Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities

The fields of mental retardation and developmental disabilities have witnessed significant changes in perceptions of, and treatment of, individuals with disabilities in this century. This paper discusses four key paradigm shifts within these closely related fields. The nature of each paradigm and forces for change are highlighted. The discussion focuses on recommendations for professional practice and provides a context for considering the effect of paradigm shifts relative to individuals with disabilities.

This study concerns an evaluation of the sexual knowledge, experience, feelings and needs of people with mild intellectual disability. Thirty people (18 females, 12 males) with mild intellectual disability who were living in community houses and a contrast group of 50 first year psychology students (32 females, 18 males) agreed to participate. Parallel forms of the guided interview measure 'Sexual knowledge, experience and needs scale' were used to assess the sexuality of both groups. The results indicated that people with intellectual disability had lower levels of knowledge in all areas except menstruation and body part identification. They were also less experienced in the areas of intimacy and sexual intercourse, but had a higher experience of pregnancy, masturbation and sexually transmitted diseases. There were no differences between the two groups in the experience of sexual abuse. There were generally more negative feelings in relation to sexual issues among people with intellectual disability. The implications of these findings for sex education programs for people with intellectual disability are discussed.

Accounts by five Latin American families are presented of their attitudes toward and experiences with the special education system. All indicated high degrees of commitment and involvement but responses varied in terms of their understanding of the IEP process, awareness of rights and options, and willingness to challenge school district's decisions concerning their child. The discussion emphasizes the need for school's to restructure parent participation to ensure inclusion of culturally different parents.

In the excitement of obtaining or implementing new assistive technology for a child with mental retardation and developmental disabilities, critical family factors can be overlooked by professionals. Family needs and priorities in assistive technology can create unique issues or concerns for everyone in the family. This article discusses a family-centered approach to assistive technology assessment for young children and their families. The first section reviews the literature on families and assistive technology assessment for young children with disabilities. The second section presents a model for supporting and involving families in assistive technology assessment and use for their child with a disability.

Special Olympics has been providing sport / recreation opportunities for individuals with mental retardation for over a quarter of a century. Recent trends such as access, inclusion and the use of the non-categorical approach in identifying individuals with disabilities, however, has led Special Olympics to reeval-uate its programs. To this end, a 15 question survey instrument was developed and sent to a total of 232 potential respondents across 9 identified strata. These respondents represented various agencies / organiza-tions throughout the United States that provide a variety of services to individuals with disabilities. Survey questions addressed terminology, philosophy, perceptions and programming. An overall response rate of 50.4 percent was obtained across the 9 strata, with 117 total questionnaires returned. Results indicate that: 1) the mission of Special Olympics should be to place more emphasis on inclusion opportunities, 2) there appears to be a trend away from the term “mental retardation” toward other terms, 3) Special Olympics should provide opportunities to a wider variety of individuals with disabilities, and 4) Special Olympics should examine its mission statement in order to stay abreast with current philosophies being espoused by other agencies/organizations. Future research efforts should extend the efforts of this preliminary investigation in examining Special Olympics' mission and goals.

Contemporary best practices suggest a multifaceted intervention to effectively manage, maintain, and generalize the reduction of maladaptive aggressive behaviors. This article outlines a community-based procedure used to assist a twenty-five year old dually diagnosed male with a history of aggressive and antisocial behavior to develop self-management skills. A social-learning program was implemented which combined traditional behavior modification techniques with cognitive intervention strategies. The results were a significant reduction in the incidence of both physical and non-physical aggression, allowing the individual to maintain competitive employment and a personal residence. The importance of collaboration between professionals and family and a systematic plan insuring staff consistency are discussed as underlying success in achieving self-management of behavior.

Auditory integration training (AIT) was introduced into the United States in 1991 to ameliorate hypersensitive hearing in persons with autism and other cognitive and behavior disorders. Hypersensitive hearing is a problem that may affect up to 40% of persons with autism. Often referred to as hyperacusis, this condition causes pain or discomfort when an individual is confronted with certain noises at particular frequencies. Since the introduction of AIT into the U.S., stories of treatment successes have received substantial media attention, resulting in increased parent and professional interest, and in an increased demand for services. This paper presents an overview of AIT as a treatment for hyperacusis in autism, including a review of relevant research, descriptions of the treatment procedure and technology involved, and consideration of current controversies surrounding AIT.