Skills acquisition among matched samples of institutionalized and community-based persons with mental retardation

Clients who had been moved from an institution to community settings were compared with matched clients who remained in the institution. Matching variables included age, sex, level of mental retardation, self-preservation, mobility, blindness, daily living skills, social and cognitive skills, and secondary disabilities (cerebral palsy, epilepsy, physical disability, neurological impairment, and impairment related to aging). Results demonstrated that community clients surpassed institutional clients in social and cognitive skills, but not in daily living skills. Gains in social and cognitive skills by the community sample were conditioned by baseline skill levels and the presence of secondary disabilities. The nonimpaired clients and those with the fewest skills when relocated made the greatest gains. Institutional sample members' gains were uniform across all client conditions and may have been the effect of rater bias.