Behavior disorder teams: An efficient institutional strategy

✍ Scribed by Jason R. Dura; James A. Mulick

• Book ID: 101712169
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1987
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 326 KB
• Volume: 2
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1072-0847
• DOI: 10.1002/bin.2360020405

✦ Synopsis

Recent trends toward deinstitutionalization have lead to an increased prevalence of behavioral and physical handicaps within institutional populations. At the same time, funding allocations have remained constant or have reduced creating an ever increasing need for the most efficient and cost-effective delivery of services. The present article traces the evolution of a program designed to create in-house panels of experts in an intermediate care facility for nonambulatory, severely and profoundly retarded children. The model is proposed as a means of improving quality of care and staff expertise and reducing the need for outside consultation.

The high prevalence of behavior disorders in people who are mentally retarded is well-documented. Groden, Domingue, Pueschel, and Deignan ( 1982) surveyed the prevalence of behavioral/ emotional problems in 11 14 mentally retarded children seen between 1970 and 1977 at an evaluation clinic. Twenty percent of their sample was found to exhibit some form of behavioral prob-*The authors would like to acknowledge the cooperation of the Heinzerling Memorial Foundation, Columbus, Ohio, and especially Chris Rafeld for supporting this project. James A. Mulick was supported in part by US. De-