This article shows that unexpected gains can happen when teachers develop aggressive, innovative, and adaptive orientation and mobility (O&M) programming for children who are low-functioning. A case study illustrates strategies for using an adaptive mobility device, squaring-up, stepping out, and charting progress. Challenges to a successful O&M…

A study found cumulative decline in adaptive behavior and functional skills in 248 adults with Down syndrome increased from less than .04 at age 50, to .67 by 72, whereas decline for 398 adults with mental retardation increased from less than .02 at age 50 to .52 at 88. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

This practicum report was designed to foster the teaching of life skills to moderately retarded elementary students, the goal being teacher implementation of appropriate life-skills programs for developmentally delayed students. A 2-day workshop was developed to allow teachers from different communities to share strategies and materials. Follow-up…

This source book is designed to inform agencies and other adult education programs, in as much detail as possible, of processes and procedures involved in initiating a complete training program to address the needs and desires of the adult mentally handicapped individual. It offers concrete information emanating from the initiation of such a…

Instructional units on time and money were presented to 249 educable and trainable level mentally retarded children. Pretesting showed that Ss had a poorer understanding of time and money concepts than 229 nonretarded controls of the same MA. Significant performance increases from pretest to posttest resulted in the retardates' posttest scores…

Presented is the curriculum guide from the Home and Family Living Laboratory, a project of the Child Development Center (St. Paul, Minnesota) which serves educable mentally retarded and trainable mentally retarded teenagers and young adults. It is explained that the laboratory setting is a house (next to the school building) which accommodates 12…

This article provides an overview of the basic features of the protective behaviors (PBs) approach and suggests that the PBs approach is relative to people with mental retardation, particularly in relation to issues of vulnerability and empowerment. It provides examples of the application of PBs approach in clinical settings. (Contains 7…

The Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities was fortunate to receive a legacy to improve the lives of people with Down's syndrome. The foundation looked at recent research and talked to people with Down's syndrome, their family members and professionals. One of their greatest concerns was what happens to young people when they leave…

The study sought to determine if there are differences between shifts of workers in Intermediate Care Facilities in their ratings of the daily living skills of mentally retarded residents, and whether these differences reflect actual differences in performance by the residents. Staff were interviewed concerning the level of prompt required to…

Camping Out is an outdoor education program designed to meet the needs of hearing-impaired, mentally retarded children. The program aims to help children overcome language deficits and restrictions of their limited environments while learning recreation skills which can enhance their motor, cognitive, and affective skills. The program covers seven…

The document is a brief collection of materials which provide a framework whereby local Kansas education units can individually and collectively identify ways to use the statewide effort to strengthen existing programs of service or develop new approaches at the local level for educating the mentally retarded. Part I introduces the process systems…

Intended for use with trainable retarded, moderately to profoundly multihandicapped students, and young mildly handicapped learners, the curriculum guide provides task objectives, task analyses, and exercise ideas for six categories: self help skills, language skills, motor development skills, basic academic skills, home living skills, and…

Reported are instructional programs generated in the first year (1970-71) of a Madison, Wisconsin public school project to develop a prevocational training program for trainable retarded and severely emotionally disturbed students. Programs are based on a behavioristic task analysis teaching model and are designed to teach functional vocational,…

Collected are 31 articles on public school educational activities for the trainable mentally handicapped or the severely emotionally disturbed student in the areas of academic skills, home living skills, and prevocational training. Most of the papers are said to have been written by classroom teachers. Three articles present an overview which…

This book represents the second of two volumes that is designed to update readers on some of the more recent developments in the field of dual diagnosis, as applied to those with intellectual disabilities. While the last few decades have boasted newer and better advances in the field, particularly in terms of assessment devices and treatment…