International journal of nursing studies
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Assessing pain for nonverbal children with intellectual disability is challenging. These children are at risk for pain from complex medical conditions and the interventions to treat those conditions. Pain responses are often misunderstood, given that the children are nonverbal and limited by their physical abilities. ⋯ The results support evidence that parents can articulate their child's pain responses. The study provides evidence of: (1) extremes of pain responses and (2) a significant relationship between type of responses and severity of pain, cause of intellectual disability and sex of child.