Autistic sociality: challenging representations of autism and human-animal interactions.

Purpose: The objective of this synthesis research was to explore representations of autism and human-animal interactions (HAI) in the health sciences literature and the implications for autistic children and their families.

Methods: Guided by critical interpretive synthesis methods proposed by Dixon-Woods et al. (2006), we synthesized and examined how autism and HAI were described in the health sciences literature and explored assumptions and goals underlying HAI as an intervention.

Health status and health care utilization profiles of adolescents with disabilities.

Background: Adolescents with physical disabilities of childhood often require a transition from pediatric to adult systems as part of life-long, comprehensive health care once they reach 18 years of age. The process of transition can be complex, challenging, and influenced by health-related factors and availability of health care resources.

Objective: To provide a baseline profile of health-related quality of life, health management, social participation, and health care utilization for adolescents 16 years of age with spina bifida (SB), acquired brain injury (ABI), or cerebral palsy (CP) in Toronto, Canada.

Representations of parenting autistic children: A critical interpretive synthesis.

Background: Many taken-for-granted expectations for parents in Western societies are situated in normative assumptions. Social constructions of 'good' parenting may be a poor fit for parents whose children's development varies from a so-called typical trajectory. Normative assumptions about parenting can have harmful effects for parents of autistic children.

"Can you hear me now?": a qualitative exploration of communication quality in virtual primary care encounters for patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Background: High quality communication is central to effective primary care. The COVID-19 pandemic led to a dramatic increase in virtual care but little is known about how this may affect communication quality. Adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) can experience challenges communicating or communicate in non-traditional ways.

Roadblocks and detours on pathways to a clinical diagnosis of autism for girls and women: A qualitative secondary analysis.

Background: Autism is not always considered for girls and women until later along their clinical diagnostic pathways. Misdiagnosis or late diagnosis can pose significant disadvantages with respect to accessing timely health and autism-related services and supports. Understanding what contributes to roadblocks and detours along clinical pathways to an autism diagnosis can shed light on missed opportunities for earlier recognition.

Wellness in children's rehabilitation - what does it mean?

Purpose: Rehabilitation research on wellness promotion for children and youth with disabilities is limited and tends to narrowly focus on physical aspects of health. An overarching sense of wellness includes multiple, overlapping dimensions (e.g.

Accessibility of Virtual Primary Care for Adults With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Qualitative Study.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented increase in the delivery of virtual primary care. Adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) have complex health care needs, and little is known about the value and appropriateness of virtual care for this patient population.

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the accessibility of virtual primary care for patients with IDDs during the pandemic.

A Systematic Review to Identify Screening Tools and Practices that Can Be Used by Children's Rehabilitation Service Providers to Screen Parents' Mental Health.

Background: Parents of children with disabilities often report stress, depression, and anxiety. This review identified screening tools and practices that pediatric rehabilitation service providers can use to screen the mental health of parents of children with disabilities.

Methods: An interdisciplinary team and patient partner completed the systematic review in which 16,015 articles were screened and 473 articles were included to i) identify mental health tools that were used with parents, ii) determine the clinical utility of frequently used tools, iii) examine the screening practices used in pediatric rehabilitation contexts.

Bridging Pediatric and Adult Rehabilitation Services for Young Adults With Childhood-Onset Disabilities: Evaluation of the LIFEspan Model of Transitional Care.

LIFEspan ("Living Independently and Fully Engaged") is a linked transition service model for youth and young adults with childhood-onset disabilities offered via an inter-agency partnership between two rehabilitation hospitals (one pediatric and one adult) in Toronto, Canada. The objective was to evaluate healthcare outcomes (continuity of care and healthcare utilization) for clients enrolled in LIFEspan. A prospective, longitudinal, observational mixed-method study design was used.

Virtual health care for adult patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities: A scoping review.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic led to an abrupt shift to virtual health care for many patients, including adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Approaches to virtual care that are successful for people without IDD may need to be adapted for adults with IDD.

Objective: The aim of this scoping review was to examine what is known about virtual health care for adults with IDD and in particular, the impact of virtual delivery on access to care for this population.

Predictors of worker mental health in intellectual disability services during COVID-19.

Background: Workers supporting adults with intellectual disabilities experience significant stress in their essential role during COVID-19. The purpose of this study was to describe the experience of these workers and determine predictors of emotional distress.

Methods: Eight hundred and thirty-eight workers supporting adults with intellectual disabilities completed an online survey about their work during COVID-19 and their mental health in July 2020.

Multi-stakeholder perspectives on perceived wellness of Special Olympics athletes.

Background: Research to date with children and youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) has previously focused upon specific aspects of health (e.g., physical activity, nutrition).

Problematizing 'productive citizenship' within rehabilitation services: insights from three studies.

The idea that everyone should strive to be a 'productive citizen' is a dominant societal discourse. However, critiques highlight that common definitions of productive citizenship focus on forms of participation and contribution that many people experiencing disability find difficult or impossible to realize, resulting in marginalization. Since rehabilitation services strive for enablement, social participation, and inclusiveness, it is important to question whether these things are achieved within the realities of practice.

Improving transition to adulthood for adolescents with intellectual and developmental disabilities: Proactive developmental and systems perspective.

Objective: To demonstrate how family physicians can contribute to a piece of the journey of improving quality-of-life outcomes for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) when they undergo the transition from adolescence to adulthood.

Sources Of Information: The "Primary care of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 2018 Canadian consensus guidelines" literature review and interdisciplinary input.

Assembling activity/setting participation with disabled young people.

Rehabilitation research investigating activity participation has been largely conducted in a realist tradition that under-theorises the relationship between persons, technologies, and socio-material places. In this Canadian study we used a post-critical approach to explore activity/setting participation with 19 young people aged 14 to 23 years with complex communication and/or mobility impairments. Methods included integrated photo-elicitation, interviews, and participant observations of community-based activities.

Thinking critically about client-centred practice and occupational possibilities across the life-span.

Background: Client-centred occupational therapy practice is tacitly guided by prevailing social values and beliefs about what are "normal" occupational possibilities. These values and beliefs privilege some occupations and negate others.

Aim: This study aims to identify and problematize assumptions regarding the value of approximating normal occupational possibilities, showing how these assumptions influence and may diminish client-centred practice.

Gender and Transition From Pediatric to Adult Health Care Among Youth With Acquired Brain Injury: Experiences in a Transition Model.

Objective: To explore gender and sex differences in experiences of transitioning to adult health care among young adults with acquired brain injury (ABI) who take part in a coordinated model of transitional care.

Design: Descriptive design using in-depth semistructured qualitative interviews.

Setting: Interviews over the phone and in person.

Transitioning to adulthood with a progressive condition: best practice assumptions and individual experiences of young men with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Purpose: Youth with progressive conditions are living longer, and there is increased health care focus on assisting them with "transitioning" to adult services and adult life. The purpose of this investigation was to examine key discourses and normative assumptions underpinning transitions best practices and how they are reflected in the experiences of young men with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

Methods: Using a critical perspective, we qualitatively analyzed influential transitions best practice documents to identify their underpinning discursive assumptions.

The LIFEspan model of transitional rehabilitative care for youth with disabilities: healthcare professionals' perspectives on service delivery.

Purpose: LIFEspan is a service delivery model of continuous coordinated care developed and implemented by a cross-organization partnership between a pediatric and an adult rehabilitation hospital. Previous work explored enablers and barriers to establishing the partnership service. This paper examines healthcare professionals' (HCPs') experiences of 'real world' service delivery aimed at supporting transitional rehabilitative care for youth with disabilities.

Becoming men: Gender, disability, and transitioning to adulthood.

Children and youth with progressive conditions are living longer, and there is increased interest in designing programs that will assist them with "transitioning" to adulthood. Almost none of the transitions research to date, however, has attended to the experiences of disabled boys in "becoming men," nor has there been critical conceptual work problematizing notions of "normal" adulthood or theorizing the complex, diverse, and gendered experiences of transitioning. In this Canadian study, we investigated the intersectionality of gender, disability, and emerging adulthood with 15 young men with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Longitudinal Evaluation of Transition Services ("LETS Study"): protocol for outcome evaluation.

Background: Because of advances in medical treatment, most children with physical disabilities can expect to achieve near normal life spans. Typically, coordinated teams of health care providers in specialized pediatric settings care for these children. As these children reach adulthood, however, the availability of services and expertise changes because the adult health care system has different processes designed to meet their specialized needs.

Movement-to-music computer technology: a developmental play experience for children with severe physical disabilities.

Children with severe physical disabilities often lack the physical skills to explore their environment independently, and to play with toys or musical instruments. The movement-to-music (MTM) system is an affordable computer system that allows children with limited movements to play and create music. The present study explored parents' experiences of using the MTM system with their children.