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…

Five adults with developmental disabilities participated in a keyboard skills training program employing color coded keys and typing drills. Through typing skills, the subjects were taught basic computer operations such as taking disk directories, loading programs and executing the programs. Repetitious learning was the model used. Data collected…

Written primarily for founders and coordinators of citizen advocacy (CA) programs for the developmentally disabled, the manual provides practical tips on how to establish and administer a CA program. Part 1 (six chapters) gives an overview of citizen advocacy and tells how to start a CA program--how to assess community support, find a sponsor,…

The handbook is designed to assist parents of handicapped children with their estate planning and to provide relevant information for other interested persons such as attorneys and advocates. Considered are various ways of providing for handicapped individuals when parents can no longer care for them because of death or long term illness. Major…

The manual considers the development of a respite care program for families of developmentally disabled children. The development of a respite program in the Archdiocese of Denver (CO) is reviewed in terms of policy development, a pilot phase, and problem areas (lack of consumer interest and funding). The rationale for respite care is described…

Increasing numbers of aging developmentally disabled individuals have led to a recent emphasis being placed on service provision for this population, the education of professionals working with them, and the assessment of current conditions and needs of these individuals. Through the University Affiliated Program, a project of national…

Mildly developmentally delayed 3- and 4-year-old children (N=16) were paired with nonhandicapped younger or older children to evaluate effects of companion status on social and play behavior. The subjects' peer interactions improved substantially only when paired with nonhandicapped older children. (Author/DB)

The article reviews the ways in which norm-referenced developmental age (DA) and developmental quotient (DQ) evaluation data are currently reported in preschool early intervention program evaluation studies. The concept of intervention DQ in contrast with pretest DQ is proposed as a more meaningful way to report evaluation data. (Author/DB)

Differential diagnosis of epilepsy versus pseudoepileptic seizures in the developmentally disabled by use of an eight-channel radiotelemetered electroencephalograph-video recording system suggested that traditional diagnosis on the basis of clinical description, interictal electroencephalogram, and medical history may be inaccurate. (Author/DB)

Four of eight low-functioning, developmentally delayed preschool children initially failed to demonstrate expected oddity responding. In the context of a multiple baseline across-subject design, each of the previously unsuccessful children demonstrated significant increases in the percentage of correct oddity responses immediately upon…

An expanded assessment model examining physiological conditions, durational events, and behavioral histories is suggested as one way to understand the stimulus events controlling aggression of developmentally disabled persons. Implications for more effective treatment are considered. (CL)

Two studies are reported on the assessment and training of parent-child interactional skills in developmentally handicapped mothers. The results suggest that developmentally handicapped mothers can be taught to provide more effective and stimulating interactions for their young children. (Author)

Strong evidence of overall effectiveness was found for a language intervention training program featuring parent training to facilitate early language acquisition in 11 developmentally delayed children (19-55 months old) in natural environmental settings. Gains were strongest at completion of the intervention period, but some children continued to…

Correlational results involving 60 developmentally handicaped adults indicated that a computerized cross-modal memory game had a highly significant relationship with most cognitive and motor coordination measures. Computer aided training was not effective in improving overall cognitive functioning. There was no evidence of cognitive skills being…