The major problem investigated was to ascertain the extent to which a training program designed specifically to increase frustration tolerance would reduce selected behavioral problems in institutionalized mentally retarded children. Of lesser importance was the problem of examining the extent to which the prescribed training program had differential effects on brain-injured and non-brain-injured retarded children.

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the differences in performance of a sample of children with organically based test behavior and learning disabilities and those children whose disorders are functional in origin. It is the purpose of this paper to determine if there exists a particular profile on the Bender Gestalt and the WISC that would help to differentiate these two diagnostic categories which at some levels of behavior are quite similar. The present study is an attempt to compare the WISC and the BGT of emotionally disturbed children with the WISC and the BGT of those children who have been diagnosed as neurologically impaired. It is more important today than ever before to ascertain a correct estimate of ability, the reasons for difficulties in learning and behavioral problems of young school age children, while at the same time taking into consideration the global intelligence and potentials of the individual. This eminates from the growing interest in, and work with, the different diagnostic categories of children by clinics and schools. This increased interest is evident in the larger number of diagnostic personnel associated with the school systems and more individualized types of instruction for the child with unusual difficulties or abilities.

From the stories three common pairs of themes emerged: external locus of control vs. internal locus of control, sense of responsibility vs. love and concern, and humiliation vs. pride. These themes reflected how the fathers interpreted their life, their relationship with the child and their view of self. The findings also showed that the fathers' gradual change from the arrival of the child to age 16 could be demarcated into three stages. The initial stage was filled with feelings of helplessness. The second stage was when their child settled with schooling and they became more stable and positive. The third stage was the stage when the child stepped into adolescence and they began to face their aging process. They began to be aware that they could not take care of their child forever and became anxious and worried about the child's future. From the findings, the social beliefs, values and traditional practices, social context, and personal characteristics were found to be significant factors influencing these fathers' interpretation of their experience in having a child with intellectual disability. / The stories of these fathers have provided rich materials for more in-depth understanding of these fathers who had a child with intellectual disability. Based on the findings, recommendations are made to policy-makers, service planners and practitioners of related disciplines in providing more appropriate services to give support and assistance to fathers and those families with a child with intellectual disability, and also in building up an inclusive society. / These 15 fathers were of diversified backgrounds and each of them had their unique story, but they also shared similar experiences in parenting their special child. Generally they shared common characteristics of adhering to the values of traditional Chinese males, while at the same time they also adopted some of the western ways of taking up the roles of a husband and a father. During the interviews, they were able to disclose their long suppressed feelings and reveal their struggles in overcoming the various difficulties in fathering the child. They had pains and sorrows, but they also experienced joy and pride in being the father of a special child. In the course of parenting they showed gradual acceptance of having the child but they also came to understand that their child would be their life-long burden. / This study is a narrative analysis of fathers' experiences in having a child with intellectual disability in Hong Kong. The study explored the fathers' subjective interpretation of their lived experiences. It included their reactions in having the special child, their experience of parenting the child, and the meaning derived from the experience. The cultural and contextual factors that had influenced their interpretation of their experience were also explored. Fifteen fathers who had a child aged 12 to 16 with mild grade intellectual disability participated in the study. Each of them was invited to attend two in-depth interviews with the duration of about two hours each. / Yeung Yuen chi Kwan Laura. / "July 2005." / Adviser: Mong Chow Lam. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-07, Section: A, page: 2756. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 436-467). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Social Work)) -- University of Limpopo, 1987 / Refer to document / Human Science Research Council (HSRC) and University of the North

This is a report of a descriptive study in which a random sample of fifty out of four hundred returned questionnaires from parents with a mentally retarded child were analyzed. The foci of analysis were: (1) parental attitudes toward the child; (2) the changes experienced by the family as affected by birth order and sex of the mentally retarded child; (3) how the diagnosis was accomplished; and (4) how in their opinion services during this diagnostic period could be improved. The data revealed that: (1) protectiveness toward the child is the predominant parental response; (2) negative changes are probably twice as high with an only child who is retarded; (3) male retardates are somewhat more disruptive than are female; (4) diagnosis must be individualized; however, generalizations which can be made include: understandable language, patience, empathy, and above all honesty.

While home schooling is by no means a new phenomenon, the last three decades have seen an increasing trend in the engagement of this educational alternative. In many countries, including Australia, a growing number of families are opting to remove their children from the traditional schooling system for numerous reasons and educate them at home. In response to the recent home schooling movement a research base in this area of education has emerged. However, the majority of research has been undertaken primarily in the United States of America and the United Kingdom, with very few studies having examined home schooling in Australia. The existing corpus of research is also relatively small and incomplete. Also, certain categories of home schoolers and the processes involved in their undertaking of this modern version of a historically enduring educational alternative have been overlooked. In particular, children with disabilities appear to be one of the home schooling groups that have attracted very little research world wide. This group constituted the focus of the study reported in this thesis. Its particular concern was with generating theory regarding how parents deal with educating their children with intellectual disabilities from a home base over a period of one year. Data gathering was largely carried out through individual, face-to-face semi-structured interviewing and participant observation in the interpretivist qualitative research tradition. However, informal interviews, telephone interviews and documents were also used to gather supplementary data for the study. Data were coded and analysed using the open coding method of the grounded theory model and through the development and testing of propositions. The central research question which guided theory generation was as follows: 'How do parents within the Perth metropolitan area in the state of Western Australia deal with educating their children with intellectual disabilities from a home base over a period of one year?' The central proposition of the theory generated is that parents do so through progressive modification and that this involves them progressing through three stages over a period of one year. The first stage is designated the stage of drawing upon readily-available resources. The second stage is designated the stage of drawing upon support networks in a systematic fashion. The third stage is designated the stage of proceeding with confidence on the basis of having a set of principles for establishing a workable pattern of home schooling individualised for each circumstance. This theory provides a new perspective on how parents deal with the home schooling of their children with intellectual disabilities over a period of one year. A number of implications for further theory development, policy and practice are drawn from it. Several recommendations for further research are also made.

This research was designed to examine two broad issues in relation to the investigative interviewing of children (aged 9 to 13 years) with mild and moderate intellectual disabilities. First, how do children with intellectual disabilities perform (relative to children matched for chronological and mental age) when recalling an event in response to various questions? Second, what question types and interview strategies do police officers and caregivers use to elicit accurate and detailed accounts about an event from children with intellectual disabilities? The rationale for exploring each of these issues was to determine possible ways of improving the elicitation of evidence from children with intellectual disabilities. While children with intellectual disabilities constitute a high proportion of all child victims of abuse (Conway, 1994; Goldman, 1994; Morse, et ah, 1970), they rarely provide formal reports of abuse and of those incidents that are reported, few cases progress to court (Henry & Gudjonsson, 1999). Study 1 used a standard interview protocol containing a variety of questions and an interview structure commonly used in investigative interviews. Specifically, the memory and suggestibility of eighty children with either a mild and moderate intellectual disability (M age = 10.85 years) was examined when recalling an innocuous event that was staged at their school. The children's performance was compared with that of two control groups; a group of mainstream children matched for mental age and a group of mainstream children matched for chronological age. Overall, this study showed that children with both mild and moderate intellectual disabilities can provide accurate and highly specific event-related information hi response to questions recommended in best-practice guidelines. However, their recall was less complete and less clear in response to free-narrative prompts and less accurate in response to specific questions when compared to both mainstream age-matched groups. Study 2 provided an in-depth analysis of the types of questions and strategies used by twenty-eight police officers and caregivers when interviewing children with either mild or moderate intellectual disabilities (M age = 11.13 years) about a repeated event that was staged at their school. The results revealed that while the approach used by the police officers was generally consistent with best-practice recommendations (i.e., their interviews contained few leading, coercive or negative strategies), there were many ways in which their approach could be improved. This study also showed that the caregivers used a high proportion of direct and negative strategies to elicit information from their children. Even when caregivers used open-ended questions, their children provided less event-related information than they did to police interviewers. The results of both studies were discussed in relation to current 'best-practice' guidelines for interviewing children and recommendations were offered for improving the quality of field interviews with children who have intellectual disabilities.

An experimental comparison was made of two mediations of spelling instruction with sight words: a traditional paper and pencil presentation and a computer-assisted presentation. Five students identified as learning disabled participated in the investigation over the course of five to six weeks in an elementary mainstreamed setting. The microcomputer presentation consisted of a commercially available spelling program incorporating visual and auditory error verification procedures. A counterbalanced ABAC/ACAB intrasubject replication design was used to evaluate the spelling performances (percent correct, correct spelling sequences, and rates of responses).Findings1. The results indicated that the microcomputer presentation of the spelling words did not effectively enhance achievement over that of paper and pencil.2. The use of error verification procedures with the microcomputer format did not result in more efficient learning. Rather, these subjects learned more quickly without the verification procedures. Informal observations further indicated that the students ignored the cues provided for verification.3. The intrasubject replication format of this investigation indicated that there were no order effects of the treatment conditions or of the error verification conditions.4. The students in this experiment required a longer session each day and took more time to respond when working on the microcomputer than with the paper and pencil presentation. These students, however, lacked typing skills which increased their response times on the microcomputer.5. Informal observations indicated that attention-to-task behavior was enhanced by the microcomputer. Although the subjects worked for a longer period of time in this mode, their attention was focused on the task.6. Because of the questionable instructional value of much of the software, the use of microcomputers in comparison with traditional and less costly modes of instruction should be carefully evaluated.

The hyperactivity and antisocial behavior, of ambulatory severely retarded patients of a selected state hospital, precluded formalized rehabilitative therapy for them. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of behavior modification, through play therapy and positive reinforcement in increasing positive social interactions of the selected patients.The population for this study consisted of thirty-six patients selected from two wards of institutionalized retardates, with thirty observations made for all subjects. For the experimental subjects, the observation session procedures for sessions one through ten, and twenty-one through thirty were identical with the control group. In sessions eleven through twenty, the therapist interacted with the experimental subjects with the toys and gave verbal praise reinforcement for subjects' positive social behavior.It was concluded from this study that the toys alone produced a degree of increased positive social responses, but the greatest change of all the subjects was found for the experimental subjects, during the period of play therapy and reinforcement. This indicated that there was a degree of behavior modification from play therapy and positive reinforcement.Ball State UniversityMuncie, IN 47306

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.