This qualitative study investigated the perceptions of 12 adolescents with visual impairments on the social support they received from their parents. Data were generated from in-depth interviews, field notes, a reflexive journal, informal observations, and time lines of life events. Emerging themes illustrated processes by which participants received emotional, informational, and tangible support. The implications for the training of parents, rehabilitation counselors, and educators are provided.

In this study, the authors investigated the effects of demographic, medical, and vocational rehabilitation service variables on employment outcomes of persons living with HIV/AIDS. Binary logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine predictors of employment outcomes using two groups drawn from Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA-911) data. Only service variables were found to be significantly related to employment outcomes in both groups. Job placement assistance and on-the-job supports were found to be significant predictors of a successful employment outcome at closure. Whereas higher case service expenditures increased the likelihood of achieving employment at closure, longer length of time in rehabilitation decreased the likelihood of employment at closure.

Differences in rates of case closure, case service cost, hours worked per week, and weekly wage between customers with autism closed successfully in competitive employment and supported employment were found using the Rehabilitation Service Administration national database of 2001. Using logistic regression, customer demographic variables related to successful competitive employment included age, years of education, and presence of a secondary disability. Case service variables related to successful competitive employment included job finding, job placement, and maintenance. Of customer demographic variables related to successful supported employment, White customers were more likely to be closed successfully. Job placement was the case service variable related to successful supported employment. Implications for rehabilitation professionals and for future research on vocational rehabilitation outcomes with customers with autism are provided.

Rehabilitation professionals may unknowingly rely on stereotypes and specious beliefs when dealing with people with disabilities. One such belief is that an individual's adjustment to disability proceeds through well-defined stages or phases. Literally hundreds of publications based primarily on clinical observations promote various stage or phase theories of psychosocial adjustment to chronic illness and disability despite contradictory empirical findings. Developments in mathematics, physics, biology, economics, and psychology over the last four decades, however, have led to the formulation of theories that suggest new models of the adjustment process. Specifically, we believe Catastrophe, Chaos, and Complexity Theories hold considerable promise in this regard, and yet these theories have received relatively little attention in the rehabilitation research literature. The purpose of this article is to review these theories and suggest applications in adjustment to chronic illness and disability.

The purpose of this study was to compare factor structures from Taiwanese teachers' ratings with diagnostic definitions of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as described in the DSM-III-R, DSM-IV, and ICD-10; to examine how factor structures of Taiwanese teachers' ratings of ADHD symptoms compare with factor structures reported in research using school-based American participants; and to examine gender differences. One hundred and twenty-one homeroom teachers from six public elementary schools in Taipei County, Taiwan, rated two boys and two girls randomly selected from their homerooms using the ADHD checklist. Findings from this study support the concurrent validity of the DSM-IV ADHD factor structures of hyperactivity-impulsivity and inattention. Comparability of these findings with school-based U.S. studies suggests the cross-cultural congruency of behaviors associated with ADHD.