The effects of three prompting sequences on the acquisition of independent living skills with 14 mild and moderately mentally retarded vocational rehabilitation clients (16 to 50 years old) are examined. (Author)

Interviews were conducted with 25 landlords who had rented apartments/rooms to mentally retarded individuals. Although 22 landlords would rent to retarded individuals again, a significant number had experienced some problems because of poor independent living skills, extreme dependence on the landlord, or deviant behavior exhibited by the retarded…

A forward-chaining, partial-task training method was found effective in teaching bill paying skills via check writing to four adults with developmental disabilities attending a day treatment program. The skills were maintained over a two-month follow-up and generalized across novel types of bills. Bank personnel and teachers validated the improved…

Adults (N=48) with mild to moderate mental retardation were interviewed concerning the skills they considered important for successful community living. Vocational and social skills were rated as most important, followed by personal, academic, and leisure skills, a ranking similar to that by the significant others questioned in a previous study.…

Eighteen mentally retarded adults were taught pedestrian skills using either classroom or community training procedures. Community training procedures resulted in significant improvement from pretest to posttest; however no significant change was seen in the classroom group. (Author/MC)

The study found that use of the Dial-A-Phone instructional package plus a least intrusive prompt teaching strategy was more effective than the prompts alone in training two adults with moderate developmental disabilities to match digits of personal phone numbers with digits on a dial telephone. (Author/DB)

Analysis of the functional and personal characteristics of 336 persons with mental retardation living in 181 small, specialized foster care homes and group homes found some differences in resident characteristics across facility type, including communication and toileting skills, age, and mobility. (Author/DB)

Age-related differences in language and other neuropsychological variables in 60 noninstitutionalized adults with Down syndrome were examined. Results indicated that there were significant relations between advanced age and the ability to comprehend spoken language and between advanced age and independence in activities of daily living skills.…

The effects of an instructional package for teaching menu planning and grocery shopping skills to a mildly mentally retarded mother were examined. After training, the mother could plan three days of nutritious meals and could locate each item required for those meals in a grocery store, with subsequent skill maintenance. (Author)

Fifty previously institutionalized educable retarded adults were retested approximately 3 years after discharge to ascertain if community living produced a change in IQ or academic achievement, measured by the WAIS and Metropolitan Achievement Battery. (Author)

Forty-eight adults with mental retardation assessed their daily living competency using the revised Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales. Compared to subject and counselor interviews and demonstrated competency, the self-evaluation yielded highly consistent results on domains measuring adaptive skills, though subjects underreported problematic…

When 32 mentally retarded adults who had been transferred from large institutions to new small units were tested 5.5 years after the transfer, tests indicated that they had retained or regained adaptive behavior skills but had declined in psycholinguistic abilities. (Author/CB)