during a valued family routine. In order to establish the combination of parent training strategies that were sufficient to teach parents to effectively implement the intervention plan, a series of parent training strategies were introduced in a planned way. The strategies included role-play, verbal instruction, verbal instruction plus feedback, coaching and video-feedback. Results showed that for all parents skill acquisition did not occur until the final phase, video-feedback. Successful implementation of the intervention resulted in a corresponding increase in child appropriate behaviour and decrease in child problem behaviour. In addition to that, parents rated the social validity and contextual fit of the intervention highly.

Background: Rehabilitation has emerged as a comprehensive approach with a combination of treatment modalities to address the multiple impediments associated with disabilities in intellectually disabled people. Rehabilitation is used to address intellectually disabled peoples’ skill deficits, to improve competencies and to facilitate optimal functioning within the goal of giving the greatest possible measure of social and economic participation, independence, self–reliance and self–determination to intellectually disabled people. The ongoing improvement of rehabilitation services in the public health system therefore remains a continuous challenge; hence the need for further research. Objective: The systematic literature review critically synthesizes and describes the available evidence of the effects of rehabilitation on intellectually disabled people. Method: Literature searches of different electronic databases as well as manual searches of references of primary studies were conducted using selected keywords. The total number of the studies identified from an electronic database search was 1 102. All titles and abstracts were screened for relevance and 40 studies were immediately excluded. From the remaining 1 062 studies, another 993 studies were excluded because they were not relevant to the rehabilitation of intellectually disabled people. The abstracts and titles of the remaining 69 studies were screened for a second time to exclude studies not relevant to actual rehabilitation of intellectually disabled people. Another two studies were excluded as duplicates. The remaining 67 studies were retrieved as full texts; of these, 40 studies were excluded due to them being written in a foreign language. After all abstracts and texts were thoroughly screened for true relevancy to the review question, a further 20 studies were excluded. The remaining seven full–text studies were selected for critical appraisal because they were relevant to the effects of rehabilitation on intellectually disabled people. Results: These identified studies have the potential to inform clinical practice on the basis of their evidenced interventions that resulted in the improvement of outcomes of rehabilitation of intellectually disabled people. Improvement of skills was noted for mildly and moderately intellectually disabled people. Improvement was noted in activities of daily living (ADL), self–care skills, communication skills and cognitive achievements. Conclusions: The study contributes to the comprehensive nursing care of intellectually disabled people by endorsement of the effectiveness of rehabilitation in terms of ADL, self–care skills, communication skills and cognitive achievements. The collected evidence of this study may contribute to the education of more effective nurse practitioners involved in the daily care and rehabilitation of intellectually disabled people. / Thesis (M.Cur.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Background: Rehabilitation has emerged as a comprehensive approach with a combination of treatment modalities to address the multiple impediments associated with disabilities in intellectually disabled people. Rehabilitation is used to address intellectually disabled peoples’ skill deficits, to improve competencies and to facilitate optimal functioning within the goal of giving the greatest possible measure of social and economic participation, independence, self–reliance and self–determination to intellectually disabled people. The ongoing improvement of rehabilitation services in the public health system therefore remains a continuous challenge; hence the need for further research. Objective: The systematic literature review critically synthesizes and describes the available evidence of the effects of rehabilitation on intellectually disabled people. Method: Literature searches of different electronic databases as well as manual searches of references of primary studies were conducted using selected keywords. The total number of the studies identified from an electronic database search was 1 102. All titles and abstracts were screened for relevance and 40 studies were immediately excluded. From the remaining 1 062 studies, another 993 studies were excluded because they were not relevant to the rehabilitation of intellectually disabled people. The abstracts and titles of the remaining 69 studies were screened for a second time to exclude studies not relevant to actual rehabilitation of intellectually disabled people. Another two studies were excluded as duplicates. The remaining 67 studies were retrieved as full texts; of these, 40 studies were excluded due to them being written in a foreign language. After all abstracts and texts were thoroughly screened for true relevancy to the review question, a further 20 studies were excluded. The remaining seven full–text studies were selected for critical appraisal because they were relevant to the effects of rehabilitation on intellectually disabled people. Results: These identified studies have the potential to inform clinical practice on the basis of their evidenced interventions that resulted in the improvement of outcomes of rehabilitation of intellectually disabled people. Improvement of skills was noted for mildly and moderately intellectually disabled people. Improvement was noted in activities of daily living (ADL), self–care skills, communication skills and cognitive achievements. Conclusions: The study contributes to the comprehensive nursing care of intellectually disabled people by endorsement of the effectiveness of rehabilitation in terms of ADL, self–care skills, communication skills and cognitive achievements. The collected evidence of this study may contribute to the education of more effective nurse practitioners involved in the daily care and rehabilitation of intellectually disabled people. / Thesis (M.Cur.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

The purpose of this study was to examine the phenomenon of resilience by means of a literature review (to obtain a theoretical view) and empirical research, particularly to understand why some adolescents with Intellectual disability (ID) were resilient. Firstly, my motivation was curiosity (as teacher of many years of adolescents with ID) about why some youths coped better with the daily challenges that ID brought than some of their peers with ID. Secondly, there was a gap in the existing literature. Although there were studies that, among others, reported the rights of adolescents with ID to quality service provision, the risks that they and their parents/caregivers could expect daily, and challenges and coping skills for teachers/parents and caregivers who worked with these learners every day, I could not locate any South African studies, and only five international studies, that reported the protective resources/processes in adolescents with ID. The purpose of the study was to hear the voices of the adolescents themselves regarding what they, from the reality/context of their life-world, viewed as that which supported them, intrinsically as well as extrinsically, towards resilience. I also asked the teachers (as secondary informants) who worked with the adolescents with ID every day to complete a questionnaire about what (risks as well as protective resources), in their opinion, had an influence on the resilience of these adolescents with ID. I did this qualitative case study with the help of 24 primary informants (that is, adolescents with ID) who all attended schools for the physically and severely intellectually disabled in Gauteng province, South Africa, and 18 of their teachers. On account of the limited literacy of the adolescents with ID, I used a visual participatory research method, namely, draw-and-talk. This involved the primary informants drawing what made them “strong” in life. This was followed by informal conversations where the adolescent informants explained what they had drawn and why. The findings of this study were in agreement with existing literature that reported that resilience was a dynamic, socio-ecological, transactional process between the adolescent with ID (obtaining and using protective resources) and his/her surrounding environment (the ability of the community to supply these resources that could serve the adolescent with ID as buffer against daily risks). The findings included previously non-reported protective processes, namely a supportive social ecology that treated the adolescent as an agentic being (providing opportunities for socially appropriate choices and dreams for the future after school life) and the importance of providing safe spaces for adolescents with ID to be nurtured (children’s homes and/or school hostels). The study also considered what resilience processes there were in the currently existing schools for the physically and severely intellectually disabled. These considerations were aimed at teachers with the hope that they would support teachers and schools to support the adolescent with ID towards resilience. In summary, the study hoped to capacitate teachers, parents, and caregivers to better understand the adolescent with ID and to be aware of how they could support the youth to be resilient. / MEd (Learner Support)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2015

The purpose of this study was to examine the phenomenon of resilience by means of a literature review (to obtain a theoretical view) and empirical research, particularly to understand why some adolescents with Intellectual disability (ID) were resilient. Firstly, my motivation was curiosity (as teacher of many years of adolescents with ID) about why some youths coped better with the daily challenges that ID brought than some of their peers with ID. Secondly, there was a gap in the existing literature. Although there were studies that, among others, reported the rights of adolescents with ID to quality service provision, the risks that they and their parents/caregivers could expect daily, and challenges and coping skills for teachers/parents and caregivers who worked with these learners every day, I could not locate any South African studies, and only five international studies, that reported the protective resources/processes in adolescents with ID. The purpose of the study was to hear the voices of the adolescents themselves regarding what they, from the reality/context of their life-world, viewed as that which supported them, intrinsically as well as extrinsically, towards resilience. I also asked the teachers (as secondary informants) who worked with the adolescents with ID every day to complete a questionnaire about what (risks as well as protective resources), in their opinion, had an influence on the resilience of these adolescents with ID. I did this qualitative case study with the help of 24 primary informants (that is, adolescents with ID) who all attended schools for the physically and severely intellectually disabled in Gauteng province, South Africa, and 18 of their teachers. On account of the limited literacy of the adolescents with ID, I used a visual participatory research method, namely, draw-and-talk. This involved the primary informants drawing what made them “strong” in life. This was followed by informal conversations where the adolescent informants explained what they had drawn and why. The findings of this study were in agreement with existing literature that reported that resilience was a dynamic, socio-ecological, transactional process between the adolescent with ID (obtaining and using protective resources) and his/her surrounding environment (the ability of the community to supply these resources that could serve the adolescent with ID as buffer against daily risks). The findings included previously non-reported protective processes, namely a supportive social ecology that treated the adolescent as an agentic being (providing opportunities for socially appropriate choices and dreams for the future after school life) and the importance of providing safe spaces for adolescents with ID to be nurtured (children’s homes and/or school hostels). The study also considered what resilience processes there were in the currently existing schools for the physically and severely intellectually disabled. These considerations were aimed at teachers with the hope that they would support teachers and schools to support the adolescent with ID towards resilience. In summary, the study hoped to capacitate teachers, parents, and caregivers to better understand the adolescent with ID and to be aware of how they could support the youth to be resilient. / MEd (Learner Support)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2015

<p>Preparing for segregation. Educational work within the Swedish special school - an activity theoretical approach</p><p>This study aims at illuminating what is special about Särskolan’s pedagogical work. In Sweden schooling for children who are regarded intellectually disabled is organised in a special school, Särskolan, established during the late 1800s. Today Särskolan is organised in two forms, a training school and a compulsory särskola. The pedagogical work in Särskolan is commonly referred to as special and unique. However, what this special is has not previously been explored.</p><p>The study is conducted within the tradition of cultural-historical activity theory. According to this tradition, personality, development and change is understood and explained in relation to various activity systems in which the individual is involved. Each activity is regarded as a historically developed, complex system of motive-driven, goal-orientated human actions that aim at finding solutions to a societal need. These theoretical assumptions have informed the design of the study of Särskolan as a historically developed activity.</p><p>The study was carried out during the school year 2002–2003 in one training school classroom (grade 2–5) and one compulsory särskola classroom (K–4). Class-room observations and staff interviews were used for data production. The core of the analyses concerned what the teachers were trying to achieve. According to the theoretical assumption, the motive is expected to appear in the object of the activity, therefore the overall analysis focused on the object of the activity of teaching.</p><p>One major result was that the teachers in the training school pursued preparations for daily life while in the compulsory särskola the pupils were prepared for teaching. With an activity theoretical approach to learning, the study further shows that the possibilities for pupils to learn – e.g. sign language in the training school or literacy in the compulsory särskola – were limited.</p><p>The overall conclusion is that the special with the Särskola is that up-bringing and preparation dominate the activity. The emphasis on preparation seem to be related to the teachers’ conceptions of the pupils as being in need of a special kind of knowledge before they can be taught the knowledge referred to in the syllabuses.</p>