Growth and Development in Adulthood Among Persons with Intellectual Disability: New Frontiers in Theory, Research, and Intervention

This volume advocates an optimistic new conceptual and practical approach to adulthood, aging, and education for individuals with intellectual disability (ID) across the lifespan. The compensation age theory (CAT) at the heart of this book suggests that the adulthood period in populations with ID may be characterized by processes of cognitive development, growth, and neural sprouting, rather than stagnation or even decline. Empirical findings indicate the contribution of chronological age, maturity, and accumulating life experiences to adults' continued cognitive growth and intelligence, as a result of direct mediation, cognitive intervention, and academic learning as well as exposure to indirect learning. Grounded in cumulative evidence for the CAT, the book presents comprehensive analysis of a practical holistic educational intervention model for enhancing adults' Cognition (literacy), Affect (including autonomy), and Behavior (adaptive behavior skills), including operative strategies, mediational parameters, and guidance for change agents in diverse settings. This triple CAB model offers detailed tools for promoting the cognitive improvement and invigoration of adults with ID in during ADL, vocational and leisure activities, at all severity levels ranging from mild and moderate to severe and profound, across different ID etiologies including Down syndrome, and even at advanced ages for adults with ID exhibiting comorbid Alzheimer's.

Hefziba Lifshitz is an Associate Professor at the School of Education of Bar-Ilan University, Israel, where she heads the master's program in intellectual disability (ID). Lifshitz holds the Lois Machado Chair for Cognitive Modifiability and Human Development and also chairs the Baker Research and Developmental Center for Young Children with ID. In these roles, she became aware of the need for research oriented to cognitive educational rehabilitation, relating specifically to the developmental potential inherent in the adulthood period among populations with ID. To date, she has focused her body of research on empirically examining her compensation age theory (CAT) and evaluating the triple CAB (cognition-affect-behavior) intervention programs that she designed for persons with all ID severity levels and etiologies. The Otzmot Empowerment Project that she initiated now includes multiple stages of inclusion in the academic world for adults with ID. Six such post-secondary students who are currently fully included in regular academic courses are expected to complete their BA degree in 2022.