Federal legislation supports participation in the public schools by children who are medically fragile and technology dependent. These children require specialized technological health care procedures for life support and/or health support during the school day. Inclusion in safe school environments that facilitate effective learning requires…

This paper reports on a statewide project in New South Wales, Australia, in which 241 teachers of students with moderate or severe disabilities responded to a survey concerning their needs and concerns in the area of communication interventions. A large number of teachers expressed a need for support in assessment, programming, and instructional…

This investigation analyzed information pertaining to behavior states and their relationship to numerous environmental, physiological, and demographic variables and events. The 66 participants ranged in age from 1 to 21 years and were classified as having profound and multiple disabilities, with developmental ages that ranged to 24 months.…

This paper, by a parent of a child with severe mental and physical disabilities, discusses why parent/professional teaming is important to maximize benefits for children and youth with severe disabilities. It recounts the family's experience with the impact of disability. Strategies for effective parent/professional teaming are outlined, stressing…

The first of five volumes on Project REACH (Regular Education for All Children with Handicaps) describes an approach for assessing and programing for the social skills needs of students with severe disabilities. Three major categories of social skills--social exchange, social rules, and body posture--are addressed. A section on assessment covers…

This guide describes the development and implementation of a functional/vocational program for self contained severely and mildly handicapped students in grades K-12. The model emphasized instruction in skills needed by students to live as adults in the least restrictive way. Elementary children receive instruction in self contained classrooms and…

Eleven papers given at a conference on issues in educational services for severely handicapped students are presented. R. Thompson, B. Wilcox, and R. York begin with "The Federal Program for the Severely Handicapped: Historical Perspective, Analysis, and Review." Six program elements in quality education are then addressed in the following papers:…

Research indicates that severely physically handicapped infants and toddlers are limited in the amount of interaction they can have with their environment, and that this might limit the amount they can learn from it, causing secondary handicaps and thus creating an even more handicapped individual. It is suggested that this cycle can be broken by…

This course is designed to help direct caregivers of people with severe disabilities to better their understanding of the process of positioning. The instructor's guide contains content notes and implementation notes, along with sheets for overhead projection, worksheets, and handouts. The course is organized into 15 sections, totaling about 8…

This booklet presents a series of play activities and interventions to facilitate development of social and communicative skills in young children who have visual impairments, hearing impairments, or both. The more than 100 activities attempt to increase the early communication and language competencies of young children. An appendix provides an…

This report focuses on positive practices in providing support services to families of children with severe disabilities and chronic illnesses, based on visits to three sites in Maryland: the Family Support Program at the Kennedy Institute in Baltimore, the Coordinating Center for Home and Community Care, and Sick Kids Need Involved People (SKIP).…

The paper presents a protocol developed by the Child-Centered Inservice Training Project (Syracuse, New York) to provide inservice training and technical assistance for personnel working with children with severe disabilities in regular schools. The following topics are covered in outline format: (1) selection of target students; (2) the technical…

Designing therapeutic approaches for language-disordered young children calls for the coordination of communication skills across the three developmental pathways: motor, social-emotional, and language-cognitive. The case study presented in this document examines the effectiveness of a dance-movement therapy intervention conducted over a 2-year…

The fourth of five volumes on the means by which Canadian communities can reduce the incidence of mental retardation, minimize existing impairment, and improve the quality of life of the mentally retarded, this booklet focuses on the prevention of mental handicap in adults and ways to accommodate and encourage community participation by the…