Suggested are procedures for providing a developmental program for preschool children with communication disorders complicated by other disorders such as mental retardation, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, and other neurological dysfunctions. (IM)

The authors stress the importance of social learning theory and ecological psychology in teaching social skills to the developmentally disabled. (CL)

Investigated the concurrent validity of the Battelle Developmental Inventory (BDI) with speech and language disordered preschool children. Used the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R), Preschool Language Scale-Revised (PLS-R), and Arizona Articulation Proficiency Scale-Revised (AAPS-R). Significant correlations were found for…

Follow-up study of 4- to 14-year-old children (N=42) who had participated in a home-based infant stimulation program indicated that approximately 66 percent of subjects (most of whom had serious developmental disabilities) were in special education programs full-time, 20 percent were mainstreamed, and 15 percent were in regular classrooms…

Comparison of Test of Early Language Development (TELD) scores of developmentally-delayed three- to six-year-olds (N=85) with other language and cognition measures indicated that TELD scores documented language delays, correlating strongly with other language measures, but failed to accurately classify subjects clinically classified as…

Investigated the criterion-related validity of the Battelle Developmental Inventory (BDI) when used with 70 handicapped children less than 30-months-old. Compared scores with those on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. Supported the validity convincingly using multivariate data analyses. Commends the BDI's value in assessing delays in…

An 11-week training program to improve the social-conversational skills of preschool developmentally delayed children was evaluated with nine mother-child dyads. After training, experimental children initiated more topics, were more responsive to their mother's preceding turns, and used more verbal turns and a more diverse vocabulary than did…

The Health Education and Learning for The Handicapped (HEALTH) program provides sex education to developmentally handicapped persons through group discussion, role-playing, films, and other visual aids. The one-hour group sessions, given over 12-14 weeks with 6-12 participants, discuss body parts, acceptable social behavior, assertiveness, birth…

Describes an innovative interdisciplinary program for hospital care and followup of premature infants at the University of Florida involving psychologists, counselors, and educators. Notes this growing population of surviving neonates has a high risk of developmental disability, which can be reduced by developmental intervention. (Author)

Compares two random samples of developmentally disabled workers, one from sheltered workshops, the other from a supported work program, in terms of client characteristics, program effectiveness, cost effectiveness, and job satisfaction. Suggests that the sheltered workshop program was more effective than the supported work program in terms of the…

Supported employment for severely developmentally disabled adults emphasizes a full range of normal job benefits and recognizes the need for support to enable successful job performance. Supported employment requires opportunities to be created before service commences, targets immediate employment outcomes, and values employment in the same…

Transitional service centers are being established nationwide by the Association for Retarded Citizens to increase the employment of mentally retarded and developmentally disabled persons in community-based work settings. These centers will facilitate information collection and dissemination, access to services and resources, interagency…

Seventy directors of residential and/or Semi-Independent Living Services (SILS) programs responded to a survey questionnaire in which they evaluated 245 independent living skills in terms of their necessity for entry into SILS programs. Large differences of opinion were expressed regarding the number and relative importance of prerequisite skills.…

The evolution of federal assistance programs from the issuance of the report of the President's Panel on Mental Retardation in 1962 to the enactment of the Deficit Reduction Act Amendments of 1985 is reviewed. (Author/CB)

Although formal assessment of children with severe disabilities raises many problems of measurement, evaluation by "standard rulers" is still essential. This article examines the role of the school psychologist in the measurement process and identifies issues related to the assessment of developmentally disabled children. (Author/EGS)