Growth and development of intellectually handicapped children

Abstract

There have been no studies in New Zealand designed to investigate the effectiveness of the major "systems-based" intervention programme available for intellectually handicapped children; the service offered by the New Zealand Society for the Intellectually Handicapped. The Society does not have a standardised programme running in all its Preschool/Special Care Centres throughout the country. However, the Auckland branch developed a formalised approach to programming and teaching in 1979. This study attempted to determine the effectiveness of this new approach in terms of the children it was designed to benefit. It was found that children attending Auckland Preschool/Special Care Centres did show greater rates of progress than children attending Preschool/Special Care Centres outside Auckland for a variety of different skills. For Downs Syndrome children these were self-help, cognitive and language skills. For motor-delayed multihandicapped children the skills were selp-help and language. These differences persisted when differences between the social and environmental backgrounds of the children from Auckland and outside Auckland were controlled for. It was also found that Downs Syndrome, motor-delayed multihandicapped and normal children showed different rates of progress for motor, socialisation, cognitive/academic and language skills. Rates of progress were not different for self-help skills although the absolute level of achievement was significantly different for the three populations. The three groups of children showed different rates of growth in a variety of physical measurements, and different absolute sizes in several others. Downs Syndrome children have shorter limbs than either of the other two groups of children. They also have the narrowest jaws and a small thorax. Motor-delayed multihandicapped children have the smallest limb diameters but have the longest faces. Downs Syndrome, motor-delayed multihandicapped and normal children differ in several ways in their social and environmental backgrounds. Parents of Downs Syndrome children are older than parents of the other two groups. Mothers of intellectually handicapped children are less likely to have a job than mothers of normal children. Different health records are evident between the three populations. Normal children tend to be seen as more healthy by their parents. Intellectually handicapped children tend to have less ascorbic acid in their diet than normal children. Downs Syndrome children are more susceptible to minor environmental fluctuations than motor-delayed multihandicapped or normal children. The cumulative effect of this hostile environment can be seen in their short stature and smaller overall body dimensions compared to normal children. Motor-delayed multihandicapped children do not show the same reaction to the environment as Downs Syndrome children. In this more severely handicapped group, the effect of the motor and intellectual handicap over-rides any effect the environment might have. However, nutritional intake is closely related to physical growth in these children. This is because in most cases exercise does not mediate between nutritional intake and physical growth.