The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) of 2004 requires that all students with disabilities participate and progress in the general education curriculum. Although IDEA requires individualized education program (IEP) teams to include academic and life skills goals in a students' as necessary to meet their individual…

The study with four adults with moderate and severe mental handicaps found that both backward and concurrent chaining training strategies were equally effective in teaching use of a fast food restaurant and a supermarket. (Author/DB)

In a study which taught four high school students with severe handicaps to use a commercial washing machine and laundry soap dispenser, a concurrent chaining strategy was found more efficient than forward chaining in facilitating skill acquisition. Concurrent chaining also resulted in better maintenance at four- and eight-week follow-up…

Two teaching strategies (constant time delay and increasing prompt hierarchy assistance) were compared in teaching four severely handicapped high school students to purchase snack items at a convenience store and fast food restaurant. Results indicated the time delay procedure was more effective. (DB)

The final report describes activities of the Improving Community-Based Instruction Project, which conducted research to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of training in community settings with individuals with severe disabilities. Three areas of research were undertaken: (1) studies of the influence of the location of instruction on the…

This study, with six high school students with moderate to severe disabilities, found that students who received concurrent sequence training demonstrated better generalized performance in three nontrained grocery stores than students who had received serial sequence training, once training criterion was attained though training required more…

This study of community-based instruction with 34 high school students with moderate to profound mental retardation found (1) students made significant gains in 3 of 4 independent behavior domains; and (2) amount of community-based instruction was a more powerful predictor of gains than were intelligence quotient, level of student ambulation, or…

This text is intended to provide new and practicing professionals with an introduction to the strategies necessary to support the transition of students with moderate and severe disabilities from school to community life. It offers recommendations for designing and implementing middle school, high school, and post-high school programs, addressing…