Special education high school graduates (N=129) were surveyed concerning their vocational and community adjustment. Only 33 percent of the sample were employed competitively, 27 percent had received postsecondary training, 5 percent were married, and 70 percent were living with their families. For the most part, respondents were mobile in the…

The importance of providing option-rich environments that facilitate the growth of individuals with disabilities toward self-determination is emphasized. Of concern is the centrality of self-determination, constraints to self-determination, and strategies to encourage individuals to become self-determined. (Author/SW)

The influence of assessment reports on special educators' instructional planning decisions was evaluated, with 86 educators of students with severe mental retardation. Compared to educators reading a developmental assessment report, educators reading a functional assessment report for the same student recommended less restrictive placements for…

The effectiveness of coaching active reasoning of students with learning disabilities was studied with 63 grade 4 and 5 students. Students in the coaching condition outperformed students in the two comparison conditions on immediate and one-week delayed tests of factual information and explanations. (Author/SW)

Comparison of cognitive performance of 51 students with hearing loss and 64 hearing students indicated that, at age 10, students with hearing loss performed better on nonverbal tasks and worse on verbal tasks. At age 13, students with hearing loss performed poorly in both verbal and nonverbal tasks. (Author/SW)

The ability of the Adjustment Scales for Children and Adolescents to detect emotional disturbance was examined. Discriminant analyses produced sensitivity, specificity, and overall accuracy ratings of approximately 80% with a sample of 150 youths, ages 5-17, who were not disabled and 150 youths who were socially or emotionally disturbed.…

Eleven mildly handicapped elementary students were taught to spell new words by using spelling patterns from known words. Control Ss learned to read and spell sight word vocabulary. Experimental Ss were significantly superior in spelling high-frequency sight words and untrained transfer words. (Author/CL)

The effects of social interaction skill interventions on the social behavior of four preschool children with behavioral handicaps were evaluated. Findings indicated unique effects for social skills training and contingency management intervention. Results are discussed in relation to the role of reciprocal interaction and behavioral trapping for…

Four fifth and sixth grade students with learning disabilities were taught a strategy for comprehending word problems and devising appropriate solutions. Following instruction performance on mixed sets of addition and subtraction word problems improved. Although generalization to a different setting occurred, maintenance was mixed. (Author/DB)

This study tested whether the application and transfer of segmentation and letter knowledge to reading could be encouraged by teaching spelling alongside code-based reading instruction, with five matched pairs of kindergarten children with developmental delays. Spelling and word reading performance significantly improved for the experimental…

Described is the Media Materials Center for the Severely Handicapped (George Peabody College for Teachers) and outlined are five of the first year's objectives and how they are being met. (BD)

The author lists the steps, and the problems involved in developing media or materials for severely handicapped persons. (BD)

The Media Development Project for the Hearing Impaired is a project to serve the educational technology needs of the deaf and hard of hearing population, by identifying, adapting, developing, and evaluating the effectiveness of instructional media and materials. (BD)

Examined are four of the assumptions which can make up the future directions of the educational technology for the severely handicapped movement. (BD)

Discussed are ways in which developers and publishers can work together for the benefit of learners in special education, such as state funding, symposia, information dissemination and resource centers. (BD)