Supporting agency can be complex and challenging, especially when teaching students with severe disabilities (i.e., students with intellectual disability, autism, and/or multiple disabilities who are eligible for their state's alternate assessment). In this article, we compare Bandura's model of agency with constructs from the severe disabilities…

In the Netherlands, the Dutch government instituted policies that enable persons with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) to attend day services. Over the past 15 years, surveys have indicated a progressive increase in the number of hours that such adults spend at day activities centers. However, information about how these…

A one day brainstorming session focused on job skills needed by deaf blind multiply handicapped individuals. (DB)

Carisbrooke Day Centre was established in Scotland to provide full-time day care for 12 adults with profound and multiple impairments. This paper describes staff selection, admission criteria, student assessment, and the Carisbrooke Wheel, which outlines a coordinated strategy for the delivery of services. (Author/JDD)

Techniques used by the Special Visual Assessment Clinic for the Handicapped at the University of California-Berkeley School of Optometry are designed to serve handicapped children and adults generally considered "difficult to assess." This article describes the clinic's assessment goals, clientele, and methods for assessing visual ability and…

Case studies are used to demonstrate several strategies used in the San Francisco Bay area to ensure the inclusion of persons with dual sensory impairments and other multiple disabilities in integrated community employment. Strategies include heterogeneous group placement, job restructuring, use of natural support, volunteerism, and social skills…

Among developmentally disabled persons (N=35,000) young and middle aged adults were found to receive psychotropic medication at higher rates than children, adolescents, or elderly persons. Medication increased with severity of retardation, restrictiveness of residential setting, severity of problem behaviors, and presence of a psychiatric…

A job training program in rural Wyoming is described in which 86 percent of the disabled clients served in a two-year period (N=57) were placed in employment after receiving sheltered workshop training in one of 10 vocational training modules. Among data reported are wages, success rates for training, and length of training. (JW)

A variety of battery operated leisure materials were adapted for easier activation by 10 profoundly mentally retarded nonambulatory and nonverbal institutionalized adults. Demonstration and instruction results supported the use of the adapted materials as a cost-effective means of increasing the independent leisure activity engagements of such…

Three mildly and moderately retarded, physically handicapped institutionalized men (17-30 years old) successfully participated in a recreation program involving adapted videogames. Doubles play fostered cooperative social interaction between players. (CL)

The parents of a 31-year-old man with mental retardation, mental illness, and behavioral disorders describe how his relatively independent life style is maintained through comprehensive lifestyle support including friends, home, work, community connections, transportation, and family. Anecdotal accounts illustrate interventions effective with…

The case study describes various treatments implemented over a three-year period to reduce and eliminate multiple and severe self-injurious behaviors in a 45-year-old retarded and psychotic institutionalized man. Nonaversive intervention and community involvement was associated with positive behavior change and eventual community placement. (DB)

The article describes the community integration experiences and behaviors of nine long-term institutionalized adults who participated in a one-week summer vacation away from the institution. Among staff observations and conclusions was that behavior in an institutional setting cannot be used to predict behavior in a community environment.…

This report describes a program designed to increase opportunities for people with developmental disabilities to lead good lives in places of their own, strengthen their communities, and enjoy a genuine sense of self-worth. In addition to offering independent services, the Training Toward Self-Reliance (TTSR) program staff have increased their…

This paper describes experiences of a psychiatrist working with adults who have intellectual disability along with challenging behaviors and/or psychiatric illness, focusing on harm minimization, relationships with staff, and collection of behavioral data. Three case histories illustrate differences between institutional and office practice and…