This publication addresses basic issues related to the concept of transition as it is applied to students with disabilities in California. Following a pretest (and its answer key), the document uses a question and answer format to discuss common concerns about transition, normalization, the school role, the "Bridges" model developed by…

Community colleges represent the ideal location for building the high skilled workforce needed in a "high tech" society since they are community-based and responsive to local needs. In ensuring a well-prepared workforce, it is important that the link between elementary and secondary systems and community colleges be strengthened and…

This paper describes a three-phase program which places students with disabilities into job sites in strip malls, enclosed malls, industrial parks, and individual businesses to prepare them for their transition to independent living. The paper explains that in phase 1 of the program students train at a different site each day; in phase 2, students…

The goal of the Kentucky Deaf-Blind Intervention Program was to provide training and technical assistance to improve the quality of special education and related services in integrated environments. The program worked with families and service providers for individuals ages birth through 21 who have dual sensory impairments, with special emphasis…

Twenty-three transition programs for high school students with disabilities in Minnesota are profiled. These programs were selected because they applied a set of 10 quality standards developed to improve the transition process and adult outcomes for students, as well as to increase the cost effectiveness and efficiency of transition services and…

The Bridging Early Services Transition (BEST) Project--Outreach was designed to help families, administrators, and service providers facilitate the transition of young children, birth through age 5, as they move between services and service systems including: from early intervention to special preschool services; from Head Start or preschool to…

This document consists of ten annual Spanish Language Bulletins, published during the period 1987-1996. The early bulletins were largely composed of selections originally published in the Bernard van Lear Foundation's English-Language "Newsletter The articles discuss topics such as: (1) parents as children's first teachers; (2) health and…

This digest summarizes the reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997 (IDEA 97) with emphasis on changes in the new law. First, it highlights principal changes in the law. These changes include participation of children and youth with disabilities in state and districtwide assessment programs; the way in which…

In response to the closure and down-sizing of fish plants in Newfoundland, Cabot College (CC) established a Student Support Services Unit (SSSU) to offer special counseling and advising services to the more than 100 students expected to undertake vocational retraining at CC under the province's Fisheries Adjustment Program. The SSSU hired two…

This guide offers information and supporting materials to educators wishing to establish a high school equivalency program, drawn from experience with the External Diploma Program of Boston's (Massachusetts) Chinese American Civic Association. The program focuses on developing the reading and writing skills of non-English-speaking immigrants. An…

This report describes activities of Project Work, a federally funded program to provide vocational preparation skills and transition services for high school students with disabilities. The program served 150 students at a large urban high school in San Diego (California). Three major objectives were accomplished: (1) development of an…

This booklet, based on the Transition Through the Arts project developed by Very Special Arts, describes the successes that project instructors have achieved in using the arts to assist individuals with developmental disabilities reach employment. The project uses the arts as a vehicle to teach and reinforce the social and personal skill…

In 1990, Queensborough Community College (QCC) conducted a Pre Freshman Summer Program (PFSP) to improve first-time freshmen's basic verbal and mathematical skills and to ease students' transition from high school to college by orienting them to college life. PFSP services, which included remedial instruction, comprehensive counseling, and…

This newsletter issue offers six articles on employment of people with disabilities. "Employment and People with Disabilities: Challenges for the Nineties" (Frank Bowe) discusses the Americans with Disabilities Act, issues in unemployment and under-education, earnings, and implications for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative…

This paper describes the Community Transition Center (CTC) model, being tested in six districts in rural Wisconsin. The model is a way of conceptualizing and organizing the employment-related needs of mainstreamed mildly handicapped youths who are exiting secondary schools. The model emphasizes the role of secondary school transition programming,…