20/20 Analysis: taking a close look at the margins.

This article presents "20/20 Analysis" as an experimental, output-oriented, noncategorical alternative to traditional approaches to identification of students for special education. 20/20 Analysis identifies students showing least (below 20th percentile) and most (above 80th percentile) progress toward important objectives of education in a school. The situation of each student in low 20% and high 20% groups is then examined as a basis for broad (noncategorical) approaches to improvement of learning opportunities. Case studies of two schools are present. Policy implications are considered briefly.

The relationship between attitude to disabled siblings and ratings of behavioural competency.

The impact of maturation factors and functioning level on the relationship between disabled and non-disabled siblings was examined. Two groups of adults, distinguished by level of functioning of their mentally retarded sibling, completed a Schaefer Sibling Behavior Inventory (SBI) and participated in a semi-structured interview. The latter explored a number of dimensions of the relationship including degree of warmth, contact and involvement. Judgements about involvement and comfort as remembered from the past and judgements about the present were obtained to derive hypotheses about possible changes with time. Data from the SBI indicated that significantly more competent siblings tended to be involved in relationships with a higher degree of reciprocity. In contrast, measures of attitude derived from interview data did not appear to relate to the functioning level of the sibling in any systematic manner. The results suggest that level of discomfort with peers may decrease significantly over the years with neither level of functioning nor gender being important variables. The extent to which non-disabled individuals expressed a preparedness to participate in the life of their disabled sibling may relate to the life-stage of the two. Males in particular anticipated increased future involvement. Although higher-functioning siblings were described as more active in the relationship, this did not appear to influence perceived positiveness of regard. The implications of these results are discussed briefly.

The development of autonomy among learning handicapped and nonhandicapped adolescents: A longitudinal perspective.

Factors that influence the development of adolescent autonomy were examined in a longitudinal study of 30 learning handicapped and 30 nonhandicapped adolescents. Autonomy was represented by three separate measures: distance from parental supervision, responsibility, and deviance. Findings suggest that handicapped adolescents lag behind their nonhandicapped peers in achieving separation from parental supervision, in part because of more restrictive parental rules. But the gap appears to be shrinking as the handicapped adolescents are making strides to catch up during the high school years. In both groups, the families where autonomy is achieved with the least amount of discord are those where parents relax control gradually during the period of adolescence.

Coping responses of adolescents with and without mild learning handicaps.

Five sentence completion stems about coping were administered to 60 adolescents (30 learning handicapped [mean IQ = 76], 30 nonhandicapped). Content analysis revealed that sources of everyday stress fell into four categories that reflected developmental concerns: frustrated efforts, direct conflict, social injustice, and performance issues. Coping responses were initially coded as active or passive and then further subcategorized into more specific coping behaviors. Analysis indicated that students with learning handicaps did not report any instances of performance issues as a source of stress and gave more passive coping responses than did students who were not handicapped. Sources of stress as well as coping responses revealed group differences in adolescents' perceptions of dependency and control.

Six postschool case studies of mildly learning handicapped young adults.

Participant observation was conducted for 1 year with six mildly learning handicapped young adults following their graduation from high school. Close attention was paid to the ways in which they managed the transition out of school and into more adult roles. During this year, all six floundered from job to job, class to class, and school to school. They expressed discontent and frustration with their present situation. They were at a loss to plan for the future and maintained an unrealistic appraisal of their skills. Their sense of self waxed and waned in keeping with their prospects, and the patience and frustration of family members vacillated as well.

Theoretical and methodological considerations of self-concept measurement.

Partially replicating a study by Savin-Williams and Jaquish (1981), assessment of self-concept was explored by investigating the relationships of "presented" and "experienced" selves among seven adolescent girls participating in a team sport at a high school in Southern California. Behavior observations and self- and peer ratings were used to assess three dimensions of self (self-confidence, popularity, and athletic skill) and examine relationships between these multimethods of self-concept measurement. In general, significant correlations between behavior observations and peer ratings were found, but not between behavior observations and self-ratings, or peer and self-ratings. A behavioral approach to measuring self-concept across situations appeared to be more indicative of the multidimensionality of the self than sole reliance on self-report. The authors concluded that self-concept measurement requires increased sensitivity to definition of, saliency of, and vacillation within a domain, the reference group used for social comparison, and the impact of previous experience on current views of self.

Friendship patterns of mildly learning handicapped and nonhandicapped high school students.

Participant observation techniques were employed in a high school setting to document the friendship patterns of 32 mildly learning handicapped and 32 nonhandicapped adolescents. Three features of friendship were examined: intimacy, empathy, and stability over time. Handicapped adolescents were found to have fewer friendships than did their nonhandicapped counterparts and less stable friendships. There was less evidence of intimacy and empathy between pairs of handicapped peers. Variation in friendship behavior within both populations was noted, and factors contributing to difficulties in achieving fuller friendship were discussed.

Managing conflict: Interactional strategies of learning handicapped and nonhandicapped adolescent girls.

Naturalistic observations of learning handicapped and nonhandicapped high school girls were conducted to explore differences in the types and effectiveness of interaction strategies used during troubled peer contacts. Findings indicated that learning handicapped girls engaged in more conflict than nonhandicapped females and that this conflict generally involved dominance/submission themes and was managed in ways which increased the probability of future conflict. Conflict involving nonhandicapped girls mostly focused on selfishness or low tolerance for peer's habits and was handled in ways which lowered the likelihood of future disagreements. Implications of these findings with regard to the social standing of the learning handicapped girls in the school setting is discussed.

Achievement of autonomy by nonhandicapped and mildly learning handicapped adolescents.

This study examines the achievement of autonomy by a sample of 30 midly learning handicapped and 30 nonhandicapped adolescents. From participant observation over the course of a school year, a detailed account was obtained about the life of each subject, both in the home and among friends outside the home. Findings suggest that autonomy is achieved through a gradual process of negotiation during the high school years. The mildly handicapped adolescents generally lag behind their regular education counterparts in breaking away from the family. While almost three-fourths of the nonhandicapped sample had made significant gains toward increased freedom, less than half of the mildly handicapped sample had shed close supervision by parents. However, most of the handicapped adolescents were satisfied with the limited freedom they had. The data suggest that autonomy should be understood as relative to the needs and abilities of each individual. Not all adolescents develop at the same pace; not all feel the same desire to assert their independence from their parents when they reach a particular age.

Mentally retarded adults and their siblings.

The relationships of 35 community-based mildly mentally retarded adults and their siblings were examined through participant-observation techniques over an 18-month period. Five kinds of sibling relationships were identified based on the independent ranking of each sibling pair on a continuum that reflected three major relationship dimensions: warmth, frequency of contact, and degree of involvement. These relationships were described as were some general patterns that seem to have the greatest impact on relations between retarded adults and their siblings.

Transition from adolescence to adulthood: perspectives of mentally retarded individuals and their families.

From ethnographic fieldnotes and life history interviews, basic descriptive data were presented that depict the adolescent life stage as it was recounted by 25 mildly retarded individuals and their parents. Patterns of adolescent adjustment are described in terms of the issues and concerns that preoccupied the retarded adolescents, the problem behavior exhibited by these young persons, and what parents did about their children's problems. Comparison of adolescent adjustment patterns and current adult status revealed that the central concerns of adolescence remain problems for only some mildly retarded adults. The majority regard normative achievements as most salient to their self-identity and well-being.

Adult mildly retarded persons and their parents: the relationship between involvement and adjustment.

The relationships of 29 mildly mentally retarded adults, who were living independently in the community, and their parents were examined. Analysis of ethnographic data from 18 months of participant observation of these mentally retarded adults and approximately 9 hours of parent interview revealed three types of parent-child relationships: Supportive, in which adult children were the most independent and had the highest self-esteem and in which parents promoted growth and development; Dependent, in which adults felt good about themselves but were over protected by their parents; and Conflict-ridden, in which adults were the least well-adjusted and parent-child interaction was discordant. The most salient finding was the relative lack of self-maintenance displayed by the mentally retarded adults in all three groups and the extensiveness of support provided by parents.

Self-concept measurement in mentally retarded adults: a micro-analysis of response styles.

The Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale and the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory were administered orally to 46 mentally retarded adults employed in a sheltered workshop. In-depth analysis of transcripts of the taped testing sessions revealed that the majority of the item responses were ambiguous and not readily scorable within the standardized procedures. Characterization of the problematic response patterns indicated assorted qualifications, contradictory assertions, and responses which had little relevance to the item content. Of those factors that might account for these ambiguous responses, it appears that social desirability, acquiescence, personal agendas, recipient design errors, and lack of item comprehension are among the most salient.

Reasoning by trainable mentally retarded and young non-retarded individuals.

Three groups of trainable retarded children, and three groups of non-retarded children matched for mental age, were presented with two problem-solving tasks. The tasks required the problem-solver to combine relevant parts of the problem and independently arrive at a solution from their combination. The data was analysed to determine: (1) whether the ability to reason in trainable retarded children showed developmental changes, and (2) to compare the development of reasoning behaviour in trainable retarded children with that of comparable MA non-retarded children. Implications were made from the findings for classroom teaching.

Use of a relational focus strategy in oddity performance of EMR adolescents.

A series of 5-item oddity tasks was administered to 44 EMR adolescents to determine whether a consistent strategy was used to achieve problem solutions. Such a strategy requires establishing a relational hypothesis for two items in a set and retaining that hypothesis in memory while testing subsequent items against it. Evidence for use of a consistent strategy would be found in a particular pattern of response latencies and errors dependent upon the position of the odd stimulus in each 5-item set. Analysis of variance of the mean latency scores and errors for the five positions in which the odd item occurred suggested that a consistent strategy was being applied.