Literacy Instruction
for People with Mental Retardation: Historical Highlights and Contemporary
Analysis
DAVID S. KATIMS
Abstract: The story of the treatment of people with mental
retardation dates back to the beginning of recorded history. However,
documented attempts at systematic literacy instruction, including efforts to
teach reading, writing, and spelling to individuals with mental retardation,
is a relatively recent phenomenon. This article begins with a brief review of
historical highlights of literacy education for people with mental retardation
over the last two hundred years. The second part of the article investigates
the current state of literacy instruction for people with mental retardation
as represented in a sample of contemporary professional textbooks in special
education pertaining to descriptions of academic characteristics, assessment
procedures, and instructional procedures. Movement away from highly sequenced,
hierarchical, and isolated skill and practice routines toward more
contextualized and holistic reading orientations for people with mental
retardation is discussed.
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Teaching the
Social Skill of Accepting Criticism to Adults with Developmental Disabilities
STEPHEN P. ECKERT
Abstract: A multiple baseline across subjects design was
employed to determine the effectiveness of a social skills training method on
adults with moderate developmental disabilities. The skill of accepting
criticism was taught individually to females with moderate disabilities, ages
27 to 45 years of age, who were selected by a local social service agency.
Participants selected were enrolled in a vocational or day habilitation
program and did not evidence severe communication limitations due to the
nature of the intervention. Evaluations, which were based on a ten-item
checklist with a three-point scale per item, were conducted during role play
situations. Results indicate that the training program was effective for all
subjects.
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Parent Priorities
in Communication Intervention For Young Students With Severe Disabilities
JENNIFER R. STEPHENSON
MARGARET DOWRICK
Abstract: Parents of young students with disabilities were
interviewed about their priorities for communication skill intervention for
their child. Twenty communication skills in the areas of requesting, refusing,
getting attention and socializing were discussed. Parents rated the importance
of each skill, ranked skills in order of importance for their child and gave
reasons for their ratings and rankings. The skills most important to parents
were those of asking for objects, objecting to the actions of others,
maintaining an interaction and drawing attention to pain or discomfort. Common
themes were parent and child frustration, safety concerns, social
acceptability, concern for the child's autonomy, parent perception of skill
difficulty, acceptance of current skills, and desire to develop communication
for learning.
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Person-Centered
Planning: Characteristics, Inhibitors, and Supports
JANE M. EVERSON
DALUN ZHANG
Abstract: Person-centered planning approaches have been
recognized as important new tools in planning and delivering services to
individuals with disabilities and their families. However, little research
exploring person-centered planning practices and their outcomes has been
published. The present study used a focus group to explore the perspectives of
9 participants engaged in one specific person-centered planning model,
personal futures planning (Mount & Zwernik, 1988). Several themes emerged
from data of the focus group. These themes included: (a) evolution of
person-centered planning circles or teams; (b) inhibitors to the
person-centered planning process, (c) supports to the person-centered planning
process, and (d) longitudinal satisfaction with person-centered planning
activities and outcomes. Specific examples and quotes given by participants of
the focus group are included, along with discussions and implementation for
additional research.
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Children at High-Risk
for Mild Intellectual Disability in Regular Classrooms: Six New Zealand Case
Studies
CLAIRE LLOYD
KERI WILTON
MICHAEL TOWNSEND
Abstract: A set of six case studies was undertaken - each
focusing on a particular primary school in the greater metropolitan area of
Auckland, New Zealand. In each school, a child at high-risk for mild
intellectual disability had been identified via screening procedures, and was
receiving an inclusive classroom program. Each child had been perceived by
his/her teacher as having special educational needs, and in five of the six
cases the teachers had attempted to modify their programs to provide
individualized instruction for the high-risk children, while in the remaining
case no such attempt had been made. All six children had made very poor
academic progress, and five of the six children were poorly accepted socially
by their classmates. In brief, none of the children appeared to be receiving
an educational program which could be said to be accommodating their special
educational needs, as perceived by their teachers. Both teachers and parents
expressed considerable concern about the children's lack of progress, and all
maintained that the children required more intensive special educational help
than their current inclusive programs were providing. The results are
discussed in terms of current New Zealand special educational policies and
resourcing procedures, and the likelihood that many New Zealand children with
mild intellectual disability may not be receiving appropriate special
educational provisions within current inclusive programs.
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A Structured
Descriptive Methodology: Increasing Agreement Between Descriptive and Experimental
Analyses
KURT A. FREEMAN
CYNTHIA M. ANDERSON
JOSEPH R. SCOTTI
Abstract: Recent research comparing results of descriptive
and experimental (analog) functional analyses suggests disagreement regarding
the identified function of target behavior is likely. In the current study, a
"structured" descriptive analysis methodology is presented. The
purpose of the structured descriptive methodology was to develop a set of
procedures that is as easy to implement as the unstructured, but as rigorous
as the analog in terms of data and interpretation. The structured procedures
were designed to increase the likelihood that specific environmental events
would occur sufficiently often to allow for an adequate sampling of their
co-occurrence with challenging behavior. To that end, the frequency of
occurrence of targeted environmental events during both unstructured and
structured descriptive analyses conducted with two participants was compared.
Further, data produced via the structured descriptive analyses were compared
against those of experimental analyses conducted with the participants.
Results showed that procedural modifications employed during the structured
descriptive analysis increased the frequency of occurrence for most targeted
environmental events for both participants. Additionally, the structured
methodology produced results similar to those of the experimental analysis
regarding hypotheses of the function of challenging behavior. Implications for
the use of different functional analysis methodologies are discussed.
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Caregiver - Child
Interaction and the Expression of Pride in Children with Down Syndrome
MARGARET HUGHES
CONNIE KASARI
Abstract: This study describes children's behaviors
associated with pride on achievement-related tasks and examines caregiver
behaviors in the facilitation of pride in children with Down syndrome. Twenty
children with Down syndrome ages four to eight years and their caregivers were
compared to twenty typically developing children ages two and one-half to four
years and their caregivers. Children with Down syndrome showed greater
positive affect, social orientation and task outcome behaviors reflective of
pride than the typically developing group of children. Caregivers of children
with Down syndrome did not provide more directive or responsive types of
assistance than caregivers of typical children, but they did provide a greater
frequency of praise.
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Utilizing Sight
Words in Self-Instruction Training for Employees with Moderate Mental Retardation
in Competitive Jobs
DIANE M. BROWDER
TIMOTHY J. MINAROVIC
Abstract: This study examined the effects of teaching
employees with moderate mental retardation who were nonreaders to use sight
words to self-initiate job tasks in competitive employment settings. The
training package was comprised of: a) a progressive time delay procedure to
teach sight word recognition; b) a verbalized "Did-Next-Now"
self-instruction technique; and c) a written work routine checklist for
self-monitoring. Use of the combined package resulted in the acquisition of:
reading job-specific sight words; use of verbalized self-instruction; use of
the self-monitoring checklist; self-initiation of work tasks across the
workday; and an increase in employer satisfaction. This study contributes to
the sight word research by demonstrating functional use of reading within an
employment setting and to the self-management literature by illustrating how
to incorporate sight words in self-instruction training.
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The Effects of
a Computer-Based Instructional Program with Video Anchors on the Use of Photographs
for Prompting Augmentative Communication
LINDA MECHLING
JOHN LANGONE
Abstract: This study was designed to evaluate the use of
computer-based video anchors to increase photograph recognition by students
with severe intellectual disabilities. Specifically, this study investigated
the effectiveness and efficiency of using a computer-based presentation
program with embedded video anchors for encouraging photograph recognition
related to the use of augmentative communication systems. Video captions were
paired with corresponding target photographs in order to represent, in
simulation, communication related concepts that cannot readily be represented
in the classroom environment. When a photograph was selected directly on the
computer touch screen, a video representation of the photograph was activated.
Two students, 11 and 24 years of age, diagnosed with severe intellectual
disabilities served as study participants. A multiple probe design, replicated
across three sets of photographs and two subjects, was used to evaluate the
effectiveness of the computer-based program on the number of photographs
correctly selected. Results indicate that a substantial increase was made in
the number of photographs correctly selected with the computer program with
results generalizing to selection of photographs on each participant's
augmentative communication device. The discussion includes a link between the
effectiveness and efficiency of computer-based anchored instruction to
teaching functional community-based skills to learners with severe
intellectual disabilities.
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Discourse Comprehension
of Synthetic Speech by Individuals with Mental Retardation
LORI H. WILLIS
RAJINDER K. KOUL
D. DWAYNE PASCHALL
Abstract: This study evaluated the performance of a group
of individuals with mental retardation (n = 12) on a post perceptual discourse
comprehension task. Additionally, data were also examined to determine the
type of strategies employed by individuals with mental retardation to answer
questions about discourse passages presented in synthetic speech. Three
text-to-speech systems (DECTalk, MacinTalk, and Real Voice) were used to
present stimulus passages. Results revealed that the DECTalk synthetic voice
showed a non-significant trend towards superior accuracy scores on the
comprehension task in comparison to the other two synthetic voices (i.e.,
MacinTalk and RealVoice). Further, plausibility strategy was used
significantly (p < .01) more often to answer questions about discourse
passages than direct retrieval strategy. The results of this investigation
raise several issues related to the comprehension of synthetic speech by
non-speaking individuals who rely on voice communication output aids for
effective and efficient communication.
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