The fundamental intent of special education is to provide instruction to meet each child's unique needs. "Life Journey through Autism: Navigating the Special Education System" offers information, tools, and tips that will help parents become an even more effective advocate for their children. Many teachers, administrators, and school…

This toolkit was created to make transition planning easier and offers easy-to-understand information about the purpose of transition planning, the goal and importance of age-appropriate assessments, and the required rules that are used by schools. It also includes information on the community partners that can provide youth with supports as…

This guide has helped put executive skills on the map for school-based clinicians and educators. The book explains how these critical cognitive processes develop and why they play such a key role in children's behavior and school performance. Provided are step-by-step guidelines and many practical tools to promote executive skill development by…

The Council of Chief State School Officers' "Accommodations Manual: How to Select, Administer, and Evaluate the Use of Accommodations for Instruction and Assessment of Students with Disabilities" was first developed to establish guidelines for states to use for the selection, administration, and evaluation of accommodations for…

This paper identifies a rationale for leisure education for young adults with mental retardation and outlines the structure, content, and evaluation strategies of a leisure education model. The leisure instruction is intended to instill self-determination, leisure appreciation, self-awareness, decision making, social interaction, knowledge and…

The article examines communication training for handicapped students making the transition from school to adult life in terms of the need for communication training, principles of assessment, and the communication specialist as consultant. (DB)

This article discusses current transition issues facing teachers and educational diagnosticians working in rural settings with disabled populations. Barriers to successful assessment and programing (financial factors, human factors, and visibility) are noted and seven suggestions offered for implementing a transition assessment and programing…

This program for reintegrating students with disabilities into the mainstream involves data-based decisions during the following phases: long-range planning, assessing the less restrictive setting, approximating new placement routines, assessing student readiness, the transition, followup, and evaluation. A checklist for assessing the less…

This handbook for Missouri parents of young children with disabilities provides information on obtaining special education services from a local school district. A step-by-step guide for transitioning into preschool is provided. The steps include: (1) referral of the child to their local school; (2) holding a transition conference; (3) arranging…

This article presents recommendations for transition planning assessment for secondary students with learning disabilities. It proposes redirecting assessment practices to obtain present-level-of-functioning information for Individualized Education Program planning that extends beyond high school graduation. Current assessment procedures that…

Self-determination is an important component of transition services and prompting this outcome requires that educators use assessment both to design instruction and provide information about instructional effectiveness. This article introduces self-determination as a critical transition outcome, examines assessment issues, and overviews practices,…

This publication is comprised of two brief guides, both of which offer strategies, practices, and resources for including students with disabilities in school-to-work systems. The first focuses on how to include students with disabilities in accountability systems. Strategies are offered to help: (1) view standards from the perspectives of all…

This article presents a comprehensive model for assessment of secondary students with disabilities. The model is intended to comply with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which requires identifying transition needs of students in their individualized education programs. The model assists in structuring an outcome-oriented transition…

The Peabody Reintegration Project utilizes curriculum-based measurement (CBM) to help integrate pupils with mild and moderate disabilities into mainstream math instruction. CBM is seen to be particularly relevant to a transenvironmental programing process involving environmental assessment, intervention and preparation, promoting transfer across…

Targeted at special education teachers/special population instructors, work experience coordinators, vocational assessment personnel, and guidance counselors, this guide examines the relationships among career development, transition, and self-determination for students with disabilities. The guide uses a question-and-answer format to identify and…