Surveys of businesses and business managers indicate that developing communication skills within organizations is a priority. Communication consulting exists over a wide spectrum of activities that include guest speaking, conducting workshops, and conducting management training programs. These three processes can include a "canned program" that…

Findings are presented from an experimental study of consultants, a three-year project funded by the Human Services Development Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the purpose of which was to provide a technology for use by consultants within youth-serving organizations in the diffusion and utilization of innovative programs.…

This paper reviews some major lessons learned by participants in the Follow Through programs about the process ofimplementing innovative educational programs and outlines how these lessons were recorded and formulated for use by others. Using a perspective and method derived from anthropology and oral history these program aspects are described:…

The Appalachia Educational Laboratory's Educational Services Office has sponsored an ongoing external evaluation of its regional exchange program since fiscal year 1979. Findings from this evaluation helped support the decision to adopt a state consultant model strategy for all four of the office's educational programs. The model involves…

Schools in the Toronto (Ontario, Canada) area have established a Resource Teacher Service (RTS) to provide necessary educational program supports for physically disabled students, their teachers, and their schools when community school placements are indicated. The principles of intervention emphasized in the RTS include pragmatic forms of…

A survey was conducted in Victoria, Australia, to collect data concerning the prevalence of individuals with severe communication impairments. Based on the data gathered from 1100 service facilities, the Severe Communication Impairment Outreach Project was established. Funding was acquired to employ two statewide consultant speech pathologists…

An analysis of variables effecting the success of mainstreaming programs in 27 school districts in Vermont--five of which were unsuccessful in that consulting teacher services were not maintained for more than two years, and 22 of which were successful in that consulting teacher services were maintained for more than two years--was undertaken.…

While much of the development of consultation programs in mental health centers has been independent of the traditional treatment program, this document describes a consultation program which is closely integrated with an agency's treatment program. The emphasis is on system change and the development of prevention programming. The system-crisis…

Intervention assistance teams (IATs) were implemented in selected Ohio rural schools to provide early intervention for students experiencing academic failure and provide consultation services for the referring teacher. This study surveyed 119 chairpersons of IATs from 53 randomly selected school districts representing urban, suburban, and rural…

This paper describes a mental health consultation program for day care centers serving children under six years. The goals of the program are discussed together with a description of the role of the day care consultant. The steps by which the program was implemented are described in detail. The impact of the program was measured on several…

Community mental health centers have been faced with mandates to introduce new programs or improve old ones often without the necessary information or expertise to implement such changes. Community mental health centers (N=39) were studied to identify the nature and extent of information use and factors related to information use. Experts visited…

A consultant is often an effective source of assistance for an agency undergoing change. Community mental health centers (N=80) randomly assigned to treatment and control groups were studied to determine the impact of problem-oriented consultation on problem solution, and the characteristics of both consultant and consultee which are critical in…

This paper presents a consultative model for providing behavioral supports within the context of a public school setting to students with developmental disabilities who display challenging behaviors. The suggested model is contrasted with the traditional consultation model in which a consultant comes from outside the immediate problem situation,…

The monograph describes the co-teaching program in the L'Anse Creuse (Michigan) public schools, implemented at Middle School South, in which regular and special education teachers are paired to provide academic support to mildly impaired middle-school special education students within the regular education classroom. The program currently includes…

The paper describes application of an interactive model to providing services for young children with special needs being mainstreamed in community day care programs. In this model, the resource consultant coordinates service delivery in interactions with: (1) the child and family; (2) early childhood educators; and (3) resource specialists. The…