This National Council on Disability (NCD) report describes the nation's progress in advancing public policies to increase the inclusion, empowerment, and independence of people with disabilities of all ages, consistent with the vision of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The report covers December 2000 through December 2001. It reviews…

A study involving 51 speech-language pathologists serving 41 males (ages 2-9) with fragile X syndrome, found the majority reported the boys exhibit a visually based, experiential or holistic learning preference. Speech goals focused on slowing rate and increasing precision for verbal children and using assistive technology for nonverbal children.…

This study examined continuous automated speech recognition in the university lecture theatre. The participants were both native speakers of English (L1) and English as a second language students (L2) enrolled in an information systems course (Total N=160). After an initial training period, an L2 lecturer in information systems delivered three…

Authored by the teaching staff of T-560: Meeting the Challenge of Individual Differences at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, this article reflects on potential applications of universal design for learning (UDL) in university courses, illustrating major points with examples from T-560. The article explains the roots of UDL in cognitive…

Creating and evaluating Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) for students with disabilities is a major responsibility for teachers and school leaders, yet the process involves legal components not always understood by educators. In "Understanding, Developing, and Writing Effective IEPs," legal and special education experts Roger…

When a student who has both a vision and a hearing loss registers to take a course, each component of the course will need to be reviewed to determine if the student requires accommodations, e.g. syllabus, handouts, overheads or other AV materials, exams, and paper assignments. There is not a formula for addressing these needs because students who…

This handbook provides guidelines for the operation of local special education programs for Alaskan children with disabilities. It addresses: (1) the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Amendments of 1997 and basic concepts of special education; (2) identification of students with disabilities, referral, screening programs, and…

This paper explores the apparent "digital divide" in information, communication, and/or assistive technology availability that exists between special needs students and their mainstream counterparts. A literature review indicates that although great advances have been made in public schools during the last decade in acquiring computers and…

Through this article, an attempt is made to highlight some ways on how teachers can integrate technology into their teaching repertoire to enhance the teaching learning process to make it both an enjoyable and enriching experience. Technology has several advantages: it is being used as a powerful tool by many teachers for making lesson plans and…

This book includes revised presentations from an October 2001 meeting of the National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research and the Cornell Rehabilitation Research and Training Center that considered the validity of current data for measuring trends in the employment rate of people with disabilities and investigated the causes and…

These three issues of "TECH-NJ" from 2000 to 2002 focus on technology and children with disabilities in New Jersey. The issues address how technology can support language development and people with learning disabilities, and technology tools that support reading. Featured articles include: (1) "Adaptive Technology Center for New…

This updated guide helps families navigate the maze of adult services and supports for individuals with developmental disabilities. It responds to families' need for a centralized source of information that describes adult services and how to access them. Content includes an overview of the service system and information on legal and financial…

The 2001 Survey of Assistive Technology and Information Technology Use and Need by Persons With Disabilities in the United States (AT Survey), was conducted over a nine-month period from March through December 2001. Each respondent was screened in as a person with a disability based on a screening instrument developed by the National Institute on…

A random sample of directors of programs for the deaf in North America were surveyed to get their views about the skills that teacher education programs need to be teaching future teachers of students who are deaf or hard of hearing. The directors were queried about literacy practices, classroom management strategies, and communication strategies…

The present study examined the relationships between teachers' and communication clinicians' self-reported knowledge on cochlear implants and their expectations of CIs. The authors also explored these professionals' views regarding the child's communication mode, educational setting, and social options following cochlear implantation. The…