Language skills in developmentally disabled children

Language measures of receptive and expressive vocabulary, story telling, and immediate verbal memory, as well as two perceptual tests, were administered to a group of developmentally disabled children, and three groups of normal children, one matched for chronological age, one for mean length of utterance, and one for performance on one of the perceptual tests. When diagnostic subgroups of “autism,” “childhood schizophrenia,” and “other severe disturbance” were formed using standard diagnostic tools, no language differences were found between diagnostic subgroups. When compared with the normal control groups, many of the language skills of the entire group of disabled children, and of the autistic children alone, were rather evenly delayed, showing only a relative sparing of the naming function, and a relative deficit on immediate verbal memory. Furthermore, a high correlation was found in a small subsample between the difficulty levels of morphemes in the disabled children and those reported for young normal children. Experienced special-education and early-childhood teachers could not discriminate the stories of the disabled children from those of young normal children. Analysis of the disabled children's error strategies, however, revealed features of their language not found in normal children's language: (1) extreme perseveration in test answers and stories, (2) attention to minor features of test stimuli, and (3) failure to adopt alternate, flexible communicative strategies. We conclude that the language acquisition of the developmentally disabled children is delayed but not deviant in its semantic and syntactic competence, and that current diagnostic practice does not differentiate linguistically distinct subgroups. We further argue that where developmentally disabled children do exhibit aberrant features of language, such deviance parallels similar features in other cognitive skills, and is not unique to language.     

Respect for the developmentally disabled and forgoing life-sustaining treatment

A developmentally disabled person should be treated at all times as a unique individual and not as some anonymous "disabled person." The developmentally disabled should not be subjected to invasive medical treatment that is unduly burdensome or nonbeneficial, or be forced to endure a quality of life not meaningful to them as individuals. They have a right to refuse or accept treatment that a surrogate must exercise on behalf of each individual in a responsible and careful manner. Three cases and a preliminary approach to the ethical analysis of decisions to allow developmentally disabled persons to die by forgoing medical treatment are offered. The "best interests" of a developmentally disabled individual, properly understood, can serve as a useful and ethically defensible standard for determining the ethical propriety of surrogate decision making about forgoing life-sustaining medical treatment of the disabled.     

The role of urgency in maladaptive behaviors

Prior work on maladaptive behaviors has cited impulsivity as a risk factor. The concept of impulsivity, however, fails to address the potential role of negative affect in such behaviors. The UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale addresses this weakness by dividing impulsivity into four subscales: Urgency, Sensation Seeking, (lack of) Premeditation, and (lack of) Perseverance. We predicted that urgency, defined as the tendency, specifically in the face of negative affect, to act quickly and without planning, would predict elevations on three maladaptive behaviors—excessive reassurance seeking, drinking to cope, and bulimic symptoms as measured by the Eating Disorder Inventory—in both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses in an undergraduate sample (N=70). Participants were assessed at two time points, 3–4 weeks apart. Urgency significantly predicted all three outcome variables cross-sectionally at both Time 1 and Time 2. Time 1 urgency significantly predicted Time 2 excessive reassurance seeking. Changes in urgency from Time 1 to Time 2 predicted changes in all three outcome variables. Results indicate a clear cross-sectional relationship between urgency and certain maladaptive behaviors. Additionally, some form of longitudinal relationship may exist between these variables, although the use of residual change scores precluded distinction between true change and change due to error.     

The generality of overselectivity in developmentally disabled children

A growing body of research suggests that low Mental Age (MA) autistic and retarded children show a unique stimulus control deficit, one that may cause many or most of their behavioral deficiencies. This problem, stimulus overselectivity, is evidenced when a child responds only to a restricted portion of the stimulus environment when compared with normal children. The purpose of this study was to assess whether this overselectivity is general across situations or whether it is restricted to certain stimulus/task conditions. Eight autistic children, who evidenced overselectivity on a preassessment task, and 8 normal children with similar MA levels participated. All children were trained on 3 tasks to determine if overselectivity varied as a function of different stimulus conditions. Each of the 3 tasks involved training a child to respond to (i.e., touch) a card containing a circle (S +) and to avoid a blank (S ?) card. In each case, the circle comprised a series of dots. The difference between the 3 circles (tasks) was the distance between the successive dots making up each circle. Also, in the minimal separation condition the dots were smaller in size and greater in number than in the larger separation conditions. Of concern was whether autistic children learned about the gestalt (i.e., the circle), which required attention to multiple cues, or whether children would overselect and respond to the dots. The results showed that (1) stimulus overselectivity was found not to be a generalized deficit in autistic subjects; instead, it varied as a function of the stimulus variables; and (2) the stimulus variables manipulated in this study similarly influenced the responding of both normal and autistic children. The implications of these data for a theory of overselectivity are discussed.     

A comparison of maladaptive behaviors of athletes and nonathletes.

A comparison of maladaptive behavior tendencies of men and women who were athletes and nonathletes was undertaken. Participating students (N = 200) were divided into four groups: male athletes, male nonathletes, female athletes, and female nonathletes. Maladaptive behavior tendencies were determined from responses on C. MacAndrew's (1965) Alcoholism Scale. The statistical analysis used was an independent groups 2 x 2 analysis of variance to determine significant main effects and interaction effects. The mean maladaptive behavior score (MBS) for athletes (M = 21.87) was significantly higher (p < .05) than the MBS for nonathletes (M = 20.24). The MBS for the men (M = 21.68) was significantly higher (p < .05) than the MBS for the women (M = 20.43). No significant interaction (p > .05) between gender and athletic status was found. Male athletes are more likely than the other 3 groups to have maladaptive behavior tendencies. Research directed toward greater understanding and the development of preventive and coping techniques for this population is needed.     

Recommendations of the task force on privacy,human sexuality,and sex education for developmentally disabled persons

This article consists of a report submitted to the Massachusetts Commissioner of Mental Health in 1981 from the members of a citizens task force convened for the purpose of recommending policy to the Department in matters concerning privacy and human sexuality. The Chairman of the Committee was given responsibility for producing the information and resources necessary for the members to debate the issue with some intelligence, of facilitating the process and the deliberations, and of writing the final recommendations and report contained in this article. The need for policy in the areas of privacy and human sexuality for persons living in our state institutions serving the handicapped is a continuing and critical one. Resolution of the issues requires informed, courageous decision making by those who are responsible for the welfare of persons with mental or developmental deficiencies. The policy suggested in this article may serve as a step forward for those decision makers.     

Relationship between intellectual status and reading skills for developmentally disabled children

The relationship between WISC-R Full Scale IQ and scores on the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests were explored for 80 developmentally disabled children. While the children's reading skills correlated moderately and significantly with intellectual status, abstract reading skills, e.g., word comprehension, correlated more highly with Full Scale IQ than did concrete ones, e.g., word identification. The development of concrete learning patterns by such children was discussed, with an emphasis on the emotional importance of these learning styles to the children and their families.     

Arranging a residential environment for the developmentally disabled to generate and maintain verbal behavior

A specialized residential unit was assembled at a state residential facility for mentally retarded residents in order to provide services for individuals who lacked functional speech but who were capable of learning manual signs. Program development focused on four areas. First, a routine was designed to engage residents in functional training activities throughout the day. Second, opportunities to teach signed verbal behavior within all components of the routine were identified. Third, structured training sessions were developed to augment training within normal daily living activities. Fourth, multiple staff training strategies were initiated. Initial outcome data indicate that signing skills of both staff and residents improved.     

Factor analysis of Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised in developmentally disabled persons

The results of previous studies on the factorial structure of Wechsler Intelligence Scales are somewhat inconsistent across normal and pathological samples. To study specific clinical groups, such as developmentally disabled persons, it is useful to examine the factor structure in appropriate samples. A factor analysis was carried out using the principal component method and the Varimax orthogonal rotation on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-R) in a sample of 203 developmentally disabled persons, with a mean age of 25 years 4 months. Developmental disability ranged from mild to moderate. Partially contrasting with previous studies on normal samples, results found a two-factor solution. Wechsler's traditional Verbal and Performance scales seems to be more appropriate for this sample than the alternative three-factor solution.     

Treatment of chronic food refusal in a young developmentally disabled child

Chronic food refusal is a common problem among young children with developmental disabilities. Children with chronic food refusal may require supplemental tube feedings or parental feedings. A multicomponent treatment package consisting of escape–avoidance extinction, shaping and positive reinforcement was effective in establishing a normal oral feeding pattern with a 1.5 years old developmentally disabled child who was fed by gastrostomic tube. Treatment effects generalized to the home setting and were maintained during follow‐up. After treatment, tube‐feeding was discontinued. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Prosodic aspects of motherese: effects on gaze and responsiveness in developmentally disabled children

This study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of using voice tones (prosody) typical of "motherese" (O. K. Garnica, 1977, in C. E. Snow & C. A. Ferguson (Eds.), Talking to Children: Language Input and Acquisition, pp. 63-88, Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press) on responsiveness and eye gaze in children with severe handicaps. Specifically, two conditions, "motherese" and "conversational" voice tones, were compared. The current study presents data from naturalistic observations of six children, and controlled experimental manipulations with four children. The results of the naturalistic observations in Study 1 suggested a positive relationship between the use of voice tones typical of "motherese" and responsiveness and eye gaze. Further analysis using an alternating treatments design in Study 2 revealed similar results. Specifically, the use of prosody associated with "motherese" showed increased levels of eye gaze when compared to the use of "conversational tones." The results suggest the importance of considering normal development in analyzing social and teaching interactions between teachers and severely handicapped children.     

Sensory Extinction: A procedure for eliminating self-stimulatory behavior in developmentally disabled children

This study was designed to investigate the role of sensory reinforcement in the motivation of self-stimulation. If self-stimulatory behavior is maintained by its sensory consequences, such as the proprioceptive, auditory, or visual stimulation it produces, then such behavior should extinguish when those sensory consequences are not permitted. The present study introduces a new procedure, Sensory Extinction, in which certain sensory consequences are masked or removed, to examine whether self-stimulation is operant behavior maintained by sensory reinforcement. The effectiveness of Sensory Extinction was assessed by a reversal design for each of three autistic children, and the results showed the following. First, self-stimulation reliably extinguished when a certain sensory consequence was removed, then increased when that consequence was permitted. This was replicable within and across children. Second, different Sensory Extinction procedures were required for different self-stimulatory behaviors, since the sensory reinforcers supporting them were idiosyncratic across children. Finally, regarding clinical gains, the data suggest that Sensory Extinction may be a relatively convenient and rapid alternative for the treatment of self-stimulation. The present findings extend the efficacy of extinction as a behavior-modification technique to instances in which the reinforcer is purely sensory. The implications of these results for the treatment of other forms of deviant behavior are discussed.