Research supported in part by VRA grant 2569-P.

Describes Hub Group, a short-term ward-based group therapy program for institutionalized adolescents. Backed by a behaviorally-based privilege system, Hub Group contracting methods facilitate rapid investment in group therapy and promote change. Advantages and disadvantages of including mixed levels of functioning in the same group are discussed.…

The use of communication boards with teachers by seven nonspeaking, nonambulatory, severely mentally retarded students in a residential classroom setting was studied. Analysis of videotaped nonspeaking student-teacher interactions revealed that these students rarely used their communication boards despite their severe inability to convey messages…

Studied the stability of happiness for rural, urban, and institutionalized Canadian older adults (N=600). For urban and institutionalized persons housing satisfaction was the main predictor; for rural individuals, health and marital status remained consistent predictors. Results showed that although predictors differ, happiness remains stable in…

A program was implemented to increase the manual signing of five profoundly retarded (mean age, 19 years) and four autistic (mean age, 9 years) youth within their daily environment. (Author)

Replicating previous findings that the inability to "shift" conceptual attitude on the Weigl is consistent with indices associated with cortical dysfunction, the Weigl is shown to possibly serve as a nonverbal instrument to assess cortical dysfunction where inability to "shift" appears to tap a dysfunction in symbolic rather…

Administered the Hopelessness Scale to criminal psychiatric inpatients, general psychiatric inpatients, and college students. Both psychiatric groups endorsed significantly more items in the hopeless direction. Found the scale more reliable with the psychiatric patients. Item analysis of the Hopelessness Scale suggests that three items were not…

Institutionalized retarded clients (N=142) were assessed on the Adaptive Behavior Scale (ABS) within six months of their admission to Woodhaven Center (Philadelphia) and approximately 12 to 18 months later. While clients were found to progress significantly on seven of the 10 domains of Part One of the ABS, no significant gains were noted on Part…

Summarizes the design and effects of a group therapy project using videotape feedback with seriously disturbed adolescents. Offers anecdotal evidence that the feedback facilitated the correction of the participants' distorted body images, low self-esteem, lack of capacity for self-observation, and poor peer relationships. (SS)

A study of 64 British people with learning disabilities examined the differences in the levels of engagement in purposeful activity between the people living in staffed homes (n=34) and those living in the hospital (n=30). Results found that differences in the level of disability between the two groups predicted the observed differences. (CR)

The representativeness of behavioral observation samples with durations of less than the whole time of interest was investigated with five profoundly mentally retarded physically handicapped adults in an institutional setting. It was found that the session representativeness was a function of the relative duration of the behavioral categories and…

Psychological distress, marital satisfaction, family adaptability, and cohesion are explored in 41 families with mentally retarded (MR) institutionalized youth and 38 comparison families. Multivariate analyses found no differences between groups, but univariate analyses revealed greater cohesion in families with MR offspring and stressed the…