The development of a personalized educational plan should be based on career and personal goals formulated and clarified through career exploration experiences. The eighth grade is a decision point at which students need to be aware of blocks of courses that require 4 years to complete; decisions must be confirmed at the 10th-grade level. However,…

Successful collaboration and problem solving are the foundational processes on which meaningful transition plans are constructed. This article discusses the process of planning for the transition from school to adult life for students with disabilities and suggests that person-centered planning is an ideal vehicle for promoting collaboration and…

Guidance coordinators in secondary schools (n=100) in New Zealand were surveyed concerning guidance services for special needs students, focusing on types of guidance staff available, their involvement with special needs students, service changes over time, and satisfactions and dissatisfactions. Findings related to the roles and resourcefulness…

The manual is designed to provide educators, parents, and severely handicapped students in Santa Clara County (California) with a guide to a 4-year transition process. The process has four components: transition foundation (basic skill development from birth to age 21), transition process (planning and implementation of training and other services…

The minicourse in foreign language teaching is an outgrowth of the diversified curriculum that is based on the personal-benefit theory. The importance of the individual and the need for a differentiated program designed to foster individual interests and maximize individual potential is stressed in this theory. The rapid growth of alternative…

These program guidelines provide a list of the essential elements which make for a quality occupational education special needs delivery system. Among the topics listed in the guidelines are: (1) six sources of laws and regulations which direct and regulate services to special needs populations; (2) definition of the four distinct populations…

This guide provides an approach to assist public schools and adult service agencies in designing programs that will maximize the ability of severely disabled students to function in non-sheltered vocational environments. The guide is composed of a list of questions to be used in a self-evaluation process; the questions concern needs assessment,…

Comprehensive vocational assessment needs to become an integral part of vocational programming in secondary and postsecondary schools, since it is crucial in developing appropriate individualized education plans for students with special needs. A prime focus for vocational assessment should be entrance into vocational education courses. It should…

This paper begins with an overview of the population of adolescents and young adults with deafness. More detailed information is then provided on the characteristics of lower achieving deaf persons and those with multiple disabling conditions. School-to-community transition experiences of these groups are then discussed, with special focus on the…

State and local agencies must work to provide appropriately designed vocational education programs to vocational students in order to help them become self-sufficient in living and working. In view of the employment potential of disabled people and the legal and economic reasons for facilitating their access to employment-related programs, state…

This handbook is designed to help teachers establish and maintain an occupational orientation program. The 10 chapters contain information on the following topics: (1) "What Is Occupational Orientation?" (2) "What Is Vocational Education?" (3) "How Do I Obtain Occupational Orientation Teacher Ceritfication?" (4) "What Rules and Regulations Affect…

This fourteenth in a series of twenty-nine learning modules on instructional execution is designed to give secondary and postsecondary vocational teachers help in understanding the unique learning characteristics of different groups of students and in planning instruction so that the specific needs of slower and more capable learners can be…

This pamphlet, directed to vocational education and special education teachers and counselors at the secondary school level, provides a guide for developing Individual Vocational Education Programs (IVEPs) for disadvantaged learners, along with sample completed forms; and a resource of available IVEP forms being used in several of the secondary…

This leader guide is designed to assist employability skills trainers in helping their students or clients find jobs. Discussed first are the goals and objectives of employability skills training. Next, guidelines are provided for designing employability skills training programs. Skills needed by employability skills trainers are discussed.…

This guide is intended for personnel who are responsible for planning and conducting a Work Experience and Career Exploration Program (WECEP), a special cooperative education program for 14- and 15-year-old special needs students. Chapter 1 provides guidelines for program development, including rationale, purpose, advantages, a basic planning…