Fellinger Johannes, Dall Magdalena, Weber Christoph, Holzinger Daniel
Research Institute for Developmental Medicine, Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Linz, Austria.
Institute of Neurology of Senses and Language, Hospital of St. John of God, Linz, Austria.
Front Psychiatry. 2022 Jul 29;13:944719. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.944719. eCollection 2022.
At least one in three individuals who are prelingually deaf has special needs, most commonly due to intellectual disabilities. The scant literature on challenging behavior in this population, however, suggests high rates of prevalence and an important need to better understand the contributing factors.
We sought to analyze the prevalence of maladaptive behavior and its association with intellectual functioning, adaptive skills, language skills, and social communication in a population of adults with deafness and special needs.
Participants were 61 individuals from three therapeutic living communities established for people with deafness and special needs. The participants had a mean age of 54.7 years, 64% were male. Intellectual functioning was measured with two versions of the Snijders-Oomen Non-verbal Intelligence Scale. The Vineland-II Scales were used to assess adaptive and maladaptive behavior. Language skills were measured with instruments specifically adapted for this population, including the Reynell Developmental Language Comprehension Scale, the comprehension scale of the Child Development Inventory, and the Profile of Multiple Language Proficiencies. Due to high correlations between instruments, a composite language score was used. A specific questionnaire to measure social communication in adults with intellectual disabilities was also utilized.
The mean nonverbal developmental reference age was 6.5 years, whereas the equivalent for the language measures was about 3.5 years. The prevalence rate of elevated maladaptive behavior was 41% (v-scale score ≥18) and 18% of the participants had a clinically significant score (v-scale score ≥21). Regression analyses showed that only language and social communication skills were significantly associated with maladaptive behavior, while intellectual functioning and adaptive skills were not.
These findings emphasize the importance of the constant promotion of communicative skills, as those people with better language and social communication skills demonstrate lower levels of maladaptive behavior.
至少三分之一的先天性失聪者有特殊需求，最常见的原因是智力残疾。然而，关于这一人群挑战性行为的文献稀少，表明患病率很高，且迫切需要更好地了解其促成因素。
我们试图分析失聪且有特殊需求的成年人群中适应不良行为的患病率及其与智力功能、适应技能、语言技能和社会沟通的关系。
参与者为来自为失聪且有特殊需求者设立的三个治疗性生活社区的61人。参与者的平均年龄为54.7岁，64%为男性。使用两种版本的斯尼德斯-奥门非语言智力量表测量智力功能。使用文兰适应行为量表第二版评估适应性和适应不良行为。使用专门为此人群改编的工具测量语言技能，包括雷内尔发育性语言理解量表、儿童发育量表的理解量表和多种语言能力概况。由于各工具之间相关性较高，因此使用综合语言分数。还使用了一份专门用于测量智障成年人社会沟通的问卷。
非语言发育参照平均年龄为6.5岁，而语言测量的相应平均年龄约为3.5岁。适应不良行为升高的患病率为41%（v量表得分≥18），18%的参与者有临床显著得分（v量表得分≥21）。回归分析表明，只有语言和社会沟通技能与适应不良行为显著相关，而智力功能和适应技能则不然。
这些发现强调了持续提升沟通技能的重要性，因为语言和社会沟通技能较好的人表现出较低水平的适应不良行为。
