Archives of Rehabilitation (Journal of Rehabilitation)
Year:2010 | Volume:11 | Issue:3 (43)|Papers Count:13

Objective: The goal of this research was to study progress of reading literacy in hearing impaired students by comparing them in three educational degrees.Materials & Methods: In this analytical and applied research that was a cross–sectional and comparative study, from fourth grade, guidance and high school students of the exceptional schools in Karaj, Shahriar, Shahre Ghods, Hashtgerd and Robat Karim, 119 hearing impaired students were selected conveniently and their reading literacy evaluated by PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) booklets in three components including: reading ability, Informational comprehension and literal comprehension. Data were analyzed by independent t-test.Results: There were no significant differences between elementary fourth grade and guidance school third grade students with moderate and sever hearing impairment in reading literacy level and informational and literal comprehension texts (P>0.05). Reading literacy level and literal comprehension texts were significantly different between guidance school third grade and high school third grade students with moderate (P=0.004 & P=0.032 respectively) and sever (P=0.011 & P=0.005 respectively) hearing impairment, but informational texts comprehension between these two groups was significantly different only in moderate hearing impaired students (P=0.008).Conclusion: The reading literacy development in hearing impaired students has a slow progress which is beyond educational degrees and amount of hearing loss. It is necessary to consider the literacy and reading promotion and direction towards the learning and comprehension deep layers in different educational degrees in exceptional educational system.

Objectives: The Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) was developed to assess temperament including Novelty Seeking (NS), Harm Avoidance (HA), Reward Dependence (RD), Persistence (PS), and Character including Self-Directedness (SD), Cooperativeness (CO) and Self Transcendence (ST) dimensions of Cloninger's biopsychosocial model of personality in adults. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of this inventory.Materials & Methods: In this validity test and standardization study, after translation of TCI into Farsi and back translation, the final form was prepared and administered to 220 students who were selected via simple sampling. Cronbach's alpha procedure and test-retest method was used to assess the reliability, and factor analysis of promax rotation was utilized to determine the validity of the inventory. Correlation of interscales and age with scales of TCI was calculated by Pearson correlation. A comparison of TCI scores between sex and also cross-cultural was down using independent t-test.Results: The alpha cofficients for the inventory ranged from 0.44 for the Persistence scale to 0.81 for the ST scale with a median 0f 0.68. The overall alpha cofficients for the whole inventory was 0.74. The Pearson correlation cofficient for the test-retest on 31 students after two months ranged from 0.53 for Novelty Seeking and Persistence to 0.82 for Harm Avoidance scales and from 0.24 for disorderliness vs regimentation (NS4) to 0.86 for fear of uncertainty vs self-confidene (HA2) subscales. The factor analysis showed six factors. Significant correlations were obtained between scales of Self-Directedness with Harm Avoidance (0.57), Self-Directedness with Cooperativeness (0.46)Conclusion: The current study confirms that Persian version of the Temperament and Character Inventory has satisfactory psychometric properties and acceptable reliability and validity for the use students of university population.

Objective: About 70 percent of mental retardation can be attributed to genetic causes. Whereas the recognization of genetic causes of mental retardation causes better programming and more precision council for prevention and control of mental retardation, so the aim of this study is to investigate the genetic causes of mental retardation in Golestan province.Materials & Methods: In this descriptive research which is a cross-sectional and applied study, fifty families with two or more affected children from different parts of Golestan province were collected with cooperation of Golestan state welfare organization and by simple sampling method. Mental retardation of affected people had been previously proved by physicians. Blood samples of patients and controls in the family were prepared. Patients were investigated for dysmorphism and microcephaly. Cytogenetic study, metabolic test, fragile X test, and linkage analysis for seven gene loci known for autosomal recessive primary microcephaly (MCPH) was carried out.Results: Chromosomal abnormalities were not observed in any family. One out of fifty families revealed fragile X syndrome and ten were affected to MCPH. Five out of ten microcephaly families were linked to MCPH (autosomal recessive primary microcephaly) loci.Conclusion: Autosomal recessive primary microcephaly (MCPH) make up about 20% 0f all mental retardation in Golestan province. This prevalence is very remarkable.

Objective: Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common and chronic mental health disorder through childhood. It is characterized with symptoms such as: inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. The purpose of this article was to investigate the effect of verbal self-instruction on the recovery of inattention symptoms in elementary school students with Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder Attention Deficit Disorder Type (ADD).Materials & Methods: This research was experimental with pretest-posttest control group design. By cluster sampling from second and third grades students of elementary schools in Tabriz, 30 boys who were diagnosed ADD by using Children Symptom Inventory (CSI-4) and interviewing through clinical psychologist based on diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders-fourth edition-text revision (DSM-IV-TR) standards, selected and matched according to Raven intelligence test. Then subjects were assigned randomly to experimental and control groups. Experimental group received verbal self instruction training for 8 sessions. To study the relationship between inattention symptoms and intervention of verbal self-instruction and control of pretest effect, analysis of covariance was used.Results: The results of analysis of covariance indicated significant relation (P<0.001) between intervention of verbal self-instruction and inattention symptoms.Conclusion: In sum, the intervention of verbal self-instruction program decreased inattention symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder students.

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare child abuse between normal children and children with learning disorder, aged 7-12 in Tehran city.Materials & Methods: This analytical and cross sectional study is a research in causative-comparative method. 120 normal children of primary school from districts 3, 7 and 15 of Tehran education and 120 children with learning disorder from three centers of primary school students with learning disorder (1, 2 and 3) were selected by multistage cluster sampling method and evaluated by Reliable Child Abuse Questionnaire. Data were analyzed by Pearson correlation coefficient, Friedman rank test and Paired T and Independent T tests.Results: In children's view, there were significant differences in mean scores of affective abuse (P<0.001) and total score of child abuse (P=0.002) between two groups. Likewise in parents' view, there were significant differences in mean scores of affective abuse (P<0.001), physical abuse (P=0.011) and total score of child abuse (P<0.001) between two groups. Also, there were significant differences between the ideas of children and their parents about physical abuse (P=0.002), sexual abuse (P<0.001) and ignorance (P<0.001).Conclusion: The findings reveal that there is a difference between normal children and children with learning disorder in the extent of child abuse regarding its type and in comparison with previous researches, affective abuse is more than other abuse types. So, it is necessary for mental health professionals to provide programs for training parents in future.

Objective: Many researchers believe hearing impaired people suffer from special disability in metaphor comprehension. This study was aimed to compare the comprehension of metaphoric expressions in mainstreaming sever hearing impaired and normal students of junior school in order to determine the source of metaphor comprehension impairment and find whether is this impairment due to their educational environment.Materials & Methods: In this cross-sectional and comparative study, 50 hearing student and 25 hearing impaired student were selected by simple randomized method and tested by two researcher made tasks. All examinee did non metaphoric words task. If they answered more than 75 percent of words correctly and they had all of inclusion criteria, metaphoric expression comprehension task was performed. Then the data were analyzed by statistical tests such as Independent sample T test and one way ANOVA.Results: Mainstreaming hearing impaired students showed difference significantly in score of comprehension of metaphoric expressions (P<0.001). The numbers of literal incorrect answers were more than meaning incorrect answers in mainstreaming hearing impaired students. There were no significant differences between score of comprehension of metaphoric expressions task in first, second and third grade of junior high school in normal hearing students (P=0.401) and mainstreaming hearing impaired students (P=0.120).Conclusion: Incorrect answers of mainstreaming hearing impaired students to test showed their incomplete comprehension from metaphoric expressions and significant difference between hearing impaired students and normal peers in comprehension of metaphoric expressions showed the educational environment of mainstreaming schools is not enough for understanding metaphoric expressions.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate of the postural strategies variability in low back pain patients, as a criterion in the adaptability evaluation of this system to the environmental demands and comparison of patients with healthy persons and also the importance of psychological factors associated with pain as an effective factor in postural disturbances was assessed.Materials & Methods: This analytical, cross-sectional and case-control study was performed on twenty one recurrent non-specific low back pain patients whom had been selected simply and conveniently and twenty one healthy persons whom had been matched with patients. The electromyographic activity of Deltoid, External Oblique, Transverse Abdominis / Internal Oblique and Erector Spinae muscles of each person was recorded in 75 rapid arm flexion with maximum acceleration. To study the patient’s avoidance belief and disability, two standard tools Fear-Avoidance Belief Questionnaire (FABQ) and Roland-Morris Questionnaire were used respectively. Data were analyzed by MANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficient.Results: The results showed that chronic low back pain patients exhibit less variability in their anticipatory postural adjustments than the control group (P=0.047). However, the decrease in variability of the timing of anticipatory postural adjustments of External Oblique (P=0.45) and Erector Spinae (P=0.6) muscles was not significant. The correlation between the timing variability of anticipatory postural adjustments and fear-avoidance belief questionnaire scores was significant (P=0.006), however there was no significant correlation between this variable and disability (P=0.09) in the patients.Conclusion: There is a decrease in variability of postural control system of recurrent non-specific low back pain patients that can result in the persistence of pain and chronicity by decreasing the adaptability to environmental demands. The restoration of variability to postural control system should be taken into consideration in rehabilitation of these patients.

Objective: Difficulty in achieving information usually is the first silent sign in progressive neurologic diseases as Alzheimer. Other cognitive processes such as sentence comprehension and understanding are impaired in Alzheimer. The aim of this study is to investigate the relation between working memory and sentence comprehension in patients with Alzheimer and Compare them with healthy elderly persons.Materials & Methods: In this cross-sectional, analytical and comparative study, ten Alzheimer's patients aged sixty or older were simple randomly selected among Iran Alzheimer association patients and ten healthy elderly persons were matched with patients and selected. Gathering information was applied through interview with patients and their family members and answering the epidemiological questionnaire. Then Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), Working Memory and Sentence Comprehension tests were used for data collection and Pearson's correlation coefficient and Independent T test were used to analyze them.Results: There were no significant differences between two groups in phonological and articulatory tests on span in working memory (P=0.480), but their differences in central executive processes in working memory (P=0.006), simple sentences comprehension task (P<0.001) and complicated sentences comprehension task (P=0.004) were significant. There were direct and incomplete correlations between phonological span variable with simple (P=0.120, r=0.524) and complicated (P=0.007, r=0.790) sentences comprehension, and also between central executive processes with simple (P<0.001, r=0.874) and complicated (P=0.035, r=0.667) sentences comprehension in patients groupConclusion: The findings suggest that working memory capacity in patients with Alzheimer disease compared with healthy elders is some what reduced. Also, sentence comprehension impairment in these patients may be due to reduced resources of working memory and highly correlated with central executive processes.

Objective: There was no complete information about the effect of wearing a cervical collar on postural stability, despite the widespread use of it. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of cervical collar in neutral position and 20 degrees extension of head and neck on balance.Materials & Methods: In this interventional and quasi-experimental study, thirty-six healthy students were conveniently selected through simple sampling method and mean scores of displacement and sway velocity of center of pressure on anteroposterior and mediolateral directions and total (in sway velocity) were measured in four different standing positions [neutral position of head and neck with and without cervical collar and 20 degrees (20o) head and neck extended position with and without cervical collar] by force platform. Paired Sample T-test was employed for statistical analysis.Results: Mediolateral sway velocity in 20o extended head and neck position with collar increased in comparison with the neutral position significantly (P=0, 043), but the other balance parameters had no significant increases. No significant difference was found in other balance parameters of neutral position between wearing a collar and no collar. Also, there was no significant decrease in postural stability in 20 degrees extension of head and neck.Conclusion: Wearing a cervical collar in head and neck extended position, causes postural stability decreasing, while use of it in neutral position has no acute effect on postural stability.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the skill, fatigue and vision-related differences between athlete and non-athlete men in reliability of center of pressure (COP) measures derived from force platform.Materials & Methods: In this methodological and validation study, postural sway of 15 athlete and 16 non-athlete men who had been simply and conveniently selected, were tested on force platform on two sessions with a 48-72 hours interval. Center of pressure parameters were recorded during quiet two-legged standing before and after a general fatigue by treadmill exercise, with eyes open (EO) and eyes closed (EC). Standard deviation (SD) of amplitude and velocity in anteroposterior (AP) and mediolateral directions and mean total velocity were calculated on the base of collected data from thirty seconds test on center of pressure. Data were analyzed by Independent T test, Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC), Standard Error of Measurement (SEM) and Coefficient of Variation (CV).Results: Higher intraclass correlation coefficient was found for center of pressure measures in the athletes compared with the non-athletes. Also, intraclass correlation coefficient increased in post-fatigue compared with pre-fatigue, and eyes closed compared with eyes open conditions. Coefficients of variation smaller than 15% were obtained formost of the center of pressure measures. Regarding the level of skill, fatigue and vision, mean total velocity (P<0.001) and standard deviation of velocity in anteroposterior (P<0.001) were the most reliable parameters.Conclusion: The results can aid to researchers in select of reliable center of pressure measures for future studies about postural control insports. In this way, researchers can use mean total velocity and standard deviation of velocity in anteroposterior in their studies in same conditions on athletes.