The promotion of purposeful activity in micro-environments for people with a mental handicap

Three studies investigating the effects of different organizational strategies on the behaviour of hospital residents with severe and profound mental handicaps are presented. A field study of 40 residents and 17 staff made over an 18 day period showed marked effects on the behaviour of residents and some effects on the behaviour of staff. Two experimental studies compared room management with teaching in small groups and with individual teaching. Room management provides both individualised teaching and a high engagement holding activity for those residents not receiving individual tuition. Whilst small groups can provide even higher levels of group engagement, individual tuition is difficult for staff to execute when trainees have a variety of different tasks to be taught. The individual teaching strategy increases the amount of time trainees receive individual tuition but the majority of trainees, who are not being taught at any one time, spend little time on task, have few materials available and often wander around the room. These studies emphasize the importance of inter-individual differences, task characteristics and the physical environment in determining the outcome of any organizational strategy. Rather than advocating a single ‘best’ strategy for organizing teaching for groups of students with mental handicaps, the circumstances under which a particular strategy may be viable are emphasized.