Teaching Community Survival Skills To Mentally Retarded Adults: A Review and Analysis

Abstract

A revolution in providing residential alternatives for mentally retarded (MR) individuals has made in vivo training a part of the deinstitutionalization process. The literature indicates that institutional teaching programs may not be as effective as in vivo community training. MR adults can acquire a variety of community survival skills — the skills curriculum developers must address when they devise new and innovative community integration experiences. This paper reviews the training procedures and results of studies in 10 community survival skills: travel, money management, meal preparation, clothing and personal care, telephone use, housekeeping, self-medication, leisure, social skills, and conversation. Several suggestions are made for future research into training MR citizens for community living.The past decade has witnessed a revolution in providing residential alternatives for mentally retarded (MR) individuals. The number residing in public facilities has decreased from approximately 200,000 in 1968200,000 in (Conley, 1973 to about 140,000 today (Krantz, Bruininks, & Clumpner, 1978). It seems axiomatic that the movement of society's least competent members in such large numbers requires the commitment of major resources and attention to the preparation of both the MR individuals and the environments into which they are placed.Even though it is difficult to predict successful community placement of MR individuals, certain behaviors seem related to success. Schalock and Harper (1978) found that deficits in money management, apartment cleanliness, social behavior, and meal preparation were associated with leaving independent living placements to return to more restrictive settings. The mildly retarded individuals in this study had moved 2 years earlier into either supervised or independent apartments. In a later 5-year follow-up of the successful individuals from the earlier study, Schalock, Harper, and Carver ( 1981 ) found 80% of the individuals still in their original independent living placements. Several skill areas were determined to be important to this success: personal maintenance, communica-1 This paper was supported, in part, by an innovation and expansion grant from the Illinois Department of Rehabilitation Services.

A profile of community navigation in adults with chronic cognitive impairments

“…The independent use of transportation has been identified as one of the key skills required for people with disabilities to be integrated within their communities [4,5]. A study of patterns of community integration 2-5 years postdischarge from brain injury rehabilitation revealed that a high percentage of people who had received severe injuries fell into a 'poorly integrated' group, characterized in part by the absence of shopping or leisure activities outside the home [6].…”

Employment for Persons With Severe Handicaps: Curriculum Development and Coordination of Services

“…Bates (in press) has described six methods for determining available community jobs: (a) listing previously successful employment options of past graduates, (b) keeping a record of the frequency with which specific types of jobs appear in classified ads, ( c) obtaining a list of employment openings from local rehabilitation counselors, (d) conducting surveys of local, businesses, (e) utilizing personal contacts with community leaders (e.g., principals, small business operators), and (f) Once a listing of potential jobs has been generated, the specific "survival skills" required in each of the potential job sites is identified. Survival skills are generally thought of as those behaviors that facilitate functioning in the community (Martin, Rusch, & Heal, 1982). In relation to employment, survival skills are those that, when acquired, increase the likelihood of employment and job maintenance (Rusch, 1979).…”

Health and Safety Adaptive Skill Area

“…Telephone use has been identifi ed as one of the 10 most important survival skills (Martin et al, 1982). Telephone use has been identifi ed as one of the 10 most important survival skills (Martin et al, 1982).…”