MATERIALS AND METHOD: This study was conducted in Malaysia. Six students were observed twice each in their classroom and their classroom interactions were video recorded. The video recordings were transcribed and coded for the presence of a communication event, the student's mode of communication and communication function, the communication partner involved, and access to the AAC system.
RESULTS: Contrary to past studies, most students in this study spontaneously initiated interaction almost as many times as they responded. They primarily communicated with gestures and verbalizations/vocalizations despite having been introduced to an AAC system. When students communicated using their AAC system, they mainly interacted with the teachers, and for the function of either behavioral regulation or joint attention. It was found that for 39% of communicative events, the student's aided AAC system was not within arm's reach.
CONCLUSION: The findings highlight the need for efforts to encourage students with complex communication needs to use AAC more frequently in their classroom to be able to communicate more effectively and for a wider range of communicative functions. Speech-language pathologists can work closely with teachers to provide the necessary support to these students.
METHODS: Nine electronic databases and 1 grey literature source were searched for studies published in English between January 2006 and December 2018 and involving adolescents aged 10-19 years. We included studies that reported on components of depression literacy such as knowledge, help-seeking and stigmatising attitudes. We excluded qualitative studies. Two independent reviewers verified that the studies met the inclusion criteria, assessed the quality of the studies and extracted their characteristics. The data were descriptively analysed and appraised using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS), Cochrane Collaboration's tool and the Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies (QATSQ).
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Fifty of the 14,626 references identified met the inclusion criteria. Depression literacy was most commonly (58%) assessed using tools that utilize a vignette-based methodology. A lack of uniformity in reporting of depression literacy was noted. Adolescents were poor at recognising depression, likely to seek help from informal sources and tended to attach stigma to depression. The implications of the findings are discussed and suggestions made for future research.
METHOD: This cross-sectional study focused on children aged 5-36 months. One hospital was randomly selected from four geographic zones of the city. A total of 400 children from each hospital, fulfilling the inclusion criteria, constituted the sample. The examination was carried out by a single, trained examiner. The tooth was recorded as "present" or "absent" on the day of examination. The mean age of emergence was calculated using a probit model. Independent sample t-test was used to assess the statistical significance of differences in the mean age of tooth emergence.
RESULTS: The deciduous mandibular central incisor was the first tooth to erupt in the oral cavity (8.15±1.69 months). Girls showed delayed eruption compared to boys; however, no interarch variation was observed in the mean age of tooth eruption. There was also no difference in the sequence of eruption of deciduous teeth, as reported in other studies.
CONCLUSIONS: The present study establishes a chronological table for the eruption of deciduous teeth in Indian children. There was delayed eruption of deciduous teeth when compared to the reference ranges of Western populations.
METHODS: Twenty-five typically developing children and 25 children with Down syndrome aged between 12 and 36 months were involved in this study. They were recruited from an early intervention center and various kindergartens from the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Their play skills were assessed using the Symbolic Play Test Second Edition, and information about their vocabulary was obtained through the MacArthur Bates Communicative Development Inventories that was filled out by their parents.
RESULTS: There was a significant difference in the vocabulary and symbolic play scores of children with Down syndrome compared with typically developing children. There was also a positive correlation between symbolic play scores and receptive and expressive vocabulary scores for both groups of children.
CONCLUSION: When providing intervention, speech-language pathologists need to promote the development of symbolic play in addition to language, given the association between the two. They should also look into introducing an augmentative and alternative communication system to the children who demonstrate age-appropriate symbolic play skills but have trouble with symbolic language production.