This article discusses the family systems framework and its implications for understanding families with developmentally disabled infants/toddlers from diverse cultures. It presents guidelines to assist home visitors in becoming sensitive to culture's effects on family values, beliefs, and practices, and describes the phases of a home visit and…

Eighty-five persons with developmental disabilities who had been placed into independent housing and competitive employment 15 years previously were evaluated. Two primary groups emerged: 19% in and 59% not in mental retardation/developmental disability services. The two groups were compared on social and support networks, lifestyle, quality of…

This paper examines relationships and interactions among the consumer (with a developmental disability), his or her family, and agency staff as they impact the consumer's life course and lifestyle. Approaches and activities to enhance effective relationships include setting policies that support these relationships, training staff with this…

This study investigated whether teaching mothers with low socioeconomic status to comment while reading to three children with developmental disabilities and four at-risk children would increase communicative interaction and improve the children's emerging literacy skills. All children were more assertive and responsive and four improved emerging…

Examines the effects of poverty on parenting, noting the work of the Kennedy Center at Peabody College and discussing parenting as a process, how parents are influenced by poverty, how parenting in poverty influences children's development, how children are directly and indirectly influenced by poverty, and factors that mediate the debilitating…

The patterns of cognitive play of 28 African-American and Euro-American preschool children with intellectual disabilities are reported. Fourteen children representing each group, matched on developmental age and family variables, were observed playing independently at home. The pattern of African-American children's play was more reflective of…

Potential individual variations in the effectiveness of facilitated communication (FC) were examined with 20 students with autism and related disorders. Use of multiple methods (including auditory or visual input, simple point responses, and typing) provided no clear support for validity of FC over students' independent communication. Increased…

Clarifies issues surrounding inclusion and describes the implementation of an appropriate educational program for an 11-year-old student with autism entering middle school. Discusses collaborative efforts of school staff, importance of shared leadership roles, adherence to appropriate due process, and analysis of the instructional environment in…

The purpose of this article is to provide the reader with an orientation to the concepts and principles of autonomy and self-determination and the application of those concepts and principles to working with children and adolescents who have intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD), including autism. Self-determination is essentially…

Training needs and current status of training for direct support staff were identified in one southeastern state. Data sources were (a) direct support staff, (b) administrators of direct support staff, and (c) consumers with developmental disabilities. Stratified sampling was used to gather data from 108 administrators and 170 direct support staff…

A summer program was designed to provide a social learning and work experience for students with developmental disabilities. For 3 weeks, high school students with developmental disabilities participated in a variety of jobs on a college campus and worked alongside college students. This collaborative experience enabled students with and without…

Background: Movement clumsiness (or Developmental Coordination Disorder--DCD) has gained increasing recognition as a significant condition of childhood. However, some uncertainty still exists about diagnosis. Accordingly, approaches to assessment and treatment are varied, each drawing on distinct theoretical assumptions about the aetiology of the…

The author of this article talks to Robert Kreider about why helping people with special needs is so important to him and his colleagues. Robert Kreider is the president and chief executive officer of The Devereux Foundation, the nation's largest non-profit provider of behavioral healthcare services to children and adults with emotional,…

This study compared the effectiveness of three different video-based instructional sequences, all used in conjunction with the system of least prompts, for teaching three different daily living skills to three young adults with developmental disabilities. The video-based instructional sequences (i.e., video rehearsal, video rehearsal plus photos,…

This paper focuses on the elements of brain-compatible learning theory and instruction, noting its significance for students with developmental disabilities. The paper proposes a learning program for children (with and without disabilities) which is "brain-compatible," defined as "absence of threat." Eight elements are seen as critical in…