Purpose: Adapted physical activity (APA) provides children and youth with disabilities more opportunities to be physically active. Nevertheless, it is not well known how APA implementation in different services has benefited them. This study reviews the existing literature on APA interventions to identify characteristics and program descriptions,…

The National Center for Leadership in Intensive Intervention (NCLII), a consortium funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), prepares special education leaders to become experts in research on intensive intervention for students with disabilities who have persistent and severe academic (e.g., reading and math) and behavioral…

The use of interventions to create behavior change among students with disabilities has an extended and complex history (Horner et al., 2005). Practitioners involved in the field of special education often debate best practices from an immense array of available interventions (Heflin & Simpson, 1998). Service providers express concern about…

Alternative education programs (also called alternative schools) first appeared on the American landscape in the 1960s. Despite the proliferation of these programs, a generic description of what constitutes an alternative education program, historically, has been elusive. Most alternative education programs have the general criteria of serving…

Available resources and indicators of high quality inclusive practices are presented in this compilation. Assembling many different resources in one place allows for easy comparison of potential indicators of quality. Excerpts and adaptations of the resources are intended to provide some familiarity with the content of each resource and encourage…

In discussing the effectiveness of precision teaching, three questions are addressed: (1) What is different or unique about it? (2) What kind of data are necessary to prove that precision teaching affects learning? and (3) What evidence supports its use? (Author/CL)

The digest presents the background and reasons for early intervention with children at risk for handicaps. Early intervention is defined, and three primary reasons for intervention are cited: (1) to enhance the child's development, (2) to provide support and assistance to the family, and (3) to maximize the child's and family's benefit to society.…

An effective inservice program in special education identifies objectives, selects qualified staff, uses effective content delivery, uses the appropriate level of intensity, and evaluates inservice effectiveness. An example of an intensive inservice program that documented student progress illustrates the benefits of implementing a well-planned…

The paper is a product of the 3-year project, "Functional Mainstreaming for Success," designed to develop a model for instructional mainstreaming of handicapped children (3-6 years old) in community settings. The paper reviews the literature defining "mainstreaming," notes that mainstreaming is not the wholesale return of exceptional students from…

To be effective in changing career/vocational education practices for handicapped students, inservice education should be targeted to school teams, involve participatory planning processes, acquire administrative support, use trainers as information givers and consultants, and capitalize on existing services. Successful approaches in New York…

Nine studies reporting child change data for nonhandicapped children participating in integrated preschool settings were analyzed in terms of methodology and specific classroom practices. The studies suffered from methodological weaknesses common to many early intervention efficacy studies. Documentation of child progress is only one measure of…

Local school systems, Local Education Agencies [LEAs], and universities, Institutions of Higher Education [IHEs], work together in a variety of ways in the initial preparation and ongoing professional development of teachers, although it is difficult to ascertain the number of LEA/IHE partnerships. These relationships typically allow for a…

A system was developed to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of transition services for special education students in Maine. The project's three phases included preliminary activities relevant to the development of the evaluation system; activities in developing, field testing, and revising the evaluation strategy; and selecting and evaluating…

The Physical Response Education System (PRES) project began in pilot studies of the effectiveness of acupressure in addressing the physical and emotional problems of disabled students. In the pilot study (1979-80), 12 students received 6 weekly sessions from a professional acupressurist, and in the intern study (1980-81) 15 students received 8…

This module is designed to provide teachers, teacher trainers, and administrators with an introduction to consultation as a service to support students with disabilities and/or challenging behaviors in their home schools. The module provides a rationale for the use of consultation as a part of school programs, a review of research on its current…