The field of special education, and specifically the area of intellectual disabilities, has undergone dramatic changes in terminology, evaluation practices, service delivery models, expectations for learning, career development, and independent living opportunities. "Guidelines: Intellectual Disabilities in Educational Settings" is…

The use of contracts in individualizing experiential learning programs is explained, its research base outlined, and sample contracts and performance objectives provided. The strategy is encouraged in part as a way for liberal arts faculty to shift roles from transmitter of knowledge to facilitator of self-directed inquiry. (MSE)

The process of "functional assessment" is recommended to establish a basis for individualized behavior management programing for students with special needs. The approach is based on identifying the functions of the challenging behavior and involves systematically collecting information about the behavior and developing an intervention…

This volume is the third in a series (developed in response to a needs assessment survey of special educators in Alberta, Canada) providing practical suggestions about instructional strategies, classroom management, preparing individual program plans, and understanding special needs. This volume presents a process for development of Individualized…

Provides suggestions on how teachers can best manage their classrooms, how they can plan more effective lessons, a few simple procedures for fostering creative thinking and the art of imagining in their students, a look at student behavior, and some tips for keeping track of student skills. (Editor/RK)

This paper suggests a variety of ways of assessing the curriculum and assessing pupils so that tasks can be matched to special needs learners in the process of curriculum differentiation. The emphasis is on formative and diagnostic assessment but summative assessment is also discussed. (Author/JDD)

An assessment and intervention process for use by occupational and physical therapists working in schools is described. The process addresses discrepancies between performance and expectations, establishment of goals and objectives, determination of needed services, determination of service delivery setting, and provision of efficient and…

This book is a guide to the development of Individual Transition Plans (ITPs) for students with disabilities. It includes 37 sample ITPs for students with a wide variety of disabilities. The first four chapters describe the formatting necessary for designing the transition planning document and then describe each of the 10 goals, which range from…

This article finds inadequate career services for gifted and talented students, reviews current research in such areas as multipotentiality and unhealthy perfectionism, identifies areas for further research (i.e., life after college and psychological/emotional issues), and recommends an agenda for change in the nature of career counseling for this…

African-American children are minimally represented in gifted programs due to misconceptions of giftedness, problems associated with standardized testing, perceptions of African-American students' low achievement, and lack of awareness of characteristics of African-American achievers. Individually focused identification of gifted African-American…

Community-Based Independent Living Skills Training for Severely Handicapped Youth is a project of the Minneapolis (Minnesota) Public Schools designed to enhance community training opportunities for individuals aged 16-21. Key issues in program development included: treatment of students as unique individuals, assessments and curricula organized…

This article provides an assessment tool and guidelines for creating instructional programing in aquatic skills development for children with disabilities functioning below levels required for most adapted beginning aquatics programs. It covers individualized goals and objectives, adjustment to the water, and specific aquatic skills. (DB)

This manual provides educators with a process to integrate the life-long goals and specific needs of students with severe disabilities within the context of the regular education curriculum, through the development of individualized learner outcomes. The manual discusses the process of building inclusive learning opportunities for students with…

The manual was intended to clarify the relationship among annual goals, short-term instructional objectives and performance objectives for special education students in Michigan. An overview of state and federal requirements is followed by analysis of the annual goals (general statements relating to a skill area without specific reference to…

Guidelines are presented on writing a visual assessment report of visually handicapped students for purposes of assessment or for writing an individualized education program. Topics to be covered as well as steps in preparing and writing the report are discussed. (CL)