Development of a scale to assess the determinants of positive coping in parents of children with intellectual disability.

Identifying the determinants of positive coping is a critical step in empowering the parents of children with intellectual disability. In this context, this study aims to develop a scale to assess the determinants of positive coping. Accordingly, culturally relevant items were pooled, got validated by experts and refined. The scale was administered to 150 parents of children with intellectual disability. Factor analysis done through polychoric correlation helped reduce the items. Cronbach's alpha coefficients were established for reliability testing. The validity of the new scale was examined with the subjective wellbeing on a visual analogue scale and Family Interview for Stress and Coping in Mental Retardation. The new scale has a Cronbach's alpha of 0.71 and an intraclass correlation of 0.64. After factor analysis, 12 items were retained in the final version. This study also identified specific factors associated with positive coping. The new scale can be used with parents of children with intellectual disabilities to identify the determinants of positive coping.

Role of Clinical Neuropsychologists in Awake-Craniotomy.

BACKGROUND: Awake craniotomy encompasses surgical resection of focal zone of neurological impairment, using intraoperative functional zone mapping. The strength of the procedure is maximum retention of functionally significant zones to ensure better function and quality of life outcomes in patients. A clinical neuropsychologist plays a vital role in profiling the patient's cognitive and psychosocial functioning as well as increasing the efficacy of functional zone mapping procedures. OBJECTIVE: Aim of this article is to summarize the literature on the role of clinical neuropsychologists in awake craniotomy and underscoring the need for establishing standardized operating procedures for neuropsychologists in awake craniotomy highlighting experiential anecdotes from a tertiary care facility. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A review of articles that elucidate the role of clinical neuropsychologists was done and summarized to highlight the role of clinical neuropsychologists. An attempt was made to explain the implementation of this role in regular clinical practice at a tertiary care facility. RESULTS: The role of a clinical neuropsychologist is highly crucial at pre-/during and postawake craniotomy, and has a significant bearing on the overall psychological outcome of the individual. The need for a standardized protocol to unify practice and increase the efficacy of the awake-craniotomy procedure is put forth. Recommendations for future directions in research to increase the scope of neuropsychologists in awake craniotomy have also been made.

Deficits in musical rhythm perception in children with specific learning disabilities.

BACKGROUND: A specific learning disability comes with a cluster of deficits in the neurocognitive domain. Phonological processing deficits have been the core of different types of specific learning disabilities. In addition to difficulties in phonological processing and cognitive deficits, children with specific learning disability (SLD) are known to have deficits in more innate non-language-based skills like musical rhythm processing. OBJECTIVES: This paper reviews studies in the area of musical rhythm perception in children with SLD. An attempt was made to throw light on beneficial effects of music and rhythm-based intervention and their underlying mechanism. METHODS: A hypothesis-driven review of research in the domain of rhythm deficits and rhythm-based intervention in children with SLD was carried out. RESULTS: A summary of the reviewed literature highlights that music and language processing have shared neural underpinnings. Children with SLD in addition to difficulties in language processing and other neurocognitive deficits are known to have deficits in music and rhythm perception. This is explained in the background of deficits in auditory skills, perceptuo-motor skills and timing skills. Attempt has been made in the field to understand the effect of music training on the children's auditory processing and language development. Music and rhythm-based intervention emerges as a powerful intervention method to target language processing and other neurocognitive functions. Future studies in this direction are highly underscored. CONCLUSIONS: Suggestions for future research on music-based interventions have been discussed.