This study identifies the factors that have contributed most to supporting growth of self-advocacy among people with developmental disabilities, by examining the history of self-advocacy and reporting on interviews with six self-advocates and six advisors of the self-advocacy movement. The study concludes that the growth of self-advocacy has been…

A counselor with a dyslexic-like disability shares three conclusions concerning this type of disability. First, difficulties with reading, math, writing, heard language, and nonverbal language are not the disability but the symptom of the disability. Second, these disabilities are dynamic in nature and therefore the symptoms fluctuate somewhere…

This manual describes the "Friends" project, a year-long effort in Minnesota to develop methods for the staff of residential service agencies to support people with developmental disabilities in establishing friendships with nondisabled people in their communities. Six agencies around the state selected a total of 23 individuals (ages 11…

Based on the experiences of the staff of the Community Membership Project of Bloomington, Indiana, this paper discusses how community builders have collaborated with 10 older persons with developmental disabilities to increase their community participation. The paper addresses the initial stages of community building with older persons, the…

It has been suggested (Youniss and Smollar, 1985) that the re-negotiation of the parent-adolescent relationship involves processes of separation and connectedness, with separation characterized, among other indicators, as the withdrawing of information by adolescents in order to establish territories that are unsupervised by the parents. This…

A characteristic common to differing forms of violence within families is the abuse of power. This study explored adolescents' understandings of power and control in marital relationships. Adolescents' reports of witnessing conflict and violence between their own parents were also considered as a context within which beliefs about power and…

Previously, analysis of repeated teacher ratings and time-sampling observations of selected social behaviors in young children had provided evidence of clearly delineated dimensionality in interpersonal orientations with substantial behavioral continuity and intra- and interindividual stability. The present investigation was designed to replicate…

The newsletter presents short vignettes describing persons of different ages and disabilities, with emphasis on the technologies each person uses to cope with daily challenges. Vignettes describe a Down Syndrome 6-year-old whose learning is helped by computer access; a cerebral palsied adult whose head-controlled power wheelchair, dowel stick,…

This position paper was written to assist teachers and administrators in Oregon in preparing curriculum and setting priorities for kindergarten programs. It begins by asserting that the focus of kindergarten instruction should be on the total development of the child: socioemotional, physical, and intellectual. The need for concrete learning…

The study compared the life outcomes of four groups of graudates (N=844) from the Maryland high school class of 1981: regular education/nonvocational, regular education/vocational, special education/nonvocational, and special education/vocational. Data were analyzed to determine how special education graduates differed from regular education…

This review of the literature on prosocial behavior in the elderly provides empirical data on the prevalence of helping behaviors among the elderly and the range of motives underlying their helping. Implications of these data for theories of social behavior in later life are considered, and questions are raised about the validity of the models…

The chapter outlines an approach to teaching behavior-disordered students to follow the largely unwritten rules of being "good students." A section on research and theory addresses attributions and perceptions, dependence, study skills, and social skills training. Assessment philosophy and procedures are reviewed, including the collection of…

Gerontological studies have found that satisfaction with life is greater among those who are still employed. To determine what contributes to a meaningful life when employment is no longer the person's dominant life theme, time-budget instrumentation was used with 130 residents of residential retirement centers in Indiana. Subjects completed…

Examined psychological separation from parents, parental conflict and dominance, and parental symptoms in relation to the problems of college students. Found interpersonal conflict in the family and intrapersonal distress among family members were related. Conflictual dependence of the student on parents and conflict between the parents were…

Reports effects of institutional regimes on levels of dependency among residents of public homes for the elderly in England. Differences in management practices and caring routines did not affect the creation or reduction of dependency among residents. Questions the rationale that informs some current notions of good practice in residential work.…