Describes a project guided by the resilience paradigm in which a team of 4 social workers and 17 prevention personnel collaborated on programs serving 2000 inner-city adolescents. The project team concluded that a modified consultation model is essential for implementing new techniques and that positive, supportive relationships are singularly…

Provides a technology for addressing the following questions in teaching/training exceptional individuals: (1) what to teach; and (2) how to teach it. Uses behavioral training techniques to teach and help develop functional skills. (BJV)

Discusses theoretical bases and practical applications of therapeutic leisure and recreation programs in assisting children with mild, moderate, severe, and profound handicaps to become more accepted by their normal peers. Examples show how such activities can be designed to create an environment to facilitate the educational treatment of…

The Summer Transition Training Project was designed to address the needs of visually impaired adolescents and young adults by providing training in transitional and rehabilitation teaching to educators of the visually impaired and to rehabilitation professionals in six western states. This paper describes program design, implementation, and…

Examines the impact of children's attendance at preschool on teaching and learning in 77 low-income Hawaiian families' homes. Data from the families (18 participating in a year-long series of interviews) illustrate the development of 2 parental scripts, 1 for skills used in the home, and 1 for preparation for school. (SLD)

A transitional planning model implemented at St. Joseph's School for the Blind in Jersey City, New Jersey, incorporates a broad conceptualization of transition that includes social skills, independent living skills, and overall competence in adjustment to the community. The model considers parental involvement, advocacy, and leadership as…

A culturally appropriate program with a functional approach was developed to train related services assistants (RSAs) in U.S. Pacific jurisdictions. RSAs support students with severe disabilities to achieve individualized-education-program objectives. Evaluation revealed positive impacts for disabled students served by 19 trainees, but newly…

Discusses the effectiveness of a peer mediation program in a Midwestern suburban elementary school. Responses to questionnaires given to students and teachers suggested that the students successfully learned the procedures and applied them in conflict situations throughout the year. Includes a thorough description of the program's procedures. (MJP)

Research findings: Growth across 6 months to 8 years of age, assessed at seven time points, for daily living and cognitive skills was compared for term (n = 122), very low birth weight (VLBW) children of low (n = 114) and high (n = 73) medical risk and lower socioeconomic status (SES). Dramatic declines in daily living skills were found for all…

Lifelong learning has become an important goal of education over the last decade. According to the United States Department of Education (2001), nearly 3 million students over age 17 (excluding those institutionalized) enrolled in adult basic education, adult secondary education, or English as a second language classes in the United States.…

Students need opportunities for developing a strong self-image and for learning how to cope with life's problems safely and effectively. Programs should be provided that offer young people the opportunity to develop (1) a strong and secure sense of self-worth; (2) more effective communication skills; (3) the ability to cope with disappointment,…

Interviews with 28 Hispanic and Black former foster youth in Los Angeles County (California) found that emancipating from foster care placed individuals at risk because of a lack of education, marketable skills, or general living skills. Relationships overshadowed skill development in participants' memories of independent living programs.…

Reviews current trends in curriculum programing that facilitate the transition of adolescents with handicaps into "everyday" community settings. Traditional curriculum models and instructional strategies have proved to be ineffective; recent models and strategies appear to be more promising. (Author/BJV)

This second follow-up study of seven young adults with mental retardation one year after movement from an institution to a community setting found steady gains in social, communication, and community living skills but relatively few gains in motor and personal living skills. These findings contrasted with the sweeping gains in adaptive skills…

Community residences for small groups of people and day activity programs designed to increase functional levels for severely multiply handicapped persons with visual problems, are proposed as the only viable, humane alternative to institutionalization. Sources of funding for these goup home and day activity programs, which cost the same as…