Sexual Abuse Prevention for Special Education Students

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project will complete the development of four sexual abuse prevention programs (i.e., middle & high school, male & female) for youth with mental retardation and developmental disabilities (MRDD). Employing an interactive format, program users will develop the skills needed to recognize inappropriate touching behavior within the context of specific relationship types and to respond to these inappropriate behaviors in ways which minimize the risk of sexual victimization. The program will employ a rule-based decision-making approach and will include on-screen assessment and immediate remediation of any concepts that program users fail to master. This rule-based design will incorporate principles of Direct Instruction and mastery learning to address the unique learning needs of MRDD youth. Because these "stand-alone" programs will be designed for independent use by youth with MRDD, they can be used efficiently and effectively across a wide variety of settings including: special education and/or resource rooms, libraries, regular-classrooms, medical clinics, vocational training programs, residential services, and family homes. The interactive programs will be delivered via CD-ROM and over the Internet/Intranet. Program evaluation will employ a randomized wait-list control design in which 200 MRDD individuals will be randomly assigned to receive the intervention or to a wait-list control condition.