PsychosocialAspectsofIntellectualDisability

1、Psychosocial Aspects of Intellectual DisabilityBeirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.1The Nature-Nurture DebateThe age-old argument concerns whether nature (a persons biological makeup) or n

2、urture (learning that takes place within a persons environment) is responsible for shaping character. Most experts are now willing to acknowledge that biology and environment both affect development, and that they interact and even influence each other. Experts continue to debate over which influenc

3、e is most important.Beirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.2The Nature-Nurture DebateBehavior GeneticistsScientists who believe behavior is largely shaped by genetics Base arguments on statis

4、tical analysesMake compelling arguments that 50% of intelligence can be attributed to genesArguments indicate that environmental effects are strongest for persons whose experiences are out of the ordinary Beirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upp

5、er Saddle River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.3The Nature-Nurture DebateThe Psychosocial PositionEnvironment and experiences influence developmentEducation and intervention can mitigate outcomesBeirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper S

6、addle River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.4The Role of PovertyBeirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.5Psychosocial DisadvantageRefers to homes that cannot provide the basic environment

7、al stimulation necessary for optimal child development Most psychosocially disadvantaged children come from impoverished homes, but most impoverished homes DO NOT lead to psychosocial disadvantageBeirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper Saddle

8、 River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.6Psychosocial Mental RetardationCharacteristicsNo discernable cause of mental retardationUsually results in Mild to Borderline Intellectual DisabilityHouseholds are highly stressedMothers often have low IQ, as wellBeirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Sev

9、enth EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.7The Milwaukee ProjectMost famous study of compensatory interventionSet in a 1960s Milwaukee housing project identified as having a higher than expected rate of mental retardation Interventions

10、were designed to introduce conditions common in households led by economically advantaged mothers without intellectual disabilitiesConsisted of family rehabilitation and child stimulation Beirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper Saddle River,

11、New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.8The Milwaukee ProjectResults Children who received the intervention had IQs that averaged 30 points higher than those who did not.Additional cognitive improvements were notedFollow-up assessments of IQ indicated smaller differences continued through age 10 60% of

12、 the control group children were classified as mentally retarded by the end of the fourth grade, while none of the children who received the intervention package met that criteria Beirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper Saddle River, New Jers

13、ey 07458All rights reserved.9The Milwaukee ProjectCaveatsPositive outcomes did not necessarily lead to positive scholastic outcomes Interventions were probably too intensive to be applied outside the world of researchCriticisms were made of the lax scientific proceduresBeirne-Smith et al.Mental Reta

14、rdation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.10Six-Hour Retarded ChildConcept identified by the Presidents Committee on Mental Retardation (1969)Children and youth who were identified as being educable mentally retarded only du

15、ring their school hours and only during their school lives disproportionately African-American and poor Idea was supported by Garrison & Hammills 1971 study, Who Are the Retarded? African-American children are still more likely than children from other racial groups to be labeled with mental retarda

16、tion by the public schools. Beirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.11Six-Hour Retarded ChildPossible ExplanationsMisidentificationAn over-reliance on IQ scores without regard to adaptive beha

17、vior indices.MisplacementThe desire to move children with behavioral or learning difficulties from regular classroomsBeirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.12Six-Hour Retarded ChildPossible E

18、xplanationsTest BiasCultural differences make it difficult for the children to assimilate into the middle-class, Caucasian school cultureReal DifferenceThe children have cognitive limitations, but are not required to use such skills in their home and future work environments. Beirne-Smith et al.Ment

19、al Retardation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.13Psychosocial Interventions Beirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserve

20、d.14Time and again, psychologists and educators have promised more than they could deliver. Quite often, history would show that the interventions led to important outcomes. However, these outcomes would be overlooked because the loftier goals that had been set in the beginning (often to increase IQ

21、 or eradicate mental retardation) failed to be achieved.Beirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.15Early Intervention ResearchHarold Skeels Orphanage Study Removed children under three from an

22、environmentally deprived orphanage to a ward of older girlsNo other intervention; the older girls paid lots of attention to the childrenThe children experienced gains in IQ ranging from 7 to 58 points IQs remained higher at 2-4 year follow-up testingAt 30-year follow-up, all were self-sustaining adu

23、lts without mental retardationBeirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.16Early Intervention ResearchHarold Skeels Orphanage StudyControl group children who remained in the regular nursery ward

24、of the orphanage lost IQ points over timeAt 30-year follow-up, only one control group child was a self-sustaining citizenStudy demonstrated that children with environmentally imposed mental retardation could achieve normal IQ, but also that children with normal IQ could become mentally retarded, giv

25、en a non-stimulating environment Beirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.17Early Intervention ResearchHead Startpart of President Lyndon Johnsons War on Poverty engineered to provide compensat

26、ory services to children of poverty a 1966 report indicated Head Start and similar programs provided no gains or gains that were merely transitory teachers and families continued to provide positive feedback subsequent research indicated improvements in motivation, basic health, parenting skills, an

27、d future placement in integrated settings but not permanent changes in IQBeirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.18Early Intervention ResearchCurrent ProgramsIQ gains diminish after three year

28、sacademic gains diminish within 5-6 years intensity of the program and the degree of investment of the participants are the most important factors for efficacyfocus has expanded beyond IQ to factors that improve lifestyle outcomesBeirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 P

29、earson Education, Inc.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.19Segregation & LabelingSeparate ClassesPurpose is to provide intensive, individualized, functional instruction Research from the 1970s indicated special classes did not improve educational outcomes for children with mild

30、mental retardationAdvocates noted that segregation caused children to miss out on peer modeling and violated their civil rightsResearch demonstrated the practice was demoralizing and worsened problems of adjustment Beirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Educatio

31、n, Inc.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.20Segregation & LabelingSeparate ClassesMacmillans Rebuttalsome children were deriving benefit from the special classes Those who werent benefiting were misplacedquestioned the design of many previous studiesmost studies showed no academ

32、ic difference, not academic impairment from special education Cited other studies that indicate advantages to special classroomsBeirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.21Segregation & Labeling

33、Separate ClassesModern PerspectiveResearch results are equivocalMany factors, including the skill of the teacher, intervene to influence whether learning occurs in any setting Focus is on civil rightsBeirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper Sa

34、ddle River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.22Segregation & LabelingInstitutionsOriginally conceived as training facilities to prepare for life outside the facility Research from the 1980s indicated most people did not ever leave the facilityAdvocates began to claim that institutions worsened di

35、sabilitiesBeirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.23Segregation & LabelingThe “Mental Retardation” LabelDescribed by Dunn (1968) as “a destructive, self-fulfilling prophecy” Leads to diminishe

36、d sense of self-efficacy Associated with lower expectations from significant others Edgerton (1967) found that the need to “appear normal” and to deny mental retardation was the most prominent theme among people with mental retardation living independentlyBeirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Seven

37、th EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.24Segregation & LabelingNormalizationDescribed by Nirje (1969) & Wolfensberger (1972) Suggested people with intellectual disabilities would learn better by experiencing the environments for which

38、they were being prepared Beirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.25Segregation & LabelingInclusion PhilosophiesFull inclusionall children should be allowed to participate in regular classrooms

39、 all the time. Partial inclusionif a person can live and learn effectively in an integrated setting, it is their right to be there. However, regular classrooms cant effectively manage students with rare or unusually severe problems, especially if those problems will infringe upon the rights of the o

40、ther childrenBeirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.26Cultural Considerations Beirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper Saddle River, N

41、ew Jersey 07458All rights reserved.27Minority Groups & DiagnosisEdgertonMeasurement procedures are conducted in culturally biased ways due to ethnocentrismAdaptive behaviorTo be considered adaptive, a person must understand what is necessary and valuable for life in his or her culture. When moving i

42、nto a new culture, one must be able to adapt to the new values. Beirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.28Chapter SummaryThe Role of PovertyChildren of culturally deprived homes are at risk fo

43、r the development of mental retardation.Proper nutrition, caring interaction, a responsive language environment, and stimulating surroundings are all required for optimal intellectual development.Compensatory interventions can provide benefits to children of culturally-deprived homes.Some children o

44、f low-income, minority households may exhibit symptoms of mental retardation in school without noticeable difficulties in their home environments.Beirne-Smith et al.Mental Retardation, Seventh EditionCopyright 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.29Chapter SummaryPsychosocial InterventionsSpecial education methods were founded on the idea that destiny is not shaped entirely by genetics, and