As technology evolves, so does its impact on people's lives. These changes clearly affect people's daily activities, but how might they also impact education, teachers, and the lives of students with disabilities? This article focuses on technological innovations and their potential implications for students and teachers in schools. This article…

The final report describes accomplishments of a project to identify specific competencies perceived by independent living trainers as necessary to effectively teach secondary level handicapped students in an independent living center. A systematic methodology was employed to identify and categorize the competencies drawn from the reports of both…

The effects of single instance and general case instruction on the generalized dressing (putting on of pullover shirts) of six youths and adults with severe mental retardation were compared. Results suggested that the response variations taught during general case instruction played a major role in improved performance across the nontrained…

Argues that terms like "self care" and "survival skills" may make working parents feel better about having to work, but are linguistic cop-outs that obscure a serious and widespread evasion of social responsibility. (DT)

Two autistic children (8 and 5 years old) were paired with normal peers who, after pretraining sessions, taught community skills to the autistic children. Results demonstrated that no identified skills were acquired during baseline and modeling conditions. However, direct instruction of each child by a peer tutor resulted in learning and…

Investigated the relationship between self-esteem and daily living skills growth in mentally retarded adults. Found that involvement and success in skill training may be important factors in self-esteem growth. Also found that IQ was a poor predictor of learning and self-esteem gains for this population. (JOW)

Junior and senior high deaf students can be encouraged to write by relying on everyday experiences brought to light by such tasks as inventories and lists, scrapbooks, notes and diaries, letter writing, and dialogs. (CL)

Examined how well older frail households cope with requirements of independent living (household operation activities, housing consumption adjustments, health-related activities). Found that those lacking financial resources and informal supports were less likely to cope with independent living requirements and that families carried major burden…

Compared Mini Mental Status Exam (MMSE) scores and activities of daily living (ADL) scores from 59 patients with progressive dementias. MMSE scores explained approximately one-third of variance in both instrumental and physical ADLs. Findings suggest that cognitive losses and functional impairments are 2 distinct aspects of dementia severity which…

The article describes a six-week cooking program for developmentally disabled adults offered through the county continuing education program. The program utilizes illustrated recipes (an example is included). Significant outcomes and implementation pointers are noted. (DB)

Case studies of transportation needs of individuals with severe disabilities illustrate various methods of training them in transportation use and locating options. (SK)

Describes the use of transformative learning theory to evaluate a family-empowerment project focusing on life skills (N=34). Results reveal evidence of transformative learning outcomes such as an empowered sense of self and new connections with others. Participants also spoke of factors built into the program designed to foster transformative…

Discusses the following: understanding the nature of habits; following skill training with habit training; attending to habits in a context; anticipating that a breakdown of daily-living habits may lead to a breakdown of skill; and recognizing that the repetitiveness of habits can lead to boredom. (Author)

In this update, Linton describes the Life Skills for State and Local Prisoners Program and discusses why this reentry program has been successful. This program competitively funds three-year demonstration projects that provide life skills instruction in either state correctional facilities or jails. Both state and local correctional systems are…