Priorities in Service Delivery to the Communicatively Disadvantaged: Habilitation Needs

Abstract

The bewildering patchwork or organization and organizing principles involved in the delivery of services to the communicatively disadvantaged requires an amalgam of effort. Also helpful would be a clearer understanding of magnitudes, characteristics and habilitation needs of certain subgroups such as the language disabled, the multiply handicapped and the moderately handicapped. Since this conference is concerned primarily with scientific contribution, it is suggested that we are in a transition from intuitive approaches to habilitative procedures to those derived from scientific investigations. This is pointedly documented in the area of language which cuts across all types of communicative disorders, as well as in such areas as early identification, sensory aids, career education, parent guidance, media use and mental health. It is important, too, for scientists to communicate clearly with their many publics.