A Community-Oriented Center for Severely and Profoundly Retarded Children

A center established three years ago to provide local residential services for severely and profoundly retarded children has developed programs that give the residents a high level of interaction with direct-care staff members and with the community. At the Elisabeth Ludeman Center, children live in groups of eight or fewer in four-bedroom homes served by neighborhood centers. In various community-oriented programs, high school students are trained for jobs as half-time technicians, Ludeman residents are placed half days in a community development center, part-time services are provided at Ludeman for clients of other agencies, and community members come to the center as volunteer instructors or as users of Ludeman facilities. A key part of the center's program is an audiovisual service used extensively for inservice training and staff communication.