Community-based instruction (CBI) is often used to teach a myriad of skills across school, home, and community settings for students with disabilities (Fernandez et al., 2018). Despite the effectiveness of CBI interventions for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), research in this area remains limited since the last…

Rosemary Gallegos is superintendent of the New Mexico School for the Deaf (NMSD). Her 30+ years of service to NMSD include teaching, instructional supervision, special education compliance, and cultivating NMSD's statewide Birth-3 and outreach programs. Gallegos's goal is to ensure all deaf and hard of hearing children in New Mexico have access to…

Research suggests that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have significant difficulties with adaptive behavior skills including daily living and functional communication skills. Few studies have examined the developmental trajectory of adaptive behavior across childhood and adolescence. The present study examined longitudinal…

This qualitative research discusses a Finnish community music project aimed at school pupils with disabilities. The practices of this project define community music as community-driven, goal-oriented participatory music-making with a musician as a facilitator. Instead of the effects on pupils, this research investigates the project's impacts on…

Confronts possibilities and problems associated with creating diverse, multicultural, inclusive schools. Illustrates how schools can better serve students by fostering a sense of community while advancing both solidarity and diversity. Inclusive schools maintain and expand the focus on contiguity-based solidarity begun with site-managed schools…

The emergence of community-referenced instruction as a general and special education phenomenon and as a tool for learning in the inclusive classroom is examined in this article. In addition, three specific types of instruction that can be implemented beyond school walls are presented: work experiences, research teams, and service learning.…

This article discusses the importance of competence in functional skills for developing the social skills, friendships, and perceived quality of life in students with severe disabilities. The need to include functional skills instruction in general education settings is emphasized and methods of providing community based instruction are provided.…

The research brief on community-based instruction for individuals with severe disabilities is based on a manual for practitioners titled "Designing Community-Based Instructional Programming" developed at the University of Utah. The manual stresses the importance of preparing students for community participation by providing instruction in the…

This book chapter provides a checklist of various considerations related to the development and evaluation of community-based instruction for children with disabilities. The checklist is designed to serve as an organizational framework for persons wishing to make systematic decisions regarding the establishment of a community-based instructional…

This paper describes a community-based substance abuse prevention program utilizing a cognitive-behavioral curriculum to children and adolescents affected by a substance use disorder in a parent or caretaker.

This article describes a program to prepare students with moderate to severe disabilities for later community-based vocational instruction. It offers general principles, suggested content areas, and examples of appropriate school-based vocational activities. Tables outline Department of Labor guidelines and recommended amounts of time for…

One Hawaiian school, which serves gifted and dyslexic students, created the Mentorship Program for high school students and certain students in grades 5-8. The program sends students into the community with mentors experienced in various fields, teaching them real world skills in real world environments. Evaluation shows that everyone in the…

This book chapter puts community-based rehabilitation and community-based instruction in an historical perspective by describing a number of influential social, political, legal, technological, and philosophical factors that have shaped contemporary special and regular education. The characteristics of community-based instruction, community-based…

Because the communication skills of people with significant disabilities are often limited, ordinary choices often elude them. This guide provides step-by-step instructions to help care-providers recognize the choices made by people with severe disabilities, especially those natural cues which indicate an individual's preferences. It discusses…

Young children with special needs should be served within inclusive early childhood programs. Quality Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) programs provide a model to use when developing inclusive programs for children of all ages. This theme issue of "Coordinator's Notebook" focuses on the development of inclusive ECCD programs.…