Joachim Dattke describes a holistic approach to supporting the needs of the family when a child has a disability. The parent and child benefit from a two-pronged approach: working with doctors, psychologists, and therapists in clinic-based settings, and working with educators in schools and parent-child groups. He defines the importance of…

The CHOICES Project funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), U.S. Department of Education, addresses the need for ready access to information for parents, students, school, and community agency personnel regarding transitional and community support programs. At this time we have created two databases (student information and community…

The "Individuals with Disabilities Education Act" (IDEA) and related accrediting agencies (e.g., The Council for Exceptional Children) dictate the training of preservice teachers. Likewise, the accrediting agencies in the field of social work (e.g., The Council for Social Work Education) specify the content for aspirant school social…

Project Forum at the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) and the National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE) worked together to collect information regarding the need for a policy forum on the topic of administrative collaboration between school personnel who support homeless education under the McKinney-Vento…

The report examines systems developed by Indiana, Wisconsin, and Louisiana to monitor interagency coordination of educational related services for handicapped children. The background and development of special education legislation in each of the three states are reviewed along with the structure of the state education agency (SEA). Each state is…

This paper notes that the demand for qualified special education personnel, the problem of emergency certification, and other pressures have led to a growing interest in alternative routes to teacher certification. The school reform movement has intensified efforts to professionalize teacher education and to improve the quality of teacher…

The pupil appraisal process in Louisiana special education services features resource teams from eight universities throughout the state working through interagency agreements between the universities and the State Department of Education. The university teams provide technical assistance, annual compliance reviews, and inservice workshops on…

In October 1983 Pathfinder, an organization in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was awarded a federal grant to develop a community network model serving children with chronic health conditions and their families. This document describes the model, demonstrated at four sites in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The model is based on four key assumptions: (1)…

Individualized service planning for handicapped individuals requires a formalized tracking mechanism to determine the effectiveness of services, tools for encouraging interagency cooperation, systematized intervention, communication, coordination, and accountability procedures. A three-tiered system is presented that illustrates separate processes…

Planning assessment procedures for disabled young children is a concern that grows as the students move from among various community or state agency programs. This paper discusses the issues surrounding interagency transition procedures and introduces a guide for helping agency personnel define problems with the transition process. It also…

The author reviews the background of mainstreaming and least restrictive environment placement for handicapped children, cites problems with the implementation of the concept, and suggests a cooperative approach. He asserts that the learning environment should be modified by focusing on the following factors: modification of content and materials,…

The socio-emotional well-being of foster care youth requires a systemic response from professionals and volunteers in all communities. At best, however, the literature portrays foster care as a phenomenon limited to the medical, criminal, and social work professions. Yet, foster care children attend school and interact with a host of educational…

Benefits of collaborative learning as achieved in peer tutoring approaches are considered, and the suggestion is made that partner learning may be just as beneficial for disabled and normal adults as it is for children. Research is reviewed on the benefits of partner learning for all parties involved: for the tutee (increased individualized…

The paper focuses on catalysts needed for interagency cooperation in multi-service delivery systems for handicapped individuals. The importance of interfacing personal and environmental profiles is emphasized, and an approach matching aspects of the person and the environment is described. A behavioral skill profile of the person would be matched…

The paper describes a collaborative effort between Head Start and the Family, Infant and Preschool Program at Western Carolina Center (Morganton, North Carolina). The collaborative effort was designed to accomplish the goals of improving (1) services to handicapped children and their families, (2) the quality of parent involvement, and (3)…