The article offers guidelines for severely handicapped personnel preparation programs. Five areas which need to be addressed by such programs are addressed: need for the program, adequacy of resources to develop and maintain the program, staff needs and instructional integrity, program limitation, and a process for program evaluation. (SB)

Twelve characteristics are important for an appropriate program for severely/profoundly handicapped (SPH) individuals: age appropriate curriculum, specific objectives, functional activities, consistent cue hierarchy, regular data collection, periodic individualized educational program revision, detailed classroom schedule, instruction outside the…

It is important that individuals with severe disabilities be self-determined and make choices in their lives. The challenge is to make sure that the choices are informed in order to respect the dignity of the individual so that they are not caught in a "catch-22" where their choice is not a true choice. This will involve the development of a…

This article reports on part of a commissioned research study into students with severe challenging behaviour in primary schools serviced by the Catholic Education Office (Parramatta Diocese) in western Sydney. The data reported in this study relates to support services accessed by schools and their perceived efficacy as well as impacts of dealing…

This paper describes the data collected from a study that examined the participation of two students with significant disabilities in separate settings--a first-grade classroom and a high school. Interweaving several theoretical strands--disability studies, narrative theory and socio-cultural perspectives on learning--it incorporates an…

Parent-professional partnership literature continues to emphasize the importance of including the parent voice. Spanish-speaking families are often excluded from such studies because of the language barrier. This article presents a qualitative interview study of eight Latina mothers of children with severe disabilities. All participants were…

This study compared the total amount of training time and total number of trial blocks for individuals with severe developmental disabilities to acquire mands under control of unconditioned establishing operations and mands under control of transitive conditioned establishing operations for manual sign and for the Picture Exchange Communication…

Postschool outcomes for students with disabilities have been dismal for quite some time now. Although recent data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2 indicate some improvement, students with severe intellectual disabilities continue to transition into segregated employment at unacceptable rates in spite of a multitude of studies,…

We examined the relationship between three discrimination skills (visual, visual matching-to-sample, and auditory-visual) and four stimulus modalities (object, picture, spoken, and video) in assessing preferences of leisure activities for 7 adults with developmental disabilities. Three discrimination skills were measured using the Assessment of…

In the present study, the relations of various aspects of working memory to various aspects of language problems in a clinical sample of 97 Dutch speaking 5-year-old children with severe language problems were studied. The working memory and language abilities of the children were examined using an extensive battery of tests. Working memory was…

The experiences of three students with significant disabilities and their educational teams were studied during these students' first year of receiving general education services. Interviews were conducted with general educators, special educators, and parents to identify issues encountered during the year. Also, classroom observations were…

A project incorporating 15 studies on parameters of cumulative programming instructional strategies in severely handicapped populations is presented. A model was developed to allow for controlled formal investigation of potentially relevant variables including those descriptive of the subject (such as handicapping condition, race, or age), the…

Rhythmic movement in practice (RMP) is an alternative approach for teaching communication skills to severely-profoundly multiply handicapped children. It integrates a motoric program (rhythmic motions) and experience with objects (cues for signals, materials, and equipment used) and utilizes the principles of coactive movement (teacher-child…

The welcoming address delivered at the third annual conference of The American Association for the Education of the Severely/Profoundly Handicapped is reproduced. Available from: American Association for the Education of the Severely/Profoundly Handicapped, 1600 West Armory Way, Seattle, Washington 98119. (GW)

The authors note that there are more questions than answers regarding the value of extended school year programs for students with disabilities. Questions include effects and cost effectiveness of summer programing. (CL)