Considerations are offered for making toys for children with severe multiple disabilities. Eight toys are described, and objectives for the use of each toy are outlined. Toys include a pulley, tunnel, slide-the-discs, window, bowling, tactile wheel, activity centers, and multisensory mat. (JDD)

This article reports on a study of the methods that 21 ophthalmologists used to assess the visual acuity of children with multiple impairments and the difficulties they encountered. Additional means of assessing visual function and alternative means of communicating the results are suggested. (Author/DB)

This study of the haptic exploratory strategies used by nine children with visual impairments and additional disabilities when interacting with portable and freely manipulable objects found that a broader approach to assessment and analysis is required than is used with typically developing children. An "adaptive-tasks" approach is proposed as a…

This study compared interstate variability of prevalence rates for special education categories from 1984 to 1985 through 2001 to 2002, using the coefficient of variation (CV), which is designed to compare variances when the means of the groups compared are radically different. The category of learning disabilities, presumed by many to be the most…

Alberta Education provides programming support and funding to school authorities to develop and implement special education programming for ECS children and students in grades 1 to 12. "Special Education Coding Criteria 2009/2010" outlines criteria within specific categories to help school authorities identify those children and students…

The paper reviews problems and challenges in serving blind children in mental retardation facilities. Incidence figures for institutionalized blind multiply handicapped children are cited, and problems of assessing such residents are seen to include uneven development and lack of standardized evaluation measures. The impact of ward management and…

The policy statement by the American Foundation for the Blind deals with services for children and adults who have physical or mental handicaps in addition to visual loss. Noted are difficulties in providing appropriate services to the multiply handicapped. It is stated that optimum independence should be the goal of services for the multiply…

Proceedings from a Special Studies Institute on the Challenge of Educating the Preschool Blind Child with Multiple Handicaps (New York, April 27-29, 1970) are compiled. Papers and panel discussion topics include the challenge of educating the multiply handicapped child with sensory defects; the physician's contribution in diagnosis, treatment and…

A model of interdisciplinary team education is described which is designed to prepare specialists to work with visually disabled/multiply disabled persons. Problems in implementing interdisciplinary courses in higher education are considered, including both institutional and student barriers. (CL)

The article describes a continuum of services designed to meet the living and employment training needs of multiply disabled, visually impaired persons deemed ineligible for vocational rehabilitation services. The article focuses on the interagency approach and the importance of community cooperation. (CL)

Social routines based on rhyming verses combined with co-active participation with adults were developed to permit visually impaired young children with additional handicaps to associate communicative responses with attention to and action on objects. (Author/CL)

The overall educational program for children who are both visually handicapped and mentally handicapped at the Frances Blend School in California is described in brief. (CB)

Reprinted from Music Educators Journal, March, 1969. (RJ)