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To assess and manage pain in children and adolescents with mild to moderate intellectual disability, healthcare providers need access to updated tools and current knowledge. Recent studies show that these children can verbally express pain and use self-assessment tools accurately. Moreover, they know pain coping strategies. Finally, they show mental imaging skills and are able to recall autobiographical memories. These new data suggest that such children and adolescents could be candidates to for hypno-analgesia protocols and behavioral relaxation.

Preterm infants frequently develop atypical sensory profiles, the tactile modality being particularly affected. However, there is a lack of recent investigation of neonatal tactile perception in a passive context, especially in preterms who are particularly exposed to this tactile stimuli. Our aims were to provide evidence of orienting responses (behavioral modifications directing subject's attention towards stimuli) and habituation to passive tactile stimuli in preterm neonates, to explore their ability to perceive spatial and temporal aspects of the stimulus, and to evaluate the effect of clinical factors on these abilities. We included 61 preterm neonates, born between 32 and 34 weeks of gestational age. At 35 weeks of corrected gestational age, we measured orienting responses (forearm, hand, and fingers movements) during vibrotactile stimulation of their hand and forearm; during a habituation and dishabituation paradigm, the dishabituation being either a location change or a pause in the stimulation sequence. Preterm newborns displayed a manual orienting response to vibrotactile stimuli which significantly decreased when the stimulus was repeated, regardless of the stimulated location on the limb. Habituation was delayed in subjects born at a younger gestational age, smaller birth weight, and having experienced more painful care procedures. Preterm neonates perceived changes in stimulus location and interstimulus time interval. Our findings provide insights on several aspects of the perception of repeated tactile stimuli by preterm neonates, and the first evidence of the early development of temporal processing abilities in the tactile modality. Future work will investigate the links between this ability and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Background : Studies of pain assessment in children with intellectual disabilities have focussed on those with the most severe impairments, highlighting their inability to self-report pain. This study explores pain report by children with mild to moderate impairments as a function of assessed verbal ability.Participants and method : 14 children, aged 8 to 18 years (M = 15) with mild to moderate intellectual impairment and no physical disabilities rated pain intensity for 4 vignettes depicting children in pain and for similar personal situations using the Faces Pain Scale -Revised (FPS-R: 0-10) and a 100 mm Visual Analogical Scale (VAS). They then described the quality of pain for each event.Results : Signifiant differences in pain ratings for the 4 vignettes indicated participants' ability to use the two pain measures. Participants provided up to 9 words to describe the vignettes. Words provided were appropriate. Conclusion: These results counter previous belief that children with limited conceptual abilities could not accurately rate pain.. Further research should examine the dynamic communication between these children and those assessing their pain.