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Predicting retarded students' short-term growth from home environment
Applied Research in Mental Retardation
|January 1, 1984
Summary
The home environment significantly predicts developmental status and adjustment in trainable mentally retarded (TMR) and educable mentally retarded and educationally handicapped (EMR-EH) students over time. Parent-child interactions are key to student progress.
Area of Science:
- Child Psychology
- Special Education
- Developmental Psychology
Background:
- Understanding factors influencing development and adjustment in students with intellectual disabilities is crucial.
- The home environment plays a significant role in child development, but its predictive power for students with special needs requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if psychological home environment variables predict changes in developmental status and adjustment for TMR and EMR-EH students.
- To analyze these predictions over one and two-year periods.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study involving over 120 TMR and 220 EMR-EH children.
- Annual home interviews utilizing the Caldwell HOME, Henderson HELPS, Moos Family Environment Scale, and Home Quality Rating Scale.
- Stepwise multiple regression analysis to predict student outcomes (developmental status and adjustment) from environmental variables, controlling for initial student scores.
Main Results:
- Home environment variables significantly improved prediction of student scores for both TMR and EMR-EH groups in the second and third years.
- Predictive power was substantial, with environmental factors explaining a significant portion of the variance in developmental status and adjustment.
Conclusions:
- The psychological home environment is a significant predictor of developmental status and adjustment in students with intellectual disabilities.
- Findings support a view of parent-child relationships as a dynamic, interactive process influencing long-term student outcomes.