Boundary breakers, the modern term for "icebreakers," tear down barriers that sometimes form within student groups and organizations, and offer a low-risk way for group members to become better acquainted. This document is a "hands on" booklet that covers such boundary-breaking activities as "Send a Letter,""The Lap Game,""One-Minute Interview,"…

This study investigated the ability of high-functioning verbal individuals with autism or Down syndrome (DS) to respond appropriately to conversational "social scripts" involving reactions to another person's distress. Subjects were 13 persons with autism and 13 with DS, aged 5-27, matched on verbal mental age. During a "tea…

This resource guide is designed for high school personnel to use when implementing Oregon standards for guidance and counseling programs, career education programs, and instruction in career development. It lists objectives, activities, resources, and places to visit under seven program goals as follows: (1) the student will realize that there are…

The booklet is designed to provide awareness training for the general public on the relationship between persons with disabilities and other members of society. The booklet is divided into six sections concerning persons who are mentally ill, hearing impaired, mentally retarded, mobility impaired, visually impaired, or have epilepsy. Background…

The paper addresses issues in counseling the retarded in the context of the research literature, identifies promising trends, and proposes a counseling model. Three issues are identified: the necessity for counseling to meet measurable objectives; the need for cost effectiveness; and the need for an integrated model. After proposing a definition…

Teachers' ratings are often used as early as the preschool period to provide an overall picture of children's behavioral adjustment and social competence. The goals of this study are to (1) show the relations among general, outcome-oriented observational categories of preschoolers' social competence and (2) specify those discrete emotions and…

Based on S. Chaffee and J. McLeod's coorientation model of communication, this paper addresses the question of individual and cognitive versus social and communicational comparisons in order to further elaborate the theory behind the coorientation model. The paper argues that, in a situation which includes two individuals and a topic, both…

Realizing that the society in which today's young people are taking their place is complex and characterized by both continuity and change, this paper voices the need for improving social studies education. Social studies programs should focus on the learning which young people need for participation in society and which public welfare requires.…

Interpersonal communication competence has been conceptualized as a function of impressions of competence formed in the context of a dyadic relationship, and also in terms of individual behaviors. The Measure of Relational Competence, along with individual self-reports for empathy, role taking, and self-monitoring, were administered for 36…

This paper discusses the concept of a family system in terms of an interactive system of interrelated, interdependent parts and suggests that VHS movies can act as perturbations, i.e., change promoting agents, for certain dysfunctional family systems. Several distinct characteristics of a family system are defined with particular emphasis on…

To help children develop social competence, teachers ought to understand differences between popular and unpopular children, know how to assess social competence, and employ techniques which aid the development of children's social skills. In general, popular children have developed skills and strategies which allow them to interact with their…

This handbook on guidance is one of several subject-area curriculum guides resulting from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction's efforts to revise the "North Carolina Standard Course of Study" and to develop the "Teacher Handbook" for the competency-based curriculum. The background, overview, philosophy, and…

The manual describes the Special Friends Program, an approach to prepare handicapped and nonhandicapped children for social interactions with one another. The program emphasizes social, play, and leisure interchanges that facilitate social skill development by both severely handicapped and nonhandicapped children. Following a review of the…

The purpose of teaching vocational ethics is to provide students with the opportunity to develop an enabling work ethic. An enabling work ethic is an integrated system of attitudes, values, and beliefs that empower a worker to resolve ethical conflict within self and between and among self and others or situations so as to promote individual job…

Many psychological and physiological disorders may have some etiology in an unconstructive response to anger. Still others may be exacerbated by repressed or suppressed anger. Anger is often a problem for clients seeking therapy, yet psychologists have little research upon which to develop a viable therapeutic approach. While skills in…