Career education for the trainable mentally retarded: Issues and concerns

The paper reviews the development of the career education concept generally, and more specifically as related to trainable mentally handicapped individuals. Issues and concerns of direct relevance to this population are discussed.     

Parent concerns in the life skills development of trainable mentally handicapped adolescents

There is a growing awareness of the importance of involving the parents in all stages of the educational process for their trainable mentally handicapped (TMH) children. In this context, in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 parents of TMH adolescents, to investigate concerns, hopes and fears for their children, particularly related to life skills development. Among the predominant themes were concerns that, while their children have shown significant improvement during their years of education, parents have received relatively little feedback from psychologists and teachers on assessment and educational progress, the children have not been educated to their fullest potential, and adult adjustment is, indeed, uncertain for the TMH individual.Paper presented at the Eleventh International Round Table for the Advancement of Counselling, Aarhus, Denmark, August 1984. The research was funded by a grant to the author from a Support for the Advancement of Scholarship Fund of the university Faculty of Education. The research assistance of M. Bekkari and L. Kvemshagen is gratefully acknowledged.     

Comparability of WISC-R and WAIS IQ scores in educable mentally handicapped adolescents

The WISC-R and WAIS were administered to 30 16-year-old EMH students in a test-retest design to distribute practice effects. The average interval between administrations was approximately 37 days. Results from t-tests of significance of difference between the means were obtained for the total group and for two subgroups, one receiving the WISC-R first and one the WAIS first. Analysis of data revealed significantly higher WAIS scores on all levels of VIQ, PIQ, and FIQ for all groups.     

Vocational and counselling prospects,and practices for the mentally handicapped

The paper considers some of the current prospects and practices related to vocational programs and counselling for the mentally handicapped. Issues of concern are explored, including program emphasis and content, the role and training of the counsellor, as well as other professional and non-professional participants in the process of preparing the retarded for satisfactory adult adjustment to employment and community living.     

Collaborative skill instruction for promoting positive interactions between mentally handicapped and nonhandicapped children

Structuring cooperative learning activities has been shown to be an effective technique for integrating handicapped and nonhandicapped students. Previous research in this area has focused on the relative effects of cooperative versus competitive and individualistic learning situations upon peer relations and academic achievement. Few investigations have examined the various elements within the cooperative learning model that appear to promote positive peer interactions among handicapped and nonhandicapped students. The present study evaluated the influence of collaborative skill instruction versus no collaborative skill instruction on the social interaction behaviors of moderately/severely handicapped and nonhandicapped students participating in group science activities. These data reveal that students receiving collaborative skill instruction interacted more positively with one another than those who did not receive the instruction.     

Values education for gifted adolescents

Teaching values should have an important place in the curriculum of gifted adolescents