A review of related research from epidemiological surveys and other sources on multiple disabilities, specifically the mentally retarded-visually impaired diad, reveals the following:
1) Lack of a theoretical concept concerning the syndromes of multiple disabilities.
2) Confusion and lack of agreement on definitions, classifications, and terminology.
3) Inadequacy of a rationale by investigators in assigning priority to a disability.
4) Conflicting viewpoints concerning which facilities are most appropriate and the extent and availability of such facilities.
5) Inconsistencies in reported incidence and prevalence rates.
6) Lack of a precise methodology for teaching children with multiple disabilities.
The educational problem presented by children who have multiple disabilities is as old as man's attempt to provide services to exceptional children. For far too many years special educators have been dealing with handicapped children in a unitary fashion. Special classes have been organized, classified, and categorized according to a primary schema of disabilities which has little meaning for educational planning and remediation. There is urgent need for additional research in all aspects of multiple disabilities. The results of this research will have immediate and serious implications for organizing instruction and teacher training in the rapidly growing field of special education.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
HoffmeyerBen E.“The Multiple Handicapped Child: A Product of Improved Medical Care,”Medical Times (Aug. 1961), 89: 807–815.
2.
KirkSamuel A., “Needed Projects and Research in Special Education,” Chapter XVII, in The Education of Exceptional Children, Part II, The Forty-Ninth Yearbook, National Society for the Study of Education. University of Chicago PressChicago, 1950, p. 326.
3.
GoodenoughFlorence L., Exceptional Children.Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., New York, 1956, p. 389.
4.
CruickshankWilliam M., and TrippeMatthew J., Services to Blind Children in New York State.Syracuse University PressSyracuse, 1959, p. 80.
5.
WishikSamuel M., Georgia Study of Handicapped Children.Georgia Department of Public Health1964.
6.
The Illinois Census of Exceptional Children.The Prevalence of Exceptional Children in Illinois in 1958, Report of the 1958 Illinois Census of Exceptional Children, Circular Census 1A. Superintendent of Public Instruction, State of Illinois, Springfield, 1959, p. 9.
7.
WishikSamuel M., “Handicapped Children in Georgia: A Study of Prevalence, Disability, Needs, and Resources,”American Journal of Public Health (1956), 46: 195–203.
8.
CruickshankWilliam M., and JohnsonOrville G. (Editors) Education of Exceptional Children and Youth.Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1958. pp. 6–8.
9.
MackieR., Statistics of Special Education for Exceptional Children and Youth, 1957-58 (Final Report). United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Office of EducationWashington, D. C., 1963, p. 5.
10.
StevensG. D., Taxonomy in Special Education for Children with Body Disorders.University of Pittsburgh, Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation, Pittsburgh, 1962.
11.
WrightBeatrice A., Physical Disability—A Psychological Approach.Harper and BrothersNew York, 1960.
12.
MayoLeonard W., and RiviereMaya, “An Investigation into the Feasibility of Developing a System of Codes for Use in Rehabilitation,”Association for the Aid of Crippled Children, New York, 1957, p. 35 (Mimeo).
13.
New York State Department of Mental Hygiene, Mental Health Research Unit, 1955. A Special Census of Suspected Referral Mental Retardation, Onondaga County, New York. In: Technical Report of the Mental Health Research Unit. Syracuse University Press.
14.
StiflerJ. R., “Follow-up Study of Children Seen in the Diagnostic Centers for Handicapped Children,”American Journal of Public Health (Nov. 1963), 53: 1743–1750.
15.
QuibellE. P., “A Survey of a Group of Children with Mental and Physical Handicaps Treated in an Orthopaedic Hospital,”Archives of Disease in Childhood (Feb. 1961), 36: 58–64.
16.
FouracreMaurice H., “Educational Abilities and Needs of Orthopedically Handicapped Children,”Elementary School Journal (Feb. 1950), 51: 331–338.
17.
CruickshankW. M., “The Multiply Handicapped Cerebral Palsied Child,”Exceptional Children (1953), 20: 16–22.
18.
CardwellViola E., Cerebral Palsy: Advances in Understanding and Care.Association for the Aid of Crippled ChildrenNew York, 1956.
19.
AsherP., and SchonnelF. E., “A Survey of 400 Cases of Cerebral Palsy in Childhood,”Archives of Diseases of Children (1950), 25: 360–379.
20.
HolloranI. M., “The Incidence and Prognosis of Cerebral Palsy,”British Medical Journal (Jan. 1952), 4751: 214–217.
21.
HeilmanA., “Intelligence in Cerebral Palsy,”The Crippled Child (1952), 30: 11–13.
22.
McIntireJ. T., “The Incidence of Feeble-Mindedness in the Cerebral Palsied,”American Journal of Mental Deficiency (April, 1946), 50: 491–494.
23.
PhelpsW. M., “Characteristic Psychological Variations in Cerebral Palsy,”Nervous Child (1948), 7: 10–13.
24.
DoctorP. V., “Multiple Handicaps in the Field of Deafness,”Sixth Annual Conference on Problems of Hearing and Speech, Syracuse University, 1951.
25.
FrisinaD. R., “A Psychological Study of the Mentally Retarded Deaf Child,”Dissertation Abstracts (1955), 15: 2287–2288.
26.
DoctorP. V., “Multiple Handicaps in the Field of Deafness,”Exceptional Children (Nov. 1959), 26: 156–158.
27.
LeonhoutsM. A., “The Mentally Retarded Deaf Child,”Report of the Proceedings of the Thirty-Ninth Meeting of the Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf. Colorado School for the Deaf, Colorado Springs, Colorado (June 1959), United States Government Printing OfficeWashington, D. C., 1960, pp. 55–64.
28.
WeirR. C., “Impact of the Multiple Handicapped Deaf on Special Education,”The Volta Review (June 1963), 65: 287–289.
29.
BirchJ., and MatthewsJ., “The Hearing of Mental Defectives,”American Journal of Mental Deficiency (1951), 55: 384–393.
30.
SchlangerB. B., and GottlesbenR. H., “Testing the Hearing of Mentally Retarded,”Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders (1956), 21: 487–493.
31.
JohnstonP. W., and FarrellM. J., “Auditory Impairments Among Resident School Children at the Walter E. Fernald State School,”American Journal of Mental Deficiency (1954), 58: 640–644.
32.
SiegenthalerB. M., and KrzywickiD. F., “Incidence and Patterns of Hearing Loss Among an Adult Mentally Retarded Population,”American Journal of Mental Deficiency (1959), 64: 444–449.
33.
KodmanF., “Sensory Processes and Mental Deficiency,” Chapter XIV in Handbook of Mental Deficiency, EllisN. R., Editor. McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York, 1963.
34.
ElliottM. H., and HallF. H.Laura Bridgman, Dr. Howe's Famous Pupil and What He Taught Her.Little Brown and Co.Boston, 1903.
35.
BraddyNella, Anne Sullivan Macy, The Story Behind Helen Keller.Doubleday, Doran and Co., Garden City, N. Y.1933, p. 365.
36.
Keller, Helen, Letter to Peter J. Salmon, dated April 3, 1959 in World Council for the Welfare of the Blind Report of Committee on Services for the Deaf-Blind to the World Assembly, Rome, Italy, July 1959. Brooklyn, N. Y., The Industrial Home for the Blind, 1959, p. 152.
37.
National Study Committee on Education of Deaf-Blind Children, Report. (Meetings, Washington, D. C., July 12, 1953, and Council Bluffs, Iowa, Jan. 25-26, 1954), p. 30.
38.
AllenEdward E., “The Feeble-Minded Blind,” in Proceedings of the National Conference of Charities and Correction, JohnsonAlexander, editor, Thirty-Third Annual Session, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1906, pp. 259–261.
39.
American Association of Instructors of the Blind, Proceedings, 1918, p. 100.
40.
FraenkelWilliam A., “Blind Retarded—Or Retarded Blind?”New Outlook for the Blind (June 1964), 58: 165–169.
41.
LongElinor H., The Challenge of the Cerebral Palsied Blind Child.American Foundation for the BlindNew York, 1952.
42.
American Printing House for the Blind. Report: The Survey of the Multiple-Handicapped, Visually Handicapped. Louisville, Kentucky, May 1955.
43.
ParaskevaPeter C., “A Survey of the Facilities for the Mentally Retarded-Blind in the United States,”The International Journal for the Education of the Blind (May 1959), 8: 139–145.
44.
LongElinor, and PerryJ., “Slow Learner and Retarded Blind Child,” 43rd Biennial Convention, American Association of Instructors of the Blind, 1956.
45.
NorrisMiriam, Blindness in Children.University of Chicago PressChicago, 1957, p. 3.
46.
DiMichaelSalvador G., “Meeting the Needs of Retarded Blind Children,” 43rd Biennial Convention, American Association of Instructors of the Blind, Proceedings, 1956.
47.
MoorP., “Blind Children With Developmental Problems,”Children (January-February 1961), 8: 9–13.
48.
ZwarensteynS. B., and ZerbyM., “A Residential School Program for Multi-Handicapped Blind Children,”New Outlook for the Blind (June 1962), 56: 191–199.
49.
HepfingerLucy M., “Psychological Evaluation of Young Blind Children,”New Outlook for the Blind (Nov. 1962), 56: 309–316.
50.
DavisCarl J., “The Assessment of Intelligence of Visually Handicapped Children,”International Journal for the Education of the Blind (Dec. 1962), 12: 48–50.
51.
RootFerne K., “Evaluation of Services for Multiple-Handicapped Blind Children,”International Journal for the Education of the Blind (Dec. 1963), 13: 33–37.
52.
DonlonEdward T., “An Evaluation Center for the Blind Child with Multiple Handicaps,”The Education of the Blind (March 1964), 13: 75–78.
53.
KomisarDavid, and MacDonnellMarian, “Gain in I.Q. for Students Attending a School for the Blind,”Exceptional Children (1955), 21: 127–129.
54.
American Foundation for the Blind, Services for Blind Persons in the United States. Nov. 1960.
55.
BolyL. F., and DeLeoG. M., “A Survey of Educational Provisions for the Institutionalized Mentally Subnormal Blind,”New Outlook for the Blind (1956), 50: 232–236.
56.
WinschelJames F., Facilities for the Education and Care of Mentally Retarded Blind Children, University of Pittsburgh March 1960.
57.
National Association for Retarded Children, Survey on Blind Retarded Children, 1960.
58.
StinchfieldS. M., Speech Pathology.Expression CompanyMagnolia, Mass., 1928.
59.
RoweEmma Dorothy, Speech Problems of Blind Children: A Survey of the North California Area.New York, American Foundation for the Blind, 1958.
60.
MinerL. E., “A Study of the Incidence of Speech Deviations Among Visually Handicapped Children,”New Outlook for the Blind (Jan. 1963), 57: 10–14.
61.
JonesJohn Walker, Educational Programs for Visually Handicapped Children.Office of Education, U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Washington, D. C., (in press).
62.
DanwalderDonald D., Education, Training and Employment of the Blind.The Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children June 1964, p. 11.
63.
CruickshankWilliam M., “The Multiple-Handicapped Child and Courageous Action,”International Journal for the Education of the Blind (March 1964), 13: 65–74.
64.
AshcroftS. C., “The Blind and Partially Seeing,” in Review of Educational Research (Dec. 1959), 29: 519–28.
65.
FramptonMerle E., and KerneyEllen, The Residential School: Its History, Contributions and Future.The New York Institute for the Education for the BlindNew York, 1953.
