Coding, strategic behavior, and language performance of institutionalized mentally retarded young adults.

An information-processing model was used to examine the coding and language functions of institutionalized, moderately and severely retarded persons. Contextual grammatical structures were found to relate to sequential processing whereas comprehension and expression of relational thought was related to both sequential processing and simultaneous processing. The sample was divided into four subgroups based upon etiology. Down's syndrome residents, in general, performed more poorly on most measures than did brain-damaged subjects and subjects of unknown etiology. Down syndrome subjects were significantly less capable than others on sequential-processing tasks and in expressive language. The utility of the model was discussed in terms of remedial programming for institutionalized retarded persons.