This literature review focuses on the state of current knowledge concerning alcohol and other drug (AOD) abuse among people with developmental, learning, hearing, visual, and mobility impairments. The review is divided into four main sections. The first section addresses the limits of the available research-based information. The second section…

The education of students with severe to profound mental handicaps (SPH) or multiple disabilities may be greatly limited in rural settings. A survey investigating this issue in a southwestern state was completed by 136 of 346 directors of special education, 67 of whom worked in rural special education cooperatives. These cooperatives served 393…

The California Strategic Plan for Special Education sets specific goals and outcomes for the future in 11 critical areas: early intervention for infants and preschoolers, prevention, assessment, student outcomes and quality indicators, service delivery, education in the least restrictive environment, regionalization for students with low incidence…

This Congressional hearing on the reauthorization of the Education of the Deaf Act examines the progress in implementing research findings and the methods used to provide services to diverse populations within the deaf community. It addresses such issues as the needs of minority deaf students, improving the educational achievement of deaf students…

This document presents the first of several follow-up studies on the longitudinal effects and costs of providing alternative types of early intervention services to children with disabilities. The nine studies being followed focused on either variations in program intensity, variations in the age of beginning intervention, or variations in program…

This booklet provides a broad-based definition of the population of students with special health needs and offers information about specific subcategories of conditions. These subcategories include traumatic brain injury; pediatric human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS-related complex; and…

This guide offers specific recommendations to Texas school districts concerning the implementation of least restrictive environment (LRE) requirements for students with disabilities. Suggestions are grouped according to six issues recommended for consideration in the decision making process: These are: (1) the primacy of the individual student's…

The Blue Ribbon Committee at Utah State University (USU) was charged with the study of information systems, telecommunications, and library services at the university, and challenged to look for ways to better manage, coordinate, and capitalize on both opportunity and investment in telecommunication and information technology and resources. The…

This workbook addresses the need for information and guidance that can help states and communities meet the short-term and long-term challenges of developing community-oriented financing for early intervention and preschool special education services. It is intended for state officials, advocates, and task force members who carry out or assist…

Vermont experienced a rapid expansion of federal childhood funding and programs (accompanied by their voluminous and sometimes contradictory regulations), and identified the need to unify the system after recognizing that the complexity of the early childhood education service delivery system was bewildering for parent-consumers. This report…

This publication, the second in a series of three monographs on solutions to the dropout problem in Canada, adopts the view that the "cracks" in human services systems could be "mortared" at the level of local schools with services and programs that include academic, social, emotional, and vocational elements. The monograph acknowledges that…

This technical assistance guide was developed to assist Service Delivery Areas (SDAs) and Private Industry Councils (PICs) to develop local coordination activities and to enhance their ongoing coordination efforts. The guide is organized in five sections. The first section introduces the guide and defines "coordination." It is followed…

This paper reports a practicum which attempted to improve delivery of speech language services to children with speech language handicaps in two elementary schools without pulling students out of regular classes. The speech language pathologist (SLP) implemented a collaborative approach with regular teachers providing support in the areas of…

This paper examines issues in establishing an initial social/communicative repertoire with individuals who have severe to profound disabilities, with emphasis on intervention involving the most severely affected. The paper stresses the importance of beginning intervention efforts even before learners show intentional behavior and discrimination of…

In recent years, demand has increased for the development and implementation of a better overall human service delivery system for the United State's at-risk children and their families. Critics condemn the current system as being fragmented, too narrowly focused, beset with bureaucratic red tape and harmful restrictive regulations, difficult to…