The mother of a child with spina bifida recounts her difficulties in trying to obtain services for her disabled son. She touches on such topics as her feelings on being told her infant was disabled, treatment by medical personnel, reactions of family and friends, home therapy with the Doman Delacato patterning program, testing and evaluation,…

The paper reviews problems and challenges in serving blind children in mental retardation facilities. Incidence figures for institutionalized blind multiply handicapped children are cited, and problems of assessing such residents are seen to include uneven development and lack of standardized evaluation measures. The impact of ward management and…

The use of trampoline activities with multiple handicapped students is discussed. Management considerations in safety are noted, and developmental trampoline skills are listed beginning with bouncing for stimulation. Progression to limited independence and finally independent jumping is described. The position statement of the American Alliance…

The guide is designed to facilitate communication training in the classroom and at home through involvement of parents in the education of their severely multiple handicapped child. Section 1 addresses the advantages of family involvement in the areas of assessment, programing, classroom assistance, and advocacy. The next three sections deal with…

The paper reports on a program to change behaviors of six blind multihandicapped adolescents with severe behavior disorders at the New York Institute for the Education of the Blind. Examples are drawn of the program's effects on a 17 year old male, Joe. Program principles include reduction of stressful situations for the students, expansion of…

Intended for those working with deaf blind children, the document discusses strategies for developing language. Information on objectives, materials, and methods are presented for 10 levels of language development: the nonresponsive child, the child with differentiated crying, the child who demonstrates "stimulus-response" behavior to situational…

To explore the effects of the use of sign language as an intervention technique to facilitate the development of expressive and receptive communication skills, manual sign language (Signing Exact English) was employed with 12 multihandicapped, language delayed and/or nonverbal Ss (18 to 36 months old). Sign language was studied both as a…

The document describes the services offered by the Chicago Goodwill Rehabilitation Center. A brief, general description of the goals and activities is provided for each of the following services: personal and vocational evaluation of clients, community and job placement, vocational orientation and exploration, counseling and psychotherapy, social…

Parents of deaf-blind children frequently have common needs and experience definite critical times of stress as their child matures. Parents need emotional understanding and support, information and facts, a greater degree of active participation in habilitation planning, a self image of themselves as competent and participating community members,…

The policy statement by the American Foundation for the Blind deals with services for children and adults who have physical or mental handicaps in addition to visual loss. Noted are difficulties in providing appropriate services to the multiply handicapped. It is stated that optimum independence should be the goal of services for the multiply…

Proceedings from a Special Studies Institute on the Challenge of Educating the Preschool Blind Child with Multiple Handicaps (New York, April 27-29, 1970) are compiled. Papers and panel discussion topics include the challenge of educating the multiply handicapped child with sensory defects; the physician's contribution in diagnosis, treatment and…

The proceedings from the special study institute for teachers of deaf-blind children contain seven conference papers. Topics covered include early child growth and development, aspects of the diagnosis and evaluation of deaf-blind children, normal language development, and stimulating the hearing, vision, and motor development of deaf-blind…

The multiple disabilities, both remediable and adjustable, which may be associated with deafness are defined and comments are offered on the trend away from the "medical model." Incidence figures for the various disabilities are given, and the problems of diagnosis and ascertainment of the educational needs of each individual are considered.…