Disability in children and adolescents: the extent of the impact on psychiatric disorders and educational deficits

Abstract

Introduction Most children/adolescents with disability live in low and middle-income countries and, worldwide, they are more likely to have mental health problems and achieve worse academic performance compared to those with typical development. Objective To assess whether Brazilian children/adolescents with four types of disabilities are more likely to have psychiatric disorders and educational deficits than children/adolescents with typical development. Method A multicenter cross-sectional study involving a school-based probabilistic sample of second to sixth graders (N = 1,674) from public schools in four Brazilian regions. The four types of disabilities (intellectual, visual, hearing, and motor) were assessed using the Ten Questions Questionnaire. Psychiatric disorders were measured with the Schedule for Affective Disorders/Schizophrenia for School-Age Children (K-SADS-PL), and academic performance was evaluated using the Teste de Desempenho Acadêmico – TDE (the academic performance test). Results A logistic regression model with cluster-robust errors identified the following statistically significant associations with three of the four types of disability (the exception was hearing). Intellectual disability was associated with anxiety (p < 0.01), depression (p < 0.01), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (p < 0.001), school failure (p < 0.01), and poor academic performance (p < 0.01). Visual disability was associated with depression (p < 0.01). Motor disability was marginally associated with ADHD (p = 0.08). Conclusions Presence of disabilities (intellectual, visual, and motor) in children/adolescents was associated with psychiatric disorders, school failure, and academic performance. It is therefore important to identify presence of disabilities and plan and deliver specific interventions and specialized educational care for the needs presented by these children/adolescents. This is particularly important in low and middle-income countries, where these disabilities are frequent among children/adolescents.

Alta prevalencia de discapacidad intelectual y de comportamiento en niños de 2-17 años, Honduras 2017

“…30 En Brasil, un estudio multicéntrico en instituciones educativas de cuatro regiones geográficas mostró que había asociación entre discapacidad intelectual con trastornos afectivos (ansiedad y depresión), trastornos de hiperactividad, atención, fracaso escolar y bajo rendimiento académico. 31 Lo anterior refuerza la idea de no solo identificar la discapacidad en la infancia bajo un concepto válido y universal que como se vio es de tipo intelectual y conductual, sino educar a todos los involucrados en el desarrollo del niño (sobre todo la primera infancia) como son la familia, el sistema educativo y sistema de salud para que aprendiendo a identificar los niños con alguna discapacidad se mejore el acceso a salud, inclusión educativa adecuada a sus necesidades haciendo intervenciones que lle-ven a dar mayor independencia en los niños, justicia social y su inclusión en el aparato productivo del país. 32,33 Este estudio tiene como limitante el muestreo partiendo de escogencia de "comunidades seguras" dentro de las AGI de los estudiantes a partir de las cuales se seleccionaron los hogares y niños, por lo que el fenómeno de discapacidad con todos sus determinantes sociodemográficas y biológicas de las comunidades "no seguras" queda subestimado y esto puede haber influido en la discordancia de algunas variables con la ENDESA/ MICS del país realizada en 2019.…”

Celiac disease in children and adolescents with Down syndrome: behavioural, adaptive and sleep profiles

“…1999; Zaqueu et al . 2021), to better characterise psychopathology. Another limitation of the study is its cross‐sectional design, not considering long‐term trajectories of emotional and behavioural problems.…”

“…The first limitation is the exclusive use of a parent report questionnaire to assess emotional and behavioural problems in youth with DS. Future studies on the association between CD and emotional and behavioural problems in DS should employ additional instruments, such as clinical interviews (Masi et al 1999;Zaqueu et al 2021), to better characterise psychopathology. Another limitation of the study is its cross-sectional design, not considering long-term trajectories of emotional and behavioural problems.…”

Assessment of oppositional defiant disorder and oppositional behavior in children and adolescents with Down syndrome

“…The comparison of the ODD symptoms detection of three widely used parent-report questionnaires [i.e., the CBCL, the Swanson, Nolan, and Pelham–IV Rating Scale (SNAP-IV) and the Conners’ Parent Rating Scales Long Version (CPRS), Revised] vs. a semi-structured psychopathological interview, namely, the K-SADS, that is regarded as the criterion standard for child psychiatric diagnoses ( 52 – 54 ) and it has been used also for psychopathological assessment of children and adolescents with borderline intelligence quotient (IQ) ( 55 ) and with ID ( 26 , 56 , 57 ).…”