Nineteen professional (nurses and attendants with bachelor degrees) and 17 paraprofessionals (aides with less than a college education) from a residential institution for the mentally retarded participated in an overview course on mental retardation. (Author/CL)

Discusses the importance of teaching communication skills to individuals with severe disabilities and reviews the development and evaluation of Developing Communicative Interactions, a data-based staff training program that supports the development of a prescribed set of interaction skills by interacting communication partners. (Author/CR)

Assessed the viability of a modified microtraining approach to paraprofessional development using programed manuals and models. Therapeutic workers were randomly assigned to a model group, no-model group, and a control group. Covariance analyses indicated that training groups emitted fewer closed inquiries and had a higher interview empathy…

Three studies evaluated a one-day program for training 24 paraprofessional staff in basic teaching skills for working with children with severe disabilities. All participants achieved the performance-based mastery criterion and successfully applied their teaching skills, as evidenced by skill development progress of students with severe…

The Specialized Training of Associates in Rural Alaska (STARS) is a 3-year project providing preparation to early intervention associates in rural Alaska and services to infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families. Evaluation methods and results are reported. Appendices describe the 24 training modules and list the program's…

This document reports on the Southwest (Region VI) Child Development Associate (CDA) assessment program during the 1973-74 and 1974-75 school years. Activities conducted through the office of the regional coordinator of CDA assessment are listed. An assessment system was developed and implemented to meet three needs: (1) to screen and rank CDA…

This study explores the potential benefits of multigenerational day care programs. Two small preschool programs serving predominantly low income black families were chosen for comparison. The programs were matched for child/staff ratio, level of staff professionalism, and characteristics of families served. The programs differed, however, in their…

This paper represents the first phase of a pilot project designed to evaluate the effectiveness of training and utilizing licensed home day care providers as subsequent trainers of potential or inexperienced day care providers. The initial training of the licensed providers was conducted by professional personnel. Pretest and posttest data were…

This paper represents the second phase of a pilot project designed to evaluate the effectiveness of training and utilizing licensed home day care providers as subsequent trainers of potential or inexperienced day care providers. The second phase of the project involved the modification of the instruments used in Phase I, as well as the deletion of…

This practicum report describes a project designed to increase the level of coordination of treatment planning between professional and paraprofessional staff at a residential treatment and educational facility for 40 adolescent males with learning disabilities or severe emotional disturbances. Three corollary aims were to increase the level of…

Both formative and summative evaluations were used to guide development and appraise outcomes of a model college/public service agency collaborative effort to develop an inservice, onsite, volunteer training program for Office of Environmental Affairs (OEA) employees. Assessment procedures included interviews with Training Development Program…

The Title I Great Cities Training Programs were desiqned to provide school paraprofessional personnel in Detroit, Michigan, with the knowledge, skills and techniques that will lead to higher levels of achievement among the Title I target student population. This evaluation report provides a description of program structure, training curricula, and…

This report presents the evaluation of the 1973-1974 Fall River Middle School Research and Development Center, a project funded by ESEA Title VII as a model demonstration bilingual program beginning in 1972-1973. The evaluation focused on the assessment of the degree of accomplishment of product objectives for each component of the program. The…

This book presents a design for the training of all school personnel for effective cooperation when auxiliaries (paraprofessionals) are introduced as members of the multilevel, multifunctional educational team. Major chapters discuss (1) institutional setting for team training, (2) concepts of adult learning with implications for training, (3)…

The pamphlet contains seven articles describing some of the in-service activities and stating conclusions reached in an adult basic education (ABE) staff development project in Minnesota. The purpose of the project was to establish a permanent delivery system for staff development at the local and State levels. Article titles and authors are:…