Four different age groups (8-9-year-olds, 11-12-year-olds, 13-15-year-olds and young adults) performed a spatial rule-switch task in which the sorting rule had to be detected on the basis of feedback or on the basis of switch cues. Performance errors were examined on the basis of a recently introduced method of error scoring for the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST; Barcelo & Knight, 2002). This method allowed us to differentiate between errors due to failure-to-maintain-set (distraction errors) and errors due to failure-to-switch-set (perseverative errors). The anticipated age differences in performance errors were most pronounced for perseverative errors between 8-9 years and 11-12 years, but for distraction errors adult levels were not reached until 13-15 years. These findings were interpreted to support the notion that set switching and set maintenance follow distinct developmental trajectories.

The start of the Contact programme coincided with improved quality of interaction between professional caregivers and clients with visual and intellectual disabilities in group homes. Further research is necessary regarding the generalisability, long-term effects and effects on quality of life.

From the perspective of attachment theory, this paper discusses individual differences in the quality of caregiving by direct-care staff for persons with intellectual disabilities. Theoretical arguments and findings from related literature are cited to support the probable role of professionals' own attachment experiences and their mental representations thereof. Case examples are drawn from a study on video-based interaction guidance for direct-care staff in group homes for persons with multiple, serious disabilities. These examples illustrate how interventions may avoid attachment-related defences against changing the quality and affective mutuality of personal contact with clients. However, the possibility is discussed that in parallel processes, quality management systems and institutional culture may selectively reinforce care patterns associated with insecure, dismissing attachment, while failing to reward the positive contribution that sensitive, affectively attuned caregiving makes to wellbeing of persons with disabilities.