Although adolescents face many potentially life-threatening choices, schools are ill equipped to offer comprehensive guidance for developing personal survival skills. This article outlines four conditions militating against schools' acceptance of this role, advocates collaboration between schools and community-based youth organizations, and…

The Independence Programme (TIP) assists young people with physical disabilities in meeting the challenges of adult roles and responsibilities. An evaluation of one summer's program including 4-month follow-up of 10 youths showed clinically important changes in their performance of and satisfaction with daily living skills. (JOW)

The Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), while in use in the mainstream population, is not generally utilized by individuals with disabilities. Using a multiple-baseline design across settings we tested effectiveness of using a PDA to increase the independence of an adolescent with Asperger Syndrome (AS). Results indicated use of the PDA was…

This article presents findings from a survey mailed to caseworkers, who answered questions about special needs, independent living skills, educational attainment, and services for 416 randomly selected foster youth in Illinois. A third of the adolescents had a mental health disorder, developmental disability, or other special need that their…

A National Evaluation of Title IV-E Foster Care Independent Living Programs for Youth was conducted to evaluate the influence of the Independent Living Initiatives, Public Law 99-272, on States' development of programs, policies, and services; and the impact of services on outcomes for older youth discharged from foster care. The first phase of…

The study evaluated a program for teaching family-style mealtime skills to four profoundly retarded institutionalized adolescents. The program used forward chaining with a less-to-more intrusive prompting sequence and contingent reinforcement to teach the skills. (Author/DB)

The study was designed to increase the amount of time 37 severely handicapped students living in a residential facility engaged in age-approprite and functional activities. Results showed that after a supervision program was implemented, the students' participation in activities increases and that these increases maintained for a 5-month period.…

A total of 274 British youth and adults with handicaps were administered the National Independent Living Skills assessment. Cluster analysis suggested that handicapped persons could be classified into four groups from lowest functioning to highest functioning, using independent living skills variables relating to living, work, and educational…

Explores the use of video-based multimedia simulations for teaching functional skills to persons with developmental disabilities and discusses future considerations, design issues, and implications. Considerations address the importance of appropriate role modeling and the combination of video-based simulation and in vivo training to foster…

Children with multiple handicaps, including cerebral palsy (CP), often lose or regress in their functional ability through adolescence and young adulthood. The purpose of this study was to examine functional and psychosocial changes in children, adolescents, and young adults with CP. A retrospective chart review and a prospective telephone…

Although research has suggested that level of social stress relates to psychosocial problems in adolescents and that social stressors impact more on females than on males, past studies have not considered whether gender differences in stress are related to perception of stressfulness or higher levels of experience, and if any types of events…

The study investigated maintenance of responding by four severely to moderately mentally retarded persons (12 to 16 years old) in a community living center who were taught methods of exiting the house in fire emergency situations. Training included instructions, modeling, behavioral rehearsal, social and tangible external reinforcement, and self…

Students of Concord School, Maryland, a facility serving moderately retarded youth, participate in a school newspaper project designed to assist in their integration into society. Highlights the success of the project, which involves students, teachers, interns, and local corporations. (RJC)

The paper points out the inappropriateness of the typical bottom-up or norm-referenced curricula offered to severely handicapped adolescents and young adults. As an alternative, it is proposed that curricula for this population teach chronological-age-appropriate functional skills in natural environments. (Author/PHR)

A study involving six students (ages 14-17) with moderate mental retardation explored the use of peer tutoring to teach the functional skill of using money. Results indicated all students were able to master the "next-dollar" strategy through peer tutoring and were able to generalize their skills to make purchases. (Author/CR)