A study involving 58 parents of children with disabilities investigated how professionals could help families learn how to use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices. Sensitivity toward child specific issues of ethnicity and disability, and parental involvement in parent-professional partnerships were stressed. (Contains…

The quality, number, and content of residential Individualized Habilitation Plans (IHP) objectives were evaluated for 155 adult institution and community residents. Over 90 percent of objectives were functional and age appropriate. Community residents had significantly more IHP objectives and also had objectives from a wider variety of content…

Thirty-four (Study 1) and 37 (Study 2) pairs of three-year-old children with and without mild learning problems were presented with a battery of five or six simple cognitive tasks. Children without learning problems performed at a significantly higher level on 17 of the 18 measures. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Ninety-two adults with developmental disabilities were interviewed about their church attendance. Fifty-two percent reported they had attended church in the last seven days. Of these attendees, 73 percent attended a Christian church, 94 percent know the name of their church, and 48 percent attended church with a family member. (Contains…

A study investigated the impact of the American Association on Mental Retardation's 1992 manual that provided an alternative approach to mental retardation definition and classification. Forty-four states indicated they based their guidelines on the 1983 manual, four states reported using the 1992 manual, and three used neither model. (Contains…

Three students (ages 14-16) with mild mental retardation were taught to use an auditory prompting system to complete the vocational tasks of cleaning a bathroom in a classroom setting. Students acquired the skills and generalized them to a novel setting. There were mixed results concerning maintenance of the skills. (Contains 10 references.)…

This ninth issue contains seven articles dealing with research, theory, trends and issues, curriculum, teaching methodology, technology, and personal/professional development. "Attitudes of FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) Students toward Traditional Business Values and the American Economic System" (Inder P. Nijihawan, Richard S. Ellis)…

Interviews and focus groups with 32 apprentices, 21 employers, and 6 teachers in Australia's construction industry showed that on-the-job learning was perceived as more real and focused on "how"; off-the-job learning was less pressured, broader, more theoretical, and concerns with "why." The different contributions each made to apprentices'…

In Europe, the numbers of women in higher education have increased, there is more co-education at elementary-secondary schools, and girls have comparable educational achievement. However, their achievement varies by subject area, stereotypes still seem to influence subject choices, and women suffer more unemployment than men with the same…

Uses metaphors to describes roles needed in civil society: the Knight embodies vocational virtues, the Queen is a person learning to act a citizen of a nation-state, and the Archangel seeks to fulfill the moral qualities of a human being. (SK)

Describes the role of human resource development (HRD) in the restructuring of the Mexican economy since 1982. Presents new challenges faced by the HRD system, including the influence of the World Bank, and recent changes linked to liberalization of the economy. (SK)

An evaluation of Hong Kong's Employee Retraining Board programs used interviews, case studies of training agencies, surveys of trainers and graduates, and employer focus groups. Recommendations were made regarding measurement of the size and characteristics of the displaced worker population, targeting of services, and alignment of incentives with…

Describes the following four conceptions of teaching and discusses each in the context of quality management and evaluation in universities today: (1) performance, enactments, and engagement, including long-term appraisal; (2) industrial production, including product standards; (3) professional practice; and (4) personal calling or vocation.…

Discussion of professional development for teachers in higher education highlights developing professional practice, including the Kolb Learning Cycle; the elements of professional development; the Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA) accreditation scheme in the United Kingdom; essential processes and structures for professional…

Examines some of the main institutional challenges impacting on the relevance and quality of teaching and learning in higher education in the United Kingdom. Selected concerns include underfunding; mass education and quality; the demand for enhancing student employability or key skills; and the relative status of teaching within research-intensive…