This article highlights a research project that involved formerly incarcerated adults who were school noncompleters. The project engaged the participants in a series of activities to explore their experiences and gain insights into approaches to dropout prevention they believed would help students at risk to complete high school. This article…

This report explores mentoring as a tool for supporting the successful reintegration of formerly incarcerated individuals within the context of a larger reentry strategy--in this case, the "Ready4Work" model. "Ready4Work" was a three-year national demonstration designed to address the needs of the growing ex-prisoner population and to test the…

Youth who present anti-social behavior need powerful interventions that strengthen empathy, counter negative peer influence, and challenge thinking errors. This article recaps some key points about EQUIP, a Positive Peer Culture (PPC)-based cognitive behavioral intervention program for behaviorally at-risk youth, and notes how the program has…

Structured interviews with staff compared the extent to which mentally retarded persons participate in society when services are provided through the institutional or integrated organization. Significant differences were found in community participation, with higher levels noted for integrated Ss. (CL)

A survey of parents of mentally retarded children residing in publicly funded institutions found that they tended to endorse the current service model, although not without qualifications. Parents were generally not accepting of the idea of community placement, especially those parents who had never visited a group home. (Author/VW)

Statistics are analyzed from 1990 to 1996 concerning the fading of Medicaid's bias toward institutionalization of individuals with mental retardation rather than use of Home and Community-Based (HCB) waivers for alternative community services and support. A major shift toward increased use of HCB waivers is noted and documented state by state. (PB)

This study analyzed patterns of deinstitutionalization of people with mental retardation by tracking discharges for over 2,000 residents of the largest mental retardation facility in Virginia. Initial placements were ascertained and categorized. Discussion focuses on implications of these placement data for an understanding of the…

This paper reflects on comments made by Samuel Gridley Howe in the 19th century and their continuing relevance to the state of institutionalization of individuals with mental retardation. The paper also cites Burton Blatt in his argument in favor of deinstitutionalization with all possible haste despite the inevitable challenges this will pose to…

This study provides longitudinal analysis of day program and work activities of 61 individuals leaving Minnesota state institutions and a comparison group of 71 people remaining institutionalized. Only 13% of movers experienced integrated employment. As a group, the people who remained institutionalized actually earned more money. (Author/CR)

The effects of social skills training upon the behavior of eight previously institutionalized mentally retarded adults residing in community group homes were evaluated. In comparison to a control group, the Ss who received training showed substantial changes in the desirable direction for each behavior. (Author)

Caretakers and homes from which deinstitutionalized community placed clients had been returned to the institution were compared to caretakers and homes from which no clients had been returned. These two groups differed significantly in terms of amount of caretaker experience and in terms of proximity of members of the caretaker's family to the…

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)

A study of 1,878 persons with developmental disabilities who had been transferred from California state institutions into community care found the mortality rates for movers exceeded institutional rates by 51%. The effect was largest shortly after the move and in subjects who had moved most recently. (Author/CR)

Data from the Massachusetts Service Coordination Battery were analyzed for institutionalized (N=406) and community-based (N=124) mentally retarded adults and for institutionalized (N=460) and community-based (N=95) mentally retarded older adults to determine differences in cognitive, medical, and functional impairment; service needs; and…

This article reviews policy developments in deinstitutionalization and community inclusion in North America, specifically the United States. It begins with a critique of the continuum concept and the associated principle of the least restrictive environment. Past and current controversies surrounding deinstitutionalization are then examined.…