A Review of Curricular Research in Severe Disabilities from 1976 to 1995 in Six Selected Journals

Abstract

Curricular articles pertaining to students with severe disabilities (moderate, severe, and profound mental retardation) published from 1976 to 1995 in six special education periodicals were examined to identify trends in curricular research. Over the 20-year period, 785 curricular articles were identified in the six journals. This represented 16% of the publications across these journals during that time span. The percentage of total publications represented by curricular articles showed an increase from 1976–1980 to 1981–1985, but a steady decline over the past 10 years. There was a 23% decline in the average annual frequency of curricular articles during the 1991–1995 time span in comparison to the 1976–1980 period. A 32% decrease in the average annual frequency of functional life skills training articles was noted, with a 231% increase in the average annual frequency of articles focusing on interactions, integration, and/or inclusion. Within the functional life skills area, recreation/leisure/play/social skills articles represented approximately 34% of the publications, followed by vocational skills with 25%, domestic living/self-care skills with 19%, community functioning skills with 13%, and other/mixed with 11%. The average annual frequency of controlled, quantitative studies remained stable over the past 20 years, but noncontrolled and non–data-based publications dropped by 56%. Qualitative studies represented only 1.2% of those published, only recently appearing in the literature. An analysis of these findings is presented along with a discussion of curricular areas in need of further investigation.