This article was written with the purpose of informing educators, agency service providers, family members, stakeholders, researchers in the field of transition, and individuals with intellectual disabilities themselves, of the guardianship alternatives that can be used, hence negating the need for a legal guardian. Guardianship refers to the…

Transition from secondary education to adulthood represents a period during which adolescents with disabilities face multiple responsibilities and changing roles that include establishing independence, attending postsecondary education or training, developing social networks, choosing a career, participating in their communities, and managing…

Fifteen students, age 13-21, with moderate to profound mental retardation received shopping skills training in either 1 or 3 department stores. A study of operational behaviors, social behaviors, number of settings in which criterion performance was achieved, and number of sessions required to achieve criterion found no significant differences…

Two learning-disabled, three educable mentally retarded, and two trainable mentally retarded senior secondary students were trained to count money rapidly. All subjects significantly improved their counting rates, maintained a 90 percent level of accuracy, and maintained their skills across settings and over time. (Author/JDD)

This article offers a set of principles, procedures, and special considerations for teaching students who are deaf-blind with cognitive disabilities to make their own choices during mealtimes. The article shows how a typical daily activity can be used to teach choice making and how this skill can be increased in complexity as the student…

This paper discusses the instruction of adult performance outcomes and life skills in classes for students with mental disabilities. Basic considerations in teaching life skills include teaching for lifelong learning, teaching for relevancy, and teaching beyond textbooks and classrooms. Several strategies have contributed to the success of…

Examined were the effects of reversing the color of stimulus materials used to teach survival vocabulary to 16 spastic cerebral palsied and 16 other multihandicapped adolescents with mental retardation. Compared to black-on-white cards, white-on-black cards improved the acquisition performance of both groups, but did not affect retention.…

Twenty-two authors contributed chapters to this collection of best practices in the education of students with mental disabilities. Section One, "Critical Issues for Consideration," contains six papers: "'New' EMRs" (Donald MacMillan); "Curricular Orientations" (James Patton and Edward Polloway); "Applying Curriculum for the Instruction of Life…

Describes a courseware development project at the University of Oregon which explored use of interactive video with mentally disabled students to teach life enhancement skills. Discussion of the results of a pilot study of one of the modules includes information on student achievement and teacher and student reactions. (MBR)

This practicum report was designed to foster the teaching of life skills to moderately retarded elementary students, the goal being teacher implementation of appropriate life-skills programs for developmentally delayed students. A 2-day workshop was developed to allow teachers from different communities to share strategies and materials. Follow-up…

Camping Out is an outdoor education program designed to meet the needs of hearing-impaired, mentally retarded children. The program aims to help children overcome language deficits and restrictions of their limited environments while learning recreation skills which can enhance their motor, cognitive, and affective skills. The program covers seven…

This methodology for teaching basic meal preparation skills to students with mental retardation uses convenience foods and involves learning meal preparation reading vocabulary and common procedures. Instructional techniques include sight word development, use of rebus symbols, and graduated prompts (verbal, modeling, or physical guidance). A list…

This manual provides instructional activities for teachers/trainers to use for in-service training of persons who work with mentally retarded, learning disabled, and handicapped clients. The first part of the booklet contains standard learning activities, such as open discussion, games, modeling, role-playing, and debates. The rest of the booklet…

Issues related to conception, assessment, decision-making, and instructional programming for the retarded in the adaptive behavior domain are discussed. Issues in the conception of adaptive behavior include its relationship to other constructs such as cognitive competence and emotional competence, the nearly universal use of certain domains,…

This manual provides additional instructional activities for teachers/trainers to use for in-service training of persons who work with mentally retarded, learning disabled, and handicapped clients. The first part of the booklet discusses standard learning activities, such as open discussion, games, modeling, role-playing, and debates. The rest of…