Social interaction interventions for youth with severe disabilities should emphasize interdependence.
An emphasis on independence may be limiting the outcomes achieved by social interaction research. Given the lack of correlation between intellectual or adaptive functioning level and meaningful social outcomes for people with severe disabilities, a focus on increasing skills as a mechanism for increasing social outcomes seems misplaced (or, at least, inefficient). It is argued here that a more productive route for researchers to follow will be to emphasize interdependence. Implications of such a focus will change where interventions are implemented, curricular foci, and the types of instructional strategies used to improve the social life of youth with severe disabilities. MRDD Research Reviews 7:122-127, 2001.
Kennedy
C H
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Department of Special Education, Box 328, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37203, USA. craig.kennedy@vanderbilt.edu
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D005610:Freedom; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D012073:Remedial Teaching; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012919:Social Behavior; D012944:Social Support