Evaluation of a group-based sensorimotor intervention programme to improve Chinese handwriting of primary school students.

Objective: Sensorimotor performance is influential in Chinese handwriting, but few studies have examined the efficacy of sensorimotor-based interventions on Chinese handwriting among primary school students with poor handwriting performance. The study aims to evaluate a sensorimotor-based intervention to improve handwriting in the mainstream primary schools. Methods: This study adopted a two-group pretest-posttest design. An 8-session group-based sensorimotor intervention was delivered to school-aged children (mean age = 8.1, 68% male). Group A had 2 sessions every week, while Group B had 4 sessions every week. Analysis of variance with repeated measures was used to test the effects. Results: The intervention had a significant time effect (p < .05) in terms of improving handwriting process (d = 0.33-1.10), manual dexterity (d = 0.57), visual memory (d = 0.70), visual-spatial perception (d = 0.37), and motor and postural skills (d = 0.73). The effect sizes ranged from medium to large. For the handwriting process, time per character had a significant group × time interaction, with post hoc analysis showing that Group A had a significantly large effect (d = 1.89, p < .001) while Group B did not. Conclusions: The group-based sensorimotor intervention programme appeared to show improvements in students with fair skills in writing Chinese characters. It appears that the effect is better if the training sessions are spaced out in one month rather than intensively conducted within two weeks. It might be related to more involvement from parents, and students need more time for practice after the training sessions.

The Effectiveness of a School-Based Social Cognitive Intervention on the Social Participation of Chinese Children with Autism.

This study evaluates the efficacy of a school-based social cognitive intervention for children with autism. Seventy-four children and adolescents were taught visually scaffolded, theory of mind-based social skills program. Using a mixed-methods approach, children's social competence was assessed at pre-test and post-test. Compared to a waitlist control group, children in the intervention group demonstrated significantly greater gains on theory-of-mind and social skill measures. Focus groups and interviews were conducted to explore parents' views and generalization of children's social skills across settings. Children's social participation exhibited improvement in home, community, and school settings. The study findings offer promising evidence for a cost-effective program and support of the school-based social skills intervention for children with ASD in Hong Kong context.

Vocational evaluation and vocational guidance for young people with a history of drug abuse.

BACKGROUND: Young people recovering from drug addiction often face challenges in returning to the job market and in maintaining their jobs. Many of them feel they have no choice but to do entry-level work, and they are often unsure about their work ability and vocational choice. OBJECTIVE: In collaboration with a youth outreach service, this study aims to provide a package of vocational assessment, guidance, and support for these clients. METHODS: Using a strength-based case management framework, we conducted a comprehensive vocational evaluation for each participant (N = 17), which covered self-perception of abilities, work and occupational interests, work readiness, work-related self-efficacy, and work aptitudes. We presented assessment results to each client and provided guidance on their education, training, or vocational choice. RESULTS: The results of aptitude tests indicate that most participants can cope with an entry-level job. Many participants are strong in jobs that require quick decision-making, sorting, assembly, and clerical tasks, but many are weak in fine manual dexterity and eye-hand-foot coordination. Many participants preferred jobs that are creative, indefinite, and autonomous in nature. CONCLUSION: Longer-term vocational counseling and coaching is needed to help clients make vocational choices and extend their job tenure. Many clients will also need training in job seeking and job maintenance skills.

Measuring social skills of children and adolescents in a Chinese population: Preliminary evidence on the reliability and validity of the translated Chinese version of the Social Skills Improvement System-Rating Scales (SSIS-RS-C).

The Social Skills Improvement System-Rating Scales (SSIS-RS; Gresham & Elliott, 2008) are designed to assist in the screening and classification of students (aged 5-18 years) who are suspected of presenting with social skills deficits and to offer guidelines in the development of interventions to remediate those types of problems. The objective of this study is to examine the preliminary reliability and validity of the translated Chinese version of the SSIS-RS, referred to as the SSIS-RS-C. In this study, parent-reported social skills and problem behaviors among students with typical development (n=79) were compared with those of age- and gender-matched students with a known developmental disability (n=79) using the SSIS-RS-C. The results indicated that the SSIS-RS-C subscale scores in all the disability groups were significantly different except for those in the Assertion scale for one disability group. Furthermore, the normative sample of typically developing children and adolescents (aged 5-12 and 13-18 years, n=567) from Hong Kong was established to improve the psychometric properties of the SSIS-RS-C. There were moderate to strong relationships between the common subscales across all forms of the SSIS-RS-C. Acceptable to excellent levels of internal consistency across all common subscales was also obtained. The scores for the Hong Kong sample (n=567) derived from the use of the SSIS-RS-C were then compared to the normative sample scores from the American version of the SSIS-RS. It was found that there were statistically significant differences on five out of the seven SSIS-RS-C Social Skill subscales for children aged 5-12 years and on four out of the seven SSIS-RS-C Social Skills subscales for the adolescent group (aged 13-18 years). Also, there were statistically significant differences between the American and Hong Kong samples on all of the SSIS-RS-C Problem Behavior scale scores. It was concluded that the SSIS-RS-C is a promising instrument for clinicians to be able to differentiate social skills and problem behaviors among students presenting with and without developmental disabilities in Hong Kong contexts.

A comparison of patterns of sensory processing in children with and without developmental disabilities.

This study compared the patterns of sensory processing among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and children without disabilities. Parents reported on the frequency of sensory processing issues by completing the Chinese Sensory Profile (CSP). Children with disabilities (ASD or ADHD) exhibited significantly more sensory processing issues than children without disabilities. The results of GLM and discriminant analyses showed that the CSP effectively differentiated between children with and without developmental disabilities. But it failed to identify major differences in sensory processing issues between children with either ASD or ADHD. Sensory processing issues could be one of many criteria that characterize and differentiate the features of children with different developmental disabilities. Although no significant gender differences in sensory processing issues appeared, age was a significant cofounding factor in evaluating sensory processing. Children without disabilities showed some small decreases in sensory processing issues as they aged from 6 to 12 years old. Children with ASD showed some decrease in sensory processing issues over the span of their childhood, while children with ADHD showed a significant increase in auditory processing issues as well as small increases in many aspects of sensory processing.

The developmental test of visual perception-2 normative study on the visual-perceptual function for children in Hong Kong.

This research study intended to investigate the visualperceptual performance of children in Hong Kong by comparing them to the accepted norms on the Developmental Test of Visual Perception-2nd edition. The research examined whether there was significant difference in child's gender, age, and grade. The normative study recruited two hundred and eight-nine children between the ages of 6 and 7 in normal primary schools in Hong Kong. Results indicated that there was a ceiling effect in eye-hand coordination, position in space and spatial relations subtests. Grade differences were found to be significant in all subtests except eye-hand coordination and visual-motor speed. On the other hand, there were no statistical difference in the test scores between boys and girls except on copying and figure-ground subtests. It is concluded that there is a strong need to ensure that norms for visual-perceptual tests are appropriate for the specific cultural groups being assessed.