This book is a step-by-step, concise, and easy-to-read reference for school teams, providers, students, and parents to understand, design, and evaluate positive behavior support (PBS) plans for students with developmental disabilities. It provides a clear conceptual framework on PBS to think critically about how to approach a student's problem…

The paper describes approaches and findings of an evaluation of 10 advocacy projects providing services to developmentally disabled and mentally ill persons across the country. The projects included internal rights protection organizations, independent legal advocacy mechanisms, self-advocacy training centers, and legal advocacy providers in…

The manual describes seven tools for use in screening and assessing the developmentally disabled infant and young child in the home. Instruments are said to have met four criteria (easy adaptation to the home setting, minimum training required to administer, speed of administration, and minimum equipment needed). Five categories of information are…

The guide provides some basic strategies and tools for monitoring residential settings--both institutions and community residences--for the quality of services provided to persons with developmental disabilities. An introductory chapter explains the purpose and layout of the document. Chapter II describes how to find and understand public…

The concept of quality of life (QOL) has become an important public policy and service delivery issue within the mental retardation/developmental disabilities field. QOL measurement focuses on a number of personal and environmental factors, including independence, productivity, living/residential environment, interpersonal and community…

This article proposes assessment targets and protocols for children with profound developmental disabilities who are nonsymbolic communicators. Targets include children's actual or perceived communicative behaviors, their communicative partners, and their communicative environments. Protocols consist of interviews, observations, structured…

This guide to helping children with motor-skill problems (dyspraxia or developmental coordination disorder [DCD]) examines the motor learning difficulties and their social implications and suggests some strategies to support children through key learning stages. The first chapter discusses terminology, summarizes research on sensory input and…

The five-step family assessment process presented in this manual is designed to facilitate the accurate, organized collection of information necessary for the development of an intervention plan for families with children. The materials contain the five forms that are to be completed as part of the assessment process, including a: (1) family…

This boxed set includes eight booklets of home activities for early intervention for young children with developmental delays. The first book provides an introduction to the program and its implementation, lists 23 resources, describes a videotape which supplements the booklets, and includes a glossary. Book 2 covers how to select goals for the…

This book chapter outlines a number of key characteristics crucial to the integrity, utility, and efficiency of a behavioral assessment instrument for community living skills of people with developmental disabilities. In addition to basic psychometric considerations, the paper suggests that the functions of a behavioral assessment instrument could…

This sourcebook profiles approximately 80 programs that support the redefinition, assessment, and/or enhancement of quality in community services for individuals with developmental disabilities. Direct service programs, however, are not included. The programs and activities described are subsumed under the following broad categories: (1) statewide…

The 14 articles, which make up the bulk of this book provide an interdisciplinary guide to the management of very low birth weight infants. Following an introduction, the first section, titled "Family Considerations," presents three papers discussing, respectively, parent-infant interaction, cultural variables in pediatric care, and parents'…

The document is designed to provide practical information for teachers, parents, group home workers, work activity personnel, and others interested in developing social interaction skills and appropriate social behaviors in developmentally disabled adolescents and young adults. An introductory section discusses social problems of the…

This guide is intended to help high school home economics teachers to teach special needs students who are mainstreamed into their classrooms. It aims to familiarize teachers with types of disabilities and approaches for creating empathy among fellow students who are not disabled. Ideas for working with wheelchair bound and developmentally…

These guidelines were prepared to provide direction toward implementing a functional instruction curriculum that leads to independence and occupational skills for Ohio's developmentally handicapped and multihandicapped students. The curriculum uses a three-part definition of adaptive behavior, involving independent functioning, personal…