Issues raised concerning the relevance of the principle of normalization to serving persons with developmental disabilities include the principle's unattainable goals, its lack of emphasis on individual client needs, its discouragement of diversity, its use to mask inappropriate practices, and its failure to address client deficits. (DB)

The presentation addresses the meaning of normalization and the dilemmas and challenges that confront social service professionals involved in attempting to incorporate the normalization principle into day treatment programs for mentally retarded and developmentally disabled persons. Effects of the current conservatism in governmental and social…

The article describes Life Experiences, Inc., an organization in Cary, North Carolina, that operates and maintains facilities and programs for handicapped adults and assists them to function as productive citizens of the community. (DLS)

This study examined the community activities and social networks of 512 people with developmental disabilities living in communities in Wales. Results indicated that subjects were engaged in a wide range of community activities but that opportunities for wider interactions or friendships with nondisabled people were limited. (DB)

The history of residential care for persons with autism and other developmental disabilities is summarized for the past 200 years. Residential trends toward community integration in the past three decades are traced for autism in general and for the Murdoch Center in North Carolina. Possible negative side effects of current trends are identified.…

This analysis examines integration of people with developmental disabilities in terms of an ethnography which contrasts an old narrative based on segregation and a confined form of space and time with a new narrative of interdependence achieved through a cyclical form of space and time. This new narrative requires the accommodation of differences…

This paper offers reflections from the author's experience with community placement for developmentally disabled persons, specifically addressing practical and philosophical issues. Drawn from the author's personal involvement with the Macomb-Oakland Regional Center (MORE) in Michigan, this document notes nine illustrations of progress from…

The paper reports on a Stockton, California, program to train developmentally disabled children for community living. Evaluation and referral procedures are discussed, as are financial statistics. Treatment results are summarized and the example is given of successful intervention with a 13-year-old multiply handicapped boy with untrained bowel…

This preliminary study of the Neighborhood Living Project summarizes daily counts of integration activities for 50 mentally retarded residents from 8 supported living sites over an average of 2 years. Integration opportunities varied as a function of where the resident lived but not of level of mental retardation or number of disabilities.…

The manual is intended for use in training institutes for persons providing respite care for families of children with developmental disabilities in Montana. Expectations for participants and objectives for training are outlined in preliminary sections. Each chapter contains a brief statement of the chapter's main point or points, a selected…

The study reports psychotropic drug use data for three groups of developmentally disabled persons: persons being discharged from public residential facilities; persons successfully functioning in community residential facilities; and persons being readmitted to public residential facilities due to unsuccessful community placements. (Author/DB)

This critical analysis of least restrictive environment (LRE) for the developmentally disabled reviews the origins and operationalization of LRE in terms of a continuum of residential, educational, and vocational services. Pitfalls in LRE, especially for severely disabled persons, are enumerated and commitment to the contrasting principle of…

Focuses on one developmentally disabled child's experiences at a summer camp for nondisabled children. Describes the strategies implemented at Lourdes Camp (New York) to provide individualized support. Discusses the benefits to nondisabled children of normal interactions with a disabled child. Includes six references. (SV)

This guidebook presents ideas about how families and case managers can use case management to increase the integration of people with developmental disabilities into their communities, and how public officials and advocates can promote the trend toward community integration. The guide advocates implementation of the integration philosophy, which…

The technology of behaviorism and the social consciousness of normalization have produced monumental changes for developmentally handicapped children but lack an intrinsic developmental perspective. Piaget's cognitive-developmental theory is proposed as a framework to provide content, direction and structure for educational and habilitative…