This guide provides an approach to assist public schools and adult service agencies in designing programs that will maximize the ability of severely disabled students to function in non-sheltered vocational environments. The guide is composed of a list of questions to be used in a self-evaluation process; the questions concern needs assessment,…

Statistics indicate that while half of America's teenagers are sexually active by age 18, many of these youth do not use contraception regularly and most delay doing so for more than a year. Of the nearly 500,000 teenage pregnancies resulting in birth annually, most of the mothers are unmarried and about half are under 18. This report argues that…

This module on managing personal matters is one of a series of modules designed to help teach students to become more self-sufficient in their personal and professional lives. This module provides teacher and student materials that are planned to help students maintain personal records, obtain insurance, and deal with funerals and wills. Six units…

Presented is part of a collection of reports related to the teaching of severely handicapped students in the Madison, Wisconsin, Metropolitan School Districts. Services for secondary age students are described in seven reports with the following titles and authors. "The Criterion of Ultimate Functioning and Public School Services for Severely…

This teacher's guide is designed for use in presenting a five-unit course in effective employment practices that is part of a life skills series intended to help students become more self-sufficient in their personal and professional lives. The course's five instructional units cover these topics: planning a career, searching and applying for a…

This article analyzes educational policy for students with mild mental retardation in terms of four important outcomes: (1) successful employment; (2) development of independence; (3) the acquisition of life skills; and (4) successful involvement within the school and community. Inhibitors of successful outcomes are identified, and federal and…

The Florida Association of Voluntary Agencies for Caribbean Action (FAVA/CA) was formed to provide on-site, overseas technical assistance and training in health, agriculture, social services, and education. This paper reports on the beginnings of an evaluation of the New Life Organization (NEWLO), a vocational training institute in Grenada, West…

This newsletter issue describes a programmatic line of research to develop and standardize a test battery of transition skills (employment and independent living skills) for adolescents and young adults (ages 14 to 25) who are deaf. The newsletter first discusses the importance of assessment data to the transition process for persons who are deaf.…

The purposes of the Integrated Occupational Program developed for special needs students in grades 8-12 in Alberta (Canada) are to have students become responsible members of society, develop entry-level vocational abilities, and become aware of the need and opportunities for lifelong learning. The focus is on the development of knowledge, skills,…

Activities to develop proposed performance standards and measures for programs receiving funds authorized by the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act are described in this report. Two sections of the act are considered: Section 221 authorizes programs for single parents, displaced homemakers, and single pregnant women;…

A study investigated the learning of consumer skills by adolescents, using two theoretical approaches--the social learning and the family communication pattern approaches. It was hypothesized that (1) assuming that parents are more experienced consumers than are adolescents, frequent discussion with parents on consumption matters are likely to…

Designed to utilize an infusion technique, this guide to career options for teenage parents contains eleven learning units: (1) Values Assessment Related to Careers; (2) Decision Making for the Pregnant Teenager; (3) Skills Assessment for Employment Options; (4) Decision Making Applied to Careers; (5) Creating a Job Interview File; (6) Basic…

Selected curricula and instructional resources are correlated to items within each subtest of the Social and Prevocational Information Battery (SPIB). SPIB tests include: purchasing habits; budgeting; banking; job-related behavior; job search skills; home management; health care; hygiene and grooming; and functional sign reading. The selections…

This technical manual describes "The Arc's Self Determination Scale," a student self-report measure of self-determination designed for use by adolescents with disabilities, particularly students with mild mental retardation and learning disabilities. The test was designed to be a tool to enable students to become more self-determined by…

This publication is the curriculum guide for a 720-hour open-entry, open-exit program of education for female prisoners at the Eddie Warrior Correctional Center (EWCC) in Oklahoma, which has increased the average number of EWCC inmates awarded General Educational Development (GED) certificates from 32 to about 200. The guide begins with an…