This study compared the ability of 20 young adults (mean age 29) and 22 older adults (mean age 63) with mild/moderate mental retardation to respond to requests for clarification in conversation. Neither group was as responsive to the requests as would have been predicted from their general cognitive and linguistic functioning levels. Few…

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 study examined recidivism among 252 clients (ages 15-59) with developmental disabilities in a case management program. Overall, 40% were arrested while in the program and 34% were arrested within 6 months after case closure. Clients who completed the program (n=115) were less likely to be arrested after case closure. (Contains references.)…

In South Carolina, 10,169 individuals with mental retardation were served by the state disability agency and 22.7% were employed during 1997-2000, with 68% keeping their job for more than 1 year. Food service, manufacturing, disability services, grocery, and retail companies employed the majority of those who worked at least 3 years. (Contains…

Two experiments to replicate P. E. Touchette's findings on the delayed prompt effect, with 34 subjects having mental retardation, found more variable results, with all five of the possible outcomes occurring with some subjects. The paper concludes that successful use of the delayed prompt technique depends on such factors as difficulty of target…

Comparison of referential first mentions in narrative reports by 40 mildly mentally retarded adults and 20 nonretarded adults indicated that mentally retarded speakers made significantly fewer first mentions and significantly more errors in the form of first mentions than did nonretarded speakers. (Author/DB)

A sample of 165 adults with mental retardation was surveyed for the presence of psychiatric symptoms, mental retardation level, and challenging behavior. Challenging behavior was associated with increased prevalence of psychiatric symptoms, especially anxiety and psychosis, and not with depression. No association was found between anxiety and…

A study compared the Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC) and the Behavior Problems Inventory (BPI) for assessing the maladaptive behavior of 226 adults, mostly with severe or profound mental retardation. Individuals with elevated BPI scores generally had higher ABC scores, however, the extent of covariation differed across subscales. (Contains…

The study found that simulation instruction on two representative teaching examples for each of two job task sequences resulted in concurrent generalized performance by four severely retarded adults. (Author/DB)

The history of epidemiological studies of mental retardation in childhood was reviewed to determine the amount of agreement on prevalence rates; the review showed a decreasing trend over the past 30 years. Reasons are provided to explain these falling rates as well as the lower prevalence rates in adults than in children. (Author/PB)

Self instruction and external instructional methods were compared with 19 mentally retarded adults. Results indicated that participants receiving verbal self-instructional training in the complex sequencing task achieved and sustained a higher level of performance than participants receiving external instruction. (Author/DB)

The article identifies roles that co-workers have assumed in providing support to employees with handicaps including validating instructional strategies, collecting subjective evaluations, implementing training procedures, collecting social comparison information, and maintaining behavior in the context of actual employment. (Author/DB)

Paired and group presentation methods of preference testing were compared with eight adults with severe-profound developmental disabilities. Each presentation method was also compared with staff rankings of learners' preferences. Similar preferences were identified with both methods. Staff preference rankings were not highly correlated with those…

The article presents a report, based on a five-month visit, of vocational integration of persons with mental handicaps in five Western European countries: Denmark, Great Britain, Italy, Switzerland, and West Germany. (DB)

The happiness indices in a Fun Time activity were systematically increased for three of four people with profound multiple disabilities by providing their preferred stimuli. The fourth showed decreased unhappiness. However, three people with profound disabilities and minimal movement failed to show any indices of happiness or unhappiness.…