Abstract
Abstract This papers deals with a remarkable phenomenon which has occurred in a residential home for 14 severely mentally and physically handicapped young adults in Copenhagen, Denmark. None of the residents has speech, and all had been evaluated as severely mentally handicapped. It has been estimated that these people would never develop mentally beyond a functioning level of 1/2-3 years. Between 1984 and 1985 it was discovered that two female residents could spell out words by pointing to letters on a board. Over a period of 9 months in 1986 we discovered, through the prompting of these two residents who insisted that some of the other residents could also write and through the persistent curiosity of some members of staff, that all of the other 12 residents could also write. This paper relates something of how the discovery came about, of the reactions of people in the immediate circle of contacts, of the enormous change in daily life in the house that has occurred as a result of this discovery, and at...
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