Although prenatal drug exposure places children in high-risk categories, educators must guard against preconceptions regarding outcomes. Environmental influences play a crucial role in determining long-term outcomes, ranging from minimal to severe. Effective intervention entails prevention at all levels, combined with a comprehensive approach.…

Euro-American families (n=102) of young children with developmental delays reported substantial accommodation activity and proactive efforts to sustain a family environment. Accommodation variables included family subsistence and finances, accessibility of services, home and neighborhood safety, domestic workload, child care tasks, child play…

This paper reviews, first, experimental studies of perceptual-cognitive development and related work directed to the assessment of infant intelligence and, second, naturalistic observation of the exploratory patterns of infants during free play. Techniques used, such as the Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence, offer the potential to identify…

Provides an overview of supported employment programs for disabled individuals in rural areas. Describes a successful program in rural southeastern Ohio that employs 89 developmentally disabled persons in a countywide recycling program. Suggests methods for developing supported employment programs in rural areas. (LP)

A fading procedure was successfully used to maintain high levels of compliance obtained with presenting high-probability requests immediately antecedent to low-probability requests in both a 5-year-old boy with developmental disabilities and a 15-year-old girl with developmental disabilities (for whom rephrasing of "don't" requests to…

The University of Vermont offers an introductory undergraduate course in developmental disabilities based on the support model of services. Parents and individuals with developmental disabilities play a major role in planning and team teaching the course. The course emphasizes a family-centered philosophy, respect for individuals with…

Comparison of 28 young children with autism, 29 children with other developmental disabilities, and 28 typical children found that autistic children were significantly less compliant with parental prohibitions than were control groups. This behavior correlated with chronological age, not with mental age, language development, or parental behavior.…

The current conceptualization in the mental retardation-developmental disability field regarding quality of life, quality enhancement, and quality assurance is summarized. Implications of these issues for program planning and evaluation are discussed, with attention to management and a framework for quality assurance. (SLD)

This response to previous symposium papers (EC 604 155-161) concerning regulations and quality assurance in Intermediate Care Facilities for the Mentally Retarded (ICF/MR) sees regulations as the bureaucratization of values, identifies paradoxes implicit in regulatory controls, and urges reform of the current developmental disability service…

Interviews with 34 persons with developmental disabilities in supported employment indicated that the majority liked their jobs, were satisfied with the help that their job coach had provided, had a voice in choosing their job, would rather work in the community than attend a workshop, and reported having friends at work. (Author/JDD)

This study reports on nonmedical expenditures and opportunity costs in maintaining a child or young adult with serious developmental disabilities in the home or residential care and discusses policy implications for assisting families. The paper makes proposals concerning the scope of health care, family-centered care, programs for young adults,…

Provides an overview of play in occupational therapy. Examines how occupational therapists' view of play has evolved and offers a model of play as occupation to illustrate how children's ability to play is influenced by developmental disabilities. Also outlines occupational-therapy assessment and treatment practices that use play and identifies…

A study examined suicidality in 223 children with developmental disorders (ages 4 to 18) and comorbid psychiatric disorders. Twenty percent experienced either suicidal ideation, threats of, or attempts at suicide, with hanging being most frequently considered. Suicidality was most often encountered in individuals with oppositional defiant…

Teachers of middle and high school students with developmental disabilities embedded planned incidents in instruction to prepare students for appropriate decision making. Teachers were consistently able to provide choice-making opportunities without significantly disrupting core lessons. (SK)

This study tested the predictive validity of the Communication Composite of the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales with 58 children (ages 17 to 34 months) functioning at the prelinguistic stage of language development. Evaluation of expressive vocabulary 1 year later found that the Communication Composite and all tested clusters were…