Older people with a lifelong disability, such as intellectual disability, face significant barriers to enjoying "active ageing" as they transition into retirement. Active ageing involves enhancement of quality of life through optimising the health, participation, and security of individuals and populations (World Health Organization [WHO], 2002).…

Parents have been trained in "therapizing" their handicapped child at the expense of play and need to understand the importance of play for development of the child, appropriate play, and ways to circumvent the child's handicap. The specialist aids in parent-child interactions and choice of play environments and opportunities. (MC)

Inservice training must be improved and expanded in the years ahead to meet the needs of those who work with young handicapped children. Recognizing and avoiding the problems of general inservice and viewing inservice as adult education with a content focus on the child provides a background for improving training. Journal availability: see EC 133…

This article addresses assumptions that currently guide personnel training and technical assistance in organizations providing services to people with disabilities. Implications of a quality improvement perspective are then considered as they apply to new perspectives on roles, on decision-making processes, and on evaluation. (DB)

Training specialists must confront the need and obligation to incorporate disabled individuals into their organization's training programs professionally, sensitively, and effectively. The first and biggest step in adapting programs is to develop open and constructive attitudes in the training designer. (JOW)

This response to Chandler et al. (EC 604 147) suggests that generalization of social competence training be viewed from both functional and topographical perspectives which have scientific and practice biases, respectively. The paper proposes a generalization-discrimination continuum along which behaviors may be placed for optimum utility. (DB)

The authors caution that in neglecting to focus on cognitive training, special education may be denying the very ideology on which it is built. (Author)

This article presents a rationale for the importance of relationships as a focus for training infant/family professionals and paraprofessionals. It describes six innovative training strategies that have been used as part of the ZERO TO THREE/National Center for Clinical Infant Programs' City TOTS (training of trainers) project. (Author/DB)

This article examines issues related to treatment acceptability in early intervention programs, by applying concepts pertaining to collaboration, cultural difference, compliance and freedom of choice, family life cycles, and systems theory. A paradigm for designing home-based intervention plans with families of preschoolers with behavior disorders…

Discusses issues in personnel training practices for paraprofessionals providing related services in early intervention and education settings. The term paratherapist is used to refer to paraprofessionals working under the supervision of professionals in physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology. Presents a philosophy…

This commentary on "The Effects of Family-Centered Service Coordination: A Social Validity Study" (Romer), discusses findings that the three service coordinators did not change their behavior to be more family-centered after one workshop and that it took follow-up work to get their behaviors to a minimal level of performance. (CR)

This article urges educators and administrators to collaborate closely with families of students with disabilities from diverse linguistic, racial, and cultural backgrounds and participate in training activities that stress best practices for facilitating the participation of the family. The role of the Individualized Education Program in forging…

This commentary on "The Effects of Family-Centered Service Coordination: A Social Validity Study" (Romer), discusses the challenges of implementing family-centered service coordination and variables such as caseload size, models of service coordination, and models of staff development that might have an impact on these challenges. (CR)

This article examines impediments to effective dissemination of training in positive behavioral support, such as school discipline policies and the inadequacy of training models. It suggests ways new information technologies can overcome these obstacles and reviews some new approaches using CD-ROM and online instructional methodologies to advance…

This feature article examines changes needed in special education personnel preparation (such as increasing the supply of qualified personnel). Strategies for meeting these needs are discussed, including methods of using best practices and innovative training methods. An Outcomes-Based Teacher Education model (with proposed knowledge and skill…