Describes a job-specific career education program to foster high school completion by students with and without disabilities. The program involved a school/business partnership and student/school contracts (which guaranteed the student a part-time job while in school and a full-time job upon successful program completion and graduation). Students'…

Describes the Graduated Reinforcement System, a simplifed token system that involves establishing a partnership with parents and students, identifying target behaviors, planning for record keeping, tallying daily/weekly points, designating the graduated reinforcement criteria, determining reinforcers for the three levels, awarding the reinforcer,…

Addresses classroom management concerning use of stimulant medication (STM) for students with attention-related difficulties. Identifies difficulties of noncompliance and misuse. Details ten guidelines for obtaining optimal benefit of STM are detailed and including ensure that the decision to use medication is made appropriately, promote student…

Describes the Planning Pyramid, a framework to help regular and special education teachers cover required curriculum while modifying learning requirements to meet individual differences. The pyramid's base represents "what all students will learn," the middle portion "what most students will learn," and the top portion "what some students will…

A step-by-step plan is presented for teaching a mnemonic strategy that students with and without learning disabilities can use to improve word recognition skills. The SCUBA-D strategy involves (1) Sounding it out, (2) Checking sentence clues; (3) Using main idea and picture clues, (4) Breaking words into parts, (5) Asking for help, and (6) Diving…

Describes a family life/sexuality education program for young people with moderate and severe mental retardation. Emphasis is on program effectiveness (demonstrated through field testing), program development strategies, development of a guidebook for training the trainers, curriculum content, parent involvement, instructional variety, and program…

Discusses parent-teacher communication problems, factors that contribute to homework-communication problems, and strategies that the whole school community can use to ensure parent involvement in the homework assignments of children with high-incidence disabilities. Focus-group recommended strategies are provided for teachers, parents,…

Describes the action research process and provides practical guidelines for using the process to improve the education of children with disabilities and increase parental involvement. Laying the groundwork for action research, recruiting parents to participate in the research, and involving parents in each step are discussed. (CR)

Presents the results of surveys and follow-up interviews of parents of children with disabilities who chose to use the "open enrollment" transfer option in Minnesota. Reasons for school transfer included better met special education needs and personal attention for children at chosen schools, and more information on child's progress from special…

Identifies seven strategies that will help strengthen the bond between parents and teachers of children with learning disabilities. Strategies include celebrating children's individuality, identifying with parents, providing information, talking with parents, avoiding stereotyping, reaching out to parents, and warning about media portrayals of…

Describes Project DESTINY, a federally funded support program for families with middle school students with emotional and behavioral disabilities in New Hampshire. The development of the program, the involvement of school staff and students, positive outcomes of the program, and tips for enhancing family involvement in schools are discussed. (CR)

Discusses how parents and teachers of students with emotional and behavioral disabilities can build and maintain effective parent-teacher communication by "passing notes." The value of written communication is stressed and the daily notebook communication procedure, based on daily inserts from both the teacher and parent, is highlighted. (CR)

Discusses the importance of communication between preschool providers and parents of children with disabilities who are transitioning from early intervention programs to preschool programs. Communication needs before, during, and after the transition are addressed. A sample questionnaire for families of new students and a communication schedule…

Discusses cultural and family factors to consider when evaluating a student with disability for assistive technology devices, and the need to involve families in decisions about the uses of the devices. The need to be sensitive to family needs for acceptance and to be aware of cultural differences is discussed. (CR)

Discusses findings of a survey of siblings who have brothers or sisters with disabilities, and the development of support meetings, a resource library, and "Sibling Day" to help siblings. The responses of siblings to various scenarios and a staff worksheet for activities for Sibling Day are provided. (CR)