The current standard in providing residential services for individuals with severe disabilities favors serving small groups of people with similar levels of assistance needs in ordinary housing units, which are owned or leased by nonprofit agencies, funded by a mix of federal and state funds, and employ shift workers who provide professionally…

Results of a nationwide study of public mental retardation/developmental disabilities spending in the states during Fiscal Years 1977 through 1986 were analyzed and identified trends such as continuing growth in spending for community services, contraction of total spending for institutional operations, and predominance of support for intermediate…

This bibliography lists 94 references which: (1) describe fiscal issues in residential services in the mental retardation/developmental disabilities and related fields, or (2) offer a theoretical perspective on doing research in these areas. The bibliography reviews studies which compare the cost of community-based services with the cost of…

The staff of an apartment-based residential support program was taught to use behavior interruption strategies to elicit requesting functions from two women with deaf-blindness and developmental disabilities. Results found the strategies to be both quickly assimilated by the staff and effective in increasing request rates from the subjects.…

Institutions for people with disabilities can be "deinstitutionalized" by changing the way they are organized and regulated. The process of developing community learning environments in residential programs involves design of daily living routines, assessment of residential living skills, identification of teaching objectives, development of…

A program created to help mentally retarded adults move from a state facility to an independent living situation in Jackson, Mississippi, is described. The three stages of the program are outlined as follows: (1) new clients are housed in a cluster unit of apartments close to staff housing, during which time they are assessed according to the…

Interviews with 137 primary caregivers with developmentally disabled family members (ages 2-62) on waiting lists for out-of-home placement found that caregiver stress was a significant predictor of the urgency of placement need. Behavior problems of the disabled person were almost as important. Lack of support services was correlated with…

This policy research brief summarizes three studies on training direct service personnel serving people with developmental disabilities, conducted at the Research and Training Center on Residential Services and Community Living, University of Minnesota. The studies provide information on competency-based training, effective training strategies,…

Two studies replicated and refined a program for evaluating and improving residential treatment services during group leisure periods in living units for persons with severe developmental disabilities. Results indicated that provision of leisure materials and interaction with clients decreased maladaptive client behavior. The monitoring system…

This analysis of survey activities of the Accreditation Council for Services for Mentally Retarded and Other Developmentally Disabled Persons (ACMRDD) is designed to provide program administrators and state agency officials with comprehensive descriptive information on 296 surveys conducted by the council from 1980 through 1984. Part I of this…

This document presents an evaluation report and parent handbook of for a federally supported 6-week residential summer program for children and adults with developmental disabilities developed by the Hebrew Academy for Special Children (Brooklyn, New York). It also includes the program's parent handbook. Evaluation focused on three groups of camp…

Making decisions about residential or day program placement for adults with developmental disabilities requires examination of multidimensional measures of behavior and thus the use of multivariate statistical techniques along with expert opinion. This study used adaptive and maladaptive cluster scores on the Inventory for Client and Agency…

This "feature issue" reports on consumer-controlled housing for persons with developmental disabilities, and explores housing and service options that empower individuals with disabilities to live their lives with independence, privacy, and freedom of choice. It includes an excerpt from the Association for Retarded Citizens position…

This curriculum is intended to provide social service agencies, schools, vocational programs, and other groups concerned with persons having developmental disabilities with guidelines and practical techniques for developing training and support services that encourage choice-making. Emphasis is on allowing people with disabilities to take as much…

This newsletter theme issue features articles on training of direct service staff working with persons with developmental disabilities in employment, education, and residential settings. The articles examine job training, delivery systems, training models, and implications of current approaches. The newsletter includes three articles presenting…