The components of quality educational planning for students with moderate and severe intellectual disability are well established, but schools and special educators may not always achieve a desirable standard. This article reports on the change in quality of documentation related to individual planning and programming over a span of 4 years in a…

Objective: Psychiatric rehabilitation is an evidence-based service with the goal of recovery for people with severe mental illness. Psychiatric residents should understand the services and learn the principles of psychiatric rehabilitation. This study assessed whether a 3-month rotation in a psychiatric rehabilitation center changes the competency…

Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are in need of effective and motivating physical fitness training programs. The aim was to test the effectiveness of a virtual reality (VR)-based exercise program in improving the physical fitness of adults with severe IDD when implemented by on-site caregivers. A research group (N…

A multicomponent training package (live training, video modeling, role playing, and feedback) was used to train teachers to conduct assessment and to instruct students with profound multiple disabilities. Phase 1 of the study involved training seven teachers to conduct assessment in three areas: (a) preference assessment (i.e., identification of…

This article reviews research related to intensive interventions within a Response to Intervention framework. We review the research from studies that provided different levels of intensity of intervention with the goal of establishing a case that movement through less intensive tiers of intervention may not be an effective and responsible…

Objectives: Services to children and adolescents with a severe emotional disturbance (SED) have long been inadequate. The wraparound approach has emerged as a promising practice that could address the needs of children with SED and their families through a strength-based, individualized, family-focused team process that emphasizes flexible service…

The article describes a program model that provides ongoing supported employment within a normal industrial setting to six persons previously judged to have severe disabilities. After one year, employees have dramatically increased earnings and productivity over previous earnings and national averages, and public costs have declined to one-third…

The report summarizes an evaluation of the effects of summer programs on the behaviors and skills of 186 severely handicapped children. Programs were categorized by their orientation and by their length, resulting in five groupings: (1) 6-week high structure (educational skill and behavior goal-oriented), (2) medium structure (mixed recreational…

Evaluation of a shared-work program found that job coach assistance to three workers with severe multiple disabilities could be reduced by assigning each worker only those job tasks able to be performed with minimal assistance while ensuring that entire tasks were still completed by combining steps performed by all three workers. (Contains…

An in-service program for vocational trainers of severely and profoundly retarded adults is described and a multiple perspective approach to evaluating the program is presented. (CL)

The study evaluated a school-based integrated aerobic conditioning program for children (ages 6 to 13) with moderate to severe disabilities. Evaluation indicated that 9 of the 12 disabled students improved their level of fitness and that both disabled and nondisabled students enjoyed the program. (Author/DB)

Music therapists regard music therapy as a valuable intervention for students with moderate to severe intellectual disability or multiple disabilities, but many special educators would regard it as a controversial practice, unsupported by empirical research. This paper reviews the goals and strategies used by music therapists working with students…

The final report describes the Charlotte Circle Project, an early intervention demonstration project operated from 1985-1988 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The report examines the project's model, the participating children and families, and evaluative findings regarding its implementation, outcome, and impact. The project served 25 children with a…

The report examines accomplishments of project UPSTART, an intervention approach for young severely multihandicapped infants and their families. The project's outreach provided assistance at six sites, three of which were new. Outreach accomplishments are evaluated according to six objectives, including stimulation of program development,…

This paper reports on a study of the National Agenda for Achieving Better Results for Children and Youth with Serious Emotional Disturbance. The study found that the 14 successful programs evaluated have shared characteristics, a common set of values, staff agreement about values, the operationalization of the values in staff behavior and…