Research Article
Measurement of time processing ability and daily time management in children with disabilities

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dhjo.2008.09.002Get rights and content

Abstract

Background

Improvement is needed in methods for planning and evaluating interventions designed to facilitate daily time management for children with intellectual disability, Asperger syndrome, or other developmental disorders.

Objectives

The aim of this study was to empirically investigate the hypothesized relation between children's time processing ability (TPA), daily time management, and self-rated autonomy. Such a relationship between daily time management and TPA may support the idea that TPA is important for daily time management and that children with difficulties in TPA might benefit from intervention aimed at improving daily time management.

Methods

Participants were children aged 6 to 11 years with dysfunctions such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism, or physical or intellectual disabilities (N = 118). TPA was measured with the instrument KaTid. All data were transformed to interval measures using applications of Rasch models and then further analysed with correlation and regression analysis.

Results

The results demonstrate a moderate significant relation between the parents’ ratings of daily time management and TPA of the children, and between the self-rating of autonomy and TPA. There was also a significant relation between self-ratings of autonomy and the parents’ rating of the children's daily time management. Parents’ ratings of their children's daily time management explain 25% of the variation in TPA, age of the children explains 22%, while the child's self-rating of autonomy can explain 9% of the variation in TPA. The three variables together explain 38% of the variation in TPA. The results indicate the viability of the instrument for assessing TPA also in children with disabilities and that the ability measured by KaTid is relevant for daily time management.

Conclusions

TPA seems to be a factor for children's daily time management that needs to be taken into consideration when planning and evaluating interventions designed to facilitate everyday functioning for children with cognitive impairments. The findings add to the increasing knowledge base about children with time processing difficulties and contribute to better methods aimed at improving these children's daily time management. Further research is needed to examine if there are differences in TPA related to specific diagnosis or other child characteristics.

Section snippets

Participants

The participants in this study were children who received outpatient services from paediatric habilitation centers all over Sweden, a convenience sample of children between 6 and 11 years of age with ADHD, ASD, mild or moderate ID, myelomeningocele (MMC) or cerebral palsy (CP) were included. Informed consent was obtained from parents and 118 children. The distributions of the participants’ age and diagnosis are presented in Table 1.

Outcome measures

The children rated their autonomy in daily routines with the

Results

All three instruments used demonstrated acceptable internal consistency in this sample (α = .77–.79). The correlation analyses testing the first hypothesis showed a significant relation (r = 0.306, p < .001) and the regression analysis indicated that the child's self-rating of autonomy could explain 9.4% of the variation in TPA (R2 = .094, SE = 1.783, β = .306, p < .001). The testing of the second hypothesis revealed that the relation between the TPA and the parents’ ratings of the child's

Discussion

This study demonstrated that the children's level of TPA, as measured by KaTid, was related to the children's self-rated autonomy and daily TM as rated by parents. The results indicate that the instrument KaTid can contribute to the intervention process in planning and evaluating interventions designed to facilitate daily TM in children with disabilities.

First, the conclusion drawn must be related to methodological limitations of the study. The heterogeneity of the participants might be

Acknowledgments

First, we thank all 118 children and their families. The funding from Clas Groschinskys Minnesfond and Center for Clinical Research Dalarna supported the education of the professionals assisting in this study. We also thank the occupational therapists and teachers for collecting data. We are grateful to Nilbild AB for letting us use their pictures in KaTid. Thanks also go to Specialpedagogiska Institutet, SIH Läromedel, Umeå, for permission to use pictures originating from ”Bildbanken,” with

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