Browsing by Subject "Mental retardation"
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Item A descriptive study of educational professionals’ knowledge of transition assessment for individuals(2012-08) Tucker, Kathryn; Lock, Robin; Brown, Donna; DiAndreth-Elkins, LeannTransition planning requires implementation and direction by the findings of transition assessment regarding the student's needs, strengths, preferences and interests as mandated in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, 2004 (IDEA, 2004). Limited research is currently available that addresses what assessment tools practitioners utilize to meet the mandates of transition assessment to aid in transition planning for students with intellectual disabilities. The descriptive study reported herein attempted to determine educators’ knowledge about transition assessment practices and what is being utilized, specifically with students with intellectual disabilities as they transition from secondary to postsecondary life. This study employed the replication of a previously published study.Item Factors determining recommendations for retirement of persons with mental retardation(Texas Tech University, 1998-08) McGlynn, Ann PalenOne segment of the rapidly aging population of the United States is a diverse group of persons who have received the diagnosis of mental retardation. Longevity is increasing as a result of advances in health care and improved standards of living. This group has many needs that are just beginning to be addressed. One such need is included under the general concept of retirement. A large body of works exists detailing the demographics of aging adults whh mental retardation. Many studies have assessed the aging process of these individuals. Policy and planning studies exist that analyze the needs, cost, and societal impact of current retirement programs and programs that are needed. Interdisciplinary teams have been referring persons to existing retirement programs. To date, however, no research has been done establishing what factors interdisciplinary team members consider when making these referrals. Qualified Mental Retardation Professionals, nurses, and direct-care staff in 3 State Schools for the Mentally Retarded in Texas participated in this research. Demographic information on hypothetical individuals who live in state schools was presented to these individual members of interdisciplinary teams. The IQ, age, health, and behavior of the hypothetical individuals were systematically varied. Participants were asked to answer 7 questions that reflected the well being, competence, and retirement status of the hypothetical individuals and estimate the optimal number of years until retirement. Finally, participants were asked to rank 10 factors in order of importance in retirement consideration. Results indicated that age and behavior influenced responses more often than health and IQ, although the latter frequently interacted with the former. Participants found that older hypothetical subjects, regardless of health status, generally were less happy, enjoyed work less, did worse at work, and behaved more poorly than their younger counterparts. This reflects the ageism found in general society. Of great interest is that participants generally rated hypothetical subjects with higher IQs as more ready to retire than those with lower IQs. Persons with higher IQs may have more retirement options and then work may be perceived as less fulfilling. Participants' ranks of factors did not always correspond to actual ratings.Item Factors in admission of children to state-administered facilities for people with intellectual disabilities(2013-05) Shelby, Elizabeth; Bryant, Diane Pedrotty; Yates, James R.Texas houses the largest number of school-aged individuals with intellectual disabilities in state-administered institutions than any other state in the nation. Despite current conditions of legal and procedural constraints on such placements, the number of admissions of school-aged individuals has been increasing in recent years. Prior to conducting this study, a review of literature was completed, which provided an historical overview of the care for people with intellectual disabilities, the damaging effects of institutionalization in all areas of child development, and the reasons for placement of children with intellectual disabilities in institutions was completed. The purpose of the study was to gain an understanding of the decision-making processes involved in the placement of individuals under the age of 22 in Texas state supported living centers and the community services determined as necessary. Surveys were distributed to five groups of individuals who are typically involved in the decision-making process: parents of current residents under age 22 of state supported living centers, Local Authority interdisciplinary team members, local Community Resource Coordination Group interagency members, local County Judges, and the Directors of the state supported living centers. A sixth group surveyed included parents who sought placement for their child in the institution, but accepted Medicaid waiver-funded community-based services instead. Although the families expressed a strong commitment to keep their family member at home as long as possible, the results indicate that the Local Authority for intellectual disability services influences the majority of families' decisions to place their child in the institution as well as a severe lack of appropriate, adequate and accessible community-based services to meet the needs of families. Both parent groups rated improved public school and personal attendant services as the most necessary for the prevention of out-of-home placement. The availability of behavior supports and respite services were viewed by both the parents and the professionals as important in preventing out-of-home placement.Item Hypothesis, strategies, and stereotypes in discrimination learning with the mentally retarded.(Texas Tech University, 1975-05) Patterson, Earl TNot availableItem Perceptual learning of synthetic speech by individuals with severe mental retardation(Texas Tech University, 2002-05) Hester, Kasey LynneThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the magnitude and type of practice effects in individuals with severe mental retardation as a result of systematic exposure to synthetic speech. This study compared the performance of a group of individuals with severe mental retardation (n=14) with a matched control group (n=14) on word identification accuracy and latency tasks. Specifically, the effects of training on novel versus repeated words produced by the DECtalk synthesizer were analyzed. Stimulus materials included 4 lists of 10 words each. These words were selected from a list of the first 50 words used by typically developing preschoolers (Nelson, 1973) and a dictionary of symbol vocabulary used by youth with severe mental retardation (Adain.son, Romski, Deffebach, & Sevcik, 1992). One list was designated as repeated and the remaining three as novel. Within each list, 20% of the words were repeated to judge intra-subject reliability. The synthetic speech used was DECtalk Betty (i.e., simulated adult female voice). A Microsoft Visual Basic program was developed to present the stimuli and the prompts, and to record responses. The experimental stimuli were presented using a laptop computer and external speakers that were placed approximately 12 inches in front of the subject. The experimental stimuli were presented at 75 dB SPL as determined by a sound level meter. Subjects' were instructed that they would hear a series of words and that their job was to touch the picture on the computer screen depicting the stimulus item. A touch screen mounted on the computer screen in conjunction with the Visual Basic program automatically recorded responses. The touch screen was calibrated to ignore "miss hits" (i.e., the subject slid his hand across the screen and activated a wrong selection) by using a timed activation direct selection strategy. The computer screen displayed one target picture, a visual representation of the synthetic word, and three unrelated foils. The position of the pictures within each experiment was randomized to avoid position effects; the order of presentation of the lists was randomized to avoid order effects; and a constant inter-stimulus interval of 10 seconds was maintained during presentation of the words within each list. All subjects had to pass a pretest in order to participate in this study. This pretest was designed to exclude subjects who were unable to obtain 100% correct scores for experimental stimuli, presented via live natural speech. In the absence of perfect scores on the pretest, it would be difficult to determine whether the performance demonstrated by individuals with mental retardation was due to the difficulty in processing synthetic speech or due to lack of conceptual knowledge of the stimulus items. The pre-experimental procedures were conducted at least one week prior to the beginning of the experiment. There were a total of 3 experimental sessions, each separated by a period of at least 24 hours. During each session, subjects were presented with a list of novel words, and a list of repeated words. The same repeated word list was presented across all sessions while a new novel word list was presented in each session. Subjects were instructed that they would hear a series of words preceded by a carrier phrase and that they were to point to the drawing depicting the word. Additionally, they were told to make their best guess if they were uncertain. Immediately prior to each experimental session, practice items were run to ensure that subjects were familiar with the task. The practice items were different from those used in the experimental task. Data were analyzed using a repeated measure design. The two dependent measures were (1) word identification accuracy and (2) word identification latency. Data for word identification accuracy and latency were analyzed using a repeated measures (2X2X3) ANOVA in which group served as a between factor variable while type of task, type of stimuli, and listening sessions served as within subject variables. Analysis revealed a significant main effect for group [F (1, 52) = 7.523, p < .05] on the word identification accuracy task indicating that individuals with severe mental retardation had significantly lower word identification accuracy scores (mean = 80.95) than the control group (mean = 91.19). A non-significant trend toward improved word identification accuracy across sessions [F (2, 104) = 2.635, p > .0765] was noted. The most interesting finding of this study was the lack of a significant effect [F (1, 52) = 0.199, p > .05] for stimulus type (i.e., repeated vs. novel) across groups on the word identification accuracy task. The presence of a significant interaction between word identification latency and group [F (2, 104) = 8.53, p< .01] indicated that individuals with mental retardation were processing synthetic speech more quickly as a result of repeated exposure. In summary, current results indicated that perception of synthetic speech in individuals with mental retardation was enhanced (i.e., significant decrease in latency) as a result of systematic exposure to synthetic speech. Also, the absence of a significant effect for stimulus type indicated that individuals with mental retardation generalized their knowledge of the acoustic-phonetic properties of synthetic speech to novel stimuli. These results were significant because they indicated that individuals with mental retardation became more skilled at recognizing synthetic speech whh repeated exposure. This was an important finding in the context of increased use of VOCAs by individuals with significant communicative and cognitive impairments.