Describes interdisciplinary college course designed to prepare students in psychology and related fields to work with children and families with special needs. Presents techniques for enhancing knowledge about developmental disabilities and chronic illness in childhood, including scope of the problem and legal rights, increasing sensitivity to…

Compared to the U.S. general population, American Indian children experience a smaller proportion of genetic and congenital anomalies associated with developmental disabilities and greater risk associated with prenatal exposure to alcohol and tobacco, maternal diabetes, and disabling sequelae of accidents and otitis media. Prevention efforts…

Interviews with 32 caregivers of a son or daughter with a developmental disability found that families were more likely to have done financial planning than planning for decision making or community living. Barriers to future planning included lack of information in the service community and lack of understanding among professionals on what should…

This article discusses the use of sign language to facilitate language development of children with developmental disabilities mainstreamed into the early childhood setting. It discusses the benefits of using sign language, presents a rationale for its use, and provides instructional guidelines and resources. (JDD)

The Developmental Disabilities Act provides funds to State Developmental Disabilities Councils to formulate comprehensive systems of services, supports, and other assistance. The act also supports protection and advocacy systems to protect legal rights, university-affiliated programs to provide preservice preparation, and national initiatives to…

Summarizes the beginnings of family support programs for developmentally disabled children and their families; their present workings; and the direction they should be going. (BB)

A program to improve the quality of work relationships among managers and staff of group homes for the developmentally disabled includes three strategies: (1) adding people to the employee's social network; (2) improving skills for maintaining networks; and (3) training network members to be more supportive. (SK)

An introduction to the concepts and terminology of chaos science and a discussion of its implications for the behavioral and social sciences are provided. The paper points out that chaos science assumptions pertaining to nonlinearity, controlled randomness, and dynamic system modeling offer challenging new directions to assessment and intervention…

This paper reviews the literature on functional assessment in the behavioral treatment of aggression in persons with mental retardation or developmental delays. Increased use of functional assessment and skill training is noted but no concomitant decrease in the use of intrusive procedures. (Author/DB)

The sleep-wake cycles of 4 developmentally delayed individuals (ages 3-19) with severe sleep disturbances were regulated using a faded bedtime procedure with response cost. Following treatment, all four increased their amounts of nighttime sleep; two decreased their excessive daytime sleep; and three decreased their night wakings. (Author/JDD)

Parents in 102 families of 3- to 5-year-old children with developmental delays were interviewed concerning religion. Although direct measures of peace of mind and emotional adjustment did not differ between religious and nonreligious families, religious parents more often emphasized parental nurturance and described their child as an opportunity…

Describes federally funded personnel preparation project supporting implementation of educational and clinical sequence in handicapped, medically complex, and at-risk infant and toddler specialization. Addresses vehicles of professional development, including courses and seminars, clinical rotations, and research activities. Discusses implications…

Discusses the use of different medications for people with developmental disabilities and presents a paradigm for integrating behavior-analytic and psychopharmacological treatment interventions. The model is consistent with the least restrictive, yet effective, treatment philosophy and addresses assessment and treatment of medical issues,…

A study compared the Comprehension: Block Design IQ subtest pattern of 8 children with autism and 24 children with developmental and acquired frontal lobe disorders. Found that children with autism showed low social comprehension related to visual spatial ability, a profile which was shared by children with poorly controlled Phenylketonuria. (CR)

This award-winning article describes a research project which evaluated use of "social stories" with primary-grade children who have autism. Social stories are written to describe social situations the child finds difficult and include descriptive sentences which describe the situation, perspective sentences which explain the reactions of others,…