Interviews were conducted with eight teachers of severely handicapped students who participated in a qualitative study on the effects of public policy on curriculum. The teachers found the demands of competitive employment and productivity too stringent for many students who have too few marketable skills and too little time left to acquire them.…

Investigated correlates of depression in spinal multiple sclerosis outpatients (N=120). Results showed that the more depressed individuals tended to be more disabled, older, had never experienced a remission, and, in particular, perceived family and friends as providing less social support than those who were less depressed. (LLL)

Results of the study involving 16 quadriplegic children (9 months-12 years old) indicated that early cognitive milestones can be achieved by children severely physically disabled since birth and that general intellectual level may be more important than severity of the motor handicap in determining such achievement. (Author/CL)

Parents of high school students with severe disabilities throughout Oregon were asked to predict their child's service needs at graduation, and 5 and 10 years after graduation. They also ranked features of adult service programs that they desire for their children and identified the source of their information about post-school opportunities and…

An interview with the winner of the 1985 Clarissa Hug Teacher of the Year Award touches on her lack of burnout as a teacher of severely handicapped students, her approach to problem solving, and her relationships with administrators and other teachers. (CL)

Five students (13-18 years old) classified as profoundly/multiply handicapped were trained to use microswitches to indicate reinforcer preferences. When the microswitches activated the devices during training, a substantial increase in the duration of motoric responding occurred for all students. In addition, some students performed differentially…

Three data sets examining the prevalence of various abnormal stereotyped behaviors in severely disabled children attending early childhood programs indicated that the abnormal stereotyped behaviors increase with age at least until adolescence and that the effect is more marked in those with severe mental retardation. (CL)

In a study involving 101 severely developmentally disabled children (1-16 years old), stereotyped behaviors without objects was positively correlated with self-manipulation and chronological age and was negatively correlated with complex object manipulation, developmental age, developmental quotient, and teacher attention. Stereotyped behavior…

Responses to sound were observed in two groups of children (one developmentally normal, the other older but profoundly multihandicapped). Results showed no significant differences between groups. In both groups, however, responsiveness was dependent on hearing level and bandwidth but not on meaningfulness. Results support the practice of…

Annual program plans for residents written prior to and following the implementation of the IPP (Individual Program Planning) system were rated to determine the extent of changes that resulted. More departments attended meetings, stated objectives, described intervention plans and evaluation procedures for proposed objectives, and reported…

The effects of general case instruction for teaching street crossing to two individuals with moderate and severe mental retardation were examined. Results support the effectiveness and efficiency of general case instruction for teaching Ss to cross streets other than those on which they were trained. Implications for research on generalization and…

The employment status of 117 transition age young adults with moderate, severe, or profound mental retardation was assessed. Findings indicated high unemployment rates of almost 88 percent, with only 14 persons holding competitive jobs in nonsheltered work environments. Wage accumulation was very limited. (Author/CL)

Generalization of habituation along a form dimension was investigated with 12 nonambulatory, profoundly mentally retarded children. Fixation times decreased over habituation trials and increased during test trials. No differences in fixation times to test stimuli were found in the group data, and analyses of individual subject data indicated that…

Compared to nonreactive toys (ones without or with restricted sensory feedback), reactive toys had a substantially greater influence on the amount of time each of three severely disabled children (6-9 years old) spent in manipulative activity. Comparative effects of two toy classes on visual attention to toy play were inconclusive. (CL)

The article evaluates the impact of 13 early intervention programs on severely disabled infants and young children. When viewed in the context of their constraints, the outcomes reported here appear to offer promising evidence for the effectiveness of early intervention with severely disabled infants and children. (Author/CL)