Self-determination has been a primary focus of efforts to enhance quality of life for individuals with disabilities. Learning self-determination enables individuals to assume greater responsibility and control in their lives. The primary causal agency perspective on self-determination highlights the importance of learning self-determination for…

In the Netherlands, the trend towards inclusion has led to the development of a 'To School Together' programme in which students with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) receive tailored care and education during the school day in a special classroom ('To School Together' class) within a mainstream school. Besides shared…

Prior studies have shown that young adults with severe physical and multiple disabilities are less likely to complete upper secondary education. This study aimed to identify whether these students' type of multiple disability, gender, location and literacy skills were associated with completion of upper secondary education. The participants were…

In the support of individuals with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD), assessing the level of alertness is a recurring issue for parents and other direct support persons. Although observations show clear advantages above and beyond other assessment methods, there are problems related to this method as well. Subjectivity of…

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…

The paper reports on a case study of the language environments of two severely involved, non-oral cerebral palsied preschoolers. Observation of interactions, comprehension development, acquisition of productive signals and of use of supplementary communicative devices revealed deviances in language directed to severely multiply physically…

There is extensive discussion on the quality of education and support for individuals with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) in relation to inclusion and full citizenship. The discussions are complicated because of differences or lack of clarity in the description of the variations and types of PIMD. A description of the core…

In answer to a question about the inclusion of multiply handicapped children into the scope of the Council for Exceptional Children's Division on Physically Handicapped and Homebound, the author reviews the confusion over the term severely handicapped, describes the complimentary role of the American Association for the Education of the…

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)

Three studies on B. Le Gay Brereton's approach with severely motorically or multiply disabled preschool children are reported. The program focuses on play and suggests that development should be repeated from the point at which it went wrong. Results included small but statistical changes in cognitive skills. (CL)

The Comprehensive Communication Curriculum is designed for teaching basic communication skills to severely or profoundly retarded, physically handicapped students. An introductory section mentions the purpose of five major program components: caregiver interview, identification of child's wants and needs, training the child to request wants and…

In two experiments, three of four profoundly retarded and physically handicapped children (9-17 years old) with MAs below seven months demonstrated instrumental learning of a manipulatory response that produced either illumination or music. (Author)

This study used grammaticality judgments to measure the sensitivity of four school-age children with severe speech and physical impairments (SSPI) to different morphological errors. Results indicated that the SSPI children and control groups made similar judgments. Participants with SSPI had greater difficulty detecting tense-marking errors…

Presented is the final report of a 1-year New York City program of 18 special classes for 133 doubly (physically and mentally) handicapped children, 5-20 years of age. Noted are criteria for student selection such as IQ below 75, the presence of one or more physical handicaps, and completion of toilet training. It is reported that most pupils…

One of the most difficult problems confronting the education of the deaf is defining what is meant by the term multihandicapped deaf. Multihandicapped deaf have been sorted into three groups--mild, moderate, and severe--which educators must use for the effective development of educational programs and services. (JN)