This book pushes the boundaries in the way we approach people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities, and in how we work with them in education and research. While it is grounded in diverse theoretical frameworks and disciplines, the book coheres around a commitment to seeing people with profound intellectual and multiple…

"Special Education for Young Learners with Disabilities" brings together leaders in the field of young children with disabilities, to present their ideas and research on different disability topics. Beginning with an introduction to the topic, the remaining chapters include discussions on learning disabilities, emotional and behavioral…

Because of what are perceived by some as potential challenges it is still commonplace for research to fail to seek the opinions of pupils with multiple and complex needs. While many such pupils do have significant communication difficulties, along with other disabilities, which are undoubtedly a constraint, it is crucial in order to be inclusive,…

Investigation of the reinforcing properties of vestibular stimulation with five multiply disabled severely retarded young children indicated that vestibular stimulation (10 seconds of swinging) was reinforcing to all subjects and was preferred (over food, praise, visual, and auditory stimulation) by four of the five children. (Author/DB)

Small-set segmental identification experiments were conducted with three deaf-blind subjects who were highly experienced users of the Tadoma method. Systematic variations in the positioning of the hand on the speaker's face for Tadoma produced systematic effects on percent-correct scores, information transfer, and perception of individual…

The needs of students with profound and multiple disabilities (PMD) have received more attention in the educational research and best practice literature over the past decade, especially in relation to the importance of maximising their social and communicative engagement. However, perhaps as a function of their low incidence rate and resultant…

This study assessed the validity of idiosyncratic choice-making behaviors of three children with multiple disabilities. Children were given either their "choice" of food or drink or were given the opposite. Direct observations of children's acceptance or refusal revealed the children consistently indicated choices during both conditions.…

This study examined the relationship between psychopathology and motivation in 111 participants with mental retardation and psychiatric disorder and 11l participants with mental retardation only. The former scored higher on 8 of the 15 motives and had more motives above one standard deviation from the mean of the normative sample. Results support…

This article criticizes the term "comorbidity" used to describe the overlap of developmental syndromes or disorders. Data from 179 school-age children are evaluated for criteria of seven disorders. Since fully 50 percent of the sample met the criteria for at least two diagnoses, the premise that these disorders are discrete categories on…

The clinical histories and treatment of 9 individuals with Down syndrome and major depression are presented, as are clinical characteristics of an additional 13 individuals. Vegetative symptoms of disinterest, withdrawal, mutism, psychomotor retardation, decreased appetite, and insomnia were prominent. Preoccupations with suicide, death,…

Differential reinforcement of low rates of responding was used to reduce the disruptive behaviors of a blind 12-year-old boy with a learning disability. The subject earned reinforcers by not exceeding the established criterion of disruptive behaviors. An overall 88 percent reduction in target behaviors was observed across a 26-day period.…

This article notes a current de-emphasis on genetic syndromes in published articles concerning mental retardation despite major deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) advances in determining mental retardation causes. The article calls for incorporation of these genetic advances into behavioral research of mental retardation, especially as reflected in the…

Mentally retarded emotionally disturbed children (N=31) were compared on the Child Depression Inventory and the Child Behavior Profile with 31 children in a normal school setting. Correlational data showed a strong relationship between the cut-off scores for both measures suggesting that similarities exist between depression in mentally retarded…

Repeated impedance measures were given over five weeks to 11 autistic, 20 learning-disabled, and 20 normal children. A repeated measures analysis of variance led to the conclusion that fluctuating, negative middle ear pressure greater than normal characterizes both autistic and learning-disabled children with the more abnormal pressures typical in…

Tasks assessing perception of auditory temporal and nontemporal cues were administered to children with reading disorders (RD) with or without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or with ADHD alone. The presence of RD was associated only with a deficit in detection of a tone onset time synchrony. The presence of ADHD was associated with a…