Abstract
Psychiatric functioning and disability have historically been considered separate from the broader disability field and have been measured differently than other medical conditions. This paper provides an overview of the current concepts and international advances in the classification of psychiatric disability and explores the controversies and goals within the proposed systems. It highlights key aspects of the role of disability and functioning in major psychiatric classification systems (including ICD-10/ICF, DSM-IV) and international programmes such as the Institutional Program for Psychiatry for the Person (IPPP) of the World Psychiatric Association. It stresses key studies on the impact of psychiatric illness in the overall functioning of individuals. Narrative review of studies providing details of key aspects of controversial issues is presented throughout the article. ADL (Activities of Daily Living) and ICF (International Classification of Functioning) are two different models of disability which have different implications for the assessment of mental disorders. Within ICF, ‘environmental’ and ‘personal’ disabilities have been defined. In mental health, disability and functioning are part of two separate and theoretically complementary classification systems: the diagnostic system and its consequences on functioning and activity. Thus, a mental disorder may be determined by the level of dysfunction, particularly in DSM. Although no system currently available properly captures the complexity of the assessment of disability and functioning, the ICD-10 approach is conceptually more advanced than DSM-IV. Functional disability has significant implications in the holistic classification of mental disorders, particularly in the development of the World Psychiatric Association’s IPPP programme.

Abstract
Vianello and Lanfranchi (2009) have presented a noteworthy hypothesis regarding students with intellectual disabilities, when they suggest that the location of a student’s education can produce a surplus (or deficit) relative to academic and social/behavior development. We provide a brief review of research on the effectiveness of placement settings for students with intellectual disabilities conducted in the U.S. that provides some support for the surplus/deficit hypothesis. This is followed by a review of the qualities of inclusive programs that may produce a surplus for these students, and how schools with these qualities are developed. Finally, we discuss the need to support schools as they transform practices to make differences ordinary for students with disabilities.

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There is a worldwide lack of scientifically proven and commonly accessible preventative intervention programs for families with disabled children. The aim of the present study is to evaluate ethical and practicability aspects of the social validity of the Australian developmental disability parent training program Stepping Stones Triple P (SSTP), which has not been previously tested in Europe. The SSTP parent video was rated by a sample of 33 German master-level students of psychology, using quantitative and qualitative questionnaires. Overall, the ethical acceptability of the program was evaluated as moderately positive and the practical applicability as neutral, that is neither positive nor negative. Ethical acceptability was rated as positive for all the parental strategies demonstrated in SSTP except for Planned Ignoring, which was rated as neutral, and Quiet Time and Time Out, both of which were rated as moderately negative. Overall program flexibility for parents and children was rated as moderately negative. Critical comments focused on the overuse of traditional operant conditioning techniques and the lack of contemporary more developmentally orientated behaviour methods. Though findings support the assumption of a moderately positive social validity overall, the analysis revealed clear limitations. Thus, some revision of the program is suggested. Further research should expand to various groups having everyday experience with children with disabilities as well as to various diagnostic categories.

Abstract
The research on medical decision-making is growing in three main directions: emergency treatment, treatment of chronic disorders, palliative care. The increasing occurrence of chronic diseases, in particular, cancer, has generated a new interest in decision-making procedures in this medical domain. Furthermore, the role of physicians working in different and complex settings and the role of patients and informal caregivers, who are supposed to play an active part in the treatment flow, are now important subjects of research in all parts of the world. In this framework, we conducted a survey on Italian physicians concerned with end of life care. The aim of this study was to describe which factors might influence the decision-making style in this context. Our data clearly showed that the medical decision-making process in incurable illnesses represents a complex and delicate context. Several modulating factors are present in order: medical, ethical, social, and cultural. Physicians, in formulating their own therapeutic decisions, seem to be influenced by three key elements: the patients’ need for information and treatment involvement; the interaction between survival time and quality of life, and the role of the informal caregiver (the family). Future research will be required to better understand both patients’ and physicians’ needs in this critical domain.

Abstract
This study evaluates the effectiveness of a brief intervention programme (word recognition) aimed at increasing the reading rates of two pupils with mental retardation. The program used frequency-building procedures aimed at increasing reading rates for either common words, the programme used Precision Teaching to monitor intervention effectiveness. Results showed that the two word recognition training participants made significant gains in overall reading skills. This study provides additional evidence for the effectiveness of Precision Teaching and frequency-building procedures, and word recognition as well as support for the idea that successful reading interventions need not require time-consuming resources.

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