Predicting quality of life of students who have left special education high school programs.

A subsample (N = 505) was selected from a nationwide, stratified, probability sample of students with disabilities attending high school in 1985. In-school and out-of-school information about these students was obtained in 1987 and 1990 from school records, school personnel, and parents. Conventional item analysis procedures were used to construct a priori quality-of-life composites (social relationships, employment, and independence) from 17 questionnaire variables. These composites were related to 27 geopolitical, family, demographic, cognitive, disability, and school program variables using three multiple regression analyses, which indicated that the predictors accounted for 23.5% of the variance in social relationships; 25.6%, in independence; and 19.5%, in employment. Results suggest that although quality of life is multidimensional, competence appears to underlie many of its facets.

Residential independence of former special education high school students: a second look.

The residential independence of postsecondary students was assessed in 5,462 parents or surrogate parents of students with disabilities from the National Longitudinal Transition Study who had left United States high schools between 1985 and the time of the questionnaire in 1990. An index of residential placement independence served as the dependent variable in a hierarchical regression analysis that featured 43 community, family, student, and school program characteristics entered as block-wise predictors (i.e., entered in a controlled order). This analysis produced a multiple R2 of .376: missing data, youths' daily living skills, youths' social skills, youths' maladaptive ("problem") behaviors, and community characteristics all contributed significantly to the prediction of the postschool residential independence of former special education students during the first 5 years after they had left secondary school.

Predicting the earnings of supported employees with mental retardation: a longitudinal study.

A random sample (N = 197) of supported employees with mental retardation was examined in a longitudinal study. Results indicate that intelligence, prior earnings, and federal job subsidy predicted future earnings. Statistical controls applied to the stratified sample show that job placement, job type, subsidy, and means of transportation had little influence on earnings.

Response biases in interviews of individuals with limited mental ability.

The validity of responses by individuals with mental retardation during interviews is threatened by a number of biases. Acquiescence (the disposition to answer 'yes' regardless of the question asked) is a commonly observed response bias committed by respondents to questionnaires and interviews, and this disposition is significantly more pronounced when persons of low status are questioned by high-status interviewers. Research on the acquiescence bias suggests that it can be reduced in mentally retarded respondents by replacing the usual 'yes/no' question format with an 'either/or' format. Enhancing the either/or choices with accompanying picture representations of each choice is beneficial in increasing mentally retarded subjects' responding and in reducing their tendency to choose the latter of two either/or choices. 'Nay-saying' (the disposition to say 'no' regardless of the question asked), while less common than 'yea-saying' (i.e. than acquiescence), has also been noted in response to certain question formats and taboo topics. This review implies that the validity of an interview with respondents of limited intelligence depends greatly on the format of its questions.

Prediction of cost, rates, and staffing by provider and client characteristics.

Cost of services to individuals with developmental disabilities in state institutions and private community agencies in South Dakota was related to provider agency characteristics, funding source, and client characteristics. Significant relations were found between cost and funding programs, total number of clients served by an agency, number of people in residential facilities, city population, and county unemployment rate. Funding source differences indicated that state-owned institutions were the most costly and community services funded solely by state funds were least costly. Among community-based agencies, cost bore a U-shaped relation to agency size, with intermediate-sized agencies being the least costly and large or small agencies being more costly.

Interaction of persons with severe mental retardation and their nondisabled co-workers in integrated work settings.

This investigation matched 23 workers with severe mental retardation to 23 workers without disabilities by job type and minimal duration of employment (at least 6 months) to determine if co-worker relations differed between the two groups of employees. Results indicated that, compared to workers with severe mental retardation, nondisabled workers were more likely to receive information, to receive training, and to interact as friends outside the workplace.

Prediction of residential independence of special education high school students.

The residential independence of post-secondary students was assessed for the 2,686 interviewees of the National Longitudinal Transition Study who had left United States high schools between 1985 and the time of the questionnaire in 1987. An index of residential placement independence was the dependent variable in a regression analysis that featured 37 community, family, student, and school program characteristics entered as block-wise predictors (i.e., entered in a controlled order). Results showed a total R2 of .443, with missing data, student maladaptive ("problem") behavior, student competence, and family characteristics all contributing significantly to the prediction of post-school residential independence.

The Multifaceted Lifestyle Satisfaction Scale (MLSS): psychometric properties of an interview schedule for assessing personal satisfaction of adults with limited intelligence.

The purpose of this research was to assess the psychometric properties of the Multifaceted Lifestyle Satisfaction Scale (MLSS), an interview structured primarily for individuals with mental retardation to assess their professed satisfaction with their living arrangements and communities, their personal relationships, their recreation and leisure, their employment, and their degree of self-direction. Reliabilities, assessed as internal consistency coefficients, test-retest correlations, and interrater agreements were above .60 on cross-validation samples. Validity was supported through correlations with caretaker predictions of respondents' satisfactions, but not by the Quality of Life Questionnaire, an objective instrument to index quality of life in four dimensions: lifestyle satisfaction, production, independence, and integration. Regression analyses indicated moderate theory-based correlations between MLSS subscales and other variables. In sum, the MLSS appears to be a reliable and valid scale to measure personal satisfaction through the responses of consumers in areas of living arrangement, friendships, recreation, employment, and self-direction.

Cost-effectiveness of supported employment.

Monetary costs and benefits of supported employment to individuals, taxpayers, and society were assessed as was the cost-effectiveness of the nonmonetary benefit, namely, quality of life of employees, as a result of supported employment. Participants were 20 individuals from two Central Illinois agencies serving clients with developmental disabilities. Costs and effects were evaluated using benefit-cost and cost-effectiveness analyses. Supported employment was found to be cost-beneficial from the perspectives of the supported employee, the taxpayer, and society over a 5-year period as programs move from sheltered employment. In addition, supported employment was also more cost-effective with regard to quality of life than was sheltered employment.

Income allowance policies of state Medicaid agencies as work incentives or disincentives for ICF/MR residents.

Results of a survey of six Midwestern states demonstrated that although some state Medicaid agencies have had work incentive policies for ICF/MR residents for some time, others continue to utilize policies that are a disincentive to work. Policy changes toward employment incentives in state Medicaid agencies should improve work opportunities for workers with mental retardation at little expense to the government.

Methodological nuances and pitfalls of benefit-cost analysis: a critique.

The recent paper by Hill, Banks, Handrich, Wehman, Hill, and Shafer, entitled "Benefit-Cost Analysis of Supported Competitive Employment for Persons with Mental Retardation" was critiqued. Concerns were of three types: logic, omission, and imprecision. Logically, Hill et al. incorrectly interchanged the concepts of cost-benefit ratio and net benefits; defined the taxpayer's perspective inconsistently; and appeared to double-adjust for inflation. Omissions included taxpayers' cost of paying benefits to workers from the regular labor force who were displaced by workers from the Hill et al. project; and certain costs and benefits when an individual changed from a minimally productive day program to an employment program. Finally, many cost and benefit estimates appeared to be extremely coarse, and to err in the direction of favoring benefits over costs. Most critically, Hill et al. reported their figures as absolutely true, when it would have been preferable to present a range of feasible cost and benefit estimates to test the sensitivity of their reported net benefit to reasonable variations in the values of its components. The ranges suggested by the present authors generally supported the conclusions of Hill et al., but reduced the certainty that taxpayers would benefit from their program.

Movement of developmentally disabled individuals among out-of-home residential facilities.

This paper reported on the movement of a large (N = 2271) probability sample of the nation's residents of public (PRF) and community (CRF) residential facilities for developmentally disabled children and adults. Estimates placed the national population at 217,410 in all facilities--73,709 in CRFs and 143,701 in PRFs--in the fall of 1978, when the sample was selected, although extrapolation from subsequent surveys suggest that the CRF numbers should be about 100,000. In the winter of 1979 direct care staff and administrators completed detailed information about each resident sampled, about themselves, and about their facilities. In 1980 they were asked if their residents had moved exactly one year later. Most residents (91%) had not moved; 1.3% had died; and about 8.5% had moved. Most moves featured greater integration into the community. Multivariate analyses indicated very little difference between moved and unmoved residents. Among moved subjects, three dimensions accounted for 62% of the common variance in placement status: (a) ability, (b) age, and (c) autonomy.

The Lifestyle Satisfaction Scale (LSS): assessing individuals' satisfaction with residence, community setting, and associated services.

Satisfaction of mentally retarded persons with their quality of life is an important outcome measure of deinstitutionalization. The Lifestyle Satisfaction Scale (LSS) was developed to assess mentally retarded persons' satisfaction with their residence and its community setting and associated services. An acquiescence subscale makes it possible to correct satisfaction scores for acquiescence bias. Empirical data indicate that this experimental version of the LSS has internally consistent subscales and good test-retest and interrater reliabilities.

A true experiment evaluating adult skill training for severely mentally retarded secondary students.

Skill acquisition by secondary-level severely mentally retarded students was assessed on functional community and living skills task analyses. Students were trained in natural settings according to a behavioral analysis of the curriculum into systematic teaching and error-correction procedures. Classroom training in the district high school supported the teaching that occurred in the community. The evaluation of student performance on specific skills was done using random assignment to training and control conditions in a cross-over design. Students showed significantly greater gains on those tasks for which they were trained than on those for which they were not. In addition to this specific skill training, a daily checklist showed significant progress by all students on a broad array of skill sequences. Discussion stressed the contribution of the project to ideologically appropriate public school programs for severely mentally retarded students, to behaviorally based instructional technology, and to evaluation using true experimental designs.

Experimental evaluation of sensorimotor patterning used with mentally retarded children.

In the present study, a sensorimotor "patterning" program used with 66 institutionalized, mentally retarded children and adolescents was evaluated. The subjects were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (a) Experimental 1 group, which received a program of mobility exercises including patterning, creeping, and crawling; visual-motor training; and sensory stimulation exercises; (b) Experimental 2 group, which received a program of physical activity, personal attention, and the same sensory stimulation program given to the first group; or (c) Passive Control group, which provided baseline measures but which received no additional programming as part of the study. Experimental 1 group subjects improved more than subjects in the other groups in visual perception, program-related measures of mobility, and language ability. Intellectual functioning did not appear to be enhanced by the procedures, at least during the active phase of the project. The results were discussed with reference to other researchers who have failed to support the patterning approach, and some reasons were suggested for the differences between the present and past investigations.