Dental hygiene students and the developmentally disabled.

Dental hygiene students from Hudson Valley Community College were introduced to the subject of developmental disabilities during their senior year. Each student received three hours of lecture and spent one afternoon in the dental clinic of the O. D. Heck Developmental Center. The Personal Attribute Inventory was administered to the students before and after the program to determine attitudes about mental retardation. A determination was made as to whether the timing of the visit to the center, relative to the presentation of the lectures, made a difference in students' attitudes. No statistically significant difference in attitudes was found between the beginning and the end of the year, and there were no changes in attitudes attributable to the placement of the lectures vis-à-vis the site visit.