Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities

Public school programs for trainable mentally retarded (TMR) children and youth are increasing in number and will continue to expand under state and federal funding. Special educators are encouraged to evaluate programs beginning with an emphasis on curriculum development. Studies on teacher selection provide tentative criteria for entrance into teacher preparation programs, and an approach to the preparation of teachers of TMR pupils is outlined. Instruments for evaluation of pupils by teachers are suggested, and trends in curriculum, methods, and school organization are discussed.

The effectiveness of the special class as a means for meeting the educational needs of educable mentally retarded children is being seriously questioned by individuals within and outside the profession of special education. Special educators in particular are concerned about the unfavorable results of most efficacy studies, even though legitimate criticisms have been raised regarding the validity of these studies. However, basic assumptions about the special class environment have also been made that appear unwarranted. Therefore, the actual worth of special classes as a means for differentiating instruction for the educable mentally retarded will not be known until the assumed conditions become a reality.

The author identifies the early beginnings of secondary programs for the educable retarded, the major influences upon their growth, and the development of three aspects of work experience: the role of the employer, the expansion of school services, and the problem of general versus specific skill training. In addition, data are included related to the enrollments and vocational placements of urban secondary special programs during the 1965-1966 school year.

Editor's Note: The ERIC-CEC Clearinghouse on Exceptional Children and the fourteen Special Education Instructional Materials Centers for Handicapped Children and Youth (IMC's) receive, on a regular basis, requests by special educators for lists of materials suited for given types of handicapped children. Previous issues of this journal have carried selected listings in this de-partment (See April, 1966, pp. 87-91; February, 1967, pp. 21-28) similar to those distributed by the ERIC-CEC Clearinghouse and the IMC's. Requests for materials listings for trainable retarded children account for a sizable portion of requests received. It seems useful, therefore, to present a sample of items used with trainable children in this issue of the Division's journal. Few commercial materials are produced specifically for trainable children. There are a number of materials that have been used with these children with varying degrees of success; such items form the bulk of the following listings. Most of these materials would have to be adapted by the teacher to the individual needs of her children. Those interested in further information about any of these items are encouraged to correspond di-rectly with the vendor. Addresses are given at the end of the materials list.

Task analysis, or the reduction of a new learning to its smallest component parts, is demonstrated here through application to a series of problems intended to prepare trainable mentally retarded children for success in sheltered workshop activities. The purpose of the analysis is (a) to enable the teacher to teach by suitably small steps, and (b) to aid in locating a specific problem when a child encounters difficulty.

The importance of including the technique of behavior observation in teacher training programs is stressed. Task oriented or non task oriented behavior is suggested as a functional approach toward improving academic learning. This technique makes possible the determination and modification of behaviors that are incompatible with learning. Prior reporting indicated that there were no behaviors which were considered problematic in a special class for retarded children. Data from observations made indicated that the four children being observed averaged less than 50 percent of their time engaged in task oriented behaviors.