Special education is relatively new in Tanzania. The Irente Rainbow School (IRS) in Lushoto, Tanzania, where this ethnographic case study was conducted, is the first school for children with developmental disabilities in the area. Their curriculum stresses skills important in family life and the rural economy of Lushoto. The purpose of the study…

Childhood disintegrative disorder (CDD) is a rare condition characterized by distinct regression of developmental and behavioral functioning following a period of apparently normal development for at least 2 years. The purpose of this article is to present the developmental, behavioral, psychosocial, and medical histories of eight children who…

A case history illustrates six steps in designing self-management programs for developmentally disabled individuals: (1) general assessment, (2) specification of outcome, (3) specification of self-management process, (4) specific assessment, (5) training program, and (6) evaluation. (CL)

The purposes of this article are (a) to describe a structured protocol for assessing request, reject, and repair behavior of young children with autism spectrum disorders and other developmental disabilities and (b) to highlight the importance of assessing these communicative behaviors. These three communicative functions are basic building blocks…

Prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness, can be a congenital disorder or the result of a traumatic brain injury or developmental problems. This disorder interferes with a person's ability to recall faces and thus recognize individuals, even ones with whom he or she is intimate or familiar. Strangers cannot be distinguished from friends, which…

Case studies of 4 females and 1 male, aged 6-25, with pervasive developmental disorders are described. All met standard diagnostic criteria for autism and showed many Rett syndrome symptoms. It is concluded that there is considerable overlap between the 2 disorders and that symptomatic similarities might mirror common pathopsychological…

The article briefly describes Project Employability, a job training and placement program for the developmentally disabled in Virginia, and presents three case studies to illustrate the project's job placement process. (Author/DLS)

Describes features of specialized family foster care in Finland for children with developmental disabilities, and issues such as professionalization and training of foster parents. Includes a case study of a 12-year-old boy. Highlights features of the Finnish system which might be adapted to the American system. (BAC)

A successful intervention to establish independent eating behaviors in a developmentally handicapped, autistic-like three-year-old involved teaching appropriate behavior in a hospital setting (where he was being treated for dehydration and malnutrition) and then teaching his mother to implement the strategies at home. Skills were maintained at…

This qualitative research case study includes a brief overview of the status and development of self-advocacy in New Hampshire, describes the state's guardianship program, and highlights areas of concern to people with disabilities. Self-advocacy is described as having three primary components: (1) enabling people with developmental disabilities…

This report describes a 1988 site visit to Pride Industries, a private, nonprofit agency which operates an apartment program for individuals with developmental disabilities in Bismarck, North Dakota, through a contract with a regional office of North Dakota's Department of Developmental Disabilities. Pride Industries supports 34 people living in…

Discusses "conundrum kids," who are intelligent and talented, but struggle and often fail because their learning styles and developmental timetables do not match the materials, methods, or sequences of a standard curriculum. Shows how one student with receptive language problems was helped by language therapy and alternative teaching…

Profiles a Milford, Connecticut, middle school's efforts to help Eric Kowalchick, a developmentally disabled adolescent, develop life skills and friendships, prepare for work, pursue school and community club memberships, and attend high school classes. The school's mainstreaming program is a success, thanks to an institutional mission understood…

The Verbal Interaction Analysis System is presented as an assessment of initial, dyadic conversations. Application of the VIAS to two case studies featuring mildly to moderately intellectually disabled adults shows how the VIAS provides an index of competence and assists in the development of specific treatment strategies. (Author/JDD)

This article on systems change focuses on the efforts of a mentally retarded man with cerebral palsy and his advocates to obtain the resources necessary for him to be able to leave a nursing home and live independently. First, the article identifies two kinds of change: change within the system's rules and changing the rules or the system itself.…