Observations of direct-care staff behavior were made for 20 days at various locations in a large state-operated residential facility serving the developmentally disabled. Results demonstrated that five 15-minute weekday observations could provide reliable representative information concerning staff activities. (Author/DB)

Static and dynamic assessments conducted on 44 young handicapped children (mean age=68.75 months) demonstrated that dynamic assessment can provide information on a child's instructability. Graduated prompt assessment identified learning potential not identified by static tests. Mediation assessment identified learning potential not identified by…

Provides editorial perspective on the selection of papers chosen for publication in the March 1988 IJBD. Emphasizes the multi-cultural mix of the papers which deal with a range of issues related to human development and the importance of rigorous life-span perspective regarding developmental disabilities. (RWB)

The study examined whether 10 developmentally delayed children (3:3 to 5:4 years old) would demonstrate superior comprehension for restricted, syntactically incomplete as compared to reduced, syntactically complete forms. The five children functioning at late linguistic stage I demonstrated better comprehension than the early stage I children for…

Describes the Clinical Decision Support System which accesses information in six client related areas, subjects it to various statistical routines and provides this information to assist staff to develop effective and efficient interventions which improve client care and significantly reduce costs. Two applications of the system are presented with…

The evolution of federal government mental retardation financial assistance programs from the formation of the U.S. Public Health Service in 1798 through the appointment of the President's Panel on Mental Retardation in 1961 is reviewed. (Author/CL)

Results from the real-time analysis of the Child Success Through Parent Training project (a project stressing parent training for the birth-3 years developmentally delayed population) are reported for three service components: telephone screening, home screening, and initial developmental assessment. Advantages of the method are discussed, as are…

Performance on a battery of cognitive measures was analyzed in terms of hand preference for 62 children (5-17 years old) with Pervasive Developmental Disorders including autism. There was a clear (though nonsignificant) trend on all tests for left-handers to have higher scores than right-handers. Mixed-hand preference Ss demonstrated the lowest…

In a study involving 101 severely developmentally disabled children (1-16 years old), stereotyped behaviors without objects was positively correlated with self-manipulation and chronological age and was negatively correlated with complex object manipulation, developmental age, developmental quotient, and teacher attention. Stereotyped behavior…

In a study involving 20 Down's Syndrome children and 4 normal but language delayed preschoolers, standardized change score analyses revealed that the total communication group scored significantly higher on the Expressive scale and in the number of acquired signs. (Author/CL)

Analysis of free play interaction between 40 mothers and their mentally retarded, retarded cerebral palsied, and nonretarded infants revealed that mothers of both groups of developmentally disabled (DD) infants were more directive than mothers of nonretarded infants. DD infants were more compliant and demonstrated lower levels of behavior and less…

Four developmentally disordered, speech deficient children (11-16 years old), who were being taught sign language as an alternative to speech, were taught to use manual signs as mediators in a delayed auditory-picture matching-to-sample task. (Author/CL)

The study examined the relationship between direct clinical services provided to persons who are mentally retarded/developmentally disabled in 338 group homes and program and occupant characteristics. Findings suggest that group homes differ significantly in on-site service provision. (Author/CL)

Compared the Revised Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-R) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (Revised) for 53 rural children. The PPVT-R was highly correlated with WISC-R scale and subtest scores. Examination of a subsample of developmentally handicapped students revealed substantial reduction in correlational relationships. (JAC)

Administered questionnaires to abusive (N=21) and nonabusive (N=21) employees to identify potential for institutional child abuse. Results corroborated earlier findings of institutional child abuse and demonstrated an attempt at developing an assessment tool needed to screen staff who are working with the developmentally disabled and children in…