This transition planning guide is intended as a resource for parents of severely handicapped students approaching or at the legal age for leaving public school services and entering community services. The guide was developed after a 2-year transition project, Project Impact, revealed common concerns and questions which parents and teachers…

Part of a series, this document reports on an effort to identify and prioritize research questions of concern to researchers in the areas of educational and rehabilitation transitional services for the handicapped. In the first study 25 research questions were identified and submitted to external review and critique. In the second study, 112…

The handbook contains documents that the reading support assistant will need to implement the Orange County, Florida public schools Chapter 1 program. Included are the following: (1) lists of Chapter 1 schools, staff, and staff assignments; (2) job description of reading support assistant; (3) duties clarification; (4) fact sheet about Chapter 1;…

A 75-citation annotated bibliography on the secondary to postsecondary transition of learning-disabled (LD) students is preceded by a brief review of the literature addressing the following areas: secondary education and the LD adolescent; postsecondary services and the LD adult; vocational or job-related skill development; and transition issues…

Six papers prepared for presentations at the 10th Mary E. Switzer Memorial Seminar focus on topics related to transition from school to work and independence for disabled youth. Each paper concludes with excerpts of reviews and comments, followed by recommendations which are presented to further stimulate thinking, discussion, and action. The…

Immigrant people have positive internal forces to survive in a new environment. Sometimes the symptoms of stress resulting from migration are mistakenly treated as symptoms of deeper psychopathology, particularly when cultural conflicts are part of the stress. Catholic Family Services offers counseling services for Hispanics which are sensitively…

A description is provided of the Urban League's Education Initiative Project, a cooperative effort involving Miami-Dade Community College (MDCC) and feeder high schools in activities designed to raise the aspirations of black high school students, motivate them to enroll and succeed in college preparatory courses, facilitate the flow of students…

The booklet provides an overview of the characteristics of young children with handicapping conditions and the components of effective preschool programs for this population. It then discusses the complex issues and implications of recent legislation (Public Law 99-457, Education of the Handicapped Amendments--1986) mandating preschool programs…

The paper presents observations of families having adult members with learning disabilities and describes a residential program to facilitate the transition to independent living of lower functioning learning disabled young adults. The program, called Independence Center, involves placing participants in apartments with roommates and helping them…

The early elementary teacher must find a reasonable solution to the question of how to best meet the needs of incoming 5-year-olds. This study reviews recent research on the academic and emotional needs of young students and on existing programs dealing with school readiness. Brief annotations are presented for 54 research articles. These articles…

Two national surveys on graduation requirements and transition services for students with handicaps are briefly described. The first study, "State Graduation Policies and Program Practices Related to High School Special Education Programs" by Joanne Records Bodner et al., surveyed state special education directors or their designees in 50 states…

The Youth Reentry Specialist (YRS) project was designed to coordinate the reentry of handicapped youth from a juvenile corrections facility into special education programs and the world of work. The project's goal was to increase the probability of special education and vocational program participation of handicapped parolees. The project resulted…

This final report of a federally funded demonstration project describes the impact of Project TEEM (Transitioning into the Elementary Education Mainstream). Project TEEM worked to enable school systems to implement a transition planning process for moving preschool-aged children with handicaps from early childhood special education programs into…

This follow-up study investigated the self-concept of students who had received an additional year of readiness experiences before entering first grade to see if their good self-concept in the first grade was sustained over a period of 6 years. Of 100 participants in an original study that found the self-concepts of first grade readiness subjects…

This issue focuses on assisting adolescents with serious emotional handicaps to make transitions from youth serving systems into society. A framework for developing transition-oriented programs is prevented that incorporates into the specific service goals of the current environment the skills required to function in the projected environment.…