Two severely handicapped elementary-aged children who participated in a home-based domestic skills program became more independent in performing the domestic tasks involved in their daily routine. Besides generalization to their home environment, the program also featured such advantages as the involvement of significant others and facilitated…

RATE (Read and Then Evaluate) provides opportunities for learning disabled students to self-select appropriate reading materials, form and communicate opinions about their reading, and gain confidence in themselves as readers. Teachers' observations confirmed the effectiveness of the program, which was expanded to involve students sharing the…

Thirteen autistic adults participated in a program on the use of personal computers for recreation. Results revealed physical problems in the keyboard design, success of backward chaining, the reinforcing value of sound, and tendencies of the Ss to use language and initiate conversation during sessions. (CL)

An interview with the winner of the 1985 Clarissa Hug Teacher of the Year Award touches on her lack of burnout as a teacher of severely handicapped students, her approach to problem solving, and her relationships with administrators and other teachers. (CL)

The article describes a structured approach to teaching sign language to severely disabled students through task analysis. The approach emphasizes four basic principles from developmental and behavioral theories: (1) environmental influence, (2) imitation, (3) reinforcement, (4) practice. A functional sign vocabulary of 250 words grouped according…

A self-correction code system is described as a successful way to improve written English skills in deaf and other handicapped students. Self-correcton helps to improve attitudes toward writing as well. A table explains the system of 34 codes denoting common errors. (CL)

Mildly handicapped students can be helped to improve their writing skills by careful attention to the prewriting stage. Prewriting exercises include observing, drawing, thinking, reading, researching, interviewing, and note-taking. (CL)

A tee-ball training program was implemented in an integrated educational setting to provide two moderately handicapped elementary students with a wide range of age-appropriate leisure activities. Possible adaptations are described in terms of playing space, skill sequence, rules, and materials. (CL)

The article presents an easy-to-use procedure for documenting critical classroom occurrences with handicapped children. Based on continuous recording and anecdotal report principles, the procedure includes a legend and a recording chart. Its use is illustrated in three classroom settings. (CL)

The project used multiple adaptive methods and teaching procedures to reinforce school mobility skills for seven severely handicapped secondary students. Student ambulation became more functional when present skills were reinforced by sequential teaching with daily practice. (CL)

Three trends in language/communication research and intervention are described along with suggestions for instructional applications with young and/or severely handicapped students: (1) simulation of natural language learning conditions, (2) attention to communication functions rather than form, and (3) training across activities. (CL)

Guidelines for objectively selecting nonverbal communication systems are based on careful examination of student characteristics and student performance data in an alternating treatments design. (CL)

Before teachers can productively implement individualized education programs for handicapped students, substantive IEP planning should occur at state and local levels. Impediments to IEP development should be identified and relationships among federal, state, and local agencies clarified. A paradigm is offered to help the teacher systematically…

A teacher recounts her handling of the deaths of two junior high students, summarizes five stages of death, and reviews children's perceptions of death at different ages. Suggestions for teaching terminally ill students are offered along with ideas for helping parents, handling a class after a death, and helping a student after a death in the…

The article discusses the value of teaching self-monitoring skills to students with mild behavior disorders and offers specific strategies for teaching them to use the process. Among procedures recommended are to define the behavior explicitly, simplify behavior counting and recording, and practice the process. (CL)