Introduction: Postural control and locomotion deficits can be observed during the early years of childhood development and throughout life. For those with disabilities, these deficits can advance past the development years and into adolescence and adulthood while affecting the quality of life and daily activity. Finding interactive rehabilitative activities to delay or limit these deficits is essential for people with disabilities to improve their quality of life, inclusion, and overall movement. Adapted physical activity/sports like badminton and virtual reality could promote improvements in postural and locomotor status for young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities like cerebral palsy (CP), intellectual disability (ID), and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Purpose: These studies aim to assess the postural and locator status of young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities after participating in a 12-week badminton and intensive virtual reality programs. Methods: Study A will follow a multiple baseline approach to access postural control, locomotion, and areas of physical fitness in young adults with IDD utilizing the immersive virtual reality game Fruit Ninja™ while study B will follow and repeated measures design accessing static postural control for students in a comprehensive transition program for intellectual disabilities at a southeastern university.

The aim with this research is to present children with autism an alternative method through animal assisted therapy to communicate and socialize. Since children with autism cannot be guided to mastery of full maturity by means of the ordinary education system, separate provision of highly specialized fomative and formal education is essential. Autism prevents a child from reaching out to the world and other people. Autism implies a lack of communication with others and entails a disturbed dialogue with the world. This is revealed by the strange and odd behaviour of the child with autism. The aim of this research is to use animal assited therapy to bridge the gap between numerous problems experienced by the child with autism ascribed to his inadequate affective life, inablitity to form relationships with others, his language, speech and communication problems and poor sensory integration. / Social Work / M. Diac (Play Therapy)

Thesis (MEdPsych (Educational Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / The effect of poverty, opportunity-deprived and unstructured home environments, HIV/Aids, violence and crime put more and more children and youth at risk of becoming increasingly involved in high-risk behaviour. The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) recognises the fact that the school is an ideal setting to reclaim youth, by redirecting them away from self-defeating and destructive ventures, through enhancing resilience and developing self-esteem. However, strong community links and intersectoral collaboration will be essential to support schools in their efforts to become reclaiming environments. Supportive strategies and various alternative modes of intervention should be explored in order to assist schools. Adventure-based education programmes, and in the case of this study, wilderness rites of passage programmes, are examples of alternative types of intervention that could be considered to support school communities. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the perceptions of youth about their wilderness rites of passage experience and the value they perceive the experience had for their lives. The researcher operated in an interpretive/constructivist paradigm. A qualitative research methodology was employed, which included purposive sampling to select participants, the use of individual interviews, documents, records, observations and reflections to collect data, and content analysis to analyse data. Research findings arrived at indicated that participation in a wilderness rites of passage programme contributed to the personal growth and development of the participants and thereby, through strengthening their protective factors, enhanced resilience. Wilderness rites of passage programmes can therefore be a major contributing factor towards school support for young people. Findings also highlighted that young people in the South African context are in need of caring school communities and adult mentorship. Young people are in need of support, discipline, guidance, as well as experiences of trust, love and care. School environments should change from being places of disappointment and become places of safety and growth. Such a culture of care possibly could curb the anger, resentment and distrust of youth and support learners who are experiencing or manifesting emotional or behavioural difficulties in schools. Keywords: perception, adventure-based learning, wilderness rites of passage, experiential learning, Circle of Courage, adolescence, emotional and behavioural difficulties

The aim with this research is to present children with autism an alternative method through animal assisted therapy to communicate and socialize. Since children with autism cannot be guided to mastery of full maturity by means of the ordinary education system, separate provision of highly specialized fomative and formal education is essential. Autism prevents a child from reaching out to the world and other people. Autism implies a lack of communication with others and entails a disturbed dialogue with the world. This is revealed by the strange and odd behaviour of the child with autism. The aim of this research is to use animal assited therapy to bridge the gap between numerous problems experienced by the child with autism ascribed to his inadequate affective life, inablitity to form relationships with others, his language, speech and communication problems and poor sensory integration. / Social Work / M. Diac (Play Therapy)

Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-01T18:08:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ingrid_coelho_sales_melo.pdf: 396635 bytes, checksum: c7ac6bb1d415a82e083f0d32b2b19ef5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-09-22 / This work is the product of some reflections originated during a period of work in some CAPS in the city of Campina Grande / PB, in which calls were made in group and individual with autistic children. From this experience, became interested in researching the relational space in these meetings and the possibilities for interaction between children with autism and the other. An important aspect in this period I participated in these activities CAPS, was observed using these autistic children were the experience of playing, awakening my interest in researching what happens in this phenomenon, and that you can think of it as a device favoring the intermediary between the child and others. Winnicott points out that the play is an elaborate activity that enables the creation of externality with condition for creative living, which develops thinking, knowing and learning in a meaningful way, and playing you learn to transform and use the objects the world for it to carry out and sign the gestures themselves, creating their own subjectivity. Thus, issues related to autism and the play were discussed in this paper, considering the importance of the mother-infant relationship, understanding that a failure in this regard might cause difficulties in her maturing process. It was in this context that the work aimed to study the use of play in respect of the autistic child with the other. This was a qualitative research study, which used the theoretical framework of psychoanalytic theory, particularly Winnicott, about autism and about the play, provided the cornerstones. Some discussions were held, from service to autistic children memories in the context of CAPS, as an illustration to the debate about play therapy in these children. At the end of work, it was found that the play allows the child to unravel a world beyond itself, facilitating psychotherapeutic work and the interpersonal relationship with each other and functioning as a useful therapeutic device. / Esta dissertação é produto de algumas reflexões originadas durante um período de trabalho em alguns CAPS na cidade de Campina Grande/PB, no qual eram realizados atendimentos em grupo, e individual, com crianças autistas. A partir dessa experiência, surgiu o interesse de pesquisar sobre o espaço relacional nesses encontros e as possibilidades de interação entre crianças com autismo e o outro. Um aspecto importante nesse período em que participei dessas atividades do CAPS, foi observar o uso que essas crianças autistas faziam da experiência do brincar, despertando-me o interesse em pesquisar o que acontece nesse fenômeno, e se é possível pensá-lo como um dispositivo favorecedor da intermediação entre a criança e o outro. Winnicott destaca que o brincar é uma atividade elaborada, que permite a criação da externalidade com condição para o viver criativo, no qual se desenvolve o pensar, o conhecer e o aprender de forma significativa, e brincando que se aprende a transformar e usar os objetos do mundo para nele realizar-se e inscrever os próprios gestos, criando a própria subjetividade. Assim, questões pertinentes ao autismo e ao brincar foram discutidas neste trabalho, considerando a importância da relação mãe-bebê, entendendo que uma falha nesta relação poderá trazer dificuldades no processo de amadurecimento dela. Foi nesse contexto que o trabalho teve como objetivo estudar o uso do brincar na relação da criança autista com o outro. Tratou-se de uma pesquisa de caráter qualitativa, que usou o referencial teórico da teoria psicanalítica, sobretudo winnicottiana, a respeito do autismo, bem como acerca do brincar, na condição de eixos fundamentais. Algumas discussões foram realizadas, a partir de memórias de atendimento a crianças autistas no contexto de CAPS, como ilustração para o debate sobre o brincar na terapêutica com essas crianças. Ao fim do trabalho, constatou-se que o brincar permite à criança desvendar um mundo para além de si mesmo, facilitando o trabalho psicoterápico e a relação interpessoal com o outro e funcionando como um dispositivo terapêutico útil.

No description available.

In comparison to normally developing children, many children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) do not possess the same opportunities to be physically active due to the impairments exhibited by their disorder. A systematic review using the Downs and Black checklist and the PEDro scale was conducted to assess the methodological quality of the literature on promoting physical activity in children with ASD. The following inclusion criteria had to be met: (1) subjects must include children with a clinical ASD diagnosis (2) the children have to be under the age of thirteen years old (3) the interventions must target physical activity; lastly, (4) they must be a relevant peer-reviewed English language study. The search was conducted using four electronic databases: MEDLINE, ERIC, PsycInfo, and CINHL with no restriction on the publication year. The following keywords were utilized: "Autism", "ASD/ Autism Spectrum Disorder", "Asperger", "Pervasive Developmental Disorder" Those terms were paired with "physical activity", "physical exercise", "exercise", "fitness", "aerobic", "swim", "aquatic", "jog", "walk", "recreational activity" Which were also paired with the terms "school age", "child", "toddler", "preadolescent". This multi-step search procedure occurred during February 2013. The methodological quality of six studies was evaluated in February 2013. Overall, the conclusive scores determined by the Downs and and Black checklist and the PEDro scale varied greatly. The scores reported by the Downs and Black checklist ranged from 19 to 21 on a 27-point scale. PEDro scale yielded scores ranging between two and six on a 10-point scale. A vote count revealed that the exercise interventions increased the physical fitness, aquatic skills, social behaviors, and sensory integration children with ASD. In summary, the variation within the scores and the quality of the studies leads to a demand for future research.; In order to adequately determine what exercise interventions effectively increase physical activity in children with ASD, future researchers should conduct randomized controlled trials in order to produce the highest quality of evidence.

During the researcher's work with looked after children for the past four years, it became clear that adolescent placements were much more likely to break down than others. Although there is some literature about foster placement breakdowns, the researcher did not really get an answer as to the causes of adolescent placement breakdowns. This study therefore explores causal factors of adolescent placement breakdowns as seen by foster carers, adolescents and professionals. It is evident from this study that there are no easy answers. Although the adolescent, as much as any other child, craves to belong, to be listened to and be respected, it seems that it is not always possible for foster carers to put this into practice, given the challenging behaviour that adolescents often display. Recommendations are based on relevant literature and the empirical study, in the hope that it might be useful to those with an interest in this field. / Social Work / M.Diac. (Play Therapy)

During the researcher's work with looked after children for the past four years, it became clear that adolescent placements were much more likely to break down than others. Although there is some literature about foster placement breakdowns, the researcher did not really get an answer as to the causes of adolescent placement breakdowns. This study therefore explores causal factors of adolescent placement breakdowns as seen by foster carers, adolescents and professionals. It is evident from this study that there are no easy answers. Although the adolescent, as much as any other child, craves to belong, to be listened to and be respected, it seems that it is not always possible for foster carers to put this into practice, given the challenging behaviour that adolescents often display. Recommendations are based on relevant literature and the empirical study, in the hope that it might be useful to those with an interest in this field. / Social Work / M.Diac. (Play Therapy)

Text in Afrikaans with a summary in Afrikaans and English / The motivation for this study was to use animal-assisted therapy to the advantage of the child with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. The purpose of this study was to describe the use of therapeutic horse riding in Gestalt therapy and its influence on the awareness levels of the child with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome that present with Attention deficit/Hyperactivity disorder. For the purpose of this study a quantitative research approach with a descriptive nature was used. Semi-structured interviews were used to compile information about a single child in a therapeutic milieu. This information was combined with information gathered from the literature to compile guidelines for the counsellor. In this study horse riding was effectively combined with Gestalt play therapy to enhance the awareness levels of the child with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. / Die motivering van hierdie ondersoek was om diergefasiliteerde terapie tot voordeel van die kind met Fetale Alkohol Sindroom te benut. Die doel van die studie was om die benutting van terapeutiese perdry in Gestaltspelterapie en die invloed daarvan op die bewustheidsvlakke van die kind met Fetale Alkohol Sindroom wat met Aandagafleibaarheid/hiperaktiwiteitsindroom presenteer te beskryf. Vir die doel van hierdie studie is kwalitatiewe navorsing met 'n beskrywende aard benut. Semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude is gebruik om inligting in te samel rakende 'n enkele kind in 'n terapeutiese milieu. Hierdie inligting is gekombineer met die inligting uit die literatuur ten einde riglyne vir die berader op te stel. In hierdie studie is perdry effektief by Gestaltspelterapie geintegreer om die kind met Fetale Alkohol Sindroom se bewustheidsvlakke te verhoog. / Practical Theology / M.Diac. (Play Therapy)