This article describes how one inclusive middle school addressed needs of students with significant disabilities for functional community-referenced skills including clothing purchases, buying groceries, eating out, crossing the street, doing laundry, and using a microwave. Program development, program organization, and involvement of peers…

Goals are presented for communication skills needed to function independently in the community. The goals, developed for adolescents/adults with severe/moderate mental handicaps, are situation-specific, outcome-oriented, and community-based. They deal with telephone use, shopping, leisure activities, traveling, banking, and going to a restaurant…

The Independent Living Project for Deaf/Blind Youth emphasized the teaching of home management, personal management, social/emotional skills, work skills, and communication skills to increase low-functioning teenagers' autonomy. The project included an independent living apartment in which a video monitoring system was used for indirect…

Primary caregivers to Alzheimer disease patients (N=60) twice completed Caregiving Hassles Scale and reported on their well-being. Scale provided reliable and psychometrically sound instrument for assessing hassles associated with assistance in basic and instrumental activities of daily living, care-recipient cognitive status and behavior, and…

Examines the ways in which personal social education and health education serve as integral components of health promotion in all its various dimensions. Offers a conceptual map for understanding the role of these two areas of education in determining health policy. Critiques governmental policy relative to this issue. (KO)

The study found that use of the Dial-A-Phone instructional package plus a least intrusive prompt teaching strategy was more effective than the prompts alone in training two adults with moderate developmental disabilities to match digits of personal phone numbers with digits on a dial telephone. (Author/DB)

This paper reports the results from a minitrial in Sweden of the use of still-picture telephones by people with moderate mental retardation. The two participants used total communication, mixing spoken language, Pictogram symbols, and sign language. Improved communicative skills were found, though heavy staff training and involvement were…

This article describes the development of training materials for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families and discusses statewide systems efforts to promote self-determination. The materials, developed by Florida agencies, are designed to enable individuals and family members to envision and realize choice, inclusion, and…

Analysis of the functional and personal characteristics of 336 persons with mental retardation living in 181 small, specialized foster care homes and group homes found some differences in resident characteristics across facility type, including communication and toileting skills, age, and mobility. (Author/DB)

This article addresses the need for a multicultural perspective on life skills assessment for students with severe disabilities. Guidelines for making a life skills assessment process more multicultural are offered. (Author/DB)

A group counseling approach was used to enhance the self-concept of 10 congenitally visually impaired adolescents. Group sessions focused on such topics as self-perception, assertiveness, friendship, familial relationships, and independent living skills. Evaluation found significant improvement in self-concept, attitudes toward blindness, and…

The possibility is raised of teaching reasoning strategies to students with learning disabilities using a curriculum designed around reasoning by analogy. The research base for such instruction is summarized. These principles of critical thinking are illustrated through examples including reading the newspaper, counseling situations, and content…

The author of "Life Centered Career Education" (LCCE) comments on reasons for the curriculum's success, what LCCE offers for the 1990s, how easy it is for a school system to implement LCCE, how LCCE can be used in mainstreamed settings, and what is needed to implement a comprehensive program like LCCE. (JDD)

This discussion looks at the functional curriculum approach to educating students with disabilities. It addresses identifying functional knowledge and skills, starting a functional curriculum, needs of students with disabilities for such a curriculum, and the relationship of the functional curriculum to the traditional curriculum and to inclusive…

During the 1960s, Dorothy Rich used paper cartons, tables, lamps, chairs, electric bills, and other paraphernalia of home life to construct "recipes" to help parents prepare their kids for achieving academic success. Rich's contemporary MegaSkills training program, developed at the Home and School Institute, is highly regarded. (MLH)