AbstractsEducation Research & Administration

Twenty mentally retarded teen-age girls living at Fairview Hospital and Training Center in Salem, Oregon, were selected to be included in this study. The purpose of the study was to attempt to determine if institutionalized mentally retarded teen-age girls are able to benefit through a class dealing with personal grooming and clothing selection.The 20 subjects were selected on the bases of their age, years at Fairview, and intelligence quotient scores. Ten had I.Q. scores between 40 and 50 and were placed in the educable group. Ten had I.Q. scores between 40 and 50 and were placed in the educable group. It was necessary to include two girls with scores beyond the educable range. Five of the subjects from the trainable group of ten and four of the subjects from the educable group of ten were placed in a control group. The others received treatment through a series of lessons on clothing selection and grooming. These lessons were prepared and conducted by the author several days each week over an eleven week period. A testing instrument was developed by the author which was designed to measure the clothing selection and grooming abilities of these girls. Nineteen of the 20 subjects were individually tested at the onset of the project and all 20 were tested at the completion of the series of lessons, using the same author-devised measurement vehicle. The results indicated that the test scores of the trainable subjects did not improve by attendance at the class meetings. The final test results of the educable subjects in the treated group indicated only a slight improvement over their original test scores. Poor attendance at the class meetings was the largest single difficulty the author faced in attempting to present a meaningful and continuing learning situation. Though impossible to measure, the author believes that the attendance factor had considerable effect upon the relatively unchanged test results from pre-test to post-test