Social competence of the feebleminded under extra-institutional care

Residential services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

“…Summarizing such studies, Doll (1934) observed that, "Institutional care is expensive, and this method of segregation is in many ways contrary to the happiness and usefulness of the people" (p. 42). Later, in somewhat of a prelude to the powerful critique of institutional life described in Erving Goffman's Asylums (1961), Doll and Longwell (1937) concluded that "programs of institutional training are usually designed to prepare the patient for life in the institution rather than for return to society" (p. 450). Ironically, long before the term institution had been applied to what were then referred to as asylums, hospitals, and schools, Doll (1937) coined the term institutionalization to apply the social-psychological process of an individual adopting the persona of an inmate.…”

“…But expanding or even maintaining the ongoing development of community programs during the Great Depression became difficult (Matthews, 1934). As Doll and Longwell (1937) noted, Every superintendent appreciates that certain patients could be safely returned to their families or restored to the community if the public would support such a program or if adequate services were available for the community supervision of the feeble-minded to which patients could be referred. (p. 51) But such public support remained lacking, and it was not until 1967 that deinstitutionalization can be said to have begun for persons with IDD.…”

What is a moron?

“…If our definitions are correct, the social inadequacy of the feebleminded moron reflects an all-around biosocial inadequacy resulting from organic or constitutional inferiority. While the social inadequacy of the feebleminded moron can be ameliorated in appreciable degree by adequate programs of custody, treatment, and training, such a moron rarely if ever becomes a completely self-sustaining or socially sufficient individual (15). This fact has led to the notion of the essential incurability of the moron as representing a sort of biological status quo.…”

The Vineland Social Maturity Scale.

“…Although the SQ is calculated and used it is not as interpretatively unequivocal as is SA. Doll (10) himself states this method of expression is not entirely satisfactory and should be considered tentative because preciseness of interpretation has not been established.…”

“…This was found to correlate .80 with obtained SA. Some evidence from comparison of institutionalized and extra-instutionalized feeble-minded has been advanced by Doll and Longwell (10). The patients receiving extra-institutional care such as those boarding or paroled had social ages significantly higher than their mental ages although placed in such status before being examined with the Vineland Scale.…”