Reviews major research data associated with aging among the developmentally disabled including prevalence, longevity patterns, morbidity profiles, mental decline, mental illness, comparative experiences of disabled persons in institutions and in community based living situations, and approaches used to define aging in this population. Discusses…

A survey of affiliates of the Tourette Syndrome Association of Ohio was conducted to document the special problems and needs of the Tourette Syndrome student. Findings indicate that students reported problems similiar to adults and that many students were in need of specialized educational services. Suggestions for dealing more effectively with…

Compares developmentally disabled children in foster care and adoption in 13 agencies nationwide and describes the parents who adopted these children. The importance of building links between foster care and adoption units within and between these agencies is stressed. (Author/BB)

A three-year-old child with developmental handicaps was taught attention, imitation, and toy manipulation behaviors. Observation on 10 targeted behaviors showed that from the time the intervention program commenced, the child increased her attention to persons and objects and markedly decreased her level of self-stimulation and self-injury. (GC)

California's data on 59,000 mentally retarded/developmentally delayed persons were examined. Despite claims of excess institutional population and the availability of residential alternatives, 52.5% of all persons resided in their natural homes: small family care units held 14.2% of the population and institutions, 12.8%. (Author/CL)

Two experiments were performed with five severely developmentally disabled individuals (13-26 years old) to test the relationship between toys as conditioned reinforcers and stereotypy. Findings suggested that conditioning reinforcers for play, such as toys, may result in a durable and possibly more cost effective procedure of dealing with…

Discusses the discrepancy between the attitudes of social workers and parents of developmentally disabled children. A recent study showed that 75 percent of the parents (N=27) reported the experience had made them stronger, while only nine percent of the social workers surveyed believed parents felt that way. (JAC)

This information packet presents five readings about community participation and social networks of people with developmental disabilities and an annotated bibliography. The first paper, "Building Stronger Communities for All: Thoughts about Community Participation for People with Developmental Disabilities" (Robert Bogdan and Steven J. Taylor),…

People with cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities are a small but increasing portion of offenders in the criminal justice system. People with developmental disabilities are estimated to comprise 2-3% of the general population, but 4-10% of the prison population, and an even higher percentage of those in juvenile facilities and in…

Using magnitude of dominant ear advantage as an indicator of relative cerebral dominance, unwarned simple reaction time (RT) to monaural presentation of tones was investigated in matched groups of autistic, retarded, and normal children. Autistic children showed significant developmental delay in both RT and the establishment of cerebral…

Comparing developmental education for parents, parent education in child management, and a control situation, this study assessed treatment effectiveness in motivating parents to participate in home programs for developmentally delayed infants. Results indicated the superiority of the developmental program in terms of parent participation and…

Four supervisors working in a sheltered workshop for developmentally disabled adults participated in a behavior management program. Tests of durability of the altered behavior at three months and six months after completion of training showed that three supervisors had maintained low levels of attending to inappropriate trainee behaviors. (Author)

A curriculum designed to incorporate sex education into the regular curriculum through a human growth and development approach is described in a six-level outline focusing on social identity, physiological identity, and health and hygiene. (CL)

The Peabody correlated significantly with the McCarthy General Cognitive Index, Verbal Scale, Perceptual Scale, and Memory Scale. A significant difference between the means of the two tests was found, with the Peabody yielding lower scores. (Author)

A method is described for estimating changes in the rate of development because of an early intervention program as applied to developmentally disabled children. The clinical usefulness of the technique described seems to outweigh the potential for admitted but unavoidable methodological imperfections. (Author)