Fragile‐X syndrome, Down’s syndrome and autism: awareness and knowledge amongst special educators

York, Ann; Fraunhofer, N. Von; Turk, Jeremy; Sedgwick, Philip

doi:10.1046/j.1365-2788.1999.00219.x

Cited by 25 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 24 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Cognitive defects in those afflicted with DS include delayed speech and language development, and impairments in spatial and long-term memory. Roughly 5–10% of individuals with DS meet the diagnosis criteria for autism spectrum disorder [38–40], though diagnosis can be difficult in patients with severe ID. Most cases of the disorder are caused by a complete trisomy of chromosome 21 (HSA21), though there are rare cases of DS caused by partial trisomies in the long arm of HSA21, deemed the DS critical region (DSCR) [41].…”

Section: Spine Dysgenesis In Autism Related Disordersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dendritic spine dysgenesis in autism related disorders

Phillips

Pozzo-Miller

2015

Neuroscience Letters

164

133

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The activity-dependent structural and functional plasticity of dendritic spines has led to the long-standing belief that these neuronal compartments are the subcellular sites of learning and memory. Of relevance to human health, central neurons in several neuropsychiatric illnesses, including autism related disorders, have atypical numbers and morphologies of dendritic spines. These so-called dendritic spine dysgeneses found in individuals with autism related disorders are consistently replicated in experimental mouse models. Dendritic spine dysgenesis reflects the underlying synaptopathology that drives clinically relevant behavioral deficits in experimental mouse models, providing a platform for testing new therapeutic approaches. By examining molecular signaling pathways, synaptic deficits, and spine dysgenesis in experimental mouse models of autism related disorders we find strong evidence for mTOR to be a critical point of convergence and promising therapeutic target.

show abstract

Section: Spine Dysgenesis In Autism Related Disordersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dendritic spine dysgenesis in autism related disorders

Phillips

Pozzo-Miller

2015

Neuroscience Letters

164

133

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In particular, IQ and other indices of more specific cognitive functions are predicted by measures of the home environment (such as enrichment opportunities and economic status) for boys [Dyer-Friedman et al, 2002;Glaser et al, 2003] and girls [DyerFreidman et al, 2002] with the full mutation. At the same time, there is evidence that challenging child behaviors and a lack of social and professional support, as well as maternal premutation vulnerabilities, lead to lower levels of psychological wellbeing among some mothers [Roy et al, 1995;York et al, 1999;Bailey et al, 2000b;Johnston et al, 2003;Poehlmann et al, 2005] and thus, perhaps, a less than optimal environment within which their children with FXS must learn language [Murphy and Abbeduto, 2005].…”

Section: Within-syndrome Variabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Language development and fragile X syndrome: Profiles, syndrome‐specificity, and within‐syndrome differences

Abbeduto

Brady

Kover

2007

Ment. Retard. Dev. Disabil. Res. Rev.

176

149

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the leading inherited cause of mental retardation. In this article, we review what is known about the language and related problems of individuals with FXS. In doing so, we focus on the syndrome-specific features of the language phenotype and on the organismic (i.e., genetic and individual neurocognitive and behavioral) and environmental factors associated with within-syndrome variation in the phenotype. We also briefly review those aspects of the behavioral phenotype of FXS that are relevant for understanding syndrome-specific features of, and within-syndrome variability in, language. The review includes summaries of research on the prelinguistic foundations for language development and on each of the major components of language (i.e., vocabulary, morphosyntax, and pragmatics). Throughout the review, we point out implications of existing research for intervention as well as directions for future research.

show abstract

“…A study conducted in Great Britain investigated what educators in both the mainstream ( n = 102) and special needs ( n = 40) sectors knew about disorders like ASD [16]. The study found that 99% of the special needs educators and all of the mainstream educators knew what ASD was [16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing an isiZulu questionnaire with educators in primary schools in Pietermaritzburg to establish a baseline of knowledge of Autism Spectrum Disorder

2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundAutism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a significant childhood disorder and has a growing prevalence rate across the world. It has been identified in children from a wide range of racial groups, ethnicities and socio-economic groups, making it a globally relevant disorder. However, a lack of research on ASD in Africa makes it difficult to determine the prevalence rate, presentation and level of knowledge regarding the disorder locally. Therefore, assessing knowledge of ASD amongst professionals is a useful starting point for research in countries where research on ASD is limited. Educators in particular are a vital resource due to the likelihood of their early identification of developmental delays in children of school going age. Awareness studies reveal that professionals have poor awareness of ASD and therefore what educators in South Africa know about ASD needs to be established.MethodsThis study translated the Knowledge about Childhood Autism among Health Workers (KCAHW) questionnaire that was originally designed by Bakare and colleagues (Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health 4:17, 2008). The isiZulu KCAHW questionnaire was then used to investigate the level of knowledge of ASD amongst educators in Edendale, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Fifty (50) educators consented to complete the questionnaire and the data was analysed using the statistical programme SPSS.ResultsThe results suggested that educators have an adequate baseline knowledge of ASD but their knowledge was found to be lacking in specific detail. The mean total score for the educator sample was 13.08 (out of a possible 19) which suggested that educators in Edendale, Pietermaritzburg knew 68% of the symptoms covered in the questionnaire.ConclusionsThe isiZulu KCAHW questionnaire appears to be a useful measure for use in the South African context. It provided significant information regarding educator knowledge of ASD in Edendale, Pietermaritzburg. However, the analysis also showed that whilst the educators had an adequate general knowledge of ASD, they lacked specific insight into the disorder, particularly with regards to etiology and age of onset. Furthermore, the results showed that there is an opportunity for further research and interventions to develop knowledge of ASD within the local context in South Africa.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12887-016-0721-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

show abstract

Fragile‐X syndrome, Down’s syndrome and autism: awareness and knowledge amongst special educators

Cited by 25 publications

References 24 publications

Dendritic spine dysgenesis in autism related disorders

Dendritic spine dysgenesis in autism related disorders

Language development and fragile X syndrome: Profiles, syndrome‐specificity, and within‐syndrome differences

Assessing an isiZulu questionnaire with educators in primary schools in Pietermaritzburg to establish a baseline of knowledge of Autism Spectrum Disorder

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About