Children with Down syndrome (DS) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) frequently have difficulty riding a two-wheel bicycle. The purpose of this study was to investigate an intervention using an adapted bicycle and individualized instruction to teach 71 youth to ride a standard two-wheel bicycle. Youth with DS (n = 30) and ASD (n = 41) between the ages of nine and 18 years took part in this study. After five days of training, 73.3% of children with DS and 85.4% with ASD successfully demonstrated the ability to ride the bicycle more than 100 feet. Leg strength differentiated riders from nonriders in both groups. For the youth with DS, those who learned to ride were significantly older and heavier than those who did not learn to ride. Participants with ASD who learned to ride were significantly taller and stronger than those with ASD who did not learn to ride a two-wheel bicycle. Implications are discussed.
Objective: To describe the associations between neuropsychological variables and social problemsolving skills in children with congenital versus acquired brain dysfunction. Participants: Twenty-two children and adolescents with cerebral palsy or myelomeningocele (developmental condition, or DC) and 22 with history of traumatic brain injury (TBI), ages 7-12 years, IQ Ͼ 70. Measures: Social Problem-Solving Measure (SPSM), Video Cues and Consequences (VCC), and brief motor-free neuropsychological assessment. Results: The DC group generated significantly fewer solutions to hypothetical problematic social scenarios than the TBI group, but differences in the relative frequencies of solution types were minimal. The pattern of associations between neuropsychological and social problem-solving variables differed between groups. Conclusions: Neuropsychological status may contribute to development and expression of aspects of social skills, but there may be subtle differences in the nature of that contribution in children with congenital versus acquired brain lesions.
Social Information Processing and Social CompetenceMeasures of social information processing (SIP) have successfully predicted actual interpersonal behavior and social status among children (Dodge,
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