Observation and measurement of drooling by people with mental retardation.

Four brief observational surveys were used to score residents of a state institution for people with mental retardation as drooling/not drooling. An average of 14% of the population was identified as drooling on the occasion of any of the surveys; the accumulated proportion of clients reported as drooling was 28%. In a second study, the drooling of 2 of the clients identified in the first study was sampled within and across days. These clients drooled different amounts both within and between days, which validated their presence and classifications in the first study.