Discusses the need to accurately assess a student's progress in mastering classroom-taught skills and to understand the skills that employers expect of students in the workplace. Presents the Inventory for Assessing the Job Readiness Skills of Students Placed in Alternative Classes, and describes steps for completing the inventory. (CR)

Discusses a vocational/career program for students with emotional disabilities. The curriculum involves students in surveying employers in their community for information about jobs and career opportunities. In the process, students learn how to fill out job applications, conduct interviews, make presentations, and follow their own interests. (CR)

Discusses facilitating culturally sensitive transition plans for young children transitioning to kindergarten and their families. Addresses transition roles for families and adapting transition roles for culturally diverse families. Stresses the need for transition teams to emphasize continuity, communication, collaboration, and family concerns.…

Describes the metropolitan Nashville Peer Buddy Program, a high school program that attempts to remove scheduling barriers to inclusion by providing daily class times in which participating general-education and special-education students may interact. Seven steps to starting a peer-buddy program are provided. (CR)

Describes the outcomes of a study that measured the attitudes of two middle school general-education teachers about inclusion. The general educators had high expectations for students with disabilities and perceived the participation and progress of students to be directly related to a special educator's presence in the class. (CR)

Describes how teachers can support hearing parents in the use of strategies for reading effectively to children with deafness. Discusses using visual strategies for reading such as sign placement, text paired with sign demonstration, real-world connection between text and child's experience, and physical demonstration of character changes. (CR)

Presents a scale of key teaching attributes that can be used to examine general classroom teachers' perceptions of knowledge and skills for providing effective instruction to students with disabilities, to assist in the development and implementation of more effective inclusionary practices, and to provide administrators with the indicators that…

Examines nationally collected data on the placement rates of students with disabilities across the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Results indicate that some states have made significant progress toward serving students with disabilities in less restrictive settings, whereas others have made very little progress. (CR)

Provides guidelines and resources to assist teachers as they enable children with deaf-blindness to enlarge their lives through communication. Addresses the educational needs of children with deaf-blindness, prioritizing their curriculum needs, general strategies for communication, developing receptive communication, using communicative cues,…

Discusses the use of robotics with children with severe disabilities. Spotlights a toddler with developmental delays and quadriplegic athetoid cerebral palsy who is able to use a robotic arm and computer control systems to reach and manipulate objects. Provides guidelines for selecting and using assistive robotics. (CR)

Describes and provides contact information for different competitions for students with disabilities in the arts, service learning and leadership, and academics. Discusses the benefits of competitions, including enhancement of learning skills, development of social skills, and development of lifelong interests. (CR)

Describes a physical fitness program for secondary students with mental retardation. The program was university based and used college students in a 60-minute program, 30 minutes of fitness exercises and 30 minutes of sports and recreational activities. Addresses administrative concerns and the program generalizability and applicability. (DB)

This guide to developing a physical fitness and wellness program for preschool children with disabilities stresses a holistic approach to wellness, the importance of play choices and food preferences, play experiences which develop spiritual values and ethics, emotional health, social development, and intellectual aspects of development. (DB)

Guidelines for complying with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in the area of physical education address service provision, qualifications of service providers, placement options, and inclusion of physical education on the child's individualized education program. (DB)

Guidelines for developing a physical activity program for students with severe/profound disabilities address medical clearance; levels of participation; staffing; equipment; and program components, including warm-up, range of motion/flexibility activities, aerobics, resistance training, and cool-down. (DB)