Publications by authors named "Wendy Coster"

Importance: Autistic youth who graduate with a high school diploma may experience challenges in acquiring functional skills for everyday independence. Few studies have focused on how their functional and self-management skills change during the transition to adulthood.

Objective: To examine cross-sectional differences and longitudinal changes in the functional and self-management skills of transition-age autistic youth.

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Purpose: Research documents poor outcomes for autistic adults in the domains of employment, independent living, and social relationships. Measurement and sample limitations in prior studies may have amplified past estimates of poor outcomes. The goal of the current study was to improve upon past approaches and to create and describe a measurement approach to capture adult outcomes that reflected the context of young adulthood and the perspectives of autistic individuals, pairing objective outcome indicators with subjective satisfaction indicators.

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The purpose of this study was to understand the occupational performance of parents with cancer and to understand if photo-elicitation would provide new insights into these experiences. In a semi-structured photo-elicitation interview, 36 participants living with and beyond cancer who had children under 18 years old shared and discussed photographs related to their parenting experiences. Transcribed interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis.

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Despite the well-documented safety concerns and effect on quality of life, there does not yet exist a wide-reaching framework that links the etiologies of swallowing disorders to the potential short- and long-term outcomes in the context of International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). This paper introduces an expert-reviewed conceptual framework to highlight common etiologies of dysphagia as well as integrate immediate outcomes of dysphagia with long-term outcomes of dysphagia in terms of medical problems, health-related quality of life, functional effect, and psychosocial features. It also outlines the potential cyclical nature of long-term dysphagia outcomes perpetuating the original dysphagia.

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Importance: Throughout childhood, youth learn the skills they need to carry out their daily life tasks. Despite the importance of being able to manage these tasks to succeed in adulthood, limited research has examined the process through which youth learn to do so.

Objective: To investigate adolescents' perspectives of parental approaches that help them learn to manage daily responsibilities.

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Objective: To explore whether self-determination and family socioeconomic status (SES) mediate and/or moderate the relationship between mobility and community participation of adolescents and young adults with cerebral palsy (CP).

Design: Survey.

Setting: Online platform.

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Purpose: To understand the applicability and unique contributions of global positioning system (GPS) and geographic information system (GIS) technologies to investigate individuals' participation in the community.

Methods: A scoping review was conducted to summarize studies that employed GPS and/or GIS to assess community participation. Systematic literature searches were performed using nine electronic databases, up to April 2022.

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Autistic young adults experience challenges participating in the workforce, post-secondary schooling, and living in the community. We examined how participation outcomes have been measured in autistic young adults. Articles (n = 113) were identified through database searches and citation tracking.

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Aim: To examine the relationship between assisting hand use in bimanual activities and children's self-care activities and task performance.

Method: We retrospectively analysed daily functioning (Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory [PEDI]) and bimanual performance (Assisting Hand Assessment [AHA]) data from the assessment of 112 children (mean age: 8 years 10 months [SD 2 years 1 month], range 3 years 7 months-17 years 4 months; 66 males, 46 females) with unilateral spastic cerebral palsy (CP). We used Rasch analysis to examine the relationship between individual item scores from the AHA and the self-care items (functional skills, caregiver assistance) from the PEDI.

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Purpose: Youth with disabilities who graduate with a regular high school diploma often continue to have difficulties in their daily functioning that ultimately impact adulthood outcomes. To better understand these functional difficulties and determine how best to address them, it is important to distinguish deficits in discrete skills from difficulty organizing skills to self-manage complex tasks associated with adult roles. The purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which challenges in social, executive function and behavior management factors relate to these two aspects of daily functioning.

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Social communication and executive functioning challenges as well as co-occurring anxiety/depression may make acquiring the skills needed to manage daily life tasks difficult for diploma-track autistic youth, thus limiting their participation in adult roles. This study describes the associations between executive function, social communication skills, and internalizing behaviors on task management in academically capable autistic adolescents (n = 46) using multiple regression with mediator analysis. The three predictors and youth age explained a moderate amount of variance in task management.

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Importance: Limited research has described the timing of acquisition of the broad range of skills required for the transition to adulthood.

Objective: To describe the timing of the shift of responsibility for daily tasks from parent to child.

Design: This study used an existing data set of parent responses to 49 items in the Responsibility domain of the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory Computer Adaptive Tests.

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Importance: No study has directly investigated which variables are associated with the shift of responsibility for managing daily tasks from parent to child in the transition to adulthood.

Objective: To examine characteristics associated with responsibility for managing daily life tasks in youth with and without disabilities.

Design: A secondary data analysis of parent-report data on typically developing (TD) youth and youth with disabilities.

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Background: People with cerebral palsy experience limitations in performing activities of daily living. Rehabilitation practitioners seek valid instruments to measure changes in the performance of those activities. The Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory Computer Adaptive Test (PEDI-CAT) is a new tool to assess functioning in children and youth with various health conditions.

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Time use studies uncover the organization of daily routine of families of children with disabilities. The objective of this study is to identify determinants of time spent caring for children/adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and typical development (TD). Participants were caregivers of children/adolescents with/without disability.

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There is a growing need to provide appropriate services to help students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) transition to employment. Limited research has investigated what aspects of support should be prioritized when preparing youth with ASD for employment. By conducting structural equation modeling using a nationally-representative dataset on high school students receiving special education services (NLTS-2), this study examined the malleable predictors of employment during the transition and developed a model to examine the relationships between predictors and employment outcomes.

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Considering that measurement is a critical part of diagnostic technique for evaluating swallowing dysfunction, there is a need for a better foundational understanding of what influences residue measurement on flexible endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES). This study investigated two factors and their potential influence on trends in residue ratings on FEES: (1) bolus consistency, and (2) residue severity levels on two different types of rating scales. Thirty-three clinicians were asked to rate their overall impressions of pharyngeal residue on 75 FEES videos representing a wide range of residue severities for thin liquid, applesauce, and cracker boluses.

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Purpose: The PEDI-CAT measures daily functioning of children and youth, aged 1 to 21 years, with a variety of physical, cognitive and/or behavioral disabilities. In order to use an instrument in another culture or language, translation and cross-cultural validation are important, particularly for end-users. This study describes the process of translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the Dutch version of the PEDI-CAT.

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Qualitative methodology was used to develop items for a questionnaire designed to examine the perspectives of parents regarding the impact of the sensory environment on participation for children aged 3 to 5 who have autism spectrum disorders (ASD). A total of 34 parents/caregivers of children with ASD and 8 experts in ASD and/or measurement completed qualitative interviews for concept, content review, and cognitive interviewing. The result was a pool of 35 items for home/community domains for 3 scales.

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Introduction: Participation in community-based recreation and leisure activities may afford valuable opportunities to young people with cognitive disabilities (CD) to develop important self-determination skills needed for success in adulthood. To evaluate whether these programmes are achieving their intended impact, it is important to have a tool that captures the perspective of the participants using an accessible method. This article describes the content development and evaluation of accessibility and feasibility of the Participatory Experience Survey (PES).

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Attribution of importance and satisfaction with performance are key dimensions contributing to engagement in occupations. This study explored caregiver satisfaction with and importance attributed to the participation of their children and adolescents in household tasks. Participants included 109 caregivers of children and adolescents of both sexes, aged 6 to 14 years, from various socioeconomic levels.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability of residue ratings on Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES). We also examined rating differences based on experience to determine if years of experience influenced residue ratings. A group of 44 raters watched 81 FEES videos representing a wide range of residue severities for thin liquid, applesauce, and cracker boluses.

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