Early Discovery is a program that supports mildly delayed young children who did not qualify for Part B/C services. Our goals were to: (1) provide high-quality services; (2) educate and empower parents/caregivers; (3) link families to community resources; and (4) reduce the need for special education. Services included speech-language,…

Creating private school vouchers for special education students--programs that are largely unchallenged in court, unlike other publicly financed tuition vouchers--can be the perfect way to clear a path for other students to get school options, according to school choice proponents. At least seven states--Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio,…

Horses have always been appreciated by humans for their strength, beauty, and gentle demeanor. Children, especially, have gravitated toward them and many experience their first horseback riding lesson at a young age. However, horses can play a very different role in the lives of children and adults with disabilities. Hippotherapy is physical,…

A three-dimensional framework for defining different aspects of natural learning environments is used to organize and describe natural communication intervention practices. Seven applicable communication intervention methods and strategies easily implemented in natural environments by speech therapists are described, as are reflective procedures.…

The 1980-1981 performance report is presented for the Transitional Resource Addressing Children's Early Education (TRACE) Project, West Chicago, Illinois, which provides developmental preschool and transitional primary-level classes for 3-8 year olds. Screening of 130 preschool children (2 years 10 months through 4 years old) was undertaken to…

The document presents the final report of the Assessment and Improvement of Related Services (AIRS) Project, an effort to assess the impact and effectiveness of special education related services in Hawaii. Each of the four project objectives focused on accomplishment of one of the evaluation types specified in the Context-Input-Process-Product…

The report summarizes achievements of a 3 year project to provide continuing education to speech-language-hearing clinicians and special education personnel via a speaker telephone. Committees were formed in each participating district to plan for staff development based on local needs. Consultants chosen to present training were asked to mail any…

Early intervention services provided to 68 toddler-age children with disabilities were analyzed. Data were collected across family, child, and service characteristics. Children received services distributed across special instruction, speech therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy delivered primarily at the childcare center. Individual…

This document contains five papers about resources, support systems, and advocacy presented at a national conference about the nonwhite disabled. The papers and authors are: (1) "A College-Based Rehabilitation Training Program for Working with the Nonwhite Disabled" (C. D. Sanders)--program components include attention to sensitivity training,…

This final report describes activities and achievements of Project Relationship, a Los Angeles (California) program designed to support the successful inclusion of young children with disabilities and challenging behaviors in publicly funded child care settings. During the 3 years of model development and 2 years of model refinement and…

This document extracts information from two studies conducted by the Institute for the Study of Exceptional Children and Youth at the University of Maryland. The studies dealt with personnel shortages in special education and related services. The first study, by J. Smith-Davis, P. J. Burke, and M. M. Noel, gathered data for 1982-83. It reported…

The number of preschool-aged children with disabilities who spend some part of their day in an inclusive school or child care setting has grown tremendously in the past ten years. Meeting the needs of these children is always challenging. However, Public Law 105-17 the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA'97) mandates that children…

The first section of the document consists of the questionnaire/survey instrument completed by 70 professional ancillary staff (including speech, physical, and occupational therapists, adapted physical education teachers, and registered nurses) as part of a study designed to evaluate the quality and efficiency of early education programs serving…

These six issues of "TECH-NJ" from winter 1997 to fall 1998 focus on technology and children with disabilities in New Jersey. Featured articles include: (1) "Untangling the World Wide Web" (Kathleen Foster and Gerald Quinn); (2) "Combining Technology with Cooperative Learning: The Great Solar System" (Lisa Gregory);…

This article describes the development of a four-year course sequence in assistive technology (AT). Course participants learned how to assess student needs for AT, what AT devices were available, and how to make decisions within the individualized education program (IEP) team process. Major topical sections were data-gathering frameworks, legal…