The purpose of this conceptual replication study was to investigate the efficacy of an early literacy intervention when it was implemented by special educators in general education classrooms with students in the class participating in the lessons. The study was conducted in 16 schools in three states. Eighty students with severe disabilities…

The purpose of this conceptual replication study was to investigate the efficacy of an early literacy intervention when it was implemented by special educators in general education classrooms with students in the class participating in the lessons. The study was conducted in 16 schools in three states. Eighty students with severe disabilities…

The emergence of the standards-based reform movement has raised a number of issues related to the design of educational programs for students with severe disabilities, and a debate has arisen that presents an "either/or" choice between the general education curriculum and an ecological curricular framework that has traditionally guided…

Three high-school students with severe disabilities were taught to initiate and maintain a conversation independently across a variety of school settings with nonhandicapped students as communication partners. The conversation initiation and "turntaking" skills generalized to conversation opportunities in other settings and with other…

The handbook describes a method of teaching communication skills to students with severe disabilities (severely and profoundly retarded, trainable mentally retarded, autistic, deaf blind, and severely multihandicapped). In the interrupted behavior chain procedure, a routinized activity in a natural setting is interrupted and the child is taught to…

Three severely mentally retarded students (ages 6-7) were taught to request items or events within four interrupted behavior chain contexts. Results demonstrated that the communicative function and response form acquired within one behavior chain context generalized without further instruction to at least two chains in which training had not yet…

Three high school students with severe disabilities were taught turn-taking conversational skills utilizing a communication book (containing pictures pertaining to the student's interest areas). After training, which included minimal training of conversational partners, balanced conversational turn-taking increased significantly and skills…

The individualized education programs (IEPs) of 22 students with severe disabilities were analyzed during students' placement in special classes and general education classes. No difference was found in the curriculum content of the IEPs written for students attending a special versus a general education class; however, IEP objectives' quality was…

Three severely disabled high school students were taught to independently initiate a conversation and participate in turntaking for 10 minutes in a variety of school/community settings with at least four nondisabled peers as partners. The students' high rates of inappropriate social interaction behaviors decreased as conversational skills were…

Three elementary-aged students with multiple severe disabilities acquired basic communication and motor skills within cooperative-learning activities conducted in their general education classrooms and later generalized skills to other situations. Students without disabilities in the cooperative-learning groups achieved targeted academic…

Individualized education programs (IEPs) written for 18 severely disabled students (ages 4-19) who attended integrated school sites scored higher on selected indicators of best practices when compared with IEPs written for students attending segregated sites. IEPs were examined for age-appropriateness, functionality, and potential for…

The final report of this federally supported 3-year direct research project describes products developed in the project's investigation of inclusive education of students with severe disabilities and models of collaboration in inclusive urban schools. Year 1 resulted in research on inclusive education in the context of school reform. During Year 2…

Four high school students who were peer tutors to students with severe disabilities received social interaction training and were then compared to four controls. The training increased the frequency of initiations of interactions from tutors, increased the proportion of social rather than task interactions, and increased targeted social behaviors…

Questionnaires completed by families and teachers of 1,009 students with severe disabilities were analyzed in terms of 4 conceptual models of integrated student placement: a programs/facilities model, a socioeconomic model, an advocacy model, and a combined model. Teacher advocacy and Individualized Education Program characteristics were most…

A review of 19 investigations of inclusive educational programs, practices, and outcomes for students with severe disabilities groups the research into five categories: (1) parents' attitudes toward educational placement; (2) issues and practices; (3) costs; (4) educational achievement outcomes; and (5) social outcomes. Six themes were identified…