THE COMMUNITY ADAPTATION OF MILDLY RETARDED PERSONS

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The Community Adaptation of Mildly Retarded Persons. The Socio- behavioral Group of the Mental Retardation Research Center at UCLA has a 28 year history of research on the influence of culture and ethnicity on the adaptation of individuals with MR/DD, children and youth at risk, and their families. Our continuation projects have a common focus on adolescent and youth transitions in at-risk populations. Ethnic diversity is increasing rapidly, and teen and youth transitions are critical periods of both opportunity and risk. Each study combines sophistical quantitative and longitudinal analyses, with qualitative and ethnographic understanding. Gallimore and colleagues continue their research on pathways that lead to school success among educationally at-risk Latino immigrant youth. They include a new component focused on those children in their longitudinal sample who are doing very poorly in school (at levels making them eligible for Special Education), and who are at significant risk for dropping out. Yet for the most part, these children have never received school or other services. Keogh, Weisner and Bernheimer proposed a comprehensive assessment of adolescents and young adults with MR/DD and their families who have been followed for 12 to 17 years. We study the voices and perspectives of the teens and young adults themselves, along with a study of family concerns at this critical transition. What in the family and child history best accounts for current family adaptation on teen and youth transitions. Kernan, Tucker, and Subramanian focus on key youth to adult transitions comparing at- risk and successful youth in three African-descended groups in Los Angeles (African-American, Creoles, and Belizean Garifuna). We have added an important new study by Prof. David Takeuchi on the impact on welfare reform on families with children with MR/DD, LD, and related mental illness. What will be the impact of welfare-to-work reforms on families faced with the need to care for these children, and on the children themselves? Policy and intervention priorities are currently focused on many of these issues. Transition services need to be very broadly defined. Our continuation addresses critical questions regarding how such services should best be provided to enhance the well-being of children with MR/DD, those at risk during school and youth to work transitions, and their families.