A Survey of Leisure Activities Engaged in by Adults Who Are Severely Retarded Living in Different Residence and Community Types.

Four hundred and thirty six group homes and foster homes rated the frequency with which their residents engage in twenty leisure activities. Significant differences between foster and group home ratings were found for thirteen activities. Group home residents engage in twelve of those activities more often than foster home residents, although some leisure activities appear to be generic across different living and community situations. Study findings can be utilized to help teachers target leisure skills that will have a probability of being expected and reinforced in future environments, and as a baseline for future studies regarding recreational habits in community residences. Leisure activities can be used to balance the in with family members. Comprehensive demands of vocational and domestic life. A planning data would also include an inventory normalized repertoire of leisure skills includes of recreational materials that are easily acces activities that can be engaged in alone or with sible to family members and a list of corn others, and at home or in the community. The munity recreational facilities used by them, repertoire is also likely to include a variety of Second, a determination should be made activity types such as games and sports, hobof how age-compatible peers use recreational bies, spectator activities, and social activities. time to provide a potential opportunity for Given the slow learning rates of persons normalized recreational interactions during with severe retardation, leisure skill training and after school. Third, leisure activities for this population must be carefully planned should be identified that will potentially be and initiated early, and continued throughout engaged in by the student's future peers, i.e., the school years. Educators planning proadult friends. This step is crucial to insure the grams to include such activities need to take longitudinal usefulness of leisure activities several factors into account. First, a detertargeted for training during school years mination of how the student's family uses rec(Falvey, Brown, Lyon, Baumgart, & Schroe reational time should be made. This can be der, 1980). done by conducting an assessment to identify In a national study, Gollay (1976) investi leisure activities that are engaged in by other gated community adjustment of adults who members of the student's current residence. are retarded. She found a positive relationship This task is undertaken to insure that at least between community adjustment (defined as some of the activities trained can be engaged maintenance of an individual in a community setting) and the following three factors: (1) The development of this manuscript was supamount of pre-placement training, (2) ability ported by Grant No. G00-83-02841 from the to actively use leisure time, and (3) range and United States Department of Education, Special availability of support services after place Education Programs, to Dr. Adelle Renzaglia. The ment The corrdation between pre opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect , * . A . / . r . r. rr^j placement training, engagement in recre the position or policy or the US Department of Edr. ° 00 . ucation, and no official endorsements should be inatlonal act.vit. es, and commun.ty adjustment ferred. The author wishes to gratefully acknowlillustrates the importance of targeting leisure edge the assistance of Adelle Renzaglia and Brad activities during school years that will continue Hill in conducting this study and Trice Lewis and to be engaged in after the child leaves school Ron Banks for their editorial assistance. and his family home. However, obtaining this