The paper describes the community residence and independent living services offered by Perkins School for the Blind which serves multi-impaired, blind, visually impaired, and deaf blind individuals. The first part reviews existing community living options and emphasizes the need for thorough diagnosis, extensive training in daily living skills and…

This article discusses development and implementation of a community-based residential program for deaf blind young adults at the Hilltop House (Texas). The article outlines principles of sound management, realistic staff expectations, developmentally appropriate activities, family participation, crisis management, medication, and close…

The transformation of a large, private, church-affiliated provider of residential services for individuals with mental retardation from an institutionally based to a community-based service system is described. Factors influencing the decision to close the 200-person residential facility, guidelines followed during the transition, and evidence of…

This survey of nine institutional and community settings serving persons with severe handicaps found (1) in groups managed by one or two staff, staff interactions, and client adaptive functioning improved with decreased group size; and (2) improvement in staff performance and client behavior from addition of staff to a client group was marginal or…

This manual presents suggested measures which are designed to examine the outcomes of support and service provision on the lives of people with disabilities in Illinois. Included are 30 measures for people and 16 measures for organizations. The measures were developed after initial input from people with disabilities participating in a Community…