Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities

This paper reviews the role of ethics in behavioral interventions and the rationale and interventions commonly used for teaching compliance to individuals with mental retardation. The ethical screens designed to monitor the selection and use of aversive interventions are described as a framework for examin- ing ethical issues related to selecting and teaching compliance as a behavioral or instructional goal. Tables are used to summarize some of the major issues in deciding whether compliance is an appropriate objective for an individual, and for monitoring whether any interventions designed to achieve compliance are being appropriately implemented.

The importance of the development of friendships by persons with disabilities has become increasingly apparent as they move from institutionalized to community-based living arrangements. Little is known, however, about factors affecting the formation and maintenance of relationships between persons with and without disabilities. This study was designed to investigate relationship types and the domains in which they were formed for three groups of individuals. Participants with disabilities lived either in small community homes or a large residential facility. A nondisabled group served as a comparison. The results indicated a significant interaction between group and relationship type, with similar numbers of close relationships reported for participants from the small community homes and the nondisabled comparison group, and many more distant relationships reported for the comparison group in contrast to the small home participants. The large facility participants had fewer close friends than did either of the other two groups. Respondents from the comparison group met their friends in different domains than did either group with disabilities. The discussion considers strategies for developing a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying these differences and methods for facilitating the formation and maintenance of friendships between persons with and without disabilities.

Co-editors, Associate Editors, and Cohort Review Team members for TEACHING Exceptional Children were asked to nominate qualified individuals to identify seminal articles in the area of educating persons with severe disabilities. In the first phase of the study nominees recommended the top 13 classic contributions in the area of severe disabilities. A self-identified panel of 172 persons in the area of severe disabilities rank ordered these 13 classic works in the second phase of the study. Results are discussed in terms of other studies that examined seminal contributions in the broader areas of special education.

This study investigated the adult adjustment of a randomly selected sample of 50% of the graduates with mental disabilities in the Class of 1985 three years after they exited high school in the state of Iowa. This adjustment was compared to their status as adults one year after graduation. Three hundred twenty-two students (85% of those randomly selected) were interviewed three years out of high school; this same number, with 88% overlap in participants, had been interviewed one year out of school. Results are reported in terms of: (a) general status information, such as marital status, living arrangements, sources of income; (b) information about those competitively employed vs. working in sheltered workshops (wages earned, hours worked per week, fringe benefits received); and (c) “successful” adult adjustment relative to criteria presented in this report. Implications are cited for programming and transition planning.

A study was conducted to investigate the job satisfaction of individuals with developmental disabilities in supported employment. A total of 34 persons were individually interviewed to determine their satisfaction with supported employment services received and their current job. Findings indicated that the majority of individuals (a) liked their jobs, (b) were satisfied with the help that their job coach had provided, (c) had a voice in choosing their job, (d) would rather work in the community than attend a workshop, and (e) said they had friends at work. Results are discussed in terms of socially validating supported employment outcomes and providing program evaluation information.

This study investigated the improvements in specific motor responses of two children with severe and multiple disabilities as an outcome of interactions with teachers and peers. Two children with disabilities, four peers without disabilities, and two adult trainers participated in the study. An observation system was used to collect data on the students’ motor responses as well as their socially directed behavior. Both the adult instruction and peer social interactions had an effect on the target motor behaviors. No significant difference, however, was noted in the target motor behaviors when comparing the adult instruction to the peer social interaction conditions.

The function of self-injurious behavior (SIB) was analyzed by incorporating descriptive analysis and experimental analysis methodologies. Observations during the descriptive analysis showed SIB occurred most often in the presence of task-related activities. Two, more controlled, experimental analyses were designed to test more precisely the possible environmental determinant of SIB. Initially, the results of the Activity assessment showed SIB occurred most often when the participant was presented with novel, rather than old, activities. Second, to refine the novel activity condition, the results of a Preference assessment showed SIB occurred most often when the participant was presented with nonpreferred novel, rather than preferred novel, activities. Intervention was designed to meet the communicative function of preference as supported by the results of the two experimental analyses: (a) to teach a negation (“no”) to terminate the nonpreferred, novel activity, and (b) to redirect adaptive responding to a more preferred activity. Results showed a reduction of SIB during training and generalized community settings. Results also showed an increase in prompted “no” production during training and unprompted “no” production during generalization sessions. Similar effects continued to be observed at the 2-month maintenance check.

Three hundred students referred for consideration of special education placement and found to be either Learning Disabled, Mentally Retarded, or Not Eligible were examined in an effort to determine the differential contribution of sociocultural variables on special education eligibility decisions when examined within the context of WISC-R factors. Analyses were conducted using WISC-R factors (Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Organization, Freedom from Distractibility) and sociocultural variables including Socioeco-nomic Status, Ethnicity, Family Size, and Father Absence. Results indicated that Ethnicity made differential significant contributions to the prediction of both the Mentally Retarded and Not Eligible groups when WISC-R factors were adjusted for. SES accounted for a significant amount of the variance in MR eligibility with the exception of when Verbal Comprehension was adjusted for independently. Father absence and family size were not significant predictors for either group. When the WISC-R factors were adjusted for independently and in combination, no sociocultural variables made significant contributions to LD eligi-bility.

This paper reports on (a) procedures for employing a resource components approach to collect and report cost information of training and supported employment programs for adult populations with develop-mental disabilities, and the results from examining the costs of 41 related programs in Minnesota while using these procedures. Findings indicate that costs are functionally related to a number of different con-sumer and program factors, including type of program, number of participants, job placement and hours of work, level and type of disability, and staffing ratios.

This book broadly surveys current issues pertaining to Down Syndrome. The first section (8 chapters) addresses medical strategies and these chapters are sometimes rather technical. A chapter by Berner on the controversial topic of plastic surgery concludes that the procedures “are new and must be considered unproven.” This chapter has questionable statements like, “The child who is selected for surgery should not be one who is too severely retarded” or “A very positive, supportive, loving family is absolutely essential if surgery is to be successful.” The chapter by Pruess on vitamin and cell therapy clearly shows that there is no empirical evidence demonstrating these procedures to be effective in increasing the intelligence or adaptive functioning of persons with Down Syndrome.