Students with significant disabilities typically experience poor postschool employment outcomes. However, when provided opportunities to work and engage within their communities, they can gain necessary work-specific and workplace social skills to improve outcomes. This article outlines a six-step model for community-based employment programs…

The fourth of six volumes on the Making Special Friends Project, an approach to promoting social interactions between severely handicapped students and nonhandicapped persons in the school and community, details procedures for implementation. The first section discusses a cornerstone of the project, the expanded Individualized Education Program…

This manual, the second of a two-part study, addresses issues involved in behavioral interventions with low incidence, severely handicapped students. Initial chapters focus on selecting appropriate goals, writing behavioral objectives, and selecting observational systems to measure behavior change. General treatment procedures for increasing and…

This manual is designed to assist educators in using the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) Alternate Assessment, an assessment intended to allow students with the most significant disabilities to participate in MCAS. The manual provides guidelines, materials, and procedures necessary for the preparation of student portfolios for…

An ecological model for employment preparation in high schools that is based upon successful post-school community job placement for students with severe handicaps is discussed. The paper addresses the functions of employment training, the components of a community-referenced model, and implications for model implementation. (Author/JDD)

This paper describes the development and establishment of an inclusive education program on a junior high school campus. Although this is the documentation of secondary programming, with an emphasis on severe disabilities, these "phases" can be generalized to other program areas and levels of education. During phase I, a functional,…

This guide promotes the use of natural supports to assist individuals with severe disabilities. The first two sections review the development of natural supports in the workplace, including changes in perspectives on the role of persons with disabilities, utilization issues, and the definition of natural supports. A seven-step process reflecting…

"Jobs Rally" is a community event that can be coordinated by a human service program or institution to help communities become more responsive to the independent living and career development needs of people with severe disabilities. This manual outlines how to conduct a jobs rally. The manual begins with a very brief four-step community…

The manual describes the Special Friends Program, an approach to prepare handicapped and nonhandicapped children for social interactions with one another. The program emphasizes social, play, and leisure interchanges that facilitate social skill development by both severely handicapped and nonhandicapped children. Following a review of the…

A systematic approach to curriculum development for students with severe disabilities enrolled in extended school year programs is described. The approach is community driven, consistent with student Individualized Education Program objectives, tailored to the individual student, and teaches functional skills performed by individuals without…

This monograph aims to provide a blueprint for: (1) expanded supported employment implementation for individuals with disabilities; and (2) improvement in service delivery practices. It contains edited summaries of the discussions of five working groups from a major forum on national supported employment issues which was convened in Williamsburg,…

The Employment Training and Transition Model is presented as a comprehensive classroom model whose goal is to prepare students with severe handicaps to work, live, and recreate in their home communities while in high school and after graduation. The model is built on the assumption that high school programs should be integrated, age-appropriate,…

Although interest in and literature about career education for the handicapped has been growing very rapidly in the last few years, many professionals have been hard pressed to keep pace with the knowledge explosion in the field. This book is intended to aid teachers in acquiring up-to-date knowledge of career education for the handicapped and…

The paper presents an organizational framework to guide the design and implementation of integrated services for preschool children with severe behavior disorders, particularly those programs where cooperative agreements are formed between separate service agencies. A project that mainstreams preschool children with severe behavior disorders into…

This handbook is intended to assist vocational instructors in replicating the program to provide non-sheltered work experience to severely handicapped individuals. The first section is a description of the original program that was developed through the coordinated efforts of staff from three vocational schools in Kentucky. Included in the next…