A telephone survey of each state's mental retardation agency found that persons with profound or severe mental retardation account for 79.3% of all residents. Of all 177,719 staff, 51.5% are in the direct care category and 19.9% are in the clinical category. The overall staff : resident ration is 1.60 :1. (Author/CL)

The paper highlights national trends in the public residential service system for people with mental retardation including annual change in the number of state institutional facilities, the average daily residents per facility, annual change in the average daily residents, including first admissions, readmissions, and per diem cost of care.…

The development of a taxonomy of residential facilities for people with mental retardation based on program model, size, and operator is described, and data is presented on the system's use in a national survey of residential facilities. Program models are defined, and national summary data provided. (Author/CL)

Determination of type of institutional placement for 42 severely mentally retarded individuals was studied. Neither level of adaptive behavior, severity of health problems, nor degree of deprivation in the home affected placement. Older individuals were more likely to be placed in large central institutions, while young children were placed in…

Residential facilities for the mentally retarded surveyed in a 1977 national study were recontacted in a 1982 replication. Among facilities surveyed in 1977, 61.6% were still open at the same address in 1982. Stability rates varied considerably among states, program models, and sizes of facilities. (Author/CL)

The impact of a unique, federally funded legal advocacy system on service delivery within a New Mexico state residential care facility for the mentally retarded is examined. Judicial attempts to improve institutional service provision are discussed. Some implications for further use of similar advocacy programs are presented. (Author/CL)

Data on the mean and median age of first admissions to residential facilities for mentally retarded people 1953-1978, and on the percentage of all first admissions entering residential facilities between ages 0-19, reveals a trend toward older first admissions beginning with 1970. (Author/CL)

Questionnaires regarding facility descriptors, development, areas of operational concern, resident characteristics, programs and services were completed by personnel from 3,325 residential facilities for the developmentally disabled. (CL)

Data demonstrate that the majority of persons in residential facilities for people with mental retardation participate in daytime programing. State institution residents were less likely to have daytime programs than residents of community-based living arrangements. Resident and facility characteristics relating to probability of participation and…

A survey of 49 states' services for mentlly retarded offenders indicated that 922 residential beds exist for this population with 150 more expected by the end of 1983. It is concluded that only 5 percent of those needing special services will. (Author/CL)

The need to reconsider functional ability as a basis for grouping clients in residential settings is emphasized. The effects of this strategy on caregiving practices for the profoundly and severely handicapped are shown to be deleterious in a study of four dimensions of caretaking. (Author/CL)

Described are the requirements of active programing as stipulated by accby accreditation standards for residential and intermediate care facilities for the mentally retarded. (CL)

Described are the organization and functioning of a multi purpose ethical review board in a residential facility for the developmentally disabled designed to act as a safeguard against inhumane treatment and violations of residents' rights. (CL)

As part of an evaluation of services for mentally retarded adults in Britain, comparisons were made between preproject and project residential units. People with more severe handicaps lived in units with less homelike environments, more institution-oriented management practices, and less community involvement than facilities occupied by less…

A model in which autistic and other developmentally disabled persons are provided individualized treatment within a home-like residence has been shown to provide successful transitions from institutions to community settings. (CL)