The purpose of this investigation was to discover the relationship between parental attitudes and the adjustment of the mentally retarded child.

The purpose of this study was to determine the usefulness of Koppitz's method of scoring the Bender Gestalt (BG) Test for the prediction of behavioral problems in retarded children. The problem behaviors with which this study was concerned were those most often associated with the hyperactive child.

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether Koppitz's developmental scoring techniques of mental maturity are applicable to mentally retarded children ages 5 to 12.

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

Spivack and Shure’s (1974) Interpersonal Cognitive Problem-Solving (ICPS) model was evaluated on Educable Mentally Retarded (EMR) children. The major question was whether the implementation of Shure and Spivack’s (1978) Kindergarten Interpersonal Problem-Solving Program (KIPS) would enhance the ICPS skills and behavioral adjustment of EMR children up to the level needed for successful integration into the regular classroom. The study included 40 EMR children from ages eight to fourteen. The subjects were divided equally into two groups, one receiving Shure and Spivack’s (1978) KIPS program and one receiving informal social skills training. These groups were divided further into a younger group, ages eight to nine, and an older group, ages ten to fourteen. In both treatment groups the special education teachers directly administered the program to the children. The experimenter served as a consultant to the teachers. Two evaluation measure were used, Spivack and Shure’s (1974) Preschool Interpersonal Problem-Solving Test (an alternative thinking measure) and Kendall and Wilcox’s (1979) Self-Control Rating Scale (a behavioral adjustment measure). An analysis of variance was utilized to assess both evaluation measures. It was found that on the Preschool Interpersonal Problem-Solving Test there were significant main effects for the type of training the subject received (F=17.14, p<.01), the age of the subjects (F=6.26, p<.05), and pre- versus post-testing (F=56.11, p<.01). There were two significant interactions, a three-way interaction between age of subjects, type of training, and pre- versus post-testing (F=6.60, p<.05), and a two-way interaction between type of training and pre- versus post-testing (F=56.11, p<.01). The Newman-Keul’s Multiple Range Test was used to analyze the interactions. It was found that both the young and old experimental groups obtained a significant increase in their Preschool Interpersonal Problem-Solving Test scores from pre- to post-testing (p<.01) while neither the young nor the old control groups had a significant increase from pre- to post-test. On the other evaluation measure, the Self-Control Rating Scale, a significant main effect was found for pre- versus post-testing. There were no other significant main effects or interactions found. These finding suggest that Shure and Spivack’s (1978) KIPS program increases alternative thinking and ICPS skills, and improve the self-control of elementary aged EMR children. This study, beside being effective, was also cost-efficient. The program lasted only about five and one-half weeks and took only 10 to 40 minutes each day to present. In addition, the consultation model was used which reduced the amount of time the experimenter had to spend running the study. Inferences from the findings of this study may be limited, due to the possible lack of equivalent samples. The control and experimental groups were not matched according to SES and IQ. From the results of this study and other problem-solving studies involving children, there appear to be many areas that need to be further investigated.

This study is an attempt to ascertain if there is a relationship between academic achievement, I. Q. and social maturity in mentally retarded children in an institutional setting.

The purpose of this study is to determine the problems of adjustment of the mentally retarded child as compared with the problems of adjustment of the normal child.

Στην παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία, εκτιμώνται τα πλεονεκτήματα που παρέχουν οι βοηθητικές τεχνολογίες, όπως είναι τα εικονικά περιβάλλοντα, για προγράμματα σπουδών σε μαθητές με ελαφρά νοητική καθυστέρηση. Επίσης, μελετώνται οι αντιληπτικές και χωρικές ικανότητες παιδιών με νοητική καθυστέρηση συγκριτικά με αυτές των παιδιών τυπικής ανάπτυξης, χρησιμοποιώντας μία εφαρμογή εικονικής πραγματικότητας. Για την διερεύνηση των παραπάνω, πραγματοποιήθηκε μία ερευνητική διαδικασία αποτελούμενη από δύο φάσεις. Η πρώτη φάση συνίσταται σε μία πιλοτική εφαρμογή του προγράμματος εικονικής πραγματικότητας, όπου ζητήθηκε από μία ομάδα 10 ατόμων, ηλικίας 16-23 ετών, να το αξιολογήσουν ώστε να επιτραπεί η χρήση του στην επόμενη φάση. Η δεύτερη φάση περιέχει την κυρίως έρευνα, όπου συμμετέχουν δύο ομάδες παιδιών, η μία εκ των οποίων αποτελείται από παιδιά με νοητική καθυστέρηση, ενώ η άλλη από παιδιά τυπικής ανάπτυξης. Τα υποκείμενα των δύο ομάδων εξερεύνησαν το εικονικό περιβάλλον και εν συνεχεία αξιολογήθηκαν σε κάποια έργα χωρικής μνήμης και χωρικής αντίληψης. Τέλος, αξιολογήθηκε ο προσανατολισμός, η λεπτή κινητικότητα και κάποια άλλα χαρακτηριστικά της συμπεριφοράς των υποκειμένων. Βάσει των δεδομένων που προέκυψαν από την ερευνητική διαδικασία, εξήχθησαν συμπεράσματα για τα παραπάνω, τα οποία παρουσιάζουν τα παιδιά με νοητική καθυστέρηση να μειονεκτούν έναντι των παιδιών τυπικής ανάπτυξης. / The following research paper, which serves as a part of the Departments requirements leading to a Bachelor’s Degree, unfolds its goal and objectives into phases. The goal of this endeavor is to present the advantages that assistive technologies, such as Virtual Environments, offer to students with mental retardation. In addition, the conceptual and spatial abilities of mentally retarded children are examined, comparatively with the abilities of nonretarded children using an application of virtual reality. In order to investigate the above, a two-phase research had taken place. In the first phase, that is a pilot test, a group of ten subjects, 16-23 years old, evaluated this application in order to be possible to use the application in the next phase. The second phase involves the basic research, where two groups of children, one of mentally retarded children and one of nonretarded children, took part. The subjects of these two groups explored the virtual environment and afterwards they completed tests of spatial memory and spatial cognition. In the end, the orientation, the “delicate mobility” (the ability to handle small objects) and some other characteristics of the children’s behavior were assessed. On the basis of the data that emerged from the research procedure, there were extracted conclusions that indicate that mentally retarded children are deficient against nonretarded children.