Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T16:29:25.913Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

What mental retardation teaches us about typical development: The examples of sequences, rates, and cross-domain relations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2008

Robert M. Hodapp  and
Jacob A. Burack
Robert M. Hodapp*
Affiliation:
Yale University
Jacob A. Burack
Affiliation:
Hebrew University
*
Address reprint requests to: Robert M. Hodapp, Phd, Department of Psychology, Yale University, Box 11A Yale Station, New Haven, CT 06520.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The developmental approach toward mental retardation historically has examined whether retarded individuals behave as do nonretarded individuals. An alternative approach involves using data from handicapped populations as “experiments of nature” to provide information about typical developmental processes. Three examples of this use of mental retardation findings include examinations of sequences, rates, and cross-domain relations. Certain instances of universal sequences appear to have been replicated by findings from children with mental retardation, but in other cases mentally retarded children help illustrate the extremes to which certain individual styles of development can be taken. Changing rates of development in different types of retarded children sometimes appear due to changes in the developmental tasks facing the child, sometimes to changes in neurobiologic factors related to chronological age. Cross-domain findings from children of diverse etiologies suggest the necessity of certain, specific connections among seemingly disparate behaviors in development. The article concludes with a discussion of mental retardation research as an experiment of nature that serves to replicate and amplify existing findings as well as to spur new extensions of developmental theory.

Type
Research Article
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 2 , Issue 3 , July 1990 , pp. 213 - 225
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bates, E., Benigni, L., Bretherton, I., Camaioni, I., & Volteira, V. (1979). The emergence of symbols: Cognition and communication in infancy. New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Bates, E., Bretherton, I., & Snyder, L. (1988). From first words to grammar: Individual differences and dissociable mechanisms. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Beeghly, M., & Cicchetti, D. (1987). An organizational approach to symbolic development in children with Down syndrome. In Cicchetti, D. & Beeghly, M. (Eds.), Symbolic development in atypical children. New directions for child development (No. 36, pp. 5–29). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Beeghly, M., Weiss-Perry, B., & Cicchetti, D. (1990). Beyond sensorimotor functioning: Early communicative and play functioning of children with Down syndrome. In Cicchetti, D. & Beeghly, M. (Eds.), Children with Down syndrome: A developmental perspective (pp. 329–368). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buck-Morss, S. (1975). Socio-economic bias in Pia-get's theory and its implications for cross-cultural studies. Human Development, 18, 35–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burack, J. (1990). Differentiating mental retardation: The two-group approach and beyond. In Ho-dapp, R. M., Burack, J. A., & Zigler, E. (Eds.), Issues in the developmental approach to mental retardation (pp. 27–48). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burack, J. A., Hodapp, R. M., & Zigler, E. (1988). Issues in the classification of mental retardation: Differentiating among organic etiologies. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 29, 765–779.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cicchetti, D., & Mans-Wagener, L. (1987). Sequences, stages, and structures in the organization of cognitive development in infants with Down syndrome. In Urzgiris, I. & Hunt, J. McV. (Eds.), Infant performance and experience: New findings with the Ordinal Scales (pp. 281–310). Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Pogge-Hesse, P. (1982). Possible contributions of the study of organically retarded persons to developmental theory. In Zigler, E. & Balla, D. (Eds.), Mental retardation: The developmental-difference controversy (pp. 277–318). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Sroufe, L. A. (1976). The relationship between affective and emotional development in Down syndrome infants. Child Development, 47, 920–929.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Sroufe, L. A. (1978). An organizational view of affect: Illustration from the study of Down syndrome infants. In Lewis, M. & Rosenblum, L. A. (Eds.), The development of affect (pp. 309–350). New York: Plenum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cornwall, A., & Birch, H. (1969). Psychological and social development in home-reared children with Down's syndrome (mongolism). American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 74, 341–350.Google Scholar
Crnic, K. (1990). Families of children with Down syndrome: Ecological contexts and characteristics. In Cicchetti, D. & Beeghly, M. (Eds.), Children with Down syndrome: A developmental perspective (pp. 399–423). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curcio, F. (1978). Sensorimotor functioning and communication in mute, autistic children. Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia, 8, 282–292.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Curtiss, S. (1977). Genie: A psycholinguistic study of a modern-day “Wild-Child.” New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Curtiss, S. (1981). Dissociations between language and cognition: Cases and implications. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 11, 15–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dasen, P. (1972). Cross-cultural Piagetian research: A summary. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 3, 23–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dennis, W. (1960). Causes of retardation among institutional children: Iran. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 96, 47–59.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dennis, W. (1973). Children of the creche. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.Google Scholar
Dunst, C. J. (1988). Stage transitioning in the sensori-motor development of Down's syndrome infants. Journal of Mental Deficiency Research, 32, 405–410.Google Scholar
Dunst, C. J. (1990). Sensorimotor development in infants with Down syndrome. In Cicchetti, D. & Beeghly, M. (Eds.), Children with Down syndrome: A developmental perspective (pp. 180–230). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dykens, E. M., Hodapp, R. M., & Leckman, J. F. (1987). Strengths and weaknesses in the intellectual functioning of males with fragile X syndrome. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 92, 234–236.Google ScholarPubMed
Dykens, E. M., Hodapp, R. M., Ort, S., Finucane, B., Shapiro, L., & Leckman, J. F. (1989). The trajectory of IQ in males with fragile X syndrome. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 28, 422–426.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dykens, E. M., & Leckman, J. F. (1990). Developmental issues in fragile X syndrome. In Hodapp, R. M., Burack, J. A., & Zigler, E. (Eds.), Issues in the developmental approach to mental retardation (pp. 226–245). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, N., & Cavalier, A. (1982). Research perspectives in mental retardation. In Zigler, E. & Balla, D. (Eds.), Mental retardation: The developmental-difference controversy (pp. 121–152). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Evans, D., & Hodapp, R. M. (1989, 04). Determinants of age-role behavior in mentally retarded children. Paper presented to the meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development, Kansas City.Google Scholar
Flavell, J. H. (1982). Stages, structures, and sequences in cognitive development. In Collins, W. A. (Ed.), The concept of development: The Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology (pp. 1–28). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Fowler, A. (1988). Determinants of rate of language growth in children with Down syndrome. In Nadel, L. (Ed.), The psychobiology of Down syndrome (pp. 217–245). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fowler, A. (1990). Language structure in Down syndrome children. In Cicchetti, D. & Beeghly, M. (Eds.), Children with Down syndrome: A developmental perspective (pp. 302–328). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foxx, R. (1982). Increasing behaviors of severely retarded and autistic persons. Champaign, IL: Research Press.Google Scholar
Fraiberg, S. (1977). Insights from the blind. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Furth, H. (1966). Thinking without language. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Gibson, D. (1978). Down's syndrome: The psychology of mongolism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Goldfield, B. (1987). The contributions of child and caregiver to referential and expressive language. Applied Psycholinguistics, 8, 267–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gollin, E. S., Stahl, G., & Morgan, E. (1989). On the uses of the concept of normality in developmental biology and psychology. Advances in Child Development and Behavior, 21, 49–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Graziano, A. (1987). Role modification: Application of social role theory to mental retardation. Paper presented at the Association of Behavior Analysis, Nashville, TN.Google Scholar
Hagerman, R., Schreiner, R., Kemper, M., Witten-berger, M., Zahn, B., & Habicht, K. (1989). Longitudinal IQ changes in fragile X males. American Journal of Medical Genetics, 33, 513–518.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hill, P., & McCune-Nicholich, L. (1981). Pretend play and patterns of cognition in Down's syndrome infants. Child Development, 23, 43–60.Google Scholar
Hobbs, N. (1975). The futures of children. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Hodapp, R. M. (1990). One road or many? Issues in the similar sequence hypothesis. In Hodapp, R. M., Burack, J. A., & Zigler, E. (Eds.), Issues in the developmental approach to mental retardation (pp. 49–70). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodapp, R. M., Burack, J. A., & Zigler, E. (1990). Summing up and going forward: New directions in the developmental approach to mental retardation. In Hodapp, R. M., Burack, J. A., & Zigler, E. (Eds.), Issues in the developmental approach to mental retardation (pp. 294–312). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodapp, R. M., Dykens, E. M., Hagerman, R., Schreiner, R., Lachiewicz, A., & Leckman, J. F. (1990). Developmental implications of changing trajectories of IQ in males with fragile X syndrome. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 29, 214–219.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hodapp, R. M., & Zigler, E. (1990). Applying the developmental perspective to individuals with Down syndrome. In Cicchetti, D. & Beeghly, M. (Eds.), Children with Down syndrome: A developmental perspective (1–28). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kessen, W. (1984). The end of the age of development. In Sternberg, R. (Ed.), Mechanisms of cognitive development (pp. 1–17). New York: Freeman.Google Scholar
Kohlberg, L. (1968). Early education: A cognitive-developmental view. Child Development, 39, 1013–1062.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohlberg, L. (1969). Stage and sequence: The cognitive-developmental approach to socialization. In Goslin, D. (Ed.), Handbook of socialization theory and research (pp. 347–480). Chicago: Rand McNally.Google Scholar
Kopp, C., & McCall, R. (1982). Predicting later mental performance for normal, at-risk, and handicapped infants. In Baltes, P. & Brim, O. (Eds.), Lifespan development and behavior (Vol. 4). New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Kopp, C., & Recchia, S. (1990). The issue of multiple pathways in the development of handicapped children. In Hodapp, R. M., Burack, J. A., & Zigler, E. (Eds.), Issues in the developmental approach to mental retardation (pp. 272–293). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kopp, C. & Shaperman, J. (1973). Cognitive development in the absence of object manipulation during infancy. Developmental Psychology, 9, 3 (brief report).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lachiewicz, A., Gullion, C., Spiridigliozzi, G., & Aylsworlh, A. (1987). Declining IQs of males with fragile X syndrome. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 92, 272–278.Google ScholarPubMed
Lane, H. (1976). The wild boy of Aveyron. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Leifer, J., & Lewis, M. (1984). Acquisition of conversational response skills by young Down syndrome and nonretarded children. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 88, 610–618.Google Scholar
Mahaney, E., & Stephens, B. (1974). Two-year gains in moral judgment by retarded and nonretarded persons. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 79, 134–141.Google ScholarPubMed
Matson, J. (Ed.). (in press). Handbook of behavior modification with the mentally retarded. New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
McCall, R. B. (1981). Nature-nurture and the two realms of development: A proposed integration with respect to mental development. Child Development, 52, 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCall, R., Eichorn, D., & Hogarty, P. (1977). Transitions in early mental development. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 42.Google Scholar
McCune-Nicholich, L., & Bruskin, C. (1982). Combinatorial competency in symbolic play and language. In Pepler, D. J. & Rubin, K. H. (Eds.), Play in infancy and toddlerhood (pp. 30–45). Basel: S. Karger.Google Scholar
Mercer, J. (1973). Labeling the mentally retarded. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, J. (1986). Early cross-cultural commonalities in social explanation. Developmental Psychology, 22, 514–520.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morgan, S. (1979). Development and distribution of intellectual and adaptive skills in Down syndrome children: Implications for early intervention. Mental Retardation, 17, 247–249.Google ScholarPubMed
Mundy, P., Seibert, J., & Hogan, A. (1984). Relationship between sensorimotor and early communication abilities in developmentally delayed children. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 30, 33–48.Google Scholar
Mundy, P., Sigman, M., Ungerer, J., & Sherman, T. (1987). Nonverbal communication and play correlates of language development in autistic children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disabilities, 17, 349–364.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Prizant, B., & Wetherby, A. (1987). Communicative intent: A framework for understanding social-communicative behavior in autism. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 26, 472–479.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rondal, J. (1985). Linguistic and prelinguistic development in moderate and severe mental retardation. In Dobbing, J., Clarke, A. D. B., Corbett, J. A., Hoff, J., & Robinson, R. (Eds.), Scientific studies in mental retardation. London: Royal Society of Medicine and Macmillan Press.Google Scholar
Scarr-Salapatek, S. (1975). An evolutionary perspective on infant intelligence: Species patterns and individual variation. In Lewis, M. (Ed.), Origins of intelligence (pp. 165–197). New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Sonis, W. A., Comite, F., Pescovitz, O., Hench, K., Rahn, C. W., Cutler, G. B., Loriaux, D. L., & Klein, R. P. (1986). Biobehavioral aspects of precocious puberty. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 25, 674–679.Google ScholarPubMed
Spitz, R. A. (1945). Hospitalism: An inquiry into the genesis of psychiatric conditions in early childhood. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 1, 53–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sroufe, L. A., & Wunsch, J. (1972). The development of laughter in the first year of life. Child Development, 43, 1326–1344.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Treffert, D. A. (1988). The idiot-savant: A review of the syndrome. American Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 563–572.Google ScholarPubMed
Waber, D. (1977). Sex differences in mental abilities, hemispheric lateralization, and rate of physical growth at adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 13, 28–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wagner, S., Ganiban, J., Cicchetti, D. (1990). Attention, memory, and perception in infants with Down syndrome: A review and commentary. In Cicchetti, D. & Beeghly, M. (Eds.), Children with Down syndrome: A developmental perspective (pp. 147–179). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weiss, B., Weisz, J., & Bromfield, R. (1985). Performance of retarded and nonretarded children on information processing tasks: Further tests of the similar-structure hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 100, 157–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weisz, J., Yeates, K., & Zigler, E. (1982). Piagetian evidence and the developmental-difference controversy. In Zigler, E. & Balla, D. (Eds.), Mental retardation: The developmental-difference controversy (pp. 213–276). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Weisz, J., & Zigler, E. (1979). Cognitive development in retarded and nonretarded persons: Piagetian tests of the similar sequence hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 86, 831–851.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wetherby, A. (1986). The ontogeny of communicative functions in autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 16, 295–316.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Woodward, W. (1979). Piaget's theory and the study of mental retardation. In Ellis, N. R. (Ed.), Handbook of mental deficiency research. 2nd edition. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Zigler, E. (1967). Familial retardation: A continuing dilemma. Science, 155, 292–298.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zigler, E. (1969). Developmental versus difference theories of mental retardation and the problem of motivation. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 73, 536–556.Google ScholarPubMed
Zigler, E., & Farber, E. (1985). Commonalities among the intellectual extremes: Giftedness and mental retardation. In Horowitz, F. & O'Brien, M. (Eds.), The gifted and talented: Developmental perspectives (pp. 387–408). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.CrossRefGoogle Scholar