A benefit-cost analysis of a supported competitive employment program for severely disabled adults in Virginia during the period 1978 to 1986 indicated that the program was financially prosperous for both participants and taxpayers. (Author/JW)

A special education record-keeping system using bar code symbols and optical scanners is described. Bar code symbols were created for each Individualized Educational Plan objective, and symbols are scanned when students emit targeted behaviors. A weekly printed report of student performance is produced. Advantages, disadvantages, and costs are…

Evaluation of a training procedure to improve staff skills in the preventative and reactive management of severely challenging behaviors in a small residential treatment unit found reduced (though not statistically significant) behavioral incidents, use of major reactive strategies (restraint and emergency medication), and staff and resident…

A review found many of the studies that have assessed the efficacy of psychotropic medications with individuals with mental retardation (MR) are methodologically flawed. It details suggestions to improve the quality of medication studies and avoid methodological problems that prevent the scientific advancement of psychopharmacological research…

This corrected article on parent-managed interventions with children with autism reports on analysis of data on 66 children. Findings generally indicated that, after 31.6 months of intervention, IQ scores had not changed but adaptive behavior scores had increased significantly (n=21). However, overall interventions did not reproduce results from…

Three studies evaluated a one-day program for training 24 paraprofessional staff in basic teaching skills for working with children with severe disabilities. All participants achieved the performance-based mastery criterion and successfully applied their teaching skills, as evidenced by skill development progress of students with severe…

Small community homes in England for severely and profoundly mentally retarded adults are described and compared to institutional settings and larger community units. The small homes were found to produce beneficial client functioning and high levels of staff/client interaction. The paper concludes that interaction effects are possibly more…

Data were analyzed from 66 young children with autism served by 25 different early intervention consultants and receiving parent-managed interventions. Parent-managed intensive interventions resulted in progress for 60 children for mental age, adaptive behavior, and language skills. Interventions did not reproduce results from clinic-based…

A multi-faceted training package for inappropriate social behavior was evaluated with five children with mild mental retardation and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in a residential program. Residents were individually trained in self-management skills with video feedback. Direct-care staff also received training. Although staff increased…

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.…

Evaluation of a shared-work program found that job coach assistance to three workers with severe multiple disabilities could be reduced by assigning each worker only those job tasks able to be performed with minimal assistance while ensuring that entire tasks were still completed by combining steps performed by all three workers. (Contains…

A study compared the effectiveness of two extinction interventions, extinction by omission and noncontingent delivery of reinforcement, to treat aggressive behavior with a 10-year-old boy. Analysis revealed that aggression was maintained by positive reinforcement in the form of attention. Noncontingent reinforcement of attention produced a more…

Two experiments with 15 individuals having profound mental retardation found difficulties in identifying reinforcers that were actually effective in treatment of chronic training needs. Research needs in evaluating training alternatives for people with profound multiple disabilities who move very little or who respond with very long latencies are…

The effectiveness of a sexual-education and health-promotion program for 252 women with mental retardation was analyzed using an evaluation model. Three factors (hygiene, social interaction, and sexual experience) affected sexual knowledge directly. An increase in sexual knowledge was associated with a greater number of instructional contacts.…

Programmed identity-matching training was given to five participants with severe mental retardation and histories of failures in assessments and training attempts. When an intermediate goal of establishing one-trial discrimination learning was eliminated, four participants completed the program and passed tests for generalized identity matching…