No abstract

A literature review was conducted to analyze existing data on health status, health care utilization, and medical outcomes of persons with intellectual disabilities. We found that barriers exist, but evidence indicates that (a) individuals with intellectual disability and medical needs are living in the community, (b) people with significant medical conditions can be maintained in community settings, and (c) medical supports can and are provided to people with intellectual disabilities and allied medical conditions to enable community living. However, some people had unmet medical needs, and the availability of and access to community-based services were problematic for others. These contradictory findings indicate that it is possible to provide services in the community, but the service delivery system needs improvement.

It has been proposed that academic materials presented to students with emotional and behavioral disorders may serve in some situations as aversive stimuli that increase escape and/or avoidance responses. The results from two single subject studies using ABAB designs that were conducted to examine the effects of the difficulty level of academic tasks (i.e., easy versus difficult) on both the disruptive and on-task behaviors of students with severe behavior disorders are presented. Results indicated that difficult tasks were generally associated with lower percentages of time on-task and higher percentages of time engaged in disruptive behavior than were easy task conditions. Implications for teachers of students with severe behavioral disorders are discussed.