The paper addresses issues involved in the management of and curriculum for children with sensory impairments combined with cerebral palsy. The first part details typical deformities and their causes in children with cerebral palsy, and describes (with illustrations) techniques for therapeutic handling and positioning in daily living tasks at home…

Developed for use by career educators and counselors in Fresno County, California, this checklist is divided into three sections. Section 1 provides space for recording students' development in vocational and career awareness, interests and hobbies, work experience, vocational test scores, individual goals, and community agency input from the…

Twenty-two authors contributed chapters to this collection of best practices in the education of students with mental disabilities. Section One, "Critical Issues for Consideration," contains six papers: "'New' EMRs" (Donald MacMillan); "Curricular Orientations" (James Patton and Edward Polloway); "Applying Curriculum for the Instruction of Life…

This final report summarizes a three-year project to develop and field test an advocacy curriculum designed to teach secondary-level disabled students (mentally retarded, emotionally disturbed, learning disabled, physically disabled, visually and hearing impaired) their rights and responsibilities under recent legislation, the various service…

The manual discusses the role of aids in helping intellectually handicapped persons function as independently as possible. An introductory chapter considers the notion of intellectual aids as tools that people use to facilitate their interaction with the environment. Interaction is further conceptualized in terms of a goal-directed will, awareness…

The guide provides daily living experiences built around topics of interest to limited English speaking students in special education programs. Units are organized around eight themes: (1) at school; (2) living at home; (3) community, communication, and travel; (4) clothing and seasons; (5) shopping and food; (6) health, hygiene, and safety; (7)…

Describes a courseware development project at the University of Oregon which explored use of interactive video with mentally disabled students to teach life enhancement skills. Discussion of the results of a pilot study of one of the modules includes information on student achievement and teacher and student reactions. (MBR)

This activity is designed to build creative skills based on an everyday problem. The scenario that sometimes packages are dropped and letters get bent is used. How can a special delivery be protected from such unfortunate mishaps? Students use their creative skills to determine a way to mail raw spaghetti. A way to safely package the raw spaghetti…

In this activity, students investigate the accuracy of sundials and the discrepancy that lies between "real time" and "clock time". The position of the sun is tracked over the course of a relatively short period of time as students make a shadow plot, a horizontal sundial, and a diptych sundial. This activity requires…

This book is a guide to teaching orientation and mobility (O&M) skills to students with visual impairments in the public schools. The first chapter offers an overview of the nature and responsibilities of the orientation and mobility specialist and explains the fields legal underpinnings. Next comes a look at O&M in relation to the school year…

This curriculum guide is intended to provide students (with and without disabilities) in grades 3-6 with career awareness instruction integrated with instruction in personal and social skills, reading, writing, and mathematics. Introductory materials present the program's philosophy, including instructional goals, student performance goals, and…

The leader's guide and member's manual are presented for a 4-H project designed primarily for older teens, ages 16-19, the group most likely to need information on how to rent their first "home away from home." The member's manual is divided into 10 sections, with each section covering a particular aspect of the rental process. It guides…

The need for a clear definition of basic functional competency for the sight impaired student is considered, and an outline of the required functional competencies and performance indicators is presented. Performance indicators are listed for the following skill areas: communication, computation, citizenship, consumerism, decision making, and…

The need to teach functional mathematics to students with learning disabilities to prepare them for independent living is explored. The article discusses questions teachers should ask themselves in reviewing their mathematics curricula, ways to implement a functional math curriculum, and the application of mathematics skills to life-centered…

Differences in motoric and instrumental activity of daily living skills were compared between 1,442 people with autism and 24,048 people with mental retardation. Autistic children, age 5-12, had better developed skills than mentally retarded children matched by age and intellectual level. With increasing age, more developed instrumental skills…