In an effort to reduce social isolation, procedures which included modeling, behavioral rehearsal, feedback, and reinforcement were used to train four elderly nursing home residents in four conversational areas: expressing common courtesies; making positive self-disclosures; asking questions; and making interjections and acknowledgments. Results…

Early deprivation causes serious disruption in the development of brain architecture and in the behaviors related to the affected brain functions. Some brain structures, and the broad categories of development that depend on them, show more "plasticity," or sensitivity to disruption and intervention for longer periods of time, than…

Drawing from Public/Private Ventures (P/PV's) five years of hands-on experience designing and implementing Amachi programs around the country, "Building From The Ground Up" describes best practices for planning, developing and managing a mentoring-children-of-prisoners program. This guidebook is essential for learning the professional procedures,…

This Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) provides guidelines for counselors and criminal justice personnel who treat offenders with substance use disorders. TIPs are best-practice guidelines that make the latest research in substance abuse treatment available to counselors and educators. The content was generated by a panel of experts in the…

This bulletin summarizes provisions of federal law as they pertain to special education and juvenile justice. It discusses provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 1997 including: the definition of disability; free appropriate public education; identification, referral, and evaluation; the individualized education program…

This bulletin is adapted from the third panel of three at a Manhattan Institute conference. The focus of this paper is on the re-entering ex-offender population. Howard Husock introduces the people who are on the front lines, working day-to-day with people coming out of prison, thinking about what are the right strategies. These people include…

This bulletin is adapted from the second panel of three at a Manhattan Institute conference. The focus of this paper is on the explosion of prison population and the inevitability of people reentering society from prison. Clarence Page believes this has a particularly brutal impact on the African-American community, and raises questions about how…

Discusses survey results from state developmental disability agencies nationwide regarding AIDS policy development, education, and training and service provision. Concludes that policies, educational programing of staff and patients, and services to meet the special needs of persons with developmental disabilities need to be improved and expanded.…

The effects of a goal-setting and help-recruiting training program on the attainment of transition goals were evaluated with six adjudicated male youths with disabilities who resided in a segregated institution. The youths attained 11 of 17 established transition goals, and reported improved satisfaction with their social competencies. (SW)

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…

The superintendent (1975-85) of the Mansfield (Connecticut) Training School, officially closed in 1993, reviews the history of that institution for people with mental retardation. The failure of the institution to provide a normal lifestyle and the superintendent's support for deinstitutionalization of all Mansfield residents and integration are…

This study contrasted communicative skills of 20 community-based adults with mental retardation with those of 20 institutionalized adults. The institutionalized group was more assertive and less responsive than the community-based group. The institutionalized group also devoted more utterances to inappropriate topics and provided fewer repairs…

Postplacement adaptation was studied in 160 families with a member in a residential facility. More than 90% concluded the living arrangement was advantageous for themselves, the child, and other family members. Families with children under 15 visited more often, reported the highest stress, as well as the lowest marital adjustment. (Contains…

In this paper, we explore the continuing decline in employment and labor force participation of nonenrolled Black men between the ages of 16 and 34 who have a high school education or less in the 1980s and 1990s. We focus on two fairly new developments: (1) the dramatic growth in the number of young Black men who have been incarcerated and (2)…

Using the story of death row inmate Charles Singleton, who developed paranoid schizophrenia while in prison awaiting execution, this case study explores the relationship between a society's concept of mental illness and its treatment of people who are mentally ill. Students are asked to identify the model of mental illness assumed by each of the…