Thursday, May 16, 1968
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
9
Mentally ill children find help in centers
By Judy Dague
At the age of 16, a mentally retarded person needs something more than a babysitter to take care of him. He can still attend a special school, but the desire to gain self-respect has complicated the situation. The process of rehabilitation and preparation for some kind of future life must begin.
As a result of his handicap, coupled with no training, he is not capable of maintaining permanent employment. An employer does not want to take the time to train a mentally retarded person to adjust to other people, in addition to performing the duties of the job.
To provide work with pay for mentally retarded people within the Center, teaching them to operate in a work atmosphere
This is where the Vocational Training Center, a division of the Children's Medical Center in Tulsa, Okla., takes over. Its purpose is two-fold:
To place the trainee in a permanent job outside the center.
In 1966 and 1967, the center placed 30 people on the job and, so far this year, has placed 12 trainees.
In the past, gaining the prospective employer's confidence and willingness to cooperate in a program such as this has been difficult. They are not eager to hire a person whose behavior may disrupt the work environment of their company and upset the other employees.
Each trainee is tested and evaluated when he enters the center. The I.Q.'s range from approximately 55 to 70. During the training period, conferences are held in which the trainee talks about his handicap and his attitude toward his future with his supervisor.
In the center, trainees work to complete jobs contracted by companies. They are paid by a time rate, depending on how much they do. The center is equipped with a hot press and it is used to print tickets for the Tulsa Charity Horse Show, sponsored by the Children's Medical Center, napkins, etc.
Trainees learn everything from stuffing envelopes for T. D. Williamson, Inc., to wire bending for Standard Magnesium, to assembling washers on pins for the Zebco Division of Brunswick Corp. The small assembly jobs teach judgment, speed and finger dexterity.
There is also a room, furnished like a hospital room, where girls learn to be nurse's aides and perform routine duties such as taking temperatures.
The center is also in charge of its yard and places some trainees in the snack bar and cafeteria. The most success in job placement has been in nursing homes, cafeterias and filling stations.
Training averages six to eight months to a year, with the trainee going to a special school a half a day and working the other half.
The environment of the Training Center is often an incentive to succeed when a trainee sees a friend get a job.
When a trainee is ready to go out on his own job, a supervisor often goes out with him for a few days.
Dean Loshbaugh, director of the Vocational Training Center, stresses the need for work adjustment training as well as actual instruction in specific jobs.
The trainees are placed in a work environment where they must not talk or get out of their seats. Discipline is required to teach them proper behavior on the job.
Instruction in many phases of employment is offered. Trainees are taught how to fill out an application. Many of them cannot read or write.
Included in learning to adjust to a work situation is help on self control, proper mannerisms, correct speaking, pride in their work and relations with other
workers. Also stressed is the ability to accept criticism, a need for motivation, work tolerance and how to better the relationship with the trainee's family.
Practical instruction includes teaching them how to get to and from work using modes of transportation, and proper use of leisure time.
The Vocational Training Center must depend on the cooperation of employers to make its efforts successful. Cooperation does not mean sympathy or pity. The center makes sure that the employer will benefit from hiring the mentally retarded. This is not a charity organization operating on sympathy. It is a non-profit business designed to aid both the employer and employee.
Studies have shown that handicapped people have a better attendance record and are more punctual than employees of normal intelligence. This is attributed to the pride they have in their jobs.
One advantage for the employer is the stability of the mentally
retarded worker. He will perform the simple, repetitive tasks that often bore the average worker. He is usually quiet, well-behaved and is not inclined to gossip.
A Connecticut psychologist studied the records of employed mental retardates after they had been on the job 12 years and found that employers rated them just as high as the nonretarded in promptness, regularity, friendly relations with fellow workers and steadfastness on the job.
Their weekly earnings compared favorably with those of the nonretarded doing similar work, and the psychologist predicted that most would continue in their present jobs until they retire. son has learned a routine, he does son has learned a routine, he does it well, performing it the same way, over and over again.
F. Ray Power, director of the West Virginia Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, has said, "We tend to underestimate the potential of the mentally retarded. Because they do not react as quickly at certain tasks we write
them off. But given time and patience, they can do much more than we give them credit for."
A Wilkes-Barre, Pa., shoe company spent $300 developing a complex metal jig to guide workers who attach tiny brass decorations to the fronts of ladies' shoes. Only it did not suit a mentally retarded young worker. It was not accurate enough.
So he took a block of wood, two finishing nails and a dozen eyelets and designed a jig of his own—total cost, 24 cents. It was more accurate than the high-priced metal device, and it is now being used widely throughout the entire plant.
Employing a mentally retarded person releases the more intelligent workers for advanced positions. The mentally retarded worker is not interested in advancement. He is proud and happy to have the job he has. Most of them would find it difficult to proceed to a more advanced position.
The President's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped
Poverty-stricken areas given hope in OEO federal program
By Tim Jones
An old man walks behind a dump truck moving along a city street, picking up trash and throwing it into the truck.
A teenager returns books to the shelves in the county library.
A group of youths with shovels and grass whips clean up a vacant lot in the middle of a city.
A young man, seemingly wandering, walks from building to building in the slum area of a city, visiting families.
A young teacher sits in a room and instructs pre-schoolers.
What do they have in common? They are the privates at the front of the war on poverty. They work for a number of community groups striving to bring about 35,000 American citizens out of the depths of deprivation.
Since its inception with the Economic Opportunity Act in 1964, the poverty program has reduced the number of poor people from one-fifth to one-sixth of the country's population.
The Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) administers the program through seven regional offices throughout the country. The region covered by the Kansas City office is the largest. It covers Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.
The Kansas City office receives approximately $34 million per year for use in the region. The largest portion of this goes to St. Louis because it is the largest population concentration.
This money is distributed to communities that can qualify for the money and set up programs to improve conditions within their areas.
To qualify for the program a county collects its own figures concerning the number of people, the number who can qualify for poverty aid, the rate of unemployment, the levels of education and literacy and the number of men unable to pass selective service examinations.
There are solutions available for poverty problems, but the problems never seem to find them, James Tice, information officer for the OEO in Kansas City, says.
Families, in order to qualify for assistance, must meet certain income criteria. For example, a non-farm or city family of four must have an income of less than $3,200 per year. A farm family of the same size must earn less than $2,200.
The OEO lists 21 different programs available to communities according to their specific needs. These include neighborhood service centers, Job Corps, Head Start programs, programs for Indians, migrants and farmers, Vista and others.
After a community has tabulated the figures, a community action corporation is formed to draft a program and request poverty funds for the specific request and the type of assistance desired.
The corporation is formed by a board of directors which must meet OEO specifications. One-third of the boards' members must be poor or elected by them. One-third must represent government agencies and another third is made up of people at large. This last group usually
includes professionals, ministers and businessmen.
These are all unpaid positions, but the board may employ people in non-academic jobs such as secretaries. One man usually is hired as a community administrator to supervise the corporation's office. He is paid a salary commensurate with local salaries for the same type of work.
The Economic Opportunity Foundation, Inc., receives all the poverty funds for Wyandotte County, Kan., including Kansas City, Kan. The foundation receives approximately $1,606,000, which finances six major services for poverty-qualified people in the city and county.
The neighborhood centers receive $375,000 for their operation. There are four in Kansas City, providing offices and recreation facilities in poverty areas. Legal aid services for the poor are available in the centers. They also become a political organization for the poor areas and have increased the voice of the poor people in politics. The first example of this is the election of a Negro to the Kansas City Board of Education, first in the history of the city.
There also is a political pressure group that has been responsible for some minor legislation in regard to location of stop lights and other traffic controls where they are needed.
The Northeast Action Group, one of the community centers, has been responsible for obtaining a swimming pool for Parkwood Park in Kansas City.
The EOF sponsors three Head Start programs in Wyandotte County. Two are located in the city and another in Bonner Springs. The Bonner Springs program receives $50,000 yearly for its operation. There are now 45 students in the program.
An in-school neighborhood youth corps program and an out-of-school program for dropouts employs young men and women with money delegated through the U.S. Labor Department. The in-school program employs youths who are attending school and need to work in order to stay there.
In Kansas City the Board of Education receives $525,000 for its full-year operation. There are 450 students enrolled in the half-day program. Another $161,000 goes to a full-day program which also serves as a day-care center for children of working mothers.
They work as library aides, teacher's assistants or typists and earn $1.24 to $1.40 per hour. There are 110 students working under this program. The out-of-school, which employs about 90 youths at the same pay rate, is for poor dropouts who have been out of school for six months or more.
Operation Mainstream, for people over 22 years of age who are chronically unemployed and meet the poverty criteria, receives approximately $495,000.
In addition to these, young men and women from the area may attend Job Corps centers that are located in every state of the district except Kansas.
published a pamphlet in when it listed points for the employer to remember if he were going to hire a mentally retarded worker.
The mentally retarded have proved themselves in many kinds of jobs, however, the employer must remember that he must explain things more slowly and more graphically than he does to a normal employee. This takes understanding and patience on the part of the employer. But if extra care is taken to explain duties, working hours, and what is expected of him as an employee, the end result will be a steady stream of quality production.
Because trainees think slowly and grasp only so much at a time, employers must prepare their instruction carefully and be very patient at first.
Careful preparation and education of the employer and the mentally retarded person's fellow workers must be done before he actually starts to work.
A pamphlet published for employers by the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare says, "They (mentally retarded) tend to be very literal and may not understand abstractions."
Of course, the employer should examine the trainee's background, adjustment, job readiness and limitations. He should be in frequent touch with the vocational counselor.
Perhaps one of the most important aspects of education is that of the other employees. If they know he is slow, it is hoped that they will be more patient with him. An employer should not try to cover up his problem. This usually results in unnecessary ridicule and embarrassment for the mentally retarded worker.
Follow-up by the Vocational Training Center is a big factor in determining the success of the whole program.
The weight (importance) of each category is multiplied by the number of points scored in each category and the totals are added. This score is a percentage score and is compared to a score of 100 per cent for a nonhandicapped worker.
The Vocational Training Center completes an evaluation and training report for each trainee. It is divided into categories with each category worth a certain number of points according to its importance. Within each category the trainee receives a certain number of points indicating how well he is performing in that category.
The categories and weights are:
- Perseverance—15 per cent
- Attendance and punctuality 15 per cent
- Quantity of work—25 per cent
- Quality of work—10 per cent
- Supervision—10 per cent
- Co-worker relationships—5 per cent
- Appearance—10 per cent
- Generalization of work habits—10 per cent
Methods of evaluation are prescribed so that each worker is judged on the same standards. For example, to evaluate perseverance, a workshop supervisor with a stopwatch will observe a trainee at work three times in one week for a ten minute period. He will start the watch when the trainee is working and stop it when his attention wanders or work slows or stops. Of course, timings are taken without the knowledge of the trainee.
Another sheet records behavior symptoms in degrees of occurrence — constantly, frequently, sometimes, never. These symptoms include temper outbursts, complaints, lying and lethargy. There is also a space for the supervisor's comments indicating the trainee's areas of weakness and training potential.
Both of these systems of evaluation indicate the readiness of the trainee for employment in the community.