Background: Some adults with intellectual disabilities do not acquire oral feeding skills and are dependent on gastrostomy tube supplementation. Methods: Two adults with intellectual and multiple disabilities received intervention for oral consumption during daily meals (standardised food and liquid quantities, individualised procedural…

Music is a way of representing the patterns of frequencies and vibrational relationships--and at St. Francis de Sales School for the Deaf, it is used it to promote language learning and transform students' educational experiences. Traditionally defined through the medium of sound, music has been seen as an approach that excludes deaf and hard of…

The purpose of this paper was to better understand the current practice of arts therapy in educational institutions in the Czech Republic comparing it to that in health-care institutions and other working environments. The research goal was to analyze the prevalence of the different fields of arts therapy, the main difficulties of clients, the…

This article explores transdisciplinary collaboration and role-release strategies that would allow physical therapists and orientation and mobility (O&M) specialists to more effectively support students with visual impairments (that is, those who are blind or have low vision) and additional disabilities with their expanded core curriculum…

Individuals with disabilities display problem behaviors frequently. This case study presents an analysis of the extent to which one student's pattern of multiple problem behaviors and the potential efficacy of Conjoint Behavioral Consultation (CBC) as a model for linking families, schools, and special education settings to address educational…

Multidisciplinary collaboration is considered to be very important for the education of pupils with special educational needs and particularly those pupils with the most severe disabilities. This research adopts a multiple case-study design in order to understand collaboration and the integration of services and the effectiveness of these among…

Roughly 54 million people with disabilities live in the U.S., and there are many more millions of people with disabilities around the world. Not surprisingly, differences among and between people with disabilities are often as notable as differences between people with and without disabilities. While the lack of homogeneity among people with…

A discussion of the various modes of expression of attention deficit disorder (ADD) and hyperactivity in multiply disabled children is presented. Medical, behavioral, and educational management are discussed. The authors conclude that an integrated, developmental approach utilizing team management produces the most favorable outcome in this group.…

An eight-step decision-making paradigm appropriate for guiding decisions regarding selection of instructional programming alternatives for visually impaired multiply disabled children is presented. Brief case studies illustrate the application of the paradigm. (Author/DB)

This article describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of an online professional development course designed to develop an understanding of the foundations, perspectives, and strategies used by key disciplines (e.g., occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech-language pathology, early childhood special education, visual…

Annual program plans for residents written prior to and following the implementation of the IPP (Individual Program Planning) system were rated to determine the extent of changes that resulted. More departments attended meetings, stated objectives, described intervention plans and evaluation procedures for proposed objectives, and reported…

A model of interdisciplinary team education is described which is designed to prepare specialists to work with visually disabled/multiply disabled persons. Problems in implementing interdisciplinary courses in higher education are considered, including both institutional and student barriers. (CL)

The CARES project (Coordinated Ambulatory Rehabilitation Evaluation Services) presents a model to provide multidisciplinary services for multiply disabled children in rural settings. Background, information about model components, and descriptive data are presented to illustrate project evolution and operation. Nearly 400 children with multiple…

The authors describe a model for integrating multimodal assessments and intervention to meet the complex problems of multiply disabled children. An outline and guide for transdisciplinary team management is presented and discussed. (Author/CL)

The authors describe the effects of combining a vision specialist's abilities with those of a physical therapist when working with low functioning visually and physically handicapped preschoolers. (CL)