Current Developmental Disorders Reports最新文献

Purpose of review: Early intervention programs have been shown to increase the overall socio-emotional and physical wellbeing of children in early childhood and educational settings. The goal of this narrative review is to explore recent literature that describes implementation of these systems and highlights innovative practices in the early childhood intervention sector.

Recent findings: Twenty-three articles were included, and we identified three themes in this review. The literature addressed concepts of innovative techniques in relation to childhood disability interventions; policy practices that promote child, family, and practitioner wellbeing; and attention to the importance of trauma-informed care in education for children and families who face the impacts of social marginalization such as racism and colonization.

Summary: Notable shifts in the current early intervention paradigms are approaches to understanding disability informed by intersectional and critical theories, as well as systems level thinking that goes beyond focusing on individual intervention by influencing policy to advance innovative practice in the sector.

Purpose of review: To identify and map the characteristics and outcomes of programs designed to prepare siblings for their future roles with their sibling with a neurodevelopmental disability.

Recent findings: Existing programs to support siblings of individuals with a neurodevelopmental disability often focus on providing information about neurodevelopmental disabilities, creating a community for siblings to connect with each other, and connecting siblings to resources and services to support them in their roles. Some programs are offered to the whole family with specific sessions for siblings. While these program descriptions are provided in the literature, there is limited understanding about the impacts and outcomes of these programs on siblings of an individual with a neurodevelopmental disability.

Summary: Fifty-eight articles (published between 1975 and 2020, with > 50% published since 2010) met the inclusion criteria, representing 54 sibling programs from 11 countries. Extracted data represented 1033 (553 females) sibling participants, between 4 and 67 years old. Twenty-seven programs focused on the outcome of knowledge acquisition for the siblings and thirty-one programs focused on the outcome of empowerment for the siblings to teach skills to their sibling with a neurodevelopmental disability. While there is an increasing number of programs for siblings of individuals with a neurodevelopmental disability in the past decade, there is a lack of siblings as co-developers or facilitators. Future research should consider the various roles that siblings can have in programs to address their needs.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40474-023-00272-w.

Purpose of review: The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions have had a significant impact on people's everyday lives, including the lives of Autistic adults. We aimed to (a) synthesise all papers currently published on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on autistic adults and (b) identify lessons for the care and support of Autistic adults in pandemic and post-pandemic times.

Recent findings: Fifty-five papers met the inclusion criteria. Most studies focused on the pandemic's impact on the wellbeing of Autistic adults. Several studies focused on the use of (telehealth) services or the risk of COVID-19 infection/hospitalisation.

Summary: Autistic adults were significantly impacted by the pandemic, both directly as indicated by higher COVID-19 infection and hospitalisation rates, but also indirectly due to severe service disruptions and social restrictions. Even though there were large differences observed both between as well as within individuals in terms of the negative/positive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, most studies reported a negative effect on Autistic adults' mental health. We draw several lessons from this review for the future care and support of Autistic adults, all of which must be underpinned by participatory research methods, that is, where Autistic community members are actively involved in setting research questions, testing the acceptability of the methods and interpreting and disseminating the results.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40474-023-00268-6.