Assessing assistive technology requirements in children with written language disorders. A decision tree to guide counseling

Children with a written language disorder are sometimes dependent upon help from others for their schoolwork. A computer can be a way to circumvent this difficulty. Various software programs and plug-in peripheral devices are available, some of which specifically target the needs of these young people. There is no consensus, however, with regard to how best to counsel parents and children with regard to these tools. Furthermore, written language disorders and existing technical supports are not always clearly understood. In many cases, healthcare and teaching professionals have only limited knowledge of the potentially specific advantages for patients with written language disorders. A child's full integration into daily activities and school life can be hampered by counseling that was inadequately tailored or by a lack of support in using this equipment. Joint consultations involving both an occupational and a speech therapist have been set up in our department to improve counseling with regard to technical supports. Using our daily practice as a basis, we have developed a decision tree that we see as a necessary tool for helping professionals make the most appropriate practical choices.

Late shunt infection: incidence, pathogenesis, and therapeutic implications

Shunt infections (SI) are a major concern in pediatric neurosurgery. Although SI occurs generally shortly after surgery, it can be very delayed in a number of cases. The incidence of late shunt infection (LSI) is not established, and the sources of contamination are poorly understood. We reviewed 1,793 pediatric cases from our database, with a mean follow-up of 9.12 years. We selected 40 cases of SI occurring more than one year after the previous shunt operation. These represented 12.7 % of SI, and the annual incidence of LSI was 0.28 % in our series. Peritonitis, generally due to appendicitis, was the cause of LSI in 11 cases. Hematogenous contamination was diagnosed in eight cases, because the germ was Haemophilus,Pneumococcus, or Listeria, or an ENT infection had preceded SI; the incidence of purulent meningitis was significantly higher in shunted patients than in the general population. LSI was due in seven cases to bowel perforation, and in four to direct inoculation, after abdominal surgery or traumatic exposure of the shunt. In the remaining 10 cases, no potential cause of infection was identified, and persistence of a germ since the previous shunt operation was suspected. SI represents a life-long threat after shunting, and may be unrelated to shunt surgery.

["Conservative" treatment in the multiply handicapped child]

The increasingly medicalized strategies of nursing for the multihandicapped children point out the problem of limits and constraints of these processing. First, a review of methods of treatments for the evolutionary complications is done. Secondly, the consequences of the choice of these therapeutics are discussed. The ethical consequences of the various processing are analysed by developing the motivations of the caring teams, the concepts of quality of life and its dualism with dignity of life.

Sample Performance of the Grille Spectrometer

The grille spectrometer observed the setting and rising sun 18 times during the Spacelab 1 mission. In addition to solar absorption lines, many of which had not been observed before, atmospheric spectral absorptions due to carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide were observed at heights tangent to the thermosphere (greater than 85 kilometers), and absorptions due to ozone, water, methane, and nitrous oxide were observed in the mesosphere (greater than 50 kilometers). The strongly coupled molecules NO-NO(2) and HC1-HF were observed as pairs in the stratosphere. Methane is presented as an example of the instrumental operations because of the characteristic aspect of the Q branch of its v(3) band.

Profils experimentaux de I'horizon infrarouge de la terre

This paper presents experimental ir horizon profiles of the earth seen fromoutside the atmosphere. Measurements were made from a capsule which reached 175 km. The attitude was controlled during the whole flight by means of agyroscopic device. Seven spectral channels were studied, especially: ozone (9.6 micro), CO(2) (14-16 micro), the range of atmospheric window (11micro), and a broad channel (1-50 micro) that was the only one of the firstexperiment in 1965. The spatial limit of resolution is 0.16 degrees , and theattitude in space of the capsule has been reconstructed with an accuracy equalto 0.05 degrees due to a star mapper. Results are expressed as variations ofradiance with respect to tangential height for the different spectral channels.