Study of Children with Down Syndrome - Literature review Example

Article Reviews Article II: Dual Diagnosis in Offenders with Intellectual Disability: Setting Research Priorities: A Review of Research Findings Concerning Psychiatric Disorder (Excluding personality Disorder) Among Offenders with Intellectual Disability by G. O’Brien (Journal of Intellectual Disability Research/Volume 46 Supplement, May 2002, pp21-30). The article is a mini-review of studies and researches concerning individual offenders with intelligence disability (ID) and dual diagnosis. Intelligence disability, according to the book Adapted Physical Ability, which was once referred to as mental retardation is characterized by the following: “significantly sub-average intellectual functioning; impairment in the performance of adaptive skills, and; evident before age eighteen” (Steadward et al 2003 p 560). The author’s main focus here is to review existing literature on dual diagnosis specifically of individuals with ID who have history of offending. The author’s purpose may be to establish the relation or susceptibility of dual diagnosed individuals (those diagnosed with ID and another psychiatric disorder) with offending. In approaching the subject, O’Brien initially discussed existing studies and literature, quantitatively and qualitatively, on individuals with ID and psychiatric disorders commonly attached to them focusing on such psychiatric disorders as depression, schizophrenia, manic depressive disorder and other major psychotic disorders such as anxiety/neurotic disorders, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), after which he continued on his main topic. After using and citing sixty, more or less, sources including previous works by him for this 9-page article, O’Brien ended with a conclusion that dual diagnosis on offenders with ID, as a subject of research, does not rank high in the ladder of research subjects. He recommends however that a study on offenders with ID additionally diagnosed with autism is imperative. The first thing noticeable about the article is its inappropriately very long title punctuated twice by colons and the enclosure of some words in parenthesis which makes it look and sound complicated. Actually, the author could have a provided a simpler and less ambiguous title by cutting it and using either of the two relevant phrases in it: Dual Diagnosis in Offenders with Intellectual Disability, or; A Review of Research Findings Concerning Psychiatric Disorder (Excluding Personality Disorder) Among Offenders with Intellectual Disability. A choice of either would have made the title simpler and easier understood. As it is, the title seemed to reflect only redundancy. The abstract however, is short, crisp and to the point and clearly encapsulates the steps and methodology undertaken by the author in writing his article. The same cannot be said however of the introductory part of the article. Nowhere in the introductory part does the author intimate to his readers the precise purpose or the thesis of his article. It is bereft of any justification as to why the author is undertaking a review of studies and researches on offenders determined to have dual diagnosis, one of which is ID. This inadvertence compels the reader to rely on his own version of what the author is actually trying to prove in his article which could prove to be a delicate task as it may not really tally with what the author actually has in mind. Secondly, such an omission simply defies the acceptable format rudimentary in technical writing. The purpose of a piece of writing must be put into the writing itself and in a sentence to provide focus and make the article relevant and effective (Rizvi 2005 p 484). The introduction, on the other hand, merely provides the excuses which the author used to rationalise the inclusion of a large chunk of details which are not relevant to it. A reading of the title, the abstract and the introduction points to the fact that what the author really intended to present to his readers is the connection between a dual diagnosed individual (with ID forming as one of the diagnosed disability) and offending. A large part of the article however, is dedicated to dual diagnosis in plain individuals (not offending) with ID on the pretext that there is not much literature available for offending individuals with ID diagnosed with psychiatric or psychotic disorders and only a mere three pages is dedicated to the actual topic of offending individuals with dual diagnosis (one of which is ID). The former does not really serve any purpose and just adds confusion – a confusion that was initially sowed by the lack of an explicit thesis in the abstract and introduction of the article. Had the author initially stated explicitly his purpose in the abstract and introduction and not leave it up to the reader to draw his or her own conclusion, perhaps the relevance of the lengthy discussion on the dual diagnosis on individuals ( with ID) could have been justified. As it is, this part of the discussion was merely rationalised by the author as a stopgap for the lack of materials on the real topic of the article. The consequence of this stopgap measure is the presence of irrelevant references which constituted a very large part of the author’s sixty or more references. The author could have made additional statements which could successfully qualify and link the discussions on dual diagnosis (with ID as one of the disabilities) to his primary topic making the former a relevant component of the article rather than making excuses as to the lack of materials and literature on the latter. The author also suggests at the last part of the article that although research on dual diagnosis involving offending individuals seems to constitute a low priority in researchers’ books, he is of the opinion that there is an imperative need for a research with respect to autism as an accompanying condition to individuals with ID who are also offenders. He does not however give a clear basis for this opinion other than stating that autism seems to have a higher rate (5-10% in mild and up to 30% in severe cases) in offending individuals with ID. The question that comes to mind, for example, is what will such research hope to accomplish? Will stricter restraining measures be imposed on an individuals diagnosed with both ID and ASD? The author should have made his case clearer by outlining the reasons for his recommendations. As it is, the article seems to be a mere collection of scientific researches and studies rather than an article with a purpose. Article I: A Longitudinal Study of Children with Down syndrome Who Experienced Early Intervention Programming by Barbara Connolly, Sam Morgan, Fay Russell & William Fulliton (Physical Therapy/Volume. 73, Number 3/March 1993, pp 170-179). This article is a research report involving a sample group of ten children with Down syndrome who were subjected to early intervention (EI) program. The children, composed of seven girls and three boys, were compared to a similar number of children of about the same age (six girls and four boys) who were not subjected to an EI program. The purpose of this longitudinal comparative study was to determine the differences, if any, of long-term motor, cognitive or adaptive functioning between the two groups of children. Assessment for motor functioning between the two groups was made using the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency; the cognitive and adapted skills between them were determined through the employment of Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, the Vineland Social Security Scale and the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency. The findings of the article are: the EI group scored higher in cognitive and adaptive skills than the group not subjected to early intervention and a more positive result is that the adaptive skills did not decrease with age which is typical with Down syndrome individuals, and; the gross and fine motor skills of the EI group decreased below their chronological age levels but their mean gross mean motor skills went above their fine motor skills levels. The abstract of the article is well-written because it shortly states everything that the article is about: aim, subjects, methods, results and conclusions. The introduction likewise plainly states the purpose of the article is to “examine the functioning of adolescents with Down syndrome who experienced early intervention as infants and who continued their education in classrooms appropriate to their needs” (Connolly et al, 1993 p. 172). In addition, the authors included in the introduction an enumeration of six specific questions that the article will be endeavouring to answer: whether the changes in motor skills happened over time; whether the changes continue to occur over time; comparison between changes in motor skills and cognitive levels; intellectual functioning between EI group and non-EI group; social and adaptive functioning between EI group and non-EI group, and whether the EI group exhibited the intellectual decline that accompanies aging typical in Down syndrome individuals. The unequivocal statement of purpose and the enumeration of questions which the article is seeking to answer provide a very useful pre-reading exercise to the reader because they mentally prepare him or her for the content of the article. They do not only allow him to anticipate the significant data he or she will be learning from the article but also guide him or her on which relevant information to look for within the text. In addition, the reader is also assured of the quality of the article knowing that the authors followed a systematic approach and methodology in coming up with the article. According to the book Effective Technical Communication, the planning of any systematic, effective and well-thought out writing always starts with the definition of the problem because the direction of the writing naturally proceeds as a consequence. Similarly, a well-defined, unambiguous statement of purpose is a good guaranty that the authors have written a focused and relevant article (Rizvi 2003 p. 484). The only initial drawback of the article at this stage, to this reviewer at least, is the failure of the authors to exercise the option of allocating a small part of the article to defining the term “early intervention.” The fact of the intended publication of the article in a professional journal like the Physical Therapy should not have limited its authors’ potential readership to professionals in the field because the information it purports to generate are similarly, if not more, valuable to parents with infants who are potentially afflicted with Down syndrome. In addition, the authors failed to consider the layman’s convenience when they omitted to define some of the highly technical terms employed in the article like for instance, differentiating “gross motor skills” from “fine motor skills.” The title of the article however, is both appropriate to the content of the text and clear. It is short (which is good because it does not invite ambiguity) but has successfully encapsulated the entirety of the whole article which are defined by the following words: longitudinal, implying that the study went on for a considerable period of years; children with DS, which are the primary subject of the study, and; early intervention programming, which qualifies and segregates the subject from all other children with DS. The title alone, apprises the reader of the purpose and content of the 10-page article in just mere thirteen words which includes one article and three prepositions. The presentation of the article itself makes reading relatively easier of this rather densely technical data-packed article. The authors divided the article into four major headings: method, results; discussions, and; conclusions. The headings were individually broken down into subheadings. The “method,” for example, is further broken down into subjects, test, procedures, and data analysis. This method of dividing, subdividing and tagging every part of the article is easy to the eyes and takes the edge off in reading technical writing. They help the reader to stay in focus of the subject at hand and sustain that focus throughout the article. Despite the easy and helpful format, a glaring omission in the article significantly stands out: it fails to outline the specific details of the early intervention program employed on the subjects. This is quite surprising considering that the entire article is fundamentally hinged on early intervention programme, and no other, as the distinguishing element in the subject-children with Down syndrome. In addition, there is no conclusive explanation and rationale offered by the authors for the wide variation in the motor skills results (3.5 to 7.7 years for gross motor skills, and 3.0 to 7.5 years for fine motor skills) of children under the EI programme or why the same children had higher mean gross motor skills than fine motor skills. Aside from the above-perceived flaws, by this reviewer, the article was well-written and objective. The authors did not forget to lay down the caveat that the results are not absolutely conclusive and should be viewed with caution because certain variables, unknown to the researchers, may have influenced them. The subject and purpose of the article and study are undeniably very important in medical and medical-related fields. They are likewise very important to laymen, like parents and relatives, who are forced to confront the effects of Down syndrome everyday of their lives, but would have impacted greatly had the authors eased up a bit on the technical language stuff and included certain information to help the layman reader understand the article better. References: Connolly, Barbara & Sam Morgan & Fay Russell & William Fulliton. A Longitudinal Study of Children with Down Syndrome Who Experienced Early Intervention Programming. http://www.ptjournal.org/cgi/reprint/73/3/170 O’Brien, G. Dual diagnosis in offenders with intellectual disability: setting research priorities: a review of research findings concerning psychiatric disorder (excluding personality disorder) among offenders with intellectual disability. http://www.nasddds.org/pdf/DualDiagnosisOffenders.pdf Rizvi, M. Asharaf. Effective Technical Communication. Tata McGraw-Hill, 2005 Steadward, Robert Daniel & Elizabeth Jane Watkins & Garry David Wheeler. Adapted Physical Activity, Canadian electronic library Edition, illustrated. University of Alberta, 2003 Read More